three principal points-the Pigeon-house, the Castle, and the Artillery Barracks at Island Bridge.

The plot was still in progress, when, on the 16th of July, there ensued the accidental explosion of a gunpowder magazine which they had formed in Patrick Street. The alarm which this produced, and the chance of some consequent disclosures, impelled the conspirators prematurely into action. They fixed the rising of the people in Dublin for the evening of Saturday the 23rd. Some secret intelligence did reach the Government early that same afternoon, but no prompt measures were adopted. It was natural that subsequently the Government should be charged as having shown neither vigilance nor vigour. A great deal of recrimination followed between the Earl of Hardwicke, Lord Lieutenant, and General Fox, brother of the celebrated statesman, who was at this time Commander of the Forces in Ireland.

Through the whole afternoon small parties of men were observed to come in from Palmerstown and other places, and to gather in the neighbourhood of Thomas Street, close to which was one of the secret depôts of arms. By nine o'clock in the evening there might be four hundred assembled. Pikes and a few blunderbusses were then distributed among them from the depot; and some of the leaders appearing, urged them to proceed at once to attack the Castle. For so bold a step they were not, it seems, fully prepared. Instead of keeping

See Emmett's own account, | inserted in Howell's State Trials, first published by Mr. Curran, and vol. xxviii. p. 1178.

in one main body, they fell again into separate parties. One of these unhappily met the coach of Lord Kilwarden, Chief Justice of the King's Bench, who had been at his country seat, five miles from Dublin, and was returning in all haste, having been apprised by express of the threatening appearances. In the carriage with him were his daughter and his nephew, the Rev. Arthur Wolfe. The venerable Judge was dragged out, and, in spite of his cries for mercy, was inhumanly butchered with pikes. His mangled body bore the trace of no less than thirty wounds. His nephew, who had already escaped to some distance, was met by another party and killed in the same manner. To Miss Wolfe, on the contrary, a touch of compassion was shown. She was protected from harm, it is said, by two of the rebel chiefs on horseback; and through their interposition made her way to the Castle, where she was almost the first to bring the tidings of her father's fall.

After these and some other deeds of blood, several of the insurgent bands formed themselves again into one mass, and collected in High Street with the apparent intention of attacking the Castle. By this time, however, the military were in motion. Parties of soldiers and policemen advanced against the rebels, and, after some volleys, entirely dispersed them. In their retreat they were enabled to carry off their dead and wounded; but their leaders now concealed themselves or fled, and no attempt was made to renew the insurrection. By the vigilant search of the police on the next ensuing days, the secret depôts of arms were brought to light. In one alone there were several thousand heads of pikes. There

VOL. IV.

E

were machines made of planks and set with spikesa favour designed for the feet of the cavalry horses. There were also magnificent uniforms in green and gold for the Generals- -that were to be.

No sooner did the events of the 23rd at Dublin become known to the Government in England than a Message from the King upon them was sent down to both Houses. Addresses in reply were unanimously voted. Then the Prime Minister rose to bring in a Bill enabling the Lord Lieutenant to try at once, by Court Martial, all persons taken in rebellion, and to suspend the Habeas Corpus Act in Ireland. The operation of the Act was limited to six weeks after the commencement of the next Session of Parliament, and it was pressed through all its stages with the utmost despatch.

Shortly afterwards Major Sirr, the same officer so active in the arrest of Lord Edward Fitzgerald, discovered Robert Emmett in a hiding-place in the county of Wicklow, and carried him back to Dublin. Emmett delivered an eloquent speech upon his trial, but could make no effectual defence, and met his fate with unshaken constancy and courage. Nineteen other prisoners who had taken part in the Dublin insurrection were brought to trial in the months of August and September. One was acquitted, and one was pardoned; the rest, like Emmett, underwent the extreme sentence of the law.

At nearly the close of these trials, we find them summed up as follows by Mr. Wickham, the Secretary for Ireland, in writing to the Speaker, who was his intimate friend :-"So much for our civil proceedings,

which will ensure the peace of the country, if the French do not come. But if they do, and in force, God help us! Be assured we are not prepared to meet them. Do not cite me for this opinion; I have given it over and over again in the strongest manner à qui de droit."1

From the exigency of public business, the Session of Parliament had been prolonged to a date most unusual at that period. Not until the 12th of August did the King close it by a Speech from the Throne. "It is painful to me," said His Majesty, "to reflect that the means of necessary exertion cannot be provided without a heavy pressure upon my faithful people."

1 Letter dated Dublin Castle, Sept. 22, 1803, and appended to the Colchester Diary.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

1803.

Occupation of Hanover by the French - Preparations of the First Consul for invading England -M. Thiers's account of the terror inspired by them The Volunteers - Pitt's Cinque Port Regiment -State of his health-Reminiscences of his conversation - Lady Hester Stanhope - Pitt's tour of inspection - Controversy carried on in pamphlets - Conduct of Government respecting the defence of the country - Pitt's gun-boats - Grand Volunteer Reviews in Hyde Park-Ministerial changes, and Parliamentary recruitsPitt's Speech on the Volunteers - Volunteer Exemption Bill State of the Navy.

ON the renewal of the war between France and England, the First Consul, without an hour's delay, turned his whole mind to the vigorous prosecution of the contest. He would not allow, as the German Princes claimed, that the Electorate of Hanover, as part of their "Holy Roman Empire," should maintain its convenient neutrality. On the contrary, he sent a force of twentyfive thousand men under General Mortier, not only to reduce as was easy, but to hold and occupy that country. He drew large revenues from the dependent Republic of Italy. He imposed a monthly subsidy on the scarcely less dependent Kingdom of Spain. He devoted to his warlike preparations the sum of fifty-four millions of francs, which he had received in ready money from the United States, as part price for the province of Louisiana, which he had ceded to them. And above all he ap