Above: The English Viceroy

The Lord Deputy was somewhat uncertain what course the Earl of Desmond would adopt. In order to encourage him to persevere in loyalty, he sent to him two English officials named Davells and Carter. These men were resting for the night at an inn near Tralee, when the younger brothers of Desmond, John and James Fitzgerald, forced their way into the house and slew them in cold blood. After this they betook themselves with their followers to their cousin, James Fitzmaurice, who expressed great indignation at the atrocious and perfectly useless crime which they had committed.

Above: Map of Connacht

The parts of Ireland affected by the wars of Shane O’Neill had been Ulster, some parts of Connacht, and north Leinster ; now the southern province, which had been flourishing in comparative peace, was to take its turn in misfortune. Of the southern nobility the Earl of Desmond was by far the most powerful. The territory over which his sway or influence extended stretched from Duncaoin (Dunquin W. of Ventry) in Kerry to ” the Meeting of the Three Waters ” where the Suir, Nore and Barrow meet in Waterford ; and from the great island of Ard Nemidh (Queenstown) to Limerick ; and it comprised some of the richest land in Ireland. The Desmonds, like the Kildares, descended from Maurice Fitzgerald, who had come to Ireland in Henry’s day.

The plans of the United Irishmen were well known to the Government, which had spies everywhere, even in the innermost circles of the society. Nevertheless, the leaders were for several months permitted to enjoy a fancied security, and to mature their schemes at home and abroad without interference. At length, in March 1798, the blow was struck. A number of the chief men were arrested at the house of Oliver Bond, one of their number, in Bridge Street, Dublin. Other arrests followed, and depfits of arms were raided. Lord Edward Fitzgerald succeeded in remaining concealed till May 17th, when he was seized in No. 153, Thomas Street, Dublin. He resisted desperately, mortally wounded one of his captors, and received himself a wound, of which he died some three weeks later. His private character was extremely amiable; his courage and disinterestedness above suspicion, and his devotion to what he considered to be a sacred cause singularly lofty and unselfish.

By this time few of those who really held in their hands the threads of the conspiracy had escaped arrest; and those few had fled from the country. The entire machinery had been put out of gear ; the arms had been seized. Nevertheless, the insurrection broke out, but in a form very different from what the leaders had intended. It took the shape of a number of local risings, practically unconnected one with another, and so foredoomed to failure. One, indeed, was formidable and lasted for some time ; it might well have been more formidable still, and lasted longer. By a strange chance it was precisely this rising, that in Wexford and Wicklow, which in origin and aim least approximated to the National Insurrection of which Tone, Fitzgerald, O’Connor and the rest had dreamed.