Secret Service Under PittFitz-Patrick, William J. (William John)
History
Secret Service Under Pitt
Fitz-Patrick, William J. (William John)
Ireland -- History -- 1760-1820; Pitt, William, 1759-1806; Secret service -- Ireland
We have seen that Magan--traditionally described as an unsociable
person, possessing few friends--maintained most intimate relations
with James Dickson of Kilmainham, in whose house Jones was also a
constant guest. About the same time as the arrest of Jones in Cork,
the 'Courier' of August 30, 1803, announces in its Dublin news:
'Yesterday Mr. James Dickson, of Kilmainham, was arrested at his house
by Messrs. Atkinson[381] and Carleton, chief peace-officers, and his
papers searched. The superintendent magistrate had him conveyed to the
Castle, where he underwent examination, and was afterwards committed to
Kilmainham Gaol.'[382]
Todd Jones, writing at the time, warmly details the circumstances of
his arrest (the italics are his own):--
My person has been assaulted in my bed at daybreak, in the
respectable mansion of a venerable friend, Doctor Callanan, near
Clonakilty, and I have been conveyed, very strongly guarded by
Troops, to an ignominious common Gaol: in reaching which, at
the moderate distance of twenty-two miles, I have been wantonly
exhibited, _like an already convicted Felon_, for two long summer
days, the first and second of August, in _Orange Triumph_, to the
gaze of a very crowded Bandon rabble; and thence paraded, with like
ostentation, _through all the streets of Cork_, as if _in progress
to Execution_.--My venerable friend and hospitable entertainer,
Doctor Calanan, a Physician of the age of seventy, with his only
son, _on my account_, have been dragged from the same mansion to
Prison, after a similar triumphant exposure of two days, to gazing
multitudes, in the short distance of twenty-two miles: a Man
eminent for a long professional life, dedicated to the Poor, and to
the Peasants, whose tears kept pace with his progress.
He then goes on to request that all concerned in his detainer,
including the Sheriff of Cork, may be summoned to the Bar of
Parliament. An account of his shattered health is sent to the Secretary
of State--'It is my liberty which I pray for--a trial--liberation--or
death! I have been a close prisoner for eleven weeks, without even
having been shown my indictment, or been told the names of my
accusers.'[383]
These complaints were made in October, 1803, but entirely failed
to obtain redress. His petition to the king, dated 1808, resumes
the story: 'Within this prison I continued confined from 23rd
July, 1803, until the latter end of October 1805, when I was
unconditionally discharged by the High Sheriff of the County of
Cork--untried--unbailed--unexamined and unredressed.'[384]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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