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the army, had ever been prominently zealous for the system of coercion and severity. It is to be hoped that few of his colleagues, associates, and co-operators in those measures supported them by the same infamous injustice and profligacy he notoriously did. It is however to be feared, from the common cause, which most Orangemen made with this nobleman's disgrace and punishment, that the sympathy of that association with the noble lord's disposition and conduct was lamentably too general. Disliked at first, the benevolent, magnanimous and just Cornwallis became henceforward execrated by the Orangemen and they attempted to vilify that illustrious cha racter by the opprobrious appellation of Croppy Corny. On the 13th of October a court martial,* of which the Earl of Enniskillen was the president, proceeded to the trial of Hugh Wollaghan, of Middlewood, in the county of Wicklow, yeoman, charged with having, on the 1st of October, instant, come to the house of Thomas Dogherty, and then and there shooting and killing the said Thomas Dogherty, to which he was encouraged by Charles Fox and James Fox, of the aforesaid county, yeomen; and the said James Fox was likewise charged with having discharged a loaded gun at Margaret Barry of Delgany, on the 1st October, instant.

The prisoner being duly arraigned, pleaded not guilty. It appeared in evidence from the testimony of Mary Dogherty, of Delgany, in the county of Wicklow, that the prisoner came into her house at Delgany, and demanded if there were any bloody rebels there....that on deponent's answering there was not; only a sick boy; the prisoner Wollaghan asked the boy if he were Dogherty's eldest son; upon which the boy stood up, and told him he was; Wollaghan then said, well, you dog, if you are, you are to die here; that the boy replied, I hope not: if you have any thing against me, bring me to Mr. Latouche, and give me a fair trial, and if you get any thing against me, give me the severity of the law; that Wollaghan replied, no dog, I don't care for Latouche, you are to die here; upon which "been adopted for the further remuneration of their losses, are highly honoura"ble to your feelings, and must, in every loyal breast, excite emotions of love "and gratitude to his country.

"Since my arrival in this kingdom, I have received the most flattering assurances of your regard and approbation, which command my warmest " acknowledgments; and whilst I feel myself thus encouraged and supported, "and reflect on the loyalty which is so generally displayed, and on the force "entrusted to my direction, I cannot allow myself to doubt of the success of "our united endeavours for the welfare of this country."

* This court martial was holden in the barracks, at Dublin, by order of Lieutenant General Craig. Beside the president it consisted of

Major Brown, R. I. D.
Captain Onge, ditto.
Captain Leslie, Fermanagh.

Captain Irwin, Fermanagh.
Captain Carter, R I. D.
Lieutenant Summers, 68th.

deponent said to Wollaghan, (he then having the gun cocked in his hand) for the love of God, spare my child's life and take mine; that Wollaghan replied, no, you bloody whore, if I had your husband here, I would give him the same death. He then snapped the gun, but it did not go off; he snapped a second time, but it did not go off; upon which a man of the name of Charles Fox, but not either of the two prisoners at the bar, came in and said, damn your gun, there is no good in it; and that the said Fox said, at the same time to Wollaghan, that theman (pointing to deponent's son,) must be shot; that deponent then got hold of Wollaghan's gun, and endeavoured to turn it from her son, upon which the gun went off, grazed her son's body, and shot him in the arm....the boy staggered, leaned on a form.... turned up his eyes, and said, mother, pray for me! That on Wollaghan's firing the gun, he went out at the door, and in a short time returned in again, and said, is not the dog dead yet? that deponent replied, oh! yes, sir, he is dead enough!' upon which Wollaghan replied (firing at him again) for fear he be not, let him take this; deponent was at that instant holding up her son's head, when he fell, and died!

No attempt was made to contradict any part of this evidence, but a justification of the horrid murder was set up, as having been done under the order of the commanding officer, and this was sworn to by George Kennedy, Corporal of the Mount Kennedy Yeomen, who deposed that Captain Armstrong of the King's County Militia, who commanded at Mount Kennedy before and after Dogherty was shot, in consequence of the enormities and murders committed in that neighbourhood by day and by night, gave general orders, that any body of yeomanry going out, (he would wish them not less than nine or ten for their own safety,) and, if they should meet with any rebels, whom they knew or suspected to be such, that they need not be at the trouble of bringing them in, but to shoot them on the spot; that he, the witness, communicated this to the corps, and is very certain in the hearing of the prisoner Wollaghan, who was a sober, faithful, and loyal yeoman, and not degrading the rest of the corps, one of the best in it. That it was the practice of the corps to go out upon scouring parties, without orders to protect their own property, and that of their neighbours: and that he always looked upon it as an order, and practice of the

These scouring parties under orders were so much matters of course, that it appears from the testimony of these officers, they were considered as acts of military duty: nay, so brutalized were many of these corps, that they spoke of them as a diversion, which they called partridge shooting and grouzing: they hunted, not unfrequently, the brakes, hedges, ditches, and woods with dogs to spring any unfortunate peasant, that might have concealed himself from the fury of these blood-hunters, whom they instantly shot upon his appearance.

corps, particularly after what Captain Armstrong had mention. ed, and, that the witness would himself from his character and the orders he had received have thought himself justified in shooting the deceased.

This evidence in justification was confirmed by one private, one serjeant, and two lieutenants of yeomanry. Captain Archer of the Newtown Mount Kennedy yeomen, swore, that he had always found him a sober and diligent man; and since his being a yeoman, ready to obey his officers, and looked upon him to be an acquisition to his corps. Captain Gore deposed, that he had known the prisoner about four months, and that he was one of the best attendants on his duty as a yeoman, and that he knew him to be a loyal and brave soldier, and never knew him to be guilty of any act of inhumanity: that it was the practice of the corps to scour the country with an officer, and verily believed they understood it was their duty to shoot any rebel they met with, or suspected to be such; and deponent had heard, that other corps had similar directions in other districts. Here the defence closed, and the court after some deliberation acquitted the prisoner. When the minutes of this court martial in the usual way were laid before the lord lieutenant, his excellency was pleased to disapprove of the sentence, and conveyed his sentiments in the following letter to General Craig.

“SIR,

"Dublin Castle, 18th October, 1798.

"HAVING laid before the lord lieutenant the "proceedings of a general court martial, held by your orders in "Dublin Barracks, on Saturday the 13th instant, of which "Colonel the Earl of Enniskillen is president, I am directed to "acquaint you, that his excellency entirely disapproves of the

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sentence of the above court martial, acquitting Hugh Wol"laghan of a cruel and deliberate murder, of which by the "clearest evidence, he appears to have been guilty.

"Lord Cornwallis orders the court martial to be immediate"ly dissolved....and directs, that Hugh Wollaghan shall be dis"missed from the corps of yeomanry in which he served, and "that he shall not be received into any other corps of yeomanry "in this kingdom.

"His excellency further desires, that the above may be read "to the president and the members of the court martial in open

❝ court.

"I have the honour to be,

“Sir,

"Your most obedient humble srrvant,
H. TAYLOR, Secretary.

"Lieut. Gen. Craig, &c. &c.

"P. S. I am also directed, that a new court martial may be "immediately convened for the trial of such prisoners as may "be brought before them, and that none of the officers who sat upon Hugh Wollaghan be admitted as members.”

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As Mr. Theobald Wolfe Tone may be properly called the founder of the Irish Union, which ended in the late bloody rebellion, it will be proper to shew the lamentable victim he himself became to his own treasonable projects. He was more than any other of the traitors in that cause, intimately convinced, that the separation of Ireland from all connection with Great Britain was essential to the prosperity and welfare of his country. After he had fled from the arm of justice in the year 1795, he was of all the Irish fugitives the most favoured and attended to by the government of the French Republic. He obtained a commission in their army, was taken prisoner in the autumn of 1798, and was brought up to trial by a court martial on Saturday the 10th of November. He appeared in court in his French uniform, and pleaded guilty to the crime of which he stood charged; alleging, that what he had once done, he should be ashamed to deny. He had, though unsuccessfully, attempted to do for his country, what Washington had succeeded in, what Kosciusko had failed in, and unlike them both he had forfeited his life but a man engaged in such pursuits, should ever be ready to make that sacrifice. He in vain pleaded his French commission. With much difficulty he obtained leave of the court to read a paper, which in some passages was of such a tendency, that the court could not listen to it. These objectionable passages he consented to cancel, and gave in the rest.* He then delivered in several documents, which proved his bre-` vet for the rank of chef de brigade, and a letter of service, both having the signatures of the president of the French Directory and the minister of war. He repeated his desire to be indulged

This paper concludes in these words. "I conceive that I stand here in "the same light with our emigres, and if the indulgence lay within the power "of the court, I would only request what French magnanimity allowed to Cha"rette and to the Count de Sombreuil; the death of a soldier, and to be shot "by files of grenadiers. This is the only favour I have to ask, and I trust, "that men susceptible of the nice feelings of a soldier's honour, will not refuse "the request. It is not from any personal feeling that I make this request, ** but from a respect to the uniform which I wear, and to the brave army in "which I have fought. From papers which I yesterday delivered to the bri"gade major, it will be seen, that I am as regularly breveted an officer in the "French service, as any here is in the British army, and it will be seen, that "I have not my commission as a protection.

"Fudge Advocate. I wish you to be aware, that your acceptance of a com"mission in the French service amounts to positive proof of the charge ad"vanced against you, but, from your admissions already, I suppose that by the * production of those papers, you merely want to shew that you were an officer in the French army.

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with death in the most honourable manner, and as he had no doubt of the decision of the court, he expressed a wish that a confirmation of it by the lord lieutenant might be had as soon as possible, and execution of the sentence immediately follow, within an hour, if it were practicable.

On Sunday evening he was informed, that his conviction and sentence were confirmed by his excellency; but that his request, as to the mode of execution, could not be complied with; that he must suffer the same as others, who were taken in war against their king and country; and that the peculiar circumstances of his case rendered it necessary his execution should be in the most public manner; that he must be executed in front of the New Prison. Unable to bear this agony, he took the resolution of anticipating the execution by his own hand, and when the sentinel went to rouse him on Monday morning, he found him exhausted, weltering in blood, with his throat cut across, and apparently expiring. A military surgeon was instantly called in, who pronounced the wound not mortal, though extremely dangerous, to whom Mr. Tone faintly answered," he was then but "a bad anatomist." In the mean time a motion was made in his majesty's court of King's Bench, then sitting, to arrest execution, grounded on an affidavit sworn by the father of the prisoner, that he had been tried, convicted, and sentenced to death, on a charge of high treason, before a military court of seven members, sitting in the barrack of Dublin, though he did not belong to his majesty's army; while his majesty's court of King's Bench was sitting, before which the prisoner might have been tried in the ordinary way; Mr. Curran, who ably argued the point, moved, that an Habeas Corpus do issue forthwith to bring up the prisoner instanter.

The court immediately complied, and the officer who served the order on the provost marshal, returned with answer, that Brigade Major Sandys said he would comply with no orders but those of the commander in chief of the garrison; the court immediately directed the sheriff to repair to the barrack, take Major Sandys into custody, and bring him before the court. The sheriff, on his return, reported, that Major Sandys was not to be found, that he had seen General Craig, at whose instance he accompanied the surgeon to Mr. Tone, and that the surgeon reported, the prisoner could not be removed into court without danger of instant death.

The surgeon attended, and made affidavit to the same effect, and the return of the writ of Habeas Corpus was postponed for four days, and the court ordered the sheriff in the mean time to take the body of Theobald Wolfe Tone into his protection. In this situation he continued until Monday the 19th of November, when he died, having suffered most excruciating pain for

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