in the prison upon the commission obtained from Government by this writer, that he (the overseer) had prevailed upon the Government to increase the salary of George Dunn, on account of his fidelity, in preventing this writer from effecting the escape of Robert Emmet. Thus did those conspirators take advantage of their own wrong for purposes of pecuniary fraud and personal aggrandizement. And as to the overseer, he by means of the present transaction and other acts equally base, and likewise by a long course of prison peculation, from having been an obscure and needy adventurer, became a man of wealth.

"But as to George Dunn's conduct in this transaction, it is plain that he was not the man of probity, the incorruptible servant of justice, which the newspaper extracts report him to have been. But, on the contrary, that he was a confederate, leagued with the other parties, for inveigling Robert Emmet and this present writer into a perilous conspiracy; and, with the blackest perfidy, that he was all along plotting and working for his own aggrandizement, and that of his unprincipled employer of that base individual who was the prime instigator of the transaction, the pivot upon which the machinery moved -that salaried and sycophantic peculator, who, as the chief inquisitor of the prison, conspired with and delegated his Mosca, his familiar, to decoy his victims into a snare, in promotion of his own infamous objects; and that on this occasion George Dunn was merely his working instrument-the rope in the hands of the hangman.

"One word more, and in conclusion, concerning the insurrection in which poor R. Emmet was involved, and also concerning himself. That insurrection must indeed be viewed only with absolute and unqualified condemnation. But as to Robert Emmet individually, it will surely be admitted that even in the midst of error he was great, in principle untainted, in courage dauntless. And, when upon his trial, with the grave already open to receive him, that the burst of eloquence with which he shook the very court wherein he stood, and caused not alone that viper whom his father nourished' to quail beneath the lash, but likewise forced even that 'remnant of humanity,' one of those who tried him, to tremble on the judgment-seat, was, under all the circumstances, an effort almost superhuman-a prodigy; not only when he hurled upon them

that withering defiance and memorable castigation, but also when he advocated the grounds upon which he had acted-exhibiting altogether a concentration of moral integrity, talent, and intrepidity unparalleled in the annals of the world.

"VERAX."

COPY OF DISPATCH FROM HIS GRACE THE LORD LIEUTENANT OF IRELAND; CONTAINING THE CASE OF MR. ST. JOHN MASON; WITH AN APPENDIX.

Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed, June 2, 1812. "Dublin Castle, Dec. 1, 1811.

"DEAR SIR-Having been directed to furnish such information as I could collect, relative to the causes of the arrest and imprisonment of St. John Mason, in 1803, and for some time after, I proceeded to investigate the case with all the diligence in my power; but I found few original papers on the subject; no official project or memorandum, and even the information collected by inquiry has been in many parts very vague and unsatisfactory. Nor can this appear surprising when it is recollected, that he was arrested during the suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act, and while the country was in a state of insurrection, and that since his arrest a period of eight years has elapsed; that in that time there have been seven Chief Secretaries, three Under-Secretaries, and three AttorniesGeneral; that notwithstanding changes of administration, and former complaints and inquiries as to his treatment in prison, Mr. Mason has now, for the first time, desired a scrutiny into the causes of his arrest and detention (at least to my knowledge) whereby that part of the subject has been forgot. The case, as far as I have been able to discover it, was this:

"St. John Mason was first cousin to Robert Emmet; his trial is in print, and the reading of it might be no bad preparation for any gentleman who wished to understand the state of Dublin at that time, and the views and feelings of government Emmet's concern in the insurrection of July 23, 1803, appeared by the papers which on that night were found in the Rebel Depot in Mass-lane, and sent to the Castle, some of which were proved on his trial; so far the government was fully informed; but what the extent of their information in

other respects was, it is perhaps impossible now to discover: we must endeavour to ascertain the facts, and suppose them to have been known at the time.

"For some months previous to the insurrection, Emmet had lived in or near Dublin, occupied chiefly in preparations for that event. At the time of the insurrection, and for some time before, but how long does not appear, St. John Mason, the first cousin and intimate friend of Emmet, resided at Sea Point, a genteel boarding-house, about four miles from the city, to which he probably had made frequent visits, though this does not appear: I cannot find any evidence of any intercourse having taken place between them during this time; but it seems natural, that in the alarm and doubt, and suspense which followed the 23d July, it should have been at least strongly suspected that such intercourse had existed. Mason certainly took no part in the murders in Thomas-street; the insurrection in that quarter took place about nine o'clock in the evening, at which time he was in a large company at the house of a very respectable gentleman who resided about miles from town, and from Sea Point. Even this, however, did not tend to exempt him from all suspicion, as it was generally said that the company were surprised at his not coming till eight o'clock, (though a dinner-party) and at his arriving there, not from Sea Point, but from town. On that night Mason lay at Sea Point; on the next or the following night he lay at an hotel in James-street, almost adjoinging the spot where the insurrection had broken out, and from thence proceeded by various modes of travelling as far as Nenagh, that being the direct way to Kerry, where Mason's connections lay; there he was arrested (it does not appear on what day) by a Magistrate of the County, in consequence, as he states, of an order for that purpose from the then Under Secretary. In Mason's letter-case were found some letters, particularly one directed to him, concerning which he expressed considerable anxiety, saying, that it was from a female in London. This letter the magistrate read, and forwarded with the rest, and the prisoner, to the Castle. It cannot be found, but the magistrate's account of it is, that it purported to be from a woman, but was expressed as if it had some covered meaning; mentioned a longing till her nails should grow so long as to tear flesh and draw blood, and in more than one

place expressed a wish to draw blood. On the whole, the magistrate states his opinion to have been at the time, that the letter was written by Emmet.

Mr. Mason was transmitted to Dublin, where, on the 9th of August, he was under the Chief Secretary's warrant committed to Kilmainham.

[See the Magistrate's Statement, Appendix, No. I.]

66

'In the latter end of August Robert Emmet was taken, and committed to the same prison.

George Dunn, an Englishman, formerly one of the underkeepers, and a confidential attendant on the state prisoners, and now the chief keeper of Kilmainham, swears, That about the 5th of September, (being at that time one of the underkeepers) he was applied to by Mr. St. John Mason to procure the escape of Emmet, then also a prisoner in Kilmainham jail, for which he promised him the sum of five hundred pounds; adding, that should Emmet get clear off, he (Dunn) would receive one thousand pounds in all, and that he should be kept harmless. Dunn further swears, that conceiving it his duty to prevent, if possible, the execution of such a plan, and that the best mode of doing so was not immediately to reject Mason's proposal, he promised to consider it; but in the mean time communicated with his 'superiors in office,' and, in consequence of the directions he received, had another interview with Mason, and said he would endeavour to comply with his request; upon which Mason gave him a note to deliver to Emmet, which note he withheld, but communicated the contents to Emmet, and it was ultimately handed to Mr. Wickham.

"Dunn also swears, that Mason then proposed, with which Dunn seemed to comply, that he should procure the key from Mr. John Dunn, the then keeper, while at dinner, and so let Emmet escape, and inform Emmet thereof, that he might take such steps as he thought necessary, which he accordingly did; that Emmet then gave him a note to Mr. Mason to procure clothes for the purpose of disguise, which note he was directed to show to Mr. John Dunn the keeper, and afterwards delivered it to Mason, who said *** would be with him the following day, and would procure what was desired: that Mason gave him (Dunn) several things to carry to Emmet, which he immediately showed to his superiors, and then deliv

ered them to Emmet, except some articles which were considered improper to be conveyed to him.

"Dunn further swears, that he afterwards informed Mason, that it would be out of his power to effect Emmet's escape, as Mr. John Dunn, the then keeper, remained entirely in that part of the prison; upon which Mason gave him a guinea note as a reward (which he also handed to his superiors). At the same time, Dunn swears, that Mason requested him to instruct ** * a person whom he supposed would be produced on Emmet's trial, how to act according to the directions Mason then gave Dunn, for the purpose of preventing her giving evidence.

“Emmet was tried on the 19th, and executed on the 20th of September. After his trial, he wrote a letter to Mr. Wickham, then Chief Secretary, evidently not with any hope of pardon or respite, but apparently dictated by a sense of justice, and by that sentiment of magnanimity with which, whatever his crimes may have been, he certainly conducted himself on that solemn occasion. In that letter he declared, that it had been his intention not only to have acknowledged the delicacy with which he had been personally treated, but to have done the most public justice to the mildness of the then administration of his country, and at the same time to have acquitted them, as far as rested with him, of any charge of remissness in not having previously detected a conspiracy, which from its closeness, he knew it was impossible to have done.

"That Emmet had Mason then in his thoughts cannot be proved; but it can scarcely be supposed that he would have unnecessarily used such language if he had been satisfied of the innocence of so near a relative, confined, to his knowledge, in the same prison.

(Signed)

No. I.

"J. S. TOWNSEND."

Copy of the Examination of the Magistrate, Chief Secretary's Office, Dublin Castle, September 26, 1811.

"Arrested Mr. John Mason in 1803, in consequence of a letter from this office from Mr. Marsden, as witness thinks, and thinks he showed Mason the letter brought to him by a yeoman of the name of found Mason in an inn at Nenagh,