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It was in the autumn of 1797, and sometime after
the preceding transactions, that the melancholy
event took place, which severed the last remaining
link of the chain which had hitherto bound thousands
of the presbyterian community in the North,
to the side of government, and gave that impulse to
the wheels of the conspiracy, which no subsequent
measure of either policy or force could arrest until
it terminated in the fury and vengeance of a sanguinary
rebellion. This event was the death, or,
as the popular voice termed it, the martyrdom of
William Orr.

To give a minute account of the sufferings of
this greatly lamented favourite of the people, would
interfere too much with the main design of this
history; but his fate was too closely interwoven
with, and had too important an influence on many
transactions, which it will be incumbent on us to
relate, to permit us to pass it over in silence. Indeed
the reader could but little appreciate those
feelings, which hurried the presbyterians of Ulster
into the disastrous enterprise of 1798, unless he
knew something of the story of Orr. As a body,
whether we consider their numbers, or their

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intelligence, their wealth, their habits of industrious
and active perseverance in their designs, they were
by far the most efficiently powerful class of the
conspirators. The majority of them, however, until
the time of Orr's catastrophe, were far from being
disloyal. They were indeed greatly dissatisfied
with the recent measures of the administration;
but they could have been easily conciliated, for it
was no trifling matter, that could totally estrange
their hearts from that government, which had been
the constant bulwark of the reformation. They
might, and did occasionally feel some jealousy of
the peculiar privileges and endowments, enjoyed by
a prelatic church establishment; but they never
viewed that establishment with the discontent and
animosity which was felt by the catholics; and with
respect to their ideas of civil liberty they had
been, generally speaking, strictly constitutional.
Many of them had of late years, from a feeling of
justice, warmly espoused the cause of catholic
emancipation; and when by the sagacious managers
of the United confederacy, that cause became
coupled with the cause of parliamentary reform,
which was the great object of their political wishes,
they scarcely made any difference in the zeal with
which they sought the attainment of both. Still a
great majority of even those among them, who had
joined the United Irishmen, did not aim at a total
dissolution of their connexion with Britain, notwithstanding
their leaders, ever since the passing of the
Insurrection law, did not hesitate to avow that such
a dissolution was the great object for which they
contended. Even to this period, thousands, whose
political views coincided with those originally professed
by the conspirators, had refused to join them,
but their reluctance now vanished before the awful
and exasperating spectacle of a virtuous,

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inoffensive, industrious and respectable man, vindictively
hurried to the gallows in the face of circumstances
absolutely demonstrative of his innocence; in contempt
of the most earnest recommendations of a repentant
jury, to mercy; and in opposition to the
wishes, the expectations and the prayers of multitudes
of all classes of the community.

After a year's wearisome imprisonment, this victim
of executive infatuation and resentment, was
brought to trial in September 1797, on a charge of
administering the oath of a United Irishmen to a
Scotch soldier of the name of Wheatly, an act
which a clause in the Insurrection law had rendered
punishable with death.

On the evidence of Wheatly, he was convicted,
and sentence of death passed upon him. So notoriously
bad, however, was the informer's character,
that several of the jury were prevailed on to agree
to the verdict, only by the cajolement and intimidation
practised by others, and on the express condition
that they should all join in a recommendation
to mercy. This recommendation was forwarded
to the Viceroy, together with the affidavits of three
of the jurors, stating their solemn belief of the prisoner's
innocence, and confessing that they were
under the influence of intoxication and terror when
they concurred in the verdict. The reader will be
astonished at this confession of intoxication, it being
a direct infringement of the British law which enjoins
abstinence on jurors during the solemn period
of their deliberations: but it is a fact, that the jurors
alluded to, swore positively to the introduction of
spirituous liquor through a window into their chamber,
and that they had used it to inebriation.

The day after the trial the informer also became
conscience-struck, and voluntarily deposed that his
testimony against Orr had been malicious and untrue.
Exertions were, therefore, made by the

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magistrate who had originally committed Orr upon the
soldier's information, and by many other respectable
gentlemen of the county, to save him. He was,
in consequence, three times respited, and great
hopes were entertained that he should finally receive
mercy.

During this interval of suspense, a slanderous
and unjust paragraph made its way into a Belfast
newspaper, stating that Orr had made a confession
of his guilt, and an acknowledgment of the justice
of his sentence, “which (it was added) he had done
to ease his conscience, and acquit the jury who had
been calumniated for their verdict against him.”

To repel this ungenerous fabrication, Mr. Orr
despatched his brother to Dublin with the following
letter; which was delivered to the lord lieutenant.

“May it please your excellency—

“Having received from your excellency's clemency,
that respite from death which affords me
the opportunity of humbly and sincerely thanking
you, I avail myself of the indulgence of pen and
paper, and of that goodness you have already manifested
towards me, to contradict a most cruel and
injurious publication in a late newspaper, stating
that I had confessed myself guilty of the crimes
which a perjured wretch came forward to swear
against me. My lord, it is not by the confession of
crimes which would render me unfit for society,
that I expect to live; it is upon the strength of that
innocence which I will boldly maintain with my
last breath, which I have already affirmed in a declaration,
which I thought was to have been my
last, and which I had directed to be published as
my vindication from infamy, ten times more terrible
to me than death.

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“I know my lord, that my own unhappy situation,
the anguish of a distracted wife, the mistaken
tenderness of an affectionate brother, have been resorted
to, to procure that confession, and I was
given to understand that my life would have been
spared on such conditions. I as decidedly refused
as I should do now, though your excellency's pardon
was to be the reward. Judge then, my lord,
of the situation of a man to whom life was offered,
upon no other condition than that of betraying himself,
by a confession both false and base.

“And lastly, let me make one humble observation
to your excellency, that the evidence should
be strong indeed to induce conviction, that an industrious
man, enjoying both comfort and competence;
who had lived all his life in one neighbourhood;
whose character, as well as that of all his
stock, has been free from reproach of any kind; who
certainly, if allowed to say so much for himself,
would not shed the blood of any human creature;
who is a husband and the father of a family; would
engage himself with a common soldier, in any system
that had for its end robbery, murder and destruction—
for such was the evidence of the witness
Wheatly.

“If upon these grounds, and the facts already
submitted to your excellency, I am to be pardoned,
I shall not fail to maintain the most dutiful sense
of gratitude for that act of justice as well as mercy;
and in the meantime, I beg to remain your excellency's
most obedient humble servant,

At this period also Mrs. Orr addressed lady
Camden in the following terms:—

“To her Excellency the Countess of Camden.—For

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this freedom, grief like mine thinks not of apology.
Despair and sorrow are my only companions; yet
hope bids me look up to you for happiness. A
miserable object, a mother and a wife, comes praying
for mercy for the father of her children.

“Pardon, most gracious lady, the frenzy of a
distracted woman, and listen to the petition of the
miserable wife of the unfortunate William Orr. I
come a suppliant, a low and humble slave of misery,
praying your ladyship's intercession in behalf of
the life of my husband, whose existence is dearer
to me than my own. O hear my complaint, and
grant one beam of hope to my frantic imagination.
You are the only person who has it in her power
to remove never-ending misery from a wretched
individual; to cheer the afflicted heart, and give
comfort and consolation to her that was ready to
perish. Suffer me to assure you that he is innocent
of the crime for which he is under sentence of
death. O cruel sentence! that will, without your
interference, tear me from my husband, and rob
my five poor little unoffending children of their father—
the best of fathers, the kindest and dearest
that ever lived. They join in solicitation for his
life; their innocent, fervent, grateful prayers, will
rise as a memorial before the throne of God; their
lisping tongues shall be taught, with unceasing
gratitude, to bless and adore the noble and generous,
exalted character of their benefactress, the
revered and loved countess of Camden. How will
that name be printed upon their souls never to be
effaced! Forgive my importunity—the life of my
husband, the father of my children, is at stake.
Despair has almost made me mad. I call upon
you to exert yourself to save his life. Thy God
will reward, thy country will thank thee, his children
will bless thee, if thou grantest my petition;
and when length of years, and increase of horror

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shall make thee tired of earthly joys, and the curtain
of death shall gently close around thy bed,
may the angels of God descend and take care that
the last ray of thy existence shall not receive one
rude blast to hasten its extinction. At that awful
period, may the recollection of your successful interference,
added to the prospect of your future
felicity * * * * * * * * * * *.”

The eyes of the whole community were fixed
upon these transactions, and public anxiety was
strained to the uttermost respecting the fate of the
prisoner. The last respite was to terminate on the
14th of October, on the evening preceding which
day, a messenger arrived from government to the
high sheriff of the county. It was fondly hoped
and confidently expected, that he was the messenger
of mercy; but no; he brought the mandate
of death—a death which snapped asunder every
lingering tie by which the government had yet any
hold on the affections of wavering thousands. The
shock which was given to the public mind is not
easy to be conceived—multitudes swore that oath
of vengeance, which was afterwards but too fatally
performed.

On the morning of the 14th of October, he was
taken from the jail. Although his long confinement
had diminished the glow of health which his
countenance had formerly worn, still it retained a
more than ordinary degree of comeliness. His person
was dignified and graceful, his stature being
fully six feet, and his whole deportment such as to
make a favourable and lasting impression on the
spectators. As to his private character, a very
candid writer of that day, who knew him well, observes
that among his neighbours he was universally
beloved, and in his domestic relations, as a

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husband, and a father, his affection and tenderness
may have been equalled, but never surpassed.

At one o'clock he arrived at the place of execution,
on the sea shore, about a mile to the south of
Carrickfergus, in a carriage, accompanied with two
clergymen, whom he had selected for the occasion.
He was escorted by a strong guard of horse, foot
and artillery, detached from various regiments lying
at Carrickfergus and Belfast.

At the fatal spot, he sung some verses of the 23d
and 35th Psalms. On the 4th verse of the former,
Yea, though I walk in death's dark vale,
Yet will I fear no ill;
For thou art with me, &c. he dwelt with particular emphasis; and also upon
the following passage of the 14th chapter of Corinthians.

“So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruptible,
and this mortality shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying,
Death is swallowed up in victory. O death
where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?”

He then addressed the by-standers, for several
minutes, and boldly and earnestly declared his innocence
and the falsehood of his accusers; after
which he shook hands with those friends who were
convenient to him, and ascended the scaffold with
a firm step. When the executioner had fixed the
rope about his neck, he, for the first time, exhibited
some symptoms of indignation, exclaiming, “I am
no traitor; I am persecuted for a persecuted country.
Great Jehovah receive my soul! I die in the
true faith of a presbyterian.”

He then gave the pre-concerted signal with his
handkerchief, and was launched into eternity.

Thus was accomplished a deed, the very mention
of which, to this day, makes the blood of indignation
boil in the hearts of thousands of Irishmen,

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even of those who are in reality friends to the constitution,
and to the general conduct of the government
as it has been administered since the Union.

Had the administration of that day, singled out
some restless, disorganizing and dangerous demagogue,
some profligate disseminator of the new-fangled
French doctrines of deism and equality, or
the perpetrator of some act of violence or fraud,
as the victim of its vengeful policy, the sensation of
wrath, the passion of revenge, which seized upon,
and maddened in the minds of the people, would
either never have existed, or had they existed, being
less defensible, would have evaporated whenever
the subsiding of the first incitement of vexation
and rage permitted the return of reflection.
But unfortunately Orr was not a character either
dissolute or dangerous, and consequently reflection
in the public mind, only gave permanence to those
revengeful passions to which exasperation had
given origin.

To show the impression of Orr's mind on the
subject of religion, a subject on which no man who
has sincere and solemn impressions, can be a bad
member of society, the reader is here presented
with a farewell letter, which he wrote to his wife
shortly before he left the jail for the last fatal
scene.

“Carrickfergus, Saturday morning, Oct. 14.
“MY DEAR WIFE.

“I now think it proper to mention the grounds
of my present encouragement, under the apprehension
of shortly appearing before my God and
Redeemer. First, my entire innocence of the crime
I am charged with. Secondly, a well-grounded
hope of meeting a merciful God. Thirdly, a firm
confidence that that God will be a husband to you,
and a father to our little children, whom I do

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recommend to his divine care and protection. And
my last request is, that you will bring them up in
the knowledge of that religion, which is the ground
of my present comfort, and the foundation of that
happiness, which, I trust, I shall enjoy on that day,
when we must all appear before the great Judge.

It will be readily supposed that the United chiefs,
who frequented the cave in which Edward Barrymore
was confined, partook largely of the public
excitement on this occasion. As their designs,
however, were far from being ripe for execution,
they had the prudence to suppress their feelings,
and to act with moderation; and were, also, at
considerable pains to restrain the popular fury
from breaking out prematurely into acts of violence.
In consequence of this solicitude to prevent
atrocities that would have been detrimental
to their cause, they preserved the jury that had
convicted Orr, from becoming victims to the fury
of some of the more daring and fanatical of their
party, who had denounced vengeance against
them.

One evening as Porter and Nelson were discoursing
on this subject in Edward's presence, in
such a manner as almost compelled him to express
his opinion, he remarked that it was neither his
province nor his inclination to defend the executive
authority on all occasions. “It is not necessary,”
said he, “that an adherent of our admirable
form of government, should defend the general
management of any particular administration, much
less approve of any isolated act of harshness or
cruelty. Still, however, before I can agree to consign
the present ministers altogether to infamy, I
must know the motives which induced them to

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permit this unhappy execution. False representations
of the case, may have been made to them.
They may have been persuaded that Orr was actually
guilty of seducing the soldier from his allegiance,
and therefore wished by a severe example to
deter others from such practices. But, gentlemen, be
my opinions on this subject what they may, I cannot
help expressing my sorrow for the calamities
which I perceive accumulating on the country, and
which it is my sincere conviction, have had their
origin in the unjustifiable and illegal attempts of secret
associations to overawe the established authorities
into measures, the beneficial tendency of
which is, to say the least of it, controvertible.”

“Sir,” said Nelson, “though we dislike your sentiments,
we cannot but admire the candour with
which you express them; nor can we be offended
at your freedom of speech, since an avowed antagonist
is a much safer companion than a treacherous
colleague.”

The conversation was here interrupted by the
entrance of O'Halloran, with a bundle of letters,
one of which he handed to Nelson, saying, “here
is bad news for you. They have done what I long
since predicted they would sometime do.”

The transaction to which he alluded, will be related
in the next chapter.

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