CHRONICLE. 



13 



after the attempt by the watch- 

 man, coming through Boughton. 



Dublin, Jan. 7. — The following 

 is given as a correct statement of 

 the facts relative to the discovery 

 of a treasonable association in Ire- 

 land : — 



" About eight days ago, a meet- 

 ing was held of the trustees of the 

 Charity School belonging co the 

 Catholic Chapel in Church street. 

 The school-master neglected to at- 

 tend at the usual hour, and arrived 

 in a state of intoxication as the 

 trustees were about to disperse • he 

 was severely reprimanded for his 

 absence, and required to state the 

 reason of it. He endeavoured to 

 excuse himself, saying, that he had 

 been detained by important busi- 

 ness ; but, as his duty required that 

 all his time should be devoted to 

 the school, the trustees refused to 

 admit of any such excuse ; and 

 then he stated broadly, that he had 

 been engaged in the business of 

 the new association, to one divi- 

 sion of which he said he was se- 

 cretary. The nature of this asso- 

 ciation was inquired of him, and 

 he gave the following acount : — 



" ' That it was an association in- 

 stituted for the purpose of separat- 

 ing Ireland from England, by force 

 of arms — that it had also for one of 

 its objects the extirpation of heresy 

 — that, however, the most active 

 person he knew of in it was a Mr. 

 Fisher, a Protestant, who assured 

 him, and the other persons he en- 

 gaged in the plan, that it had the 

 sanction of the Catholic Commit- 

 tee, and Mr. Hay was their private 

 secretary — that he had been sup- 

 plied with a blunderbuss, and 

 many others were armed, as it was 

 easy to procure arms out of the 



stores at the Castle ! — and that 

 an attack was shortly to be made 

 in Dublin, as they were assured 

 that the garrison was at present 

 very weak.' 



'* Such was the substance of the 

 statement made by this man. The 

 trustees adjourned to the next day, 

 and then called him befors them. 

 Being sober, he wished to conceal 

 or retract the facts ; but being 

 closely pressed, he admitted that he 

 had become a member of such an 

 association, and repeated the ac- 

 count he had given the preceding 

 evening, with this addition, that he 

 believed the name of Fisher was not 

 a real, but an assumed name. The 

 trustees immediately dismissed him 

 from his employment as school- 

 master, and endeavoured to make 

 him sensible of the crime he had 

 committed, and of the evident 

 falsehood of the representations 

 that had been made to him. 



" On Thursday, the 2nd, those 

 facts were communicated, for the 

 first time, at the roonw belonging 

 to the Catholic Committee, in 

 Capel-street, to Mr. Hay, in the 

 presence of major Bryan. The 

 gentleman who made the commu- 

 nication was not present at the exa- 

 mination of the schoolmaster; and 

 it therefore became necessary to 

 ascertain the facts from some per- 

 son who was. This could not be 

 done until Friday. On that day 

 several members of the Catholic 

 Committee met at D'Arcy's, in 

 Earl-street ; and the facts being 

 stated to them, they unanimously- 

 resolved to communicate the entire 

 transiiction to the attorney-gene- 

 ral, in the presence either of Mr. 

 Grattan, or of the knight of Kerry ; 

 a precaution which, circumstanced 



as 



