Disappointed Hopes (1793 – 1795)

Above: Disappointed Hopes

The government kept a strict watch on the United Irishmen, the Catholic Committee, and all such associations, so as to be ready for prosecutions as occasions might arise. At a meeting of United Irishmen held in Dublin, in February, 1793, with the Hon. Simon Butler as chairman, and Oliver Bond, a Dublin merchant as secretary, an address was adopted and circulated, animadverting on the conduct of the lords in a secret inquiry about the Defenders. For this Butler and Bond were sentenced to be imprisoned for six months and to pay a fine of 500 pounds each.

Archibald Hamilton Rowan, the son of a landed proprietor of Ulster, who had been conspicuous as a volunteer, and was now a United Irishman, circulated an address to the volunteers written by Dr. Drennan. For this he was prosecuted, and was defended by Curran in one of his most brilliant speeches. He was convicted of a seditious libel, and sentenced to be imprisoned for two years, and to pay a fine of 500 pounds.

While Rowan was in prison, an emissary from France arrived in Ireland to sound the people about a French invasion: the Rev. William Jackson, a Protestant clergyman of Irish extraction. He had with him a London attorney rained Cockayne, In whom he had confided his secret, but who was really a spy in the pay of Pitt. These two had interviews with the leading United Irishmen in Dublin-Wolle Tone, Leonard MacNally, Hamilton Rowan then in the Dublin Newgate prison, and others.

MacNally was a Dublin attorney, who man- aged the legal business of the United Irishmen : he was trusted by them with their innermost secrets, and lived and died in their friendship and confidence. Long after his death it was discovered that he was all the time a spy in government pay. Tone drew out a report on the state of Ireland for Jackson, who kept a copy of it in Hamilton Rowan’s handwriting.