Was the vengeance wreaked by Boyce meant as a tardy retribution? Was the John Boyce, who with five other prisoners was consigned in 1797 to Carrickfergus Gaol, connected with the Boyce who shot Turner? What Boyce had against Turner was a secret which died with both. No proceedings seem to have been taken against the man by whose hand he fell. And possibly this forbearance was not uninfluenced by the fact that the Crown had need no longer for their informer's services, but, on the contrary, gained by his death. Turner was a clever man, troublesome to deal with, haughty, touchy, and resentful; and, like Maguan,[258] Bird and Newell, he might at any moment publicly turn upon his employers and betray them with as little compunction as he had already sold his comrades. A word as regards Lord Downshire, through whom Turner's disclosures were at first conveyed. This peer, who at one time had wielded potential influence at Whitehall, and had the ear of Pitt, lived to fall into deep disfavour with Government. He steadily opposed the Legislative Union, and helped to form a joint-stock purse with the object of out-bribing Dublin Castle. In chastisement he was dismissed from the Lord Lieutenancy of Down, deprived of his rank as colonel, expelled from the Privy Council, and threatened with a parliamentary inquiry into his conduct. These blows told, and on September 7, 1801, he breathed his last. FOOTNOTES: [231] _Castlereagh Correspondence_, i. 282. [232] Lord Edward Fitzgerald died on June 4, 1798. [233] _Castlereagh Correspondence_, i. 270-309. [234] _Castlereagh Correspondence_, ii. 265. [235] Letter of Sir A. Wellesley to the Duke of Portland: dated 'Holyhead, June 19, 1808.' _Civil Correspondence of the Duke of Wellington (Ireland)_, pp. 454-5. [236] _Life of Reynolds_, by his Son, ii. 153. [237] Newry had been Turner's home. [238] _History of Belfast_, p. 478. [239] Immediately after the rebellion Downshire received 52,500_l._, nominally as compensation for borough seats. The magnitude of the sum has excited historic surprise; but in making this payment other services were, no doubt, weighed, including the timely information of which Turner made him the channel. [240] Before the Secret Committee of the House of Lords, 1798. [241] See _Life of Pitt_, _ante_, p. 36. [242] Account of S.S. Money applied in detecting Treasonable Conspiracies per affidavit of Mr. Cooke. [243] Vide _Irish Correspondence_, p. 386.