Secret Service Under Pitt [Microform]

THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY From the collection of James Collins, Drumcondra, Ireland. Purchased, 1918. 9^/57 Co I inefl. 8*0., priea 143,, __ SfiBViCaviqi UNDER' FITT. By W. J. I mftfATMCK. F.S.A.. Anthorof " Prirate CowMpond-ii I Imd Kemoirs of D«iiel O'ConneU. M.P.. ' &c. ' "The extentive . Satiiidftr Keview."— asd veculiunow- tmg» poSMSsed by Mr. S'it'Patrii:!c has be«n êîbited tir atnMBts in divera boDks-befora 'Secret Service Under rPitt.' But we do not kaowthat in any of these it has shown ' VattUt to freat^r advantage than in the present olume. people will experience no difficulty and find much pl( _ ._ inlMMaidinx. r . A better addition to the curlosititti of ' histoid we have not lately seen.'] A. ' SMCRBT SERVICE UNDER PITT. v. S'_ ^ ' Times."—" Mr. Fit/Patrick cleaie up sonie louK-stand* tecmyaterieiwitii ereat sscacitr. and by meanyofhis minute Mtaprttfoofld Knowledge 01 documents, persons. ancfpTents, ~f(aoceeds in iUuminatinar some of the darkest pasaases ia the, | SwrtniT of I^>fi{''f0u3Blracy, and of the treachery ao con- ftkauy akaoMKed with it. On almost every pace he ttdrowa aaAdtnentic and instructive lisbt on the darker sidea €rf the Irishhigtoity of the times jvith- which h>i is dealing. 4^'. 'Jncvturatrick's book may be commended alike for a» jlktoncal lapbrtaace and for its intriaeic intereat." Xijoad^n : lAngmana. Gieen. and Oo. The person charging this material is re- sponsible for its return on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. UNIVERSITY OF lUINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN IEC 2 2 m3 y * ^ 9 r-v ,.,»». -A SECRET SERVICE UNDER PITT — , ,:<- .;- ^^^,- v^.77^|.jj^(Pp^^: Two vols. Cm. 8vo. with Portrait, 36a. THE PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE AND MEMOIRS OF DANIEL O'CONNELL, M.P. By WM. J. FITZPATRICK, F.S.A. KNT. BT. OBBO. OT. * In these Tolumes there Is nothing tedious, and they are well put together.' Standard. * Mr. Fltzpatrick, who has done more than any living writer for Irish Mography, has in this, bis latestand most importaut work .earned the gratitude of all students of Irish politics.'—Dailx Telkubapu. ' This work stands high above the extravagant and indiscriminatinir enlogies of O'Coiiuell, accompanied by ignorant and malignant denunciatious of all oppos^ to him, hitherto given to the world by patriotic biographers.'—Timbs. ' Inspired by love and admiration, pursued, with laborious and indefatigable industry, and guided by honesty and good judgment. It gives a nigber and, we believe, a tmer view of 0*Conneirs character than has been given to the world before.'—VANrnr Fair. * Fresh light is thrown upon a most interesting period of Irish hintory by this publication, in which Daniel U'Connell reveals his innermost thoughts npon great public questions, as well as on themes of sacred and private import. Courts and Cabinets—the intrigues of public men and the subtleties of political organisationi —are alike laid open to the public gaze.'—Daily Ohbonicle. ' To Mr. Fitzpatrlck is due the gratitude of all students of history, of truth, and of human character for the patience and pertinacity with which be has collected these letters, and the knowledge, discretion, and tact of his arrangement. He has let O'Connell tell his own story, and the coouectiag thread is slight and scientiflc, such as only miuute knowledge of his period could make it. The reader is hardly Conscious of its presence, yet it suffices to weld a huire mass of miscellaneous oorjv- sp'indence into an authentic biography and lifelike portrait of the man who, of all oibers, made the greatest mark on his country and his generation.' Athenûm. * Mr. Fitzpatrlck, while presenting to us a collection of moderate extent, has not only woven them into a web of fair average continuity, but has, ss a sculptor would, presented to us his hero "in the round," fo that we may consider each of his qualities in each varied light, and judge of their combination into a whole, whether it is mean or noble, consistent or inconsistent, naturnl or forced. .... Few Indeed, as I think, of those who give a careful perusal to these pages.'will withhold their assent from the double assertion that O'Connell was a neat man, and that he was a good man. Up«n this issue the volumes now before us will enable us to try him ; and in trying him to try ourselves. For who can any longer doubt that some debt is ftill due to him ; that he was, to say the least, both over-oensured and under- valued ? '—Mr. OLAbSTOKE, in 7%« Mneteenth Century. London : JOHN MUBBAT, Albemarle Street. ._J,L£j£^>.^, * SECRET SERVICE UNDER PITT BY W. J. FITZPATEICK, F.S.A. AUTHOH OF 'life, TIMES, AND CORRESPONDENCE OF BISHOP DOTLB* 'LIKE OF LOUD CLONCUKRY ' 'COUUESl'OVnEVCE and UEMOIRS of DANIEL o'cosnell' 'IliELANU BEFORE THE UNION' ETC. LONDON LONGMANS, GEEEN, AND CO. AND NEW YOKE: 15 EAST IB'" STEEET 1892 All rights renrved '^ PRINTED BT erori'iswooDK and co., jjew-strket squai^s LONDON ^1^.-., :j;r^-'-»'n'Â *.••- i^:^-rs'i^-s^^'- fim^tlgSK^^%^P7^^'r:^!fWV^W^^^^p!^ *7 -r: ^. ,^ '.r PEEFACE These rough notes—begun long ago and continued at slow intervals—were put aside during the onerous task of editing for Mr. Murray the O'Connell Correspondence. The recent publication of Mr. Lecky's final volumes, awakening by their grasp a fixed interest in pre-Union times, and confirming much that by circumstantial evidence I had sought to establish, affords a reason, perhaps, that my later researches in the same field ought not to be wholly lost. Mr. Lecky's kindness in fre- quently quoting me ' merits grateful acknowledgment, not less than his recognition of some things that I brought to light as explanatory of points to which the State Papers afford no clue. This and other circumstances encourage me in offering more. My sole purpose at the outset was to expose a well-cloaked case of long-continued betrayal by one of whom Mr. Froude ^ confesses that all efforts to identify had failed ; but afterwards it seemed desirable to disclose to the reader a wider knowledge of an exciting time.^ In various instances a veil will be found lifted, or a visor unlocked, revealing features which may prove a surprise. Nor is the story without a moral. The organisers of illegal societies will see that, in spite of the apparent secrecy and ingeiiuity of their system, informers sit with them at the ' Vide England in the Eighteenth Century, vii. 211 ; viii. 42-44, 46, 191, 240, etc. '* See Froude'a English in Ireland, vol. iii. sec. vi. ^; * I have been further encouraged by the very favourable judgment of an Â" acute critic, the late Mr. Hepworth Dixon, regarding a book of mine, written on the same lines as the present. See Athenceum, No. 1649, pp. 744 et seq. •?**. VI SECRET SERVICE UNDER PITT same council-board and dinner-table, ready at any moment to sell their blood ; and that the wider the ramifications of con- spiracy, the greater becomes the certainty of detection. It may be that some of these researches are more likely to interest and assist students of the history of the time than to prove pleasant reading for those who take up a book merely for enjoyment. Yet if there is truth in the axiom that men who write with ease are read with difficulty, and vice versa, these chapters ought to find readers. Every page had its hard work. Tantalising delays attended at times the search for some missing—but finally discovered—link. Indeed, volumes of popular reading, written currente calamo, might have been thrown off for a tithe of the trouble. * If the power to do hard work is not talent,' writes Gar- field, * it is the best possible substitute for it. Things don't turn up in this world until somebody turns them up.' Readers who, thanks to Froude and Lecky, have been interested by glimpses of men in startling attitudes, would naturally like to learn the curious sequel of their subsequent history. This I have done my best to furnish. The present volume is humbly offered as a companion to the two great works just alluded to. But it will also prove useful to readers of the Welling- ton, Castlereagh, Cornwallis, and Colchester Correspondence. These books abound in passages which, without explanation, are uninteUigible. The matter now presented forms but a small part of the notes I have made with the same end. A word as regards some of the later sources of my in- formation. The Pelham MSS. were not accessible when Mr. Froude wrote. Thomas Pelham, second Earl of Chichester, was Irish Secretary from 1795 to 1798, but his correspondence until 1826 deals largely with Ireland, and I have read as much of it as would load a float. Another mine was found in papers, the ranging from 1795 to 1805, which filled two iron- clamped chests in Dublin Castle, guarded with the Government a; PREFACE VU * seal and bearing the words Secret and Confidential : Not to be Opened.' These chests were for a long time familiar objects exteriorly, and when it was at last permitted to disturb the rust of lock and hinge, peculiar interest attended the exploration. Among the contents were 136 letters from Francis Higgins, substantially supporting all that I had ven- tured to say twenty years before in the book which claimed to portray his career. But neither the Pelham Papers in London nor the archives at Dublin Castle reveal the great secret to which Mr.

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