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barrister and later General in Napoleon’s army, Arthur O’Connor, were dispatched to Paris, only to be intercepted and arrested-O’Connor sent to prison in Dublin and Father Quigley hanged in England.
Unsurprisingly, the Government was informed of almost every plan hatched by the United Irishmen, and it is a historical fact they employed hosts of informers, many of them wealthy and inluential, including many prominent members of the United Irishmen-men such as Thomas Reynolds of Kilkea Castle, Kildare, the barrister Leonard MacNally, and Francis Higgins, “the Sham Squire,” proprietor of the Freeman’s Journal. Majors Sirr and Swan of Dublin Castle infamy had many lesser individuals in their pay. In truth, the au- thorities were as well-informed about the revolutionaries’ plans, and their negotiations with France, as the rebel leaders themselves.
Whilst the oicial terror campaign of the regulars, yeos, and militia continued, with the purpose of destroying the will and means of revolt, the leaders, unaware of the magnitude of the spy network operating against them, were left to plan. That is, until 12 March, 1798, when the Government, acting on information supplied by Reynolds, pounced on a meeting of the Leinster Directory of the United Irishmen at the house of Oliver Bond in Dublin and arrested all but three of the ‘directory’ or governing council. Two of the three, Thomas Addis Emmet and Dr. William Mac Nevin were arrested shortly afterwards.
The third leader, Lord Edward, for whom a reward of £1,000 was quickly ofered, remained at large but was taken in May, ill in bed in a Dublin house. Ill though he was, Fitzgerald put up a stern resistance ighting desperately against Majors Swan, Sirr, and their arresting force, till he was wounded and overpowered. He later died from his wounds.
The capture of Lord Edward Fitzgerald