CHAPTER XXVII.

INFORMERS-CORRUPTION OF THE SOLDIERY-TRIALS OF THE SHEARESEXECUTIONS-DEATH OF OLIVER BOND.

THE frequent defeats and final dispersion of the rebels, had no effect in inducing the Irish executive to abate aught in the severity of the measures they had adopted towards the disaffected. The prisons were crowded with persons denounced by those infamous informers, Armstrong and Reynolds, Dutton and Newell,* with a host of subordinate villains, acting under the direction of police agents, themselves steeped deeper in iniquity even than the perjured wretches they suborned. Numbers, innocent in some cases, but generally, too guilty, through the instrumentality of these bad men, were brought hourly to the scaffold —and one of the most distressing tragedies, so frequent in these terrible times, occurred at this period in the execution of the Messrs. Sheares.

The chief agent employed in fostering the dangerous principles advocated by these unfortunate gentlemen, and, finally, in accomplishing their destruction, was a captain in the King's County militia. Arm

* "Of all the wretches of that band of informers, who rioted on the wages of iniquity in those frightful times, the worst, the most thoroughly debased, the vilest of the vile, was Edward John Newell, a native of Downpatrick, a portrait painter by profession. Treachery seemed to be the ruling passion of this man's life. To every friend or party he connected himself with, he was false. He betrayed the secrets of the United Irish Society, professedly to prevent the murder of an exciseman named Murdock. He ingratiated himself into the confidence of Murdock, and then robbed him of the affections of his wife. He became one of the regular corps of ruffians, called the battalion of testimony, who had apartments provided for them at the Castle, within the precincts of that place which was the residence of the viceroy, and the centre of the official business of the government. Having sold his former associates to the government, and, by his own account, having been the cause of two hundred and twenty-seven arrests, and the occasion of the flight of upwards of three hundred persons from their habitations, and many of them from their country, in consequence of the informations he had laid against them, he next betrayed the government, published their secrets, and fled from the service of Mr. Cooke to that of the Northern United Irishmen."

The wretch met but the fate he merited-he was murdered. During this negotiation he remained mostly at M'Questen's, at Donegore, which he left one evening, in company with two professed friends, and he was never afterwards seen. He had become again suspected by the United Irishmen of being about to give them the slip, and he was therefore consigned to Moiley, then a cant term for assassination. The account says, he was thrown overboard from a boat in Garnogle; another, that he was shot on the road, near Roughfort.

"Mr. Gunning, another of the actors in the struggle of 1798, who recently died, informed me a few weeks before his death, that a Mr. White, of Ballyholme (about ten miles from Belfast), about fifteen years ago, had found there, on the beach, partly uncovered, some human bones; and from all the circumstances connected with the discovery, he believed them to be the bones of Newell, who was said to have been drowned there."-Lives of the United Irishmen.

strong a name still of infamous celebrity-was professedly a viruler.t republican, and having, by the virulence of his language, induced the belief that he was a deadly enemy to the government and monarchy, he completely succeeded in penetrating the secrets, and obtaining the confidence of the conspirators. By encouraging a favourite object with the disaffected-the corruption of the soldiery-he led his intended victims on step by step-until, from their own disclosures, he conducted them eventually to the scaffold.

It may be here necessary to remark, that even before Defenderism gave place to the formation of United Irishmen, no pains had been spared to tamper with the native regiments, and induce them to swerve from their allegiance. In every garrison town the attempt was made and sometimes with considerable success. Money, drink, and even the blandishments of degraded women, were employed to sap the loyalty of the unsuspecting soldier-and the extent to which this object was carried, may be collected from the following account, given to the author by an officer who was encamped at the time with one of the disloyal regiments.

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Long before the rebellion actually exploded, the successful efforts used by the disaffected to sap the loyalty of the Irish regiments, may be easily conceived, from a detection made in the camp of Sir Eyre Coote, through the revelations of a drummer. The conspiracy, it appeared, was first set on foot in the year 1796, and so extended had it become that, when discovered, it numbered amongst the troops in camp upwards of five hundred members. A much larger number of civilians were also connected with it. Its object was the assassination of the officers and loyalists in the camp, and a junction with the French in case of a successful landing; but a merciful Providence interposed, and saved those thus marked out for slaughter. The conspirators were divided into parties, and to each party were allotted those who were to be their victims-in many instances the master was to fall by the servant's hand, and the loyal soldier by the agency of his false comrade."

A drum-boy of the County Limerick militia, named Daly, strolling through the fields bordering upon the camp and picking blackberries, chanced to come unexpectedly on the leaders of the conspiracy, concealed in an old double-ditch, and engaged in regulating their intended operations; and, on pain of death, he was immediately sworn a member of the villanous confederacy. So ignorant were those fellows, that not one of them could write-and Daly, soon after, became their secretary, and consequently was intimate with their plans which were fast progressing to maturity. Affection for the captain of his company made Daly inform him of the state of affairs, and Captain Bateman immediately communicated it to Sir Eyre Coote, who commanded in the southern district. Through Daly, lists of the conspirators were procured-and great caution was observed until all was arranged for their arrest.

On the 1st of July, 1796, the troops were ordered for parade, and by a previous arrangement the disaffected regiments found themselves

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surrounded by the Hompesch dragoons, the regiments of the line, and the English and Scotch militia regiments then in camp, with several pieces of artillery, in battery on either flank. General Coote rode up and addressed the disaffected soldiers-pointed out the enormity of their crime-told them he held in his hand a list of all their namesand desired every man implicated, to advance three steps from the ranks, and ground his arms. An immediate movement took place—and almost every third or fourth man stepped forward. The regiments more or less corrupted were the Roscommon, Leitrim, Fermanagh, Meath, Westmeath, Sligo, Limerick, Derry, County Dublin, Wexford, and Waterford. Immediately the leaders were taken into custody-but the remainder were allowed to return to their regiments. A courtmartial was assembled-and after sitting for a week, Gillgare, of the Roscommon, Connor and Larcey, of the Limerick, and Drumgoold, of the Westmeath, were capitally convicted and shot. When Drum-' goold was placed on his knees for execution, the firing party given by his own regiment discharged their muskets over his head-but another party was immediately ordered out, and the sentence was duly executed in the presence of their guilty companions.

A number of the traitorous soldiers underwent minor punishmentsome were flogged, and others drafted into the condemned regiments -the mutinous spirit was for a time extinguished-and the drum-boy, who had certainly "done the state some service," was rewarded with a commission in the excise.

This favourite object of the disaffected was fatally employed by the betrayer of the Messrs. Sheares-and as the account given by Barrington of these unfortunate gentlemen has a peculiar degree of interest attached to it from the part he himself enacted in the last scene of this melancholy transaction, we extract it from his "Personal Sketches."

When the apprehension of the other leaders drew him into the vortex of revolution, and he became a member of the new directory, in the month of March, the affairs of the United Irishmen were in a desperate state; and it seemed all but madness, after Lord Edward Fitzgerald's arrest, to proceed further in their plans. When they lost him, the "prestige" of their cause was gone. Nevertheless, those of their leaders who were at large were still sanguine of success, and they prevailed on John Sheares to become the chief member of the directory. It was at this period that the free-quarters system was in full force that the nation was declared out of the king's peace, and the whole military force of the country was let loose upon the people. During the short time the affairs of the union were committed to the chief guidance of John Sheares, his exertions were incessant.

"The removal of the troops into the camps of Laughlinston gave rise to one of the most melancholy episodes of this history. At Laughlinston (seven miles from Dublin), some thousand men, mostly Irish militia, were encamped by Lord Carhampton. The United Irishmen sent emissaries to the camp, and disaffection was rapidly proceeding amongst the troops. It was disclosed to government by a

Captain Armstrong, of the King's County Militia, who also did what his feelings should have imperatively prohibited. He was prevailed on at the castle to ingratiate himself as a brother conspirator amongst the higher classes of the conspirators; and to gain proofs of their guilt through their confidence in his fidelity.* He was induced to become evidence, even to death, against those whose culpability he had encouraged, and attend to execution the very gentlemen whom he made victims to their confidence in his integrity.

"Of Mr. Reynolds, and his brother conspirator, Armstrong, the former had been disaffected, and might have informed-at least, under the semblance of compunction. He was in humble life; the United Irishmen had first seduced him into their society, and he became terrified at its consequences. Captain Armstrong wormed himself into the confidence of the rebels, with the design of betraying them: his treachery was pre-organized, and he proved himself as competent a conspirator as those whom he had made his victims. He had the honour of an officer, and the integrity of a gentleman to sustain; yet he deliberately sacrificed both, and saw two gentlemen executed by his treachery.

"Mr. John Sheares, upon the arrest of the other dictators, became one of the executive directory of the United Irishmen, and, as a necessary consequence, Henry was a participator in the treason, and aided in procuring emissaries to seduce the troops at Laughlinston. There Captain Armstrong became acquainted with the two brotherspledged to them his friendship-persuaded them he would seduce his regiment gained their implicit confidence-faithfully fulfilled the counterplot devised several secret meetings and worked up sufficient guilt to sacrifice the lives of both. They were arrested-tried-on his evidence convicted-and were hanged and beheaded in the front of Newgate. They came hand-in-hand to the scaffold: Henry died without firmness--the brother met his death with sufficient fortitude.

*"Captain Armstrong led his credulous victims to believe that the soldiery at Laughlinston camp were ripe for revolt, and ready to join the insurgents. In return, the fullest disclosures were made to him by the Sheares, and these were directly communicated by their false ally to the authorities at the Castle. The younger (John) apprized Armstrong, on the part of the rebel executive, that they had resolved to appoint him to the command of the King's County regiment.' He further informed him, that on the night of the rising in Dublin, the Lord Lieutenant was to be seized, and all the privy council, separately in their own houses. That, when the privy council were seized, there would be no place to issue orders from, so as to counteract the rising; and in case of a failure of the attack on the camp, on the march of the soldiery into town, through Bagot-street, they had a sufficient number of houses there in their interest to shoot them from, so as to render them useless.' All this part of the conversation was represented to have taken place while Henry had been present. Captain Armstrong did not think it necessary to state, that, at his Sunday's interview, he shared the hospitality of his victims; that he dined with them, sat in the company of their aged mother and affectionate sister, enjoyed the society of the accomplished wife of one of them, caressed his infant children; and on another occasion was entertained with music-the wife of the unfortunate man whose children he was to leave in a few days fatherless, playing on the harp for his entertainment! These things are almost too horrible to reflect on.' Lives of the United Irishmen.

This was one of the most interesting trials in Ireland. Henry might have been pardoned, but it was impossible to mitigate the fate of the brother.

"It is only justice to Lord Clare, to record an incident which proves that he was susceptible of humane feelings, and which often led me to believe that his nature might have been noble, had not every compunctious visiting been absorbed by that ambition, the final disappointment of which at last caused his death.

"By some unfortunate delay, a letter of Henry Sheares was not delivered to me till eleven o'clock on the morning after the trial. I immediately waited on Lord Clare; he read it with great attention; I saw he was moved his heart yielded. I improved on the impression he only said, 'What a coward he is! but what can we do?' He paused-John Sheares cannot be spared. Do you think Henry can say any thing, or make any species of discovery which can authorize the lord-lieutenant in making a distinction between them ?—if so, Henry may be reprieved.' He read the letter again, and was obviously affected. I had never seen him amiable before. Go,' said he, to the prison, see Henry Sheares, ask him this question, and return to me at Cooke's office.' I lost no time; but I found on my arrival, that orders had been given that nobody should be admitted without a written permission. I returned to the castle; they were all at council. Cooke was not at his office; I was delayed. At length the secretary returned, gave me the order; I hastened to Newgate, and arrived at the very moment the executioner was holding up the head of my friend, and saying, 'Here is the head of a traitor!""

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At the place of execution, though John maintained his firmness, Henry betrayed the natural imbecility of his character, and evinced a terror at his approaching death which almost unseated reason. bitter agony of soul produced by his conviction will be best understood by perusing the abject letter he addressed to Sir Jonah Barrington, when he implored him to intercede with the Lord Chancellor in his behalf. As a man, we despise his cowardice-but as a father, we feel the sincerest pity. Who could read that harrowing epistle without emotion? Alas! before the prayer of the application could be acted on, the sentence had been carried into effect.

After urging Barrington to mediate with Lord Clare, Henry Sheares thus continues: "Tell him" (Lord Clare) "that I will pray for him for ever, and that the government shall ever find me what they wish. Oh! my family, my wife, my children, my mother; go to them, let them throw themselves at the Chancellor's and Lord Shannon's feet. Those papers which were found in my office have ruined me; you know, my dear friend, I had nothing to do with them; you know I never was an advocate for violence or blood. I have been duped, misled, deceived, but with all the wishes and intentions to do good. My principles were never for violence, my nature is soft to a fault, my whole happiness is centred in my beloved, my adored family; with them I will go to America, if the government will allow me, or I will stay here and be the most zealous friend they have. Tell the Lord