William Pitt and the Great War by John Holland Rose (book club reads txt) 📕

he seen Portland's censure before it went off, he would have toned

down some of its expressions; but on the whole he heartily disapproved

of Abercromby's indiscriminate rebuke to the army as not only unjust,

but calculated to depress its spirits and encourage those of the French

and the Irish malcontents. Portland's reprimand brought about

Abercromby's resignation, which Camden sought to avert. Thus again

events took the worst possible course. Abercromby was an able and

energetic man; and his resignation, at the time when the arrival of the

French was expected, undoubtedly helped to raise the hopes of

malcontents. Well might Camden write to Pitt on 25th April that

Abercromby had done much harm. With that commander's desire to repress

the outrages of the soldiery everyone must sympathize. The manner in

which he sought to effect it was incredibly foolish.

 

Meanwhile, the work of the conspirators had been undermined by

treachery. One of the conspirators, named Reynolds, took fright and

revealed the secret of the plot to an official at Dublin Castle (26th

February), adding the information that the Dublin committee would hold a

secret meeting on 12th March. The police, bursting in, seized eighteen

members, including McNevin, along with their papers, amongst which were

some incriminating O'Coigly. Lord Edward Fitzgerald escaped for a time;

but an informer gained knowledge of his movements, and those of two

brothers named Sheares. On his warning the Castle that they were about

to arouse Dublin to revolt, Camden resolved to anticipate the blow. Two

police officers, Swan and Ryan, tracked Fitzgerald to his lair on the

19th of May. They found him in bed. At once the fierce spirit of his

race surged up. He sprang at them with the small dagger ready by his

side and struck at Swan. The blow went home, while the pistols aimed by

the officers missed fire. Turning on Ryan, he dealt thrust upon thrust.

The two wounded men clung to him while he struggled and struck like a

wild beast. He was dragging them towards the door when Major Sirr rushed

in and shot him in the shoulder. Even then his convulsions were so

violent that two or three soldiers, who ran upstairs, scarcely

overpowered him. Swan soon died. The wounds of Ryan were not mortal.

That of Fitzgerald was not deemed serious, but it mortified, and he

passed away on 4th June, mourned by all who knew his chivalrous daring

spirit.[495]

 

The fury of Fitzgerald is intelligible. He was the one necessary man in

the plot then coming to a head for the capture of Dublin on 23rd May.

Among his effects were found a green uniform, the seal of the Irish

Union, the line of route for the Kildare rebels in their advance,

together with a plan for the seizure of the chief officials. The triumph

of the Castle was completed by the capture of Neilson and the Sheares.

Their papers showed that no quarter was to be given. Irish historians

(among them Plowden) maintained that Pitt and Camden all along knew of

the plot and allowed the conspirators to drive on their mine in order at

the right moment to blow them up. There is no evidence to this effect,

except during the few days preceding the blow. Camden's efforts were

uniformly directed towards disarmament and coercion, so much so that he

is reproached for his cruelty by the very men who accuse him of playing

with the conspiracy. It is clear that he sought to prevent a rising,

which was expected to coincide with a French invasion. In fact the only

prudent course was to repress and disarm at all possible points.

 

The severity of the crisis appears in the letters which Beresford,

Cooke, and Lees, officials at Dublin Castle, wrote to Auckland. In

answer to Lord Moira's reckless charge in the Irish Parliament, that

they were pushing on the country to rebel, Beresford on 10th April asks

Auckland how can they, who are daily exposed to murder, push on a nation

to deeds of violence which must fall on them? On 1st May he writes: "We

think the Toulon squadron will join the expedition against Ireland....

Pikes are making in numbers, and the idea of a rising prevails. Kildare

and Wicklow are armed, organized, and rebellious. Dublin and the county

are very bad. The rebels expect the French within a month. Such is their

last Gazette." On 7th May Lees writes to Auckland: "Lord Camden must

steel his heart. Otherwise we are in great jeopardy." On 9th May

Beresford states that it would be a good plan to seize a number of

malcontents, threaten them with flogging and induce them to turn

informers. He adds: "At present the quiet which prevails in some parts

is deceptive. Where the country is organized, quiet appears. Where the

organization is going on there is disturbance. In Kildare there are

complete regiments, with large quantities of arms in their possession."

On 10th May Lees writes that Galway is arming for revolt, and, nine days

later, after the arrest of Fitzgerald, he states that they expect a

rising in Dublin on the morrow. On 21st May after the arrest of the

Sheares, Cooke writes: "A rising is not given up; but I think it will

not take place. Parts of Kildare will not give up arms.... A search for

arms will commence. We are in good spirits." On 20th May Beresford

informs Auckland of the receipt of news at the Castle from three

different quarters that there would be a rising on the 21st, owing to

the vigorous measures now taken by the Government.[496]

 

This is not the language of men who are nursing a plot. It evinces a

resolve to stamp out disaffection before the Brest and Toulon fleets

arrive. As for Pitt, his letters show a conviction of the need of

continuing the repressive measures whereby Camden had "saved the

country." He approved the plan of allowing officers to act without the

orders of magistrates, seeing that the latter were often murdered for

doing their duty. The thinness of his correspondence with Camden is

somewhat surprising until we remember that his energies mainly went

towards strengthening the army and navy. His letter to Grenville early

in June shows that he expected news of the arrival of the French off the

Irish coast, since they had got out from Toulon on 19th May.

 

It is not surprising that Ireland was thought to be their goal.

Bonaparte and the Directory had kept the secret of their Eastern

Expedition with far more care than Pitt displayed in worming it out.

Certainly Pitt's spy system was far less efficient than has been

imagined.[497] With ordinary activity the oriental scheme could have

been found out from one of Barras' mistresses or from some official at

Toulon. The fact that Bonaparte had some time previously engaged Arab

interpreters might surely have enlightened an agent of average

intelligence. So far back as 20th April French engineers in uniform,

accompanied by interpreters, had arrived at Alexandria and Aleppo in

order to prepare for the reception of large forces. The interpreters, it

is said, "collect all possible information respecting Suez and the

navigation of the Red Sea, as also particularly whether the English have

any ships in the Persian Gulf. It is supposed that General Buonaparte

will divide his army, one corps to be embarked from the Red Sea and pass

round to the Gulf of Persia, the other part to proceed from Syria

overland to the Euphrates, by which river they are to advance and join

the remainder near the mouth of this river; from thence to make,

_united_, the grand descent on the coast of Malabar or Deccan."[498] In

these days it is difficult to imagine that this news did not reach Pitt

until about 5th July.

 

The Irish malcontents were as ill informed as Pitt. Basing their hopes

on the arrival of the French fleet, they prepared to rise about the end

of May. But the arrests in Dublin hurried on their plans. The men of

Kildare and Westmeath received orders from the secret Directory in

Dublin to take arms on 23rd May, on the understanding that the whole of

Ireland would revolt. They were to seize the towns and villages on the

roads to Dublin, while the rebels in the city murdered the authorities

and captured the chief positions. But on the 22nd the Government seized

quantities of arms, and the presence of General Lake's garrison of 4,000

Yeomen daunted the United Irishmen; on the night of the 23rd-24th only

the more daring of them stole about the environs, waiting for a signal

which never came; and by dawn their bands melted away. In Meath also the

rising failed miserably. A large concourse assembled on the historic

slopes of Tara Hill, whence 400 Fencibles and Yeomen drove them with

ease (25th May).

 

In Kildare and the north of Wicklow, where the influence of the

Fitzgeralds made for revolt, large throngs of men assembled on the night

of 23rd-24th May, and made desperate attacks on Naas and Clane,

important posts on the roads leading to the capital. Their headlong

rushes broke in vain against the stubborn stand of the small garrisons.

But at a village hard by, named Prosperous, the rebel leaders fooled the

chief of a small detachment by a story of their intention to deliver up

arms. Gaining access to the village, they surprised the soldiers in the

barracks, girdled them with fire, and spitted them on their pikes as

they jumped forth. That night of horror ended with the murder of the

Protestant manufacturer, whose enterprise had made their village what it

was. A few days later General Ralph Dundas somewhat indiscreetly granted

an armistice to a large body of Kildare rebels at Kilcullen on the

promise that they would give up their arms and go home. Nevertheless a

large body of them were found on the Curragh and barred the way to

General Duff, who courageously marched with 600 men to the aid of

Dundas. Duff was informed that these rebels would be willing to lay down

their arms. His men were advancing towards them when a shot or shots

were fired by the rebels, whether in bravado or in earnest is doubtful.

The troops, taking it as another act of treachery, charged with fury and

drove the mass from the plain with the loss of more than 200 killed.

Thus, here again, events made for animosity and bloodshed. Protestants

remembered the foul play at Prosperous; the rebels swore to avenge the

treachery at the Curragh.

 

                  *       *       *       *       *

 

News of the first of these events sped across the Irish Sea on 25th and

26th May. They reached Pitt just before or after his Whitsunday duel on

Putney Heath. Thick and fast came the tales of slaughter. On 29th May

Camden wrote in almost despairing terms--The rebellion was most

formidable and extensive. It would certainly be followed by a French

invasion. It must be suppressed at once. The Protestants and the

military were mad with fury, and called aloud for a war of

extermination. The strife would be marked by unheard-of atrocities. For

the sake of human nature, Pitt must at once send 5,000 regular troops.

Camden added that cavalry were useless against lines of pikemen, a

phrase which tells of the dogged fury of the peasantry. Nevertheless,

his assertion that the rebellion was extensive proves his lack of

balance. The saving facts of the situation were that the Ulstermen had

not yet moved; that Connaught and Munster were quiet; and of Leinster,

only Kildare, Wexford, and parts of Carlow and Wicklow were in arms. In

Dublin murder was rife, but the pikemen did not muster.

 

Pitt's reply of 2nd June to Camden is singularly cool. In brief and

businesslike terms he stated that, despite the difficulties of the

situation, he had already prepared to despatch 5,000 men; but Camden

must send them back at the earliest possible moment in order not to

disarrange the plans for the war. Still more frigid was the letter of

George III to Pitt. The King lamented the need of sending troops to

Ireland, as they would thereby be cut off from "active service." Camden

(he wrote) must really not press for them unnecessarily. However, as the

sword was drawn in Ireland, it must not be sheathed until the rebels

submitted unconditionally. Eleven days later the King wrote to Pitt that

the new Lord Lieutenant "must not lose the present moment of terror for

frightening the supporters of the Castle into an Union with this

country; and no further indulgences must be granted to Roman Catholics,

as no country can be governed where there is more than one established

religion."[499] The thinness of the King's thought is in part redeemed

by its tenacity. His mind resembled an elemental two-stringed

instrument, which twanged forth two notes--Church and State.

 

In strange contrast to the calculations of the King and Pitt were the

effusions of Camden. On 7th June he referred plaintively to Portland's

despatch, stating that