language used by the former, in his place in parliament, in reference to a speech delivered at one of the meetings of United Irishmen. An explanation was demanded and refused: a sort of verbal communication, however, was made, which satisfied the friend of Henry Sheares, but which was any thing but satisfactory to the injured party. The following account of this affair, is extracted from the account of the proceedings of the society of United Irishmen, printed privately, in 1794. "UNITED IRISHMEN. July 26, 1794. HENRY SHEARES having been requested to leave the Chair, JAMES DIXON, Chairman. TO THE PUBLIC. THE following Paragraph appeared in the FREEMAN'S JOURNAL on Saturday 20th inst. and afterwards in other prints, as a part of the Lord Chancellor's Speech in the House of Lords. PARAGRAPH. There were in Dublin two persons who were members of the French Jacobin Club, and who, his Lordship believed, were in the pay of that Society to foment sedition in this country. One of their names appeared at the head of a printed paper published last month by the UNITED IRISHMEN, to which Society they also belonged. On perusal of the above paragraph, Henry Sheares informed the meeting he wrote the following letter to his lordship: 'MY LORD, Having this day seen in the public prints of yesterday, a gross and infamous calumny, which from the strength of its allusions, I cannot avoid considering as directed against me, I think it incumbent on me, to address myself to your lordship, prior to taking any step towards the punishment of its author. 'I am induced to take this liberty, my lord, from the circumstances of your lordship's name having been made use of (falsely, I am persuaded) to sanction the malignant falsehood contained in that publication. It is therein asserted, that your lordship, in the House of Lords, represented me as a member and agent of the Jacobin Club in France, and employed by them to foment sedition in this country; an assertion, which I am bound to believe as ill founded, in relation to your lordship, as I know it to be false in respect to me. Assuring your lordship of my perfect conviction, that such an accusation could never have proceeded from the alleged source, I take the liberty of requesting that your lordship will authorize me to assert, that the publication was unwarranted by any thing that fell from your lordship, and that I may have your lordship's permission for such legal proceedings against the publisher as may seem advisable. I am, my Lord, your Lordship's Baggot-street, most obedient very humble servant, 'HENRY SHEARES.' [Note addressed to the Society.] Dublin, July 26, 1793. 'HAVING received no answer to the above letter, I deem it a duty I owe to myself, to the society to which I belong, and to the public in general, to lay the circumstances of this transaction before the nation. 'HENRY SHEARES.' Resolved, that HENRY SHEARES be addressed by this SOCIETY. 'UNITED IRISHMEN TO HENRY SHEARES. "This Society, in its choice of a President, has been directed to you by its conviction of your patriotic and constitutional principles. 'If by this mark of our respect and confidence, you have been exposed to slander of the most singular and unwarrantable nature, you have derived this honourable distinction from the corrupt policy which has been uniformly employed to vilify the most virtuous assertors of their country's rights. 'Convinced that the calumny, alluded to in your letter to the Chancellor, is unfounded, and that the meanness which marks it, as well as its malignity, renders it impossible for us to suppose, that it could have proceeded from the authority to which it has been imputed; but was rather the fabrication of a venal print, which has long insulted the most honourable and independent characters of the community, we earnestly assure you, that we will cooperate with you in every mode of obtaining justice from the laws of your country. 'Amongst us, nothing is secret, nothing underhand. Our numbers, our independence, our individual characters, might stand as tests of our intentions. We have every motive of attachment to the interest and happiness of our country. The sacrifice you make to public duty, can only serve to endear you to us more than ever.' To which HENRY SHEARES gave the following answer. ( UNITED IRISHMEN, 'YOUR affectionate address has made the deepest impression on my heart. I shall ever hope to deserve it. That congenial principle which first led and attached me to you, has received, if possible, additional energy by this testimony of your approbation. From the laws of my country I have no doubt of redress. In contempt and defiance of calumny and oppression, I will devote my life to the great cause for which we first united; confident, that by a firm adherence to the principles of our institution, we shall proportionally effect the welfare and happiness of our native country. HENRY SHEARES." Here the matter ended, with a great deal of dissatisfaction, openly (and perhaps violently), expressed, on the part of both brothers :-the younger talked of challenging the chancellor, and the expression is attributed to him, perhaps unjustly, of "seeking him on the woolsack, if he were not to be found elsewhere!" The next matter, that still further tended to exasperate the Lord Chancellor, against the Sheares, occurred in 1793. The Honourable Simon Butler and Mr. Oliver Bond, were brought to the bar of the House of Lords, the former as chairman, the latter as secretary of a meeting of the society of United Irishmen, for signing a paper, calling in question the privileges of that house, with respect to the examination of witnesses on oath, in the recent case of Mr. James Napper Tandy; and both these gentlemen were declared guilty of a breach of privilege, and sentenced to six months' confinement, and a fine of £500, on the first of March 1793. In the month of August following, a meeting was called, of the society of United Irishmen. Mr. John Sheares filled the chair, and an address to the imprisoned chairman and secretary of the former meeting, was carried, expressive of the sympathy of the society, and of its sense of the severity of the sentence passed on them. The rigour of the sentence had been aggravated, by the virulence of the language, in which it had been pronounced by the chancellor. In addressing the Honourable Mr. Butler, on that occasion, Lord Fitzgibbon said, "he could not plead ignorance of his offence; that his noble birth and professional rank at the bar, to both of which he was a disgrace, had aggravated his crime." Mr. Butler, (who was the son of Lord Mountgarret,) a man of considerable talents and independence of character, no sooner was liberated, than he carried the resolution into effect, which he had openly avowed while in confinement : he appointed his friend John Sheares, to call on Lord Fitzgibbon for an apology, for the insulting |