I will not weary my reader with a narrative of my mountain walk, nor
the dangers and difficulties which beset me on that day of storm
and hurricane. Few as were the miles to travel, what with accidents,
mistakes of the path, and the halts to take shelter, I only reached
Murrah as the day was declining.
The little village, which consisted of some twenty cabins, occupied a
narrow gorge between two mountains, and presented an aspect of greater
misery than I had ever witnessed before, not affording even the humblest
specimen of a house of entertainment. From some peasants that were
lounging in the street I learned that ‘Father Doogan’ had passed through
two days before in company with a naval officer, whom they believed to
be French. At least ‘he came from one of the ships in the lough, and
could speak no English.’ Since that the priest had not returned, and
many thought that he had gone away for ever. This story varied in a few
unimportant particulars. I also learned that a squadron of several sail
had, for three or four days, been lying at the entrance of Lough Swilly,
with, it was said, large reinforcements for the ‘army of independence.’
There was then no time to be lost; here was the very force which I had
been sent to communicate with; there were the troops that should at that
moment be disembarking. The success of my mission might all depend now
on a little extra exertion, and so I at once engaged a guide to conduct
me to the coast; and having fortified myself with a glass of mountain
whisky I felt ready for the road.
My guide could only speak a very little English, so that our way was
passed in almost unbroken silence; and as, for security, he followed the
least frequented paths, we scarcely met a living creature as we went.
It was with a strange sense of half pride, half despondency, that I
bethought me of my own position there--a Frenchman alone, and separated
from his countrymen--in a wild mountain region of Ireland, carrying
about him documents that, if detected, might peril his life; involved in
a cause that had for its object the independence of a nation, and that
against the power of the mightiest kingdom in Europe. An hour earlier or
later, an accident by the way, a swollen torrent, a chance impediment of
any kind that should delay me--and what a change might that produce in
the whole destiny of the world!
The despatches I carried conveyed instructions the most precise and
accurate: the places for combined action of the two armies--information
as to the actual state of parties, and the condition of the native
forces, was contained in them. All that could instruct the newly-come
generals, or encourage them to decisive measures, were there; and yet,
on what narrow contingencies did their safe arrival depend! It was thus,
in exaggerating to myself the part I played--in elevating my humble
position into all the importance of a high trust--that I sustained my
drooping spirits, and acquired energy to carry me through fatigue and
exhaustion. During that night, and the greater part of the following
day, we walked on, almost without halt, scarcely eating, and, except by
an occasional glass of whisky, totally unrefreshed; and, I am free to
own, that my poor guide--a barelegged youth of about seventeen,
without any of those high-sustaining illusions which stirred within my
heart--suffered far less either from hunger or weariness than I did.
So much for motives. A shilling or two were sufficient to equalise
the balance against all the weight of my heroism and patriotic ardour
together.
A bright sun, and a sharp wind from the north, had succeeded to the
lowering sky and heavy atmosphere of the morning, and we travelled along
with light hearts and brisk steps, breasting the side of a steep ascent,
from the summit of which, my guide told me, I should behold the sea--the
sea! not only the great plain on which I expected to see our armament,
but the link which bound me to my country! Suddenly, just as I turned
the angle of a cliff, it burst upon my sight--one vast mirror of golden
splendour--appearing almost at my feet! In the yellow gleams of a
setting sun, long columns of azure-coloured light streaked its calm
surface, and tinged the atmosphere with a warm and rosy hue. While I
was lost in admiration of the picture, I heard the sound of voices close
beneath me, and, on looking down, saw two figures who, with telescope
in hand, were steadily gazing on a little bay that extended towards the
west.
At first, my attention was more occupied by the strangers than by the
object of their curiosity, and I remarked that they were dressed and
equipped like sportsmen, their guns and game-bags lying against the rock
behind them.
‘Do you still think that they are hovering about the coast, Tom?’ said
the elder of the two, ‘or are you not convinced, at last, that I am
right?’
‘I believe you are,’ replied the other; ‘but it certainly did not
look like it yesterday evening, with their boats rowing ashore every
half-hour, signals flying, and blue lights burning; all seemed to
threaten a landing.’
‘If they ever thought of it they soon changed their minds,’ said the
former. ‘The defeat of their comrades in the west, and the apathy of the
peasantry here, would have cooled down warmer ardour than theirs. There
they go, Tom. I only hope that they’ll fall in with Warren’s squadron,
and French insolence receive at sea the lesson we failed to give them on
land.’
‘Not so,’ rejoined the younger; ‘Humbert’s capitulation, and the total
break up of the expedition, ought to satisfy-even your patriotism.’
‘It fell far short of it, then!’ cried the other. ‘I’d never have
treated those fellows other than as bandits and freebooters. I’d have
hanged them as highwaymen. Theirs was less war than rapine; but what
could you expect? I have been assured that Humbert’s force consisted of
little other than liberated felons and galley-slaves--the refuse of the
worst population of Europe!’
Distracted with the terrible tidings I had overheard--overwhelmed with
the sight of the ships, now glistening like bright specks on the verge
of the horizon, I forgot my own position--my safety--everything but the
insult thus cast upon my gallant comrades.
‘Whoever said so was a liar, and a base coward, to boot!’ cried I,
springing down from the height and confronting them both where they
stood. They started back, and, seizing their guns, assumed an attitude
of defence, and then, quickly perceiving that I was alone--for the boy
had taken to flight as fast as he could--they stood regarding me with
faces of intense astonishment.
‘Yes,’ said I, still boiling with passion, ‘you are two to one, on your
own soil besides, the odds you are best used to; and yet I repeat it,
that he who asperses the character of General Humbert’s force is a
liar.’
‘He’s French.’
‘No, he’s Irish,’ muttered the elder.
‘What signifies my country, sirs,’ cried I passionately, ‘if I demand
retraction for a falsehood.’
‘It signifies more than you think of, young man,’ said the elder calmly,
and without evincing even the slightest irritation in his manner. ‘If
you be a Frenchman born, the lenity of our Government accords you the
privilege of a prisoner of war. If you be only French by adoption, and a
uniform, a harsher destiny awaits you.’
‘And who says I am a prisoner yet?’ asked I, drawing myself up, and
staring them steadily in the face.
‘We should be worse men, and poorer patriots than you give us credit
for, or we should be able to make you so,’ said he quietly; ‘but this is
no time for ill-temper on either side. The expedition has failed. Well,
if you will not believe me, read that. There, in that paper, you will
see the official account of General Humbert’s surrender at Boyle. The
news is already over the length and breadth of the island; even if you
only landed last night I cannot conceive how you should be ignorant of
it!’ I covered my face with my hands to hide my emotion; and he went on:
‘If you be French you have only to claim and prove your nationality, and
you partake the fortunes of your countrymen.’
‘And if he be not,’ whispered the other, in a voice which, although low,
I could still detect, ‘why should we give him up?’
‘Hush, Tom, be quiet,’ replied the elder, ‘let him plead for himself.’
‘Let me see the newspaper,’ said I, endeavouring to seem calm and
collected; and, taking it at the place he pointed out, I read the
heading in capitals, ‘Capitulation of General Humbert and his whole
Force.’ I could see no more. I could not trace the details of so
horrible a disaster, nor did I ask to know by what means it occurred.
My attitude and air of apparent occupation, however, deceived the
other; and the elder, supposing that I was engaged in considering the
paragraph, said, ‘You’ll see the Government proclamation on the other
side--a general amnesty to all under the rank of officers in the rebel
army, who give up their arms within six days. The French to be treated
as prisoners of war.’
‘Is he too late to regain the fleet?’ whispered the younger.
‘Of course he is. They are already hull down; besides, who’s to assist
his escape, Tom? You forget the position he stands in.’
‘But I do not forget it,’ answered I; ‘and you need not be afraid that
I will seek to compromise you, gentlemen. Tell me where to find the
nearest justice of the peace, and I will go and surrender myself.’
‘It is your wisest and best policy,’ said the elder. ‘I am not in the
commission, but a neighbour of mine is, and lives a few miles off, and,
if you like, we ‘ll accompany you to his house.’
I accepted the offer, and soon found myself descending the steep path
of the mountain in perfect good-fellowship with the two strangers. It
is likely enough, if they had taken any peculiar pains to obliterate the
memory of our first meeting, or if they had displayed any extraordinary
efforts of conciliation, that I should have been on my guard against
them; but their manners, on the contrary, were easy and unaffected
in every respect. They spoke of the expedition sensibly and
dispassionately, and while acknowledging that there were many things
they would like to see altered in the English rule of Ireland, they were
very averse from the desire of a foreign intervention to rectify them.
I avowed to them that we had been grossly deceived. That all the
representations made to us depicted Ireland as a nation of soldiers,
wanting only arms and military stores to rise as a vast army. That the
peasantry were animated by one spirit, and the majority of the gentry
willing to hazard everything on the issue of a struggle. Our Killala
experiences, of which I detailed some, heartily amused them, and it was
in a merry interchange of opinions that we now walked along together.
A cluster of houses, too small to be called a village, and known as the
‘Cranagh,’ stood in a little nook of the bay; and here they lived. They
were brothers; and the elder held some small appointment in the revenue,
which maintained them as bachelors in this cheap country. In a low
conversation that passed between them it was agreed that they would
detain me as their guest for that evening, and on the morrow accompany
me to the magistrate’s house, about five miles distant. I was not sorry
to accept their hospitable offer. I longed for a few hours of rest and
respite before embarking on another sea of troubles. The failure of
the expedition, and the departure of the fleet, had overwhelmed me with
grief, and I was in no mood to confront new perils.
If my new acquaintances could have read my inmost thoughts, their manner
towards me could not have displayed more kindness or good-breeding.
Not pressing me with questions on subjects where the greatest curiosity
would have been permissible, they suffered me to tell only so much as I
wished of our late plans; and, as if purposely to withdraw my thoughts
from the unhappy theme of our defeat, led me to talk of France, and her
career in Europe.
It was not without surprise that I saw how conversant the newspapers had
made them with European politics, nor how widely different did events
appear when viewed from afar off, and by the lights of another and
different nationality. Thus all that we were doing on the Continent to
propagate liberal notions, and promote the spread of freedom, seemed to
their eyes but the efforts of an ambitious power to crush abroad
what they had annihilated at home, and extend their own influence in
disseminating doctrines, all to revert, one day or other, to some grand
despotism, whenever the man arose capable to exercise it. The elder
would not even concede to us that we were fit for freedom.
‘You are glorious fellows at destroying an old edifice,’ said he,
‘but sorry architects when comes the question of rebuilding; and as
to liberty, your highest notion of it is an occasional anarchy like
schoolboys, you will bear any tyranny for ten years, to have ten days of
a “barring out” afterward.’
I was not much flattered by these opinions; and, what was worse, I could
not get them out of my head all night afterwards. Many things I had
never doubted about now kept puzzling and confounding me, and I began,
for the first time, to know the misery of the struggle between implicit
obedience and conviction.