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
Macnevin published his 'Pieces of Irish History'[181] at New York in
1807, and notices the betrayal of the memorial which he had addressed
to the French Government. Up to that time, and until his death in
1840, he does not seem to suspect Turner. Had any such doubt occurred
to him, he would have been the first to avow it. At p. 146 of his
book Macnevin inveighs against a 'profligate informer,' 'a ruffian of
the name of Reynolds;' but Reynolds' treachery was confined to the
arrests at Bond's in Dublin, and did not take place until March 1798.
Ten pages further on Macnevin speaks of the 'unparalleled fidelity of
the United Irish Body.' Dr. Macnevin was struck by the knowledge the
Government had acquired of the 'negotiations of the United Irishmen
with foreign States,' and, he adds, 'at this time one of the deputies
[_i.e._ himself] had personal evidence of its extent and accuracy. That
knowledge was obtained from some person in the pay of England and in
the confidence of France.' And Dr. Macnevin then proceeds to point to
REINHARD by name!
This is just what the officials of the Home Office wished for all
along. Wickham, referring to the publication of Macnevin's memorial by
the Secret Committee of the House of Lords, writes: 'It may fairly be
presumed that the copy has been obtained at [the Foreign Office] Paris,
or from R.'s [Reinhard's] secretary at Hamburg. _This conjecture will
be at least as probable as the real one._'[182]
One circumstance struck Macnevin as 'confirmation strong' of his dark
suspicion. Reinhard, as he tells us, made difficulties about giving him
a passport to Paris. A most important despatch from Reinhard to De la
Croix thus concludes:--
What I must particularly urge, Citizen Minister, in regard to this
business, is, at least, that you will have the goodness to direct
me as to Mr. Macnevin. I will not give another passport without
your order.[183]
This letter--possibly written at Lady Edward Fitzgerald's house at
Hamburg, and put into her post-bag--was treacherously betrayed to Pitt.
When De la Croix remained ominously silent in response to the above
appeal, is it surprising that Reinhard should have made difficulties
and delays in giving Macnevin a passport?[184]
Macnevin's groundless distrust of Reinhard naturally influenced the
views of a most painstaking investigator. Dr. Madden, who, when
he at last saw, in the 'Castlereagh Papers,' Reinhard's letters
to De la Croix, regarded the circumstance as damning proof of his
treachery.[185] Subsequently Mignet, the great French historian and
keeper of the ministerial archives at Paris, who had ample official
means of knowing the character and acts of both Reinhard and De la
Croix, assured Madden in writing that both men were incorruptible. This
may be taken as conclusive, for, unlike Turner, there is not a line
in any English State Paper tending to compromise Reinhard or De la
Croix.[186]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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