THOMAS COLLINS. PHILLIPS THE SACERDOTAL SPY
A recent letter from the ex-Crown and Treasury Solicitor for Ireland
quotes the following from Mr. Lecky's notice of an unnamed spy, and
asks me 'Who is he?'[390] 'He was a Dublin silk merchant,' writes
Lecky, 'and can be identified by a letter from Cooke to Nepean, May 26,
1794, in the Record Office, London.'[391]
I may now state that his name was Collins. Cooke's letter mentions that
200_l._ a year had been settled on the informer of 1794, and that he
was recommended for office in the West Indies--his future residence in
Ireland, after Rowan's arrest, being unsafe.
Mr. Joynt's query comes not amiss, for John Keogh, also a silk
merchant, was broadly branded by Walter Cox as an informer, and the
plausible indictment is transcribed by Dr. Madden and enshrined in his
_magnum opus_.[392] The charge against Keogh, who, by the way, preceded
O'Connell as leader of the Irish Catholics, is, however, baseless.
Mr. Cooke does not give the Christian name of this Collins, but later
official records describe it as Thomas. Collins was the first of the
systematic informers. Some sheaves of his letters are still preserved
at Dublin Castle, addressed to 'J. G.,' and heretofore supposed
to imply 'Gregory,' a highly distinguished secretary to the Lord
Lieutenant. But Gregory's name was William, and 'J. G.' stands for
'Jack Giffard,' whom Curran and Grattan, in often-quoted philippics,
denounced. The reports furnished to Giffard were regularly passed on
to Cooke, and two letters[393] from Collins to the latter speak of his
confidant 'Mr. G---- d.'
The daily reports extend almost unbroken from 1792 to 1795. All are
without a signature, while the official endorsement usual on such
letters is confined, in this case, to 'U. I. M.,' meaning, of course,
the rebel brotherhood. On December 15, 1792, he writes to Cooke:
'Implicitly depend upon my being totally unknown to mankind in this
business, save and except to you and J. G.'[394]
Collins--at each conclave--feigned to be an advanced republican, and
was regularly invited to attend. New members, on being admitted,
repeated 'a test.' In an early letter to Giffard he writes:--
It is contemplated to abolish the Test, as it is found by
experience that it prevents a number of very warm friends to a
Reform from joining us; but I shall oppose it, as we have no
business with any of your _lukewarm fellows_ who may hesitate at
going as great lengths as ourselves.[395]
In advance of every meeting a list was sent to Collins of the new
candidates for election. Scores of his secret letters enclose these
lists, and announce the results of the ballot, with the names of the
rejected, and it is curiously illustrative of the precautions taken
to ensure secrecy, and as showing how little Collins was himself
suspected, that men much superior to him were refused admission.
Carefully prepared reports of the proceedings, with the names of the
speakers and of the number present, exist in endless evidence. In one
letter he encloses, for the Viceroy's satisfaction, the receipt given
to him for his annual subscription to the Society, signed by Oliver
Bond, but the part which names Collins is first blotted out, and
finally cut clean away.[396]
In August 1792, Cooke deputed Collins to extend his secret inquiries to
a wider area than the Hall in Back Lane where the United Irishmen met;
and the result is found in the subjoined letter. Its stealthy style
contrasts with the boldness of later missives.
Sir--I have made every possible inquiry and I have reason to
think that there now are Foreign agents here who have frequent
conferences with a noble Viscount and his Brother,[397] who
is a lawyer; also with J--hn K--gh, Ed--d B--re and Richard
McC--m--k.[398] For your Information you have a list of such
U---- I---- men as I think really dangerous from abilities. As to
Inclination, the whole of the Society are nearly _alike_.
You may be assured that whatever steps Mr. Tandy has for some
time past taken, or is now pursuing, are by the advice of the
before-mentioned noble Viscount[399] and Mr. Gr-tt-n; and also,
that let the pretentions (_for the present_) of the R-m-n Ca---- be
ever so moderate, the real design of their _leaders_ is to effect a
separation between this country and Gr--t B--t--n.
I remain, &c. &c.[400]
Collins had the same liking for dramatic mystery as Turner; many of
the letters to 'G.' ask him to call at night to hear things that could
not be put on paper, to tap at a certain door in a dark passage, and
'no one would be the wiser.' In the graphic sketch he daily furnished,
special attention is paid to the chief 'sitter,' Hamilton Rowan, who
presided as chairman until his arrest; while Tone, Tandy, Emmet,
Drennan, Bond, Lewins, the Sheares, and B. B. Harvey (the last three
afterwards hanged) stand forth in bold outline from a crowd of minor
faces grouped in the background. Sometimes they all dined together.
'When Paine's health was given his picture was introduced and received
a general embrace. Several French songs were sung by Mr. Sheares, with
proper explanations for those ignorant of the language.'[401] Glimpses
of further feasts are caught, revealing the same familiar faces: men
who had not yet begun to realise the gruesome fact that the handwriting
was on the wall.
John Keogh is not often mentioned as present; and never after 1793.
In October '92 Collins furnishes an abstract of a spirited speech
delivered by Keogh. This led to queries, and in reply Collins tells
Cooke: 'The leaders are Hamilton Rowan, Tandy, Jackson, Bond, Dowling,
McCormick, Warren, and some others. But Keogh and Drennan are the
_grand movers_;'[402] and on the following day he writes: 'Keogh
is the principal performer behind the scenes--as the fellow's art
is such he does not appear amongst us, but has a set of fellows to
constantly attend and broach his sentiments.'[403] Keogh, a man of rare
sagacity--whose life has yet to be written--took the course described
in consequence of having recognised in his audience a person whom he
did not fully trust. Turning to Richard McCormick, in the hearing of
'Billy Murphy,' the subsequent millionaire, he said, 'Dick, men's lives
are not safe here,' and glided quietly away. John Keogh is the only
man of mark who passed unscathed through the crisis of '98; and Cox,
mistakenly believing that this immunity was due to treachery towards
his colleagues, sought to brand him as a spy.
In 1793, John Keogh, Sir Charles Ffrench and several other Catholic
delegates,[404] waited on George III. at St. James's and presented a
petition craving relief from the disabilities by which their order was
oppressed. The loss of America had preached the wisdom of concession;
and the tempest of the French Revolution roared within measurable
distance. While Pitt and Dundas were not indisposed to grant a full
emancipation to the Irish Catholics, they were constantly opposed in
this policy by Dublin Castle. The often sensational reports of Collins
seem to have had due effect. A long letter to Cooke regarding the
Catholics begins by saying that
There are few individuals better acquainted with the views and
dispositions of those people than I am. If they are gratified the
day is not far off when High Mass with all its mummery will be
performed in Christ Church[405]--the auditors to be a popish Lord
Lieutenant, a popish Chancellor, &c. &c., unless the use of the
former be preceded by an entire separation from Honest John Bull,
which is the grand object of the disaffected of every description
in this country.
Where Government has _resisted_, the good effects have been found;
when it has _relaxed_, demands have increased.... To come to the
point: give the Papists all they _want_ or _nothing_. Without the
former the sword must be drawn at one period or another; and the
query is, whether it's not better to try the _event_ when they are
_unprepared_, than to continue going on to give the _adder_ time
to strengthen with the heat of _summer_: not that I think there is
the smallest danger of any _war_ but _wordy_ ones from them--unless
time and the interference of their _Gallic Friends_ may embolden
them to acts of desperation. [He then proceeds to advise the
embodiment of military corps in Dublin, well officered. The pay to
be such as to induce respectable Protestant tradesmen and others to
enlist.]
Suppose the whole to be mounted and appointed as dragoons, this
small corps will be found of as much use as any Regiment of Cavalry
in the Kingdom.
If a _friend_ of yours[406] should be thought of, I think there
would be an end to all _illegal meetings_,[407] associations and
combinations, and I will answer for his compleating and arraying
the number in 10 Days.[408]
A small measure of Catholic Relief was at length offered by Pitt.
Collins, a month later, courageously writes: 'If you think it
prudent to have me examined by the Secret Committee, I may give some
useful information previous to the Catholick Bill going to the Upper
House.'[409]
It is not surprising that, from the regularity and general accuracy of
the spy's reports, Giffard in his conversations more than once revealed
a knowledge that fluttered the Inner Circle. On February 15, 1794,
Collins reports, in the _précis_ of proceedings that had taken place
that night:--
A notice by Mr. John Sheares that he will on Friday next propose
a new Ballot of the whole of the Society, or else the total
dissolution thereof, in order, as he says, to get rid of some
suspected Members, who, he says, are in the habit of betraying the
Secrets of the Society to Government. At the time he gave this
notice there were not more than fifteen members present and the
proposition seemed to meet their approbation. The fact is they
are all cursedly frightened by the examples made of some of their
friends. Fear only can keep them in order; gentleness will only
encourage their audacity.
Three months elapsed: they met and deliberated; the reports went
regularly to Dublin Castle; arrests were made; the Society wondered;
but Collins, though a loaded mine lay beneath his feet, stood his
ground. On Saturday, May 10, 1794, he announces:--
Surgeon Wright proposed appointing a commission of inquiry to
inspect into the character and conduct of not only the members of
the Society, but of all other persons in this city who profess
patriotism, as he had reason to suspect that Mr. Pitt's system of
having spies in all company and in all Societies, had made its way
into this country.
Collins, no coward like Turner, maintained his character as one of
the most regular attendants at the meetings, played his part, opposed
some minor propositions,[410] and continued his carefully framed
reports.[411] These reports perturbed Dublin Castle quite as much as
the United Irishmen had been scared by the leakage of their plans. On
April 28, 1794, Marcus Beresford writes to his father, who had long
been regarded as the virtual governor of Ireland:--
Government are determined to hang Rowan if possible; but they have
not yet shown any suspicion of any person here being concerned
in the plot, in order to lull them into security. No person
knows as much as I now tell you except Lord Westmoreland, the
Attorney-General, and Sackville Hamilton.[412]
Judging from Cooke's letter to Nepean, Collins' chief enterprise was
in bringing Hamilton Rowan within the meshes of the law. In 1792, as
we learn from his Autobiography, Rowan was arrested on a charge of
distributing a seditious paper. Informations were filed against Rowan,
difficulties supervened, and he was not brought to trial until January
1794. Rowan offered proof that two of his jurors had declared 'Ireland
would never be quiet until Rowan and Napper Tandy were hanged.'[413]
The challenge, however, was not allowed. Curran acted as his counsel,
and delivered a speech reminding one of Cicero's defence of Milo. Rowan
was found guilty, fined, and committed to Newgate, but, by bribing
his jailer, escaped; and, after various romantic adventures, reached
France in a boat manned by two fishermen of Howth.[414]
A proclamation offering 1,000_l._[415] reward for his capture was read
by the men, but they told him not to fear. This remarkable escape took
place on May 4, 1794. Cooke's letter, saying that Collins' further
residence in Ireland would be unsafe, is dated May 26 following. An
amusing proof of the general distrust which then prevailed is shown in
the fact, recorded by Rowan, that on reaching France he was arrested
as a British spy, sent under a strong guard to Brest, and lodged with
galley-slaves.[416] Judging from Beresford's letter, written two days
before the escape, however, it cannot be said that he got out of the
frying-pan into the fire, as Rowan seems to have thought.
Some few letters from Mr. Douglas, who filled a Government post in
London, are intermingled with the Collins MSS. The Right Hon. John
Beresford, in a letter dated May 13, 1794, writes: 'Douglas called upon
me this day; we had a great deal of conversation about Rowan. He told
me that, as Rowan had escaped, Tone was the next guilty person, and
ought to be hanged.' This, however, it was not so easy to do. Neither
Turner nor Collins would prosecute openly. Meanwhile some friends of
Tone entered into negotiations with Government, and he was at last
allowed to expatriate himself beyond the seas.[417]
Mr. Collins[418] did not get the post for which he was recommended
until the year 1800. It was Dominica, one of the West Indian Islands,
as we learn from the 'S. S. Money Book.' The first entry of his name
is on November 23, 1797: 'Mr. Collins.--Sent to him, in London,
108_l._'[419] Here he remains for two years--no doubt one of the
gentlemen 'recommended by Mr. Cooke,' and mentioned in the 'Castlereagh
Correspondence' as qualified to 'set' the movements of Lord Cloncurry
in London.
In more than one of the secret letters sent by Collins to Cooke, he
offers his services for fields in other countries, where he thinks
he could be even more useful than at home. A large sheaf of papers
regarding troubles in the West Indies is preserved at Dublin Castle.
Dominica--the site of his first appointment--had been captured by the
British in 1756, but in 1771 the French, after a hard fight, once
more became its masters. In 1783 the island was again restored to
the English, but its executive felt far from secure. Intrigue was at
work; French emissaries were not few; and the presence of Collins, a
practised spy, came not amiss. The French, however, again effected a
landing in 1805; Roseau, the chief town, was obliged to capitulate,
and pay the enemy 12,000_l._ to quit. In 1890, after the cession of
Heligoland to Germany, there was talk of surrendering Dominica to
France.
What was Collins' later history I have been unable to discover.
'Sylvanus Urban' tells of a Thomas Collins who was hanged; but this
is a mere coincidence of name. It is within the possibilities that
our spy may have posed as Governor Collins, and even received at his
levees Hamilton Rowan, who, during the travels by which his exile
was beguiled, would pay his devoirs, as he says, to the British
resident.[420]
An informer of a novel type was a priest named Phillips. Describing the
events of the year 1795, Mr. Froude writes:--
Lord Carhampton went down and took command in Connaught. Informers
offered their services, provided their presence was not required in
the witness-box. A Priest named Phillips 'caused himself to be made
a Defender with a view of giving information.'[421] Others came
whose names the Viceroy dared not place on paper. With the help
of these men, Carhampton was able to arrest many of the Connaught
Leaders;[422] and legal trials being from the nature of the case
impossible, he trusted to Parliament for an Act of Indemnity, and
sent them by scores to serve in the Fleet. Thus, amidst the shrieks
of Patriots and threats of prosecution, he succeeded in restoring
some outward show of order.[423]
Among Mr. Froude's startling passages, none created in Ireland a more
painful sensation than this. That an Irish priest--the _Soggarth
Aroon_[424] of the people--should be selling the lives of his friends,
flock, and penitents, was indeed a novel incident. Interest in the
episode has quite recently been revived by Mr. Lecky, who describes
Father Phillips as having given the Government some really valuable
assistance in detecting Rebel Leaders.[425] For all we know to the
contrary, this Ecclesiastic might have gone on to the end undiscovered,
posing and pontificating as a solemn Hierarch. But, in point of fact,
Phillips, though in orders, had been degraded and suspended by his
Ordinary. Dr. Madden, long before the publication of Froude or Lecky,
casually notices Phillips[426] as an 'excommunicated priest from French
Park, co. Roscommon.'
His end was involved in some mystery which it may be well to
penetrate. McSkimmins' 'History of Carrickfeargus' records, under
date January 5, 1796: 'The body of a stranger, said to have been an
informer, of the surname of Phillips, was found in a dam, near the
paper mills, Belfast.' How he came there we learn from James Hope, a
Protestant rebel of Ulster. After the excommunicated priest, Phillips,
had betrayed a number of the Defenders in Connaught, he proceeded to
Belfast, only to find, however, that his character had cast its shadow
before him. A party of Defenders seized Phillips, tried him on the
spot, and sentenced him to death. 'They gave him time to pray,' adds
Hope, 'then put leaden weights into his pockets, and drowned him.'
Punishment of informers by death was not of the frequency that
McSkimmin supposed and Turner feared. Hope, who is always truthful,
adds, that at a meeting of the Craigarogan Branch, 'they came to a
resolution: "That any man who recommended or practised assassination
of any person whomsoever, or however hostile to the Society, should be
expelled."'
There is another informer whose name Mr. Froude undertakes to disclose.
In April 1797 Camden sends Portland 'A statement which had been
secretly made to him by a member of the Military Committee of the
United Irishmen,'--and we learn that the informer in this instance
was a miniature painter named Neville. Due inquiry has failed to
find any man named Neville in the Society of United Irishmen, though
a respectable wine merchant, Brent Neville, appears as the uncle of
Henry Sheares's wife; 'Neville' has been reprinted in every succeeding
edition of Mr. Froude's book. But it is now quite certain that Neville
is a misprint for Newell. The 'Life and Confessions of Newell (a Spy),'
written by himself, and undoubtedly genuine, was published in London
in 1798; and in it (pp. 13-15) he describes his calling as that of a
miniature painter.
FOOTNOTES:
[390] William Lane Joynt, D.L., to W. J. F., Grange Abbey, June 29,
1891.
[391] Lecky's _England_, vii. 8.
[392] Madden's _United Irishmen_, iii. 331-2. Again, at p. 41, Dr.
Madden says that so early as 1793, the very time that Collins is now
shown to be at work, Keogh was suspected of infidelity. Mr. Lecky, in
reply to a private query, agrees with me that Keogh was thoroughly true.
[393] Notably that of November 26, 1793.
[394] Anonymous to Cooke, December 15, 1792. One letter only, dated
three years later, appealing to Dublin Castle for money and place, and
in the same handwriting as the others, lays aside his disguise and is
boldly signed 'Thomas Collins.'
[395] To 'J. G.' April 13, 1792. MSS. Dublin Castle.
[396] The date of this receipt is November 1, 1793.
[397] The Hon. Simon Butler, K.C., was brother of Edmund Viscount
Mountgarret, a peerage dating from October 1550. At a meeting of the
Society of United Irishmen in February 1793, Butler in the chair, and
Bond acting as secretary, a declaration was proposed and adopted,
pronouncing as illegal certain proceedings of the Secret Committee of
the Irish House of Lords, in compelling witnesses to answer on oath
questions compromising themselves, and directed to the discovery of
evidence mainly in support of prosecutions already commenced. For
this act, Butler and Bond were sentenced by the Lord Chancellor to be
imprisoned for six months and to pay a fine of 500_l._ to the King.
(See Madden, ii. 244.) Simon Butler was fortunate in not living to
witness the sad scenes of '98.
[398] John Keogh, Edward Byrne, and Richard McCormick.
[399] Diplomacy sought to paralyse the more influential arm of the
movement. This same Viscount Mountgarret was promoted to an earldom on
December 20, following!
[400] Anon. (Thomas Collins) to Cooke, August 27, 1792.
[401] [Collins] to 'J. G.,' November 20, 1793.
[402] [Collins] to Cooke, November 29, 1792.
[403] _Idem_, November 30, 1792.
[404] As in the case of Lord Mountgarret subtlety was employed in
the hope of moderating the tone of Sir Charles Ffrench. He had much
influence with the Irish Catholics; and in 1798 a peerage was conferred
on his aged mother, who, in her simplicity, said to a cousin, 'I don't
know what I have done that they should make a Lord of me.' In point of
lineage few had higher claims.
[405] A Protestant Cathedral in Dublin used by the Catholics until the
Reformation.
[406] Himself.
[407] Italics in original.
[408] Endorsed by Cooke, 'U. I., Jan. 29, '93.'
[409] [Collins] to Cooke, February 28, 1793.
[410] Letter of January 4, 1793.
[411] The zealous subserviency of Collins, as in the case of Reynolds
and Magan, originated in pecuniary straits. A letter of January 24,
1792, to Giffard, speaks of the accommodation he had received at his
hands; and addressing Mr. Cooke (June 26, 1793), he dilates on his
'embarrassments.'
[412] _Beresford Correspondence_, ii. 26 (unpublished).
[413] _Autobiography of Archibald Hamilton Rowan_, p. 183.
[414] Rowan, until the willing hands were found, remained in Mr.
Sweetman's house, now known as Rosedale, Raheny.
[415] Mr. Froude says that the proclamation named '£2,000 for Rowan's
apprehension' (_Hist._ iii. 119). The proclamation, dated May 2, 1794,
offers '£1,000 to any person or persons who shall apprehend the said
Hamilton Rowan, wherever he may be found, or to so discover him that he
may be apprehended or committed to prison.'
[416] _Autobiography of Hamilton Rowan_, p. 220.
[417] In December 1796 Tone accompanied the French fleet to Bantry Bay.
Mr. Froude and other historians think that it was Grouchy who failed to
attempt a landing. 'Then, as twenty years later, on another occasion,
no less critical,' he writes, meaning Waterloo, 'Grouchy was the good
genius of the British Empire' (iii. 205). In point of fact, Grouchy
was not at Bantry. M. Guillon, in _France et Irlande_, written with
full access to the papers of the French Admiralty, makes it clear that
Bouvet, and not Grouchy, was the man who ought to have been named.
[418] Several persons named Collins, and described as silk mercers,
appear in the Dublin Directory between the years 1770 and 1800. Thomas
Collins vanishes in 1793; and 'Samuel Collins, silk and worsted
manufacturer, 35 Pill Lane,' is also found for the last time in the
Directory for 1793. They seem to have been brothers. A bill of Samuel,
duly receipted, for goods supplied to Dr. McNevin, a leading rebel, is
enclosed by Thomas in one of his secret missives to Cooke.
[419] Other entries follow: 'Thomas Collins' bill, from London, 54_l._
3_s._ 4_d._' is entered on September 22, 1798. These payments continue
to be made until 1799, when they become very frequent.
[420] _Autobiography of Hamilton Rowan_, p. 318.
[421] Camden to Portland, July 29, 1795.
[422] The late Colonel the Right Hon. FitzStephen French, whose brother
became Lord De Freyne, informed me that his father, Arthur French, M.P.
for Roscommon from 1785 to 1820, had been threatened with arrest by
Lord Carhampton. French lived at French Park, where 'Priest Phillips'
also resided.
[423] _The English in Ireland_, iii. 161.
[424] _Anglice_ 'darling priest' John Banim has given to the ballad
poetry of Ireland a well-known piece under this title.
[425] Cooke to Pelham, Dec. 4, 1795.
[426] _United Irishmen_, i. 537.