475 
became good fubjeéts. Lord Edward, regard- 
lefs of what is called parliamentary decorum, 
which very properly forbids the expreffion ef 
any fentiment difrefpeGful of the fovereign, 
er his reprefentative, began his harangue in 
thefe words: ‘« Mr. fpeaker, I am fo far 
from. agreeing with the right hon. member, 
that I think his excellency the lerd-liceute- 
nant is the worft fubje@t the king has?— 
The houfe was immediately in an uproar ; his 
words were ordered to be taken down, and 
the gallery inftantly cleared; three hours 
pafied in debate, during which his friends ufed 
every endeavour to perfuade him to explain 
away or foften his expreffion; to which, at 
length, after a long and obftinate refufal, he 
agreed. It was about this time that popular 
éifconternt in Ireland was becoming ferious. 
The fociety.of United Irifhmen -had been | 
formed, and was fpreading rapidly over Ire- 
land; ¢hortly afterwards it fell under the dif- 
pleafure of government. What his lordthip’s 
connexions with that fociety were, or whe- 
ther he was at all conneéted with it after it 
became illegal to be a member of it, we do 
not pretend to know; {till lefs can we pre- 
tend to fay, whether his lordfhip was prompted 
by any zeal for the intereft of his country- 
men, to enter into meafures inconfiftent with - 
his allegiance to bis fovereign; it is certain 
only, that from that time he became the in- 
timate friend, and almoft perpetual companion 
of Mr. O‘Conner, whofe name his enemies 
have long been in the habit of calumniating 
with charges of treafon. Information on 
eath, it is however faid, the government in 
dreland did receive, that his‘lordfhip had com- 
mitted an act of high treafon: a reward of 
zoool. was iffued for apprehending him, and, 
in'confequence, he was foon after taken by the 
two perfons above-mentioned, Swanand Ryan. . 
Whether thefe men a¢ted legally in their 
manner of arrefting him, is a point on which 
public opinion muft at prefent be fufpended ; 
his lordfhip certainly refifted; they came upon 
him in bed; he rofe, feized a dagger, and in 
the fcuffle which followed, he wounded mor- 
tally, Ryan, one of the parties, and received 
two piftol fhots, which, by the verdiét of the 
jury, (a verdi& which merely ftated the fatts 
which were preved before them, without at- 
tempting to determine whether the death 
wads murder or not), contributed to his death. 
After being fecured, he was committed to 
Newgate; where he languifhed for a few 
days, andexpired. We could detail the many 
interefting circumftances: which occurred in 
the interviews that toek place in his lait 
dreary abode, between his lordfhip and thofe 
tender connexions whefe lives were bound up 
in his. But the human mind feels deeply 
enough at the ab Craét ftory of a noble youth, 
furrounded by all the happinets which a fub- 
lunary ftate can afford, finking at once inio_ 
the loweft ftate of human wretchednefs— 
tranfmitted in a moment froma palaee to a 
dungeon—from the embraces of a young and 
beautiful wife, te the arms of death in its moft 
* 
3 Fined Edward Fitzgerald. he 
hideous form! It is unneceffary to heighten: 
the piéture! His charaéter, drawn by that 
great man, Mr. Fox, in a fpeech at a meeting 
of the Whig club, a for days before his 
melancholy exit, is, perhaps, the beft which 
can be tranfmitted to pofterity—On Mr. 
Fox’s health being drank, with deferving 
enthufiafm, ‘* he rofe, feemingly in much 
agitation, and {poke in fo low a tone, that 
he was but very imperfeétly heard. He faid, 
he felt himfelf; at the moment, extremely 
unfit to addrefs an aflembly even of his 
friends. The affli€ting fituation in which 
a near relation of his was involved, (he 
hoped he fhould not be confidered as unmanly 
_in faying), affeéted him fo much, that he was 
unable to fay much on every fubje@. The 
unfortunate gentleman to whom he alluded, 
was endeared to him, not duly from the con- 
nexionof blood, but from the warmeft friend- 
fhip. He had known, him from his earliett 
youth, and more private worth he never knew 
to exift inany man.” 
Of the wounds which he received, in ap- 
prenending Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Capt. 
Ryan, of the St. Sepulchre’s yeomanry, for- 
merly called Surgeon Ryan, and for fome 
years previous to his death, aéting editor of - 
the Dublin Journal. Of this man, allthatit 
is Interefting to the public to know is fhort. 
The ob{cure circumftances of his birth, fa- _ 
mily, and education, we have been unable tg 
learn; the firft information procured of him is, 
that when’ he ceafed to be a boy, he became 
connected in fuch a manner with an apothe- 
cary, as gave a fort of fanction to his fubfe- 
quent aflumption of the title of furgeon; 
whether Mr. Ryan entitled shimfelf after-. 
wards to that appellation we know not, but 
it is certain his praéfice was not confined te 
furgery. About the year 1787 he was one 
of the intimates of the well known John Gif 
fard, formerly an apothecary of Dublin, but 
principally known as a very aétive and intel- 
ligent agent of adminiftration in Ireland, and 
whofe zeal in the fervice has been marked, 
In the moft diftinguifhed manner, at the pub- 
lic meetings of the metropolis, for feveral 
years back. Shortly afterwards, Mr: Ryan 
was a note-taker in the Irith Houfe of Lords, 
while Mr. Giffard, his patron, took care of 
the more important bufinefs in the Commons. ~ 
For thefe fervices, it is underftood, Mr. Gif- 
fard was paid by a place in the Dublin cuftom- 
houfe, worth 6oel. per annum; while he, 
fettlea with Mr. R. for his fubordinate la- 
bours in the common caufe. The Dublin 
Journal had now become the advocate of go- 
vernment- meafures; and thefe two, Mr. 
Giffard being the principalin the manage- 
ment, are fuppofed to have filled, with fome 
cafual aids from other quarters, its pages. 
If an author then is known by his writings, 
the character of Mr. Ryan may be, in fome 
meafure, known from the complexion of 
that print... The friends had now paffed fame 
years in this way, when the time arrived ~ 
that Mr. R. was to be fomething more than a 
mere 
