PRESBYTERIAN MINISTERS DEEP IN TREASON--PLOT AND COUNTER-PLOT
Twelve Presbyterian clergymen were concerned in the rebellion: the Rev.
W. Steel Dickson, D.D., who wrote an interesting 'Narrative' of his
'Confinement and Exile,' Rev. Samuel Barbar, Rev. William Porter, Rev.
Sinclair Kelburne, Rev. Arthur McMahon, and the Rev. Messrs. Stevelly,
Simpson, MacNeil, Sinclair, Glardy, Birch, and Warwick. Of these men
three were executed: Porter, Stevelly, and Warwick. It is to be feared
that one of the twelve became a Judas.
There are two informers, McMahon and Durnin, who have never been
noticed by Madden or other historians of the time. I now quote from
Bourrienne, formerly the private secretary of Napoleon, and afterwards
ambassador to Hamburg. Berthier will be remembered as the Minister of
War and Prince of Wagram, who met a violent death during the Hundred
Days.
'Previous to my arrival in Hamburg in 1804,' writes Bourrienne,
Marshal 'Berthier had recommended to Bernadotte two Irishmen as spies.
Bernadotte employed them, but I learned that McMahon, one of the two,
rendered himself more serviceable to England than to us. I communicated
this fact to Bernadotte, who ascertained that my information was
accurate.' The future King replied:--
I have the honor to inform you, Marshal, that two Irishmen residing
in Hamburg, MM. Durnin and MacMahon, who had been liberally
rewarded by the English Government _for coming to France_ to act as
spies on the Irish refugees and the views of the French Government,
have offered their services to assist the designs of France in the
cause of the United Irishmen.
His Majesty wishes that you should accept the offer of these two
Irishmen; that you should employ them in obtaining all possible
information, and even furnish them with whatever money may be
necessary.
For the sake of expedition, I have written on this subject to
General Dessolle, who commands in Hanover during your absence,
and I beg that you will transmit to him the orders necessary for
following the Emperor's instructions.
I have the honor, etc.
BERTHIER.
Bourrienne says that, but for the information he had transmitted to
Berthier, Bernadotte would have conceived himself bound to employ the
two men recommended to him. The following was his answer:--
I have received your letter, my dear minister, and thank you for
your attention in communicating to me the information it contains.
I never had great confidence in the fidelity or intelligence of
MacMahon. He was never entrusted with any business of importance,
and if I furnished him with the means of subsistence, it was
because he was recommended to me by the war minister, and,
besides, his unfortunate condition could not but excite pity. I
at first allowed him four hundred francs per month; but finding
him perfectly useless, I reduced that allowance to two hundred and
fifty, which was barely sufficient for him to live on. He has not
been at headquarters for the last three months.
I enclose a copy of the letter which the war minister wrote to me
respecting MacMahon.
T. BERNADOTTE.[671]
Bernadotte's missive, like a shell, bursts with crushing force. The
fact that McMahon's movements in '98 are continually reported to the
British Government would show, however, that it was not until _after_
the collapse of the rebellion, and want stared him in the face, that
he sold his information. When hunger sent its spasm remorse lost its
pang.
In the report of the Secret Committee of the House of Lords, issued in
1798, it appears, from the sworn testimony of John Hughes of Belfast,
that
in June 1797 he attended a meeting at Randalstown, which consisted
of Teeling, Lowry, Robert Moore, and Colonel James Plunkett. He
attended said meeting by the direction of Lowry and Teeling to hear
the report of the Colonels of the County of Antrim. The Report
was brought by Dunne, accompanied by the Rev. Arthur MacMahon of
Holywood. The first resolution was that it would be imprudent to
act at that time without foreign aid, but that if the County of
Down would act, a part of the Antrim Colonels, who could bring out
nine or ten thousand men, would act with Down. The meeting broke
up in consequence of the division amongst the Antrim Colonels. The
Rev. Arthur MacMahon told the meeting that he had been sent by the
Colonels of the County of Down to state to the Colonels of the
County of Antrim, who had met at Park Gate that day, that they (the
Colonels of Down) were willing to rise, and that he had delivered
such the message of the Down Colonels to the Antrim Colonels.
MacMahon was then a member of the Ulster Provincial Committee,
and he told him that he had been one of the seven Colonels of the
County of Down who had been selected and appointed leaders for said
county; and he also told him that he (MacMahon) was a member of the
National Executive.
MacMahon was informed on his road home (as he heard) that he would
be taken; and he, Robert Rollo Read, Hastings Mason, once an
officer in the Downshire Militia, and John Magennis, took boat at
Bangor and got over to Scotland, and afterwards _MacMahon got to
France_, where he still is.--Pp. 28-9.
The report and appendix of the Secret Committee is known to have been
edited by Alexander Knox, whom Lord Macaulay afterwards described
as 'a remarkable man.' Mr. Knox was the private secretary of Lord
Castlereagh; and, in compiling the report for the Government, he
disclosed as much of McMahon's proceedings as was convenient for their
purpose. The Government well knew that McMahon had engaged deeply in
treason between the period of his taking boat at Bangor and getting
to France. The second volume of Lord Castlereagh's Correspondence
opens with the following secret letter. Quigley, or O'Coigly, will be
remembered as the unfortunate priest who was hanged at Maidstone in May
1798:--
'McMahon, member of the executive committee, a Presbyterian parson
from the County of Down, forced to emigrate in June last, came over to
London, where he met with Quigley, who was likewise obliged to leave
Ireland. They started together in London, imitating the Patriots in the
mode of forming societies after the plan of the United Irish. They had
heard of the expedition at the Texel being intended for Ireland, and it
was agreed on that an insurrection should be attempted in London, as
soon as the landing was effected in Ireland. Colonel Despard was to be
the leading person, and the King and Council were to be put to death,
&c. Their force was estimated at 40,000, ready to turn out. McMahon,
hearing he was traced to London, resolved on going for France, and took
Quigley as his interpreter; he got a subscription made to pay Quigley's
expenses, and collected twenty-five guineas, fifteen of which were
given by a Mr. Bell, of the City.
'McMahon and Quigley went over to Cuxhaven, thence directly to Holland,
were on board the fleet, and, when the expedition went off, proceeded
to Paris. They there found Lewins, but could get no satisfactory
answers from him relative to his communications with the French
Government. A quarrel was the consequence, and Father Quigley was
despatched privately by McMahon to London, to get some one sent over to
represent the Patriots of both nations, and to replace Lewins.'[672]
Seaton Reid, D.D., the able historian of the Presbyterian Church,
says that in 1789 McMahon was ordained to the pastoral charge of
Kilrea, and in 1794 became minister of Holywood. He is described as
a man of daring character, and considerable literary attainments. Dr.
Reid's History has been continued by Dr. Killen, an ecclesiastical
historian of rank, who found McMahon's subsequent career involved in
great mystery. 'On the Continent,' writes Dr. Killen, 'he embraced the
military profession, and it is said--with what truth I know not--that
he became distinguished as General Mack.' Most notices of Mack, the
Austrian general, say that he died in obscurity, and at a date unknown.
It is almost a pity to disturb the romance with which Dr. Killen has
invested this subject,--but 'truth is stranger than fiction.' An
inquiry into the life of General Mack is fatal to the suggestion of the
Presbyterian historian.[673]
The arrival of Arthur McMahon at Paris is specially noted in Tone's
Diary on February 1, 1798.[674] Soon after the Hamburg spy announces,
with other facts, that McMahon--O'Coigly's companion--is appointed
colonel and aide-de-camp to Napper Tandy.[675] A later letter of secret
information, no doubt from Turner--who had been a colleague of McMahon
when organising treason in Ulster--says:--
MacMahon has about 300_l._ sterling, property remitted him by
Charles Rankin of Belfast; this he means to employ in buying a
farm. Tired of politics,[676] especially those of France, he is to
write to Citoyen Jean Thomas, à la Poste restante, à Hamburg, whom
he looks on as a good patriot.
The 'Castlereagh Papers' give a secret account of Tandy's expedition;
and how 'Joseph Orr and McMahon the clergyman, went out in a small
corvette of eight guns, to reconnoitre the Irish coast and to fire
signals; but the boat turned leaky, and they were obliged to put into
Flushing, being chased by the English cruisers. These two refused to go
any more, and went to Boulogne, where they follow privateering.'[677]
This is the last we hear of McMahon until he turns up in the letter of
Berthier, the French Minister of War.
It would have been well for McMahon's friends had the quondam shepherd
entered on pastoral work of another sort, assuming that he seriously
entertained the idea, and that it was not mooted by him to throw Turner
off the scent. Turner--at this time--had begun to be suspected, as
Reinhard shows (_ante_, p. 53). Certain it is, the _soi-disant_ farmer
chose dirtier work than scouring drains, or even spreading manure.
But as his movements with Tandy are secretly reported to the British
Government, it would seem that he had not as yet become a regular
informer. Whatever proposal he made to Pitt, the bargain was apparently
bungled. Unlike others, his name is not to be found in any pension
list. Judging from the poverty in which Bernadotte found McMahon in
1803, his trade as a spy cannot have been very remunerative. But
increased trade often brings large profits, and his opportunities for
doing good work for Pitt were certainly greater after 1804.
Experience taught McMahon something. A disappointed man, willing to spy
on behalf of whichever side paid best, had at least no difficulty in
making a choice. How he gradually acquired facilities for plying his
trade with profit now remains to be shown.
Miles Byrne--who held a command in the rebel lines at Vinegar
Hill, narrowly escaped with his life, was afterwards the trusted
agent of Robert Emmet in 1803, and became a colonel in the French
service--supplies in his Memoirs an honoured list of 'exiled Irish
whom he met in France,' including 'Arthur McMahon.' This would be
about the year 1803. Matthew Dowling, Byrne's host on the occasion,
had been deeply compromised in '98, and his name is often met in the
autobiographies of Cloncurry, Hamilton Rowan, and Moore.
I spent [writes Byrne] one evening at his lodgings in company with
Paul Murray and Arthur MacMahon, and he made us nearly forget we
were far away from our home; he made us proud of being exiles in a
good cause.
The statement of the historian of the Presbyterian Church that the
Rev. Arthur McMahon embraced the military profession, and became
distinguished as 'General Mack,' is true in every particular, except
the last three words.
In 1804 the Irish legion was formed by Napoleon, and McMahon got a
commission from Berthier. Colonel Miles Byrne speaks of McMahon as
amongst his 'best friends and comrades--we were happy and united.'[678]
The risk he ran of a bear's hug never struck him. 'We could see the
masts of the ships in the bay of Brest, from whence we expected soon
to sail with an army to liberate our beloved country; this view caused
sensations that exiles alone can feel and appreciate.' Byrne goes on
to say that General Sarazan was 'suspected to have been in the pay of
England.' Not one word is dropped to the prejudice of McMahon.
A great crisis in England's history had now arisen. Buonaparte was
master of Europe. Russia joined him; Prussia and Austria were all but
his serfs; North Germany was annexed to France. In 1809 the Walcheren
expedition--consisting of 235 ships and 40,000 land forces--was
despatched by England with the object of checking Napoleon's advance
into Austria.
Never had a grander fleet left England, or great expectation been more
utterly crushed. After a prolonged bombardment, Admiral Strahan and
Lord Chatham evacuated Walcheren on December 23, 1809. They returned
to England, but with McMahon a prisoner.[679] This capture, however,
failed to satisfy Parliament. Angry discussion rose, Canning and
Castlereagh fought a duel, Burdett was lodged in the Tower, riots rent
London, and Lord Chatham resigned to avoid deeper disgrace.[680]
Bernadotte, it will be remembered, while admitting that McMahon had
never been entrusted by France with secret business of importance, yet
complains of his inefficiency as a spy. What but disappointment could
ensue? Bourrienne, the minister of France at Hamburg, learned long
after, as he tells us, that MacMahon gave to England information vastly
exceeding in value anything he told France. England could pay well when
she chose, while the fund available in France for secret service was
shallow and precarious.
As regards the second spy named in Bernadotte's letter to Berthier,
histories of the rebellion may be vainly searched for any mention of
Durnin; nor is it surprising, when we know, as we now do, that this
man had three or four aliases. Nay, more--he is sometimes described in
the Government reports merely by an initial! Thus, Wickham encloses
to Castlereagh a letter from Crawford, British minister at Hamburg,
in which he says, 'one D----, alias C----, who murdered Pentland at
Drogheda--a man much esteemed by Mr. Beresford, is now here.'[681] The
usually exhaustive index to the 'Castlereagh Correspondence' includes
no name resembling Durnin. However, it turns up in a letter of Wickham
to Castlereagh, dated November 23, 1798, announcing that a vessel named
the 'Morgan Rattler' had just arrived at Hamburg from Dublin with some
rebel fugitives, and bearing letters and papers from Coll, a colonel in
the rebel army at Wexford, and 'Duff, alias Campbell, but whose real
name,' he adds, 'is _Dornan_.'[682] Lower down in the letter, Wickham
adds that 'Campbell, alias Duff, but whose real name is Dornan, is
said to have been concerned in the murder of a person of the name of
Pentland, or Portland, near Drogheda.'[683]
Here at last one gets upon a long-lost track--a track, it is to be
feared, of a double-dyed villain. Dalton's 'History of Drogheda'
mentions (ii. 370) that in 1796, shortly after the arrival of the
French fleet in Bantry Bay, 'Mr. Pentland, surveyor of excise in
Drogheda, was inhumanly and wilfully murdered.'
Officers of excise usually kept a sharp watch on the coast; and hence,
probably, Durnin deemed it well to 'remove' him. Why Durnin figured
under the name of Duff at Drogheda may have been because it was
endeared to the people by historic tradition. D'Alton--the historian of
Drogheda--often mentions the Duffs, and how for faith and fatherland
they suffered attainder in 1691. I cannot find that Durnin attained
any influence in the councils of the United Irishmen; but McMahon must
have been a person of culture and prepossessing manners to succeed in
exciting the sympathy of a stoical soldier of the Revolution, and who,
moreover, had reason to doubt his fidelity. The name Arthur McMahon
is found in the Fugitive Bill of 1798. But this circumstance affords
no proof that he was not then a spy; for Turner also figures in the
Fugitive Bill, and was afterwards subjected to the mock penalty of
imprisonment. The Banishment Act includes the name 'John Dorney.'
Durnin and Dorney are convertible names. A gardener named Durnin, or
Dorney (for the peasantry hail him by both names), has been employed in
the author's family for many years.
When one considers the heterogeneous character of the throng who
joined the ranks of the United Irishmen, it is only surprising that
their secrets were so well kept. The late Frank Thorpe Porter, a
well-known police magistrate, gave me a personal reminiscence not
devoid of interest. His father had been one of the brotherhood; but
one dark night in March 1798, a beggarman having given him 'the secret
sign' in the street, he musingly said, 'By Jove! if our Society
includes such fellows as this, the sooner I get out of it the better.'
He had been a sergeant of grenadiers in the Irish Volunteers of 1782,
and his tall figure may be recognised in Wheatley's celebrated picture
of the review in College Green under the Duke of Leinster and Lord
Charlemont.
Many United Irishmen, whose names do not appear in history, had escapes
as narrow, but on a more modest scale, as those which favoured Hamilton
Rowan. Mr. Porter added a reminiscence worth preserving. The house
of his father, an eminent Protestant printer, was 69 Grafton Street.
The maidservant had a sweetheart in an opposite house, and one Sunday
evening, while Mrs. Porter was entertaining Dignan, a proscribed rebel,
the domestic left her master's door ajar, and tripped across the street
for a chat. Meanwhile, who should walk up to Porter's but the city
sheriff, holding in his hand the manuscript of a Proclamation which he
required him to print. Finding that the hall-door gave no resistance,
he proceeded upstairs. Mrs. Porter, thunderstruck, but with presence of
mind, hailed him from the lobby above, exclaiming, 'Oh! _Mr. Sheriff_,
I am very glad to see you.' Dignan took the alarm that she intended
and, seizing a dark table-cover with which he concealed his person,
flung himself under a pianoforte that stood in a corner. This had
hardly been accomplished when the sheriff entered. 'Sheriff,' said Mrs.
Porter, 'you probably met your friend the Town Major, who has just
gone after having a glass of punch--take his seat and make yourself
comfortable.' The sheriff, nothing loth, accepted the proffered
hospitality. Mrs. Porter's feelings may be imagined during the _mauvais
quart d'heure_ of his stay, when a single sigh from the outlaw would
have sealed not only his doom, but probably her husband's as well.[684]
Mr. Porter did not know what Dignan had done. But I find, among
McNally's secret letters to Dublin Castle, one enclosing a copy of the
'Union Star,' a revolutionary print, which, he says, 'has been printed
at Dignan's house in Grafton Street.' A later letter (endorsed May 23,
1798, the night on which the rebellion burst forth) announces 'Ferris
is the informer against Dignan.' Ferris is described by Musgrave in
his history (p. 176) as head of a committee of United Irishmen, who
was waited upon by a blacksmith named Dunne offering to murder Lord
Carhampton, the famous terrorist. Ferris warned Carhampton, and Dunne
with his accomplice McCarthy was hanged. Frequent payments to Ferris
through Lord Carhampton are recorded in the book of 'Secret Service
Money.' Musgrave notices him as a rather meritorious man. Who Ferris
was McNally tells Cooke in a letter of secret gossip. 'Ferris, forty
years ago, was an attorney and stripped of his gown for perjury; lived
in Green Street; at present in Castle.'
FOOTNOTES:
[671] Napoleon's marshals were rich men. The salary of a marshal
was 1,600_l._ a year; but their emoluments were much increased by
allowances made by Napoleon. Berthier had in addition 400_l._ a month
as a major-general, and further received from his generous master
50,000_l._ every year.
[672] It may have been because Lewins, the shrewd attorney, and
incorruptible envoy of the United Irishmen, suspected MacMahon, that
he refused to yield information on being pumped. Hence the intrigue to
oust Lewins of which we have already heard.
[673] MacMahon was in the pastoral charge of Kilrea at the very time
that Mack, a native of Franconia, held high rank in the army of the
Prince of Coburg, and was directing the operations of the campaign of
1793. From 1794 to 1797, while MacMahon was preaching at Holywood, and
representing the rebel colonels of the county Down, General Mack was
serving in the Netherlands, and in command of the Army of the Rhine.
Charles Mack earned notoriety by delivering over to Napoleon, in virtue
of the capitulation of Ulm, 33,000 Austrians as prisoners of war.
For this act he was tried at Vienna, and received sentence of death
as a traitor to his country. But Bourrienne denies that any secret
understanding existed between him and Buonaparte. Mack's sentence
having been commuted, he was consigned to an Austrian dungeon, where
for a long time his fate was lost in mystery. Even more inglorious was
the final career of Arthur McMahon.
[674] _Life of Wolfe Tone_, ii. 460.
[675] _Castlereagh Papers_, i. 306.
[676] Compare the passages 'sick of politics,' in p. 6, _ante_, &c.
[677] _Castlereagh Correspondence_, i. 408.
[678] _Memoirs of Miles Byrne_, ii. 17. (Paris, 1862.)
[679] _Memoirs of Miles Byrne_, ii. 59.
[680] Hoche's expedition was scattered by adverse winds. How the
Walcheren came to grief was partly due to fever, which decimated the
troops. A long report from Dr. Renny appears in the sixth volume of the
_Castlereagh Correspondence_, and, on reading it now, one cannot doubt
that the 'antiphlogistic' treatment then employed thinned the ranks
more effectively than Napoleon's shells. Antimony and calomel, blister
and blood-letting, did their work.
[681] _Castlereagh_, ii. 226.
[682] _Castlereagh_, ii. 15.
[683] The Pentlands opposed the United Irishmen. Henry Pentland served
as sheriff of Drogheda in 1799, with George MacIntagart as mayor.
MacIntagart was the man who dressed up spies in French uniforms to
entrap credulous peasants.
[684] F. Thorpe Porter, police magistrate, to W. J. F., January 1862.