the accidental explosion of one of his depóts, he was induced to hasten his exertions; and, in the evening of the 23d of July, this rash and daring youth marched with about eighty men, like a general issuing from his headquarters, and paraded some of the streets of Dublin. The viscount Kilwarden, chief-justice of Ireland, who, when he was attorney-general, had officiated at the prosecution of former traitors, unfortunately met the insurgents, who had received considerable accessions in their progress. Inflamed with the malignity of revenge, some of them attacked him, dragged him and his nephew (a respectable clergyman) from their coach, and stabbed them to death with pikes. While they were perpetrating this horrible outrage, small parties of soldiers were advancing; and a bold magistrate ordered the mal-contents to throw down their arms. They wounded him for daring to interrupt their march, and repelled the few men whom he led into action. Lieutenant-colonel Brown was attacked on his advance, and put to death; but, in two desultory conflicts, the mal-contents were routed; and the insurrection, as far as it concerned the seat of government, was extinguished. Apprehensions,

however, were still entertained by the loyal and welldisposed part of the community. To remove these fears, the lord-lieutenant issued a proclamation, ordering the instant dispersion of all armed assemblages, on pain of military execution; and, by the vigilance of the police and the arrest of many turbulent mal-contents, tranquillity was outwardly, if not fully restored.

A special commission was not immediately issued for the trial of the offenders; and the reason alleged was a wish to afford time for the re-establishment of order and security, that the irritation of the minds of men might be so far allayed, as to admit the delivery of fair verdicts by jurors, uninfluenced either by the fear of

giving offence to the disaffected, or by the intemperate zeal of indignation and resentment. Roche, whose age had not extinguished his seditious activity, was condemned for having been found in arms in the street where the insurrection commenced; and he was hanged and beheaded on the spot which was stained with the blood of lord Kilwarden. The behaviour of Kearney, at his trial, was audacious and insolent; while Kirwan, who had been a more active and determined conspirator, conducted himself with submissive decorum. These two delinquents did not escape exemplary punishment; and Rourke, who had led a party of insurgents to Dublin, suffered death at Rathcoole.

The trial of Emmet, who, having eluded discovery for a month, was suddenly discovered, excited the most eager interest. He was arraigned on the statute of Edward III.; and the circumstances of his case were elaborately stated by O'Grady, the attorney-general. After his return from France, he had assumed a false name, and employed himself with clandestine diligence in diffusing the venom of disaffection. He had hired various houses, in which the implements of mischief might be kept for future use: he had admitted, to separate and secret conferences, a number of individuals, some of whom were reputed mal-contents; and, having long organised (yet not matured) his flagitious schemes, he had burst forth into action and outrage. His proclamations and addresses were produced; and his misapplied enthusiasm in an atrocious cause was noticed by the eloquent pleader with astonishment and disgust. The circumstances of imputed guilt were not denied by the prisoner, who even boldly vindicated his conduct: he was therefore pronounced guily by the jury, and punished with death, to which he submitted with remarkable equanimity.

Another leader was Redmond, who, in the hope of escaping a public execution, shot himself: but, his wound being cured, he was convicted, and consigned to the ignominious fate of his associates. The guilt of Russell was afterward investigated, and sufficiently proved. He soared above the generality of his accomplices in understanding and respectability; but, as that consideration did not diminish his criminality, he was not indulged with pardon. Many other persons suffered death for their concern in the insurrection, or in the intrigues and machinations by which it was produced.

CHAPTER XXVII.

GEORGE III. (Continued.)

A. D. 1803.

THE friends of war, exulting in the effect of their clamors, would have cherished flattering hopes of success and of glory, if they could have secured to themselves the government of the state. But that minister, whose want of energy they had so vehemently arraigned, was still in the apparent plenitude of power; and, although he had rushed into war, they apprehended that his schemes and operations would not be commensurate with the dangers of the crisis.

As the king had taken an early opportunity of sending notice of the war to the commanders in the WestIndies, an expedition was undertaken, in the month of June, against St. Lucia. A great force was not requisite for the proposed conquest, although some resistance was necessarily expected. Soon after the disembarkation of

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the troops, the weak posts near Castries were stormed, and the town was seised; but the island was not yet subdued, because an important fortress remained to be taken. This post was so impetuously assaulted on the following morning, that the garrison did not long defend it yet it was not obtained without the loss of some gallant men and the vulneration of many. It was remarked with pleasure by the commanding officer, that the soldiers, at the very moment when resistance ceased, relinquished all traces of animosity, and offered the most friendly protection to their surviving foes, not being tempted, by the exultation of success or the ebullition. of resentment, to kill or wound a single person. There is little merit in such forbearance; for it is an obvious point of duty. Not being, however, invariably practised, it appears to a military observer as an instance of extraordinary humanity.

At the fort of Scarborough, on the island of Tobago, which was the next object of hostile visitation, no opposition was offered to the invading force; and, in the north, the isles of St. Pierre and Miquelon were easily reduced. The Dutch colonies of Demerara, Essequibo, and Berbice, were likewise subjected to the sway of Great-Britain. The forts of those three settlements were not ill-provided for resistance; but the commandants were unwilling to risque even the smallest loss, and therefore readily submitted.

During the short interval of peace, the French had made so little progress in the re-conquest of the island of St. Domingo, that, after a very great loss of men by war and disease, Rochambeau was confined with his remaining troops to a small district. He could not effectually trust to the strength of Cape-François, which was blockaded not only by the negroes and mulattoes, but also by a British squadron. The town was at length

seised by the confederate warriors; and the French: troops, in endeavouring to escape, were made prisoners by their European enemies, who left the island to its barbarian defenders.

Before the intelligence of the war with France reached the oriental dependencies of Great-Britain, hostilities arose with some of the native princes. The ambitious policy of the marquis Wellesley would not suffer India to remain long without a war. He was earnestly desirous of establishing the power of the company above all fear of rivalry or control. When the native princes were quiet, he fancied that they viewed the English with a jealous eye; and, when they appeared to be in motion, he asserted his full conviction of their hostile intentions, and pretended to dread the most serious injury, if the most vigorous preparations should not be made for the chastisement of every supposed enemy. He disregarded that parliamentary resolution which had prohibited all schemes of conquest in India, and, with the same zeal which actuated Bonapartè in Europe, endeavoured to subject all the neighbouring powers to the British yoke. With strange inconsistency, his conduct was applauded by the very men who justly condemned the proceedings of the ruler of France. An arbitrary extension of that territory which the servants of the company could not properly or wisely govern, was panegyrised as a glorious act; and to enslave a nabob or a rajah was pronounced to be a stroke of justifiable and admirable policy.

In the Mahratta state, the chief authority was exercised by the peishwah, or minister, while his legitimate sovereign was merely a nominal prince. He had been frequently requested to enter into an alliance with the British government; but, as he suspected that the overtures were not dictated by disinterested motives, he was