14 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1812. 



as the members of the Catholic 

 Committee were, they thought pru- 

 dent, and could not be improper. 



" Neither of those distinguished 

 gentlemen were in town on Fri- 

 day ; but expresses were sent to 

 them, and also to lord Fingal, 

 who was at Killeen Castle ; and 

 early on Saturday morning the 

 three arrived in town. 



" It was the opinion of those 

 gentlemen, that they ought, in the 

 first instance, to wait on the attor- 

 ney-general, to inform him that 

 lord Fingal, and some other Catho- 

 lic gentlemen, had a communica- 

 tion to make to him, touching the 

 existence of a treasonable conspi- 

 racy — that they were then ready 

 to make it — and to know if the 

 attorney-general was ready to re- 

 ceive them for that purpose. This 

 course was accordingly adopted. 



*' Mr. Graftan and Mr. Fitzge- 

 rald accordingly waited on the at- 

 torney-general on Saturday last, 

 and stated the object of their visit. 

 Mr. Attorney-general was not 

 then ready to receive the commu- 

 nication. We understand that he 

 asked if there were any informa- 

 tions on oath ; and recommended 

 to lord Fingal and the other gen- 

 tleman to go before a police ma- 

 gistrate, and give their informa- 

 tion to him — said, that the usual 

 way was to go before a magistrate 

 — and did not seem to think it at 

 all necessary to see the Catholic 

 gentlemen himself. 



" We understand that the at- 

 torney-general was strongly press- 

 ed to receive the communication, 

 and to submit it to the Irish go- 

 vernment : that he asked, whether 

 the gentlemen meant to come to 

 him as a committee ? to which the 



knight of Kerry replied, * No, sir, 

 they will wait on you merely as 

 individuals.' 



" At length the attorney-gene- 

 ral appointed the hour of twelve on 

 Monday, the 6th, at Mr. Pole's of- 

 fice, in the Castle, for receiving 

 the communication. He said he 

 wanted to go to his country seat, 

 and supposed there could be no 

 danger in the mean time. 



" The earl of Fingal, major Bry- 

 an, and Mr. O'Connel, were ap- 

 pointed to go to Mr. Pole's office, 

 at that hour. They did so accord- 

 ingly, and were accompanied by 

 Mr. O'Gorman. We understand 

 that they gave a brief statement of 

 the confession made by the school- 

 master — gave in his name, and the 

 names and residences of some of 

 the trustees who were^ witnesses 

 to that confession ; and also some 

 printed papers belonging to the 

 association. They were received 

 by the attorney-general and Mr. 

 Pole with ceremonious politeness, 

 and having made their communi- 

 cation, withdrew, leaving it to the 

 government to act as they should 

 think fit. 



y. This morning, an instance 

 of youthful rashness occurred in the 

 inland department of the Post-of- 

 fice, for which no plausible reason 

 could be assigned. 



One of the messengers hearing' 

 the report of a pistol in the inland 

 office, ran immediately to the place 

 from whence the noise proceeded, 

 and saw a youth, named Kelner, 

 about 17 years of age, sitting on a 

 chair, by the fire-side, leaning his 

 head upon his hand, and holding a 

 pocket-handkerchief to his face. 

 The messenger conceiving the pis- 

 tol might be fired for idle sport, 



imme- 



