Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 4.djvu/377

 io» s. iv. OCT. u.1905.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 311 to recommend moderation, continued to arouse, and "every expedient was resorted to which would tend to inflame sanguinary men to the commission of sanguinary deeds." The draft of the " Proclamation " in his hand- writing and the printed copies were found in a desk used by him, with many other papers, in one of the depots where he superintended the manufacture of gunpowder, rockets, cartridges, pikes, <fec. Preconceived notions seem to have undue weight with some con- tributors, who appear to think letters must have been pathetic because of a tale that Major Sirr wept over them. But who first reported it? and what means had he of knowing the truth? FBANCESCA refers to Phillips s 'Curran and his Contemporaries,' 1818, but afterwards admits that she merely has later editions, which do not mention the matter. As Major Sirr died in 1841, Phillips, in 1818, could not have been the authority for the statement that Major Sirr burnt the correspondence " some years previous to his death.'1 As a clergyman, Dr. Sirr was quite right to note anything he could record favourable to O'Brien. Most probably the man was much maligned, although he was convicted. Dr. Sirr does not condone his offence. Even as to Emmet, Madden has recorded every- thing possible in his favour, and, as MB. SIRE pertinently remarks, who can say Dr. Sirr would not have defended either him or Miss Curran from unfair comments ? FKANCESCA says that documents sometimes stated to be destroyed are nevertheless sub- sequently found, instancing the Wickham Papers. But as to the letters under dis- cussion, they have been stated (by Madden and Daly) to have been destroyed, and Major Sirr's own son testifies to this ; and they have not come to light. ME. MACDONAGH says they never existed ; but his argument is un- sound, and he can give no evidence. Madden should have raised the question when Dr. Sirr was alive and could have answered. It does not seem fair to quote a partisan work, such as ' The Sham Squire,' which mis- represents Major Sirr; but FEANCESCA relies upon it for a statement of Sir John Gray that Dr. Sirr had a fixed belief that all Irish mal- contents were favourable to assassination, whereas probably Sir John Gray had the "fixed belief" himself that Dr. Sirr held the opinion. Sir John Gray was editor of The freeman's Journal. Surely, as a "student of Irish history," ME. MACDONAGH is not justified in assuming anything, and he seems "undeservedly to besmirch the reputation " of Dr. Sirr. Appa- rently he has not consulted Major Sirr's papers, and his book is based upon the Hard- wicke Papers and some discovered in the Home Office. So far as it is possible to judge, I should say Dr. Sirr bore a good character, and he had direct means of knowing the truth. ONLOOKEE. Hitherto much has appeared in print con- cerning Emmet and Miss Curran which borders on the imaginative. Notices are sometimes couched in terms which help to foster idolization. But as the ' D.N.B.' article on Emmet points out, "the youth and ability of Emmet have cast a glamour of romance over his career, and that glamour has been enhanced by his affection for Sarah Curran, the daughter of the great lawyer, to whom Moore addressed his famous poem, ' She is far from the land where her young hero sleeps'; the lady afterwards (24 Nov., 1805) married a very distinguished officer, Major Sturgeon, of the Royal Staff Corps." Clearly, therefore, there is room for mis- apprehension on the part of those who make Emmet their hero and Miss Curran the heroine. The following extract from an article in The Nineteenth Century for September well accounts for the preservation of the two unsigned letters of Miss Curran found on Emmet when he was arrested and of the letter he addressed to her from jail. It is essential to make this point clear:— " The insurrection, of course, was soon at an end. Emmet escaped, and was for a while in hiding in the country. He came back to be once more in the vicinity of Sarah Curran, from whom he received letters—unsigned, indeed, but, as was said by those who afterwards examined him, clearly containing high treason. They at once showed the writer's knowledge of her correspondent's aims and her own sympathies. Mr. MacDonagh remarks that she hardly seems to have realized the seriousness of the matter. She, however, had the prudence to urge that her letters should be destroyed. This Emmet could not bring himself to do. and they were found upon him wnen arrested. To prevent their being disclosed he was willing to admit every- thing as to himself, but would mention no other names, nor follow his brother's example in making general statements as to the plans of the conspiracy. Ignorant if the identity of the writer of the letters was discovered, he employed a turnkey, whom he imagined he had gained over, to take a letter openly addressed to Miss Curran at her father's house. This letter was carried to the authorities, the unknown writer identified, and the whole matter became public." Although Emmet's intercepted letter makes mention of letters "found before," MB. MAC- DONAGH reiterates that these three letters were the only correspondence which fell into the hands of the authorities. So far from