The Sun.
London, England, 1810-05-16 00:00:00

MR. R. O'CON VOR & SIR F. BURDE7T.

We adverted yesterday to the Narrative published
by Mr. R. O'CONNOR, and stated, that as he wish-
ed for publicity we would meet him.upon the sub-
jea. We have therefore made the following ex-
tract; respeCting that Gentleman, from the Debates
of the Irish House of Commons, published in The
Dublin Journal of the 21st of February, 17eg
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, that had__ this
kingdom never heard of the name of O'connor—
had we never heard of the horrible rebellion which
had made the Lineal, districts of this country unin-
habited desarts—had the extreme and unprecedent-
ed lenity shewn by Government to the self-convia-
ed traitors been • less notorious than it was—then,
indeed, the statement of the Honourable Gentleman
might appear extraordinary and unaccountable to
that House and to the nation,
~He was Satisfied the
Honourable Gentleman was imposed upon ; he.wis_
conviaced that.the kind and open heart of that Hon.
-Gentleman had rendered him the dupe of false sog—,
gestions, otherwise that Hon. Gentleman never
would have acted as he had done; but when the,
Executive Government were arraigned as criminals
at the Bar of that House; when a Gentleman whose
.loyalty had been so forward and conspicuous as that
,of the Honourable
,Member, came forward the
_advocate of such a man as. Roger O'Connor, when
if should go abroad that the most flagitious traitors
could find advocates within the walls.of the-House,
the traitors of this country would be elevated into
hope, and mischief incalculable would unavoidably
follow. As the subject had been introduced, he beg-
ged pardon of the House for entering into a minute
statement of the circumstances under which Roger
O'Connor was imprisoned, and he pledged himself,
from the very hand-writing of Roger O'Connor him-
self,
from his letters of exculpation, to' prove that
he bad not been treated with the rigour he deserved.
In the Spring of the. ear 1797, it appeared to a very
active and useful Officer (Gen. Coote), in the course
of his inquiries afterdangerous characters, by the con-
current.testimony of the whole surrounding country,
that R. O'Connor had been .guilty vfsuch treasonable

„practices as were likely to produce very ill et in
the county of Cork
.; such was the prevalence of this
opinion;•that his was directed to Mr.O'Con-
nor from .a variety of .quarters,-that Gen. Coate, in
consequence, took measures to have -him arrested.
The outrages of the lower orders had not at that
time reached to the pitch of enormity which has since
disgraced Ireland ; and Government, in the hope -of
quie!ing the country by lenienLmeasures, ,on the
17th day of Ma, issued o-Proclarnation offering par-
don to such of the delu::ed' peasantry as should de-
sire to ret'Jrn to their allegiance. Mr. Roger O'Con-
nor, who had absconded fur some time before from
G,;l;cral Coote's search; then came forward, and
confes-,ed himself guilty of the crime of tenderin4
illegal oaths, . for which Pardon was thui offe►ed,
took advanrag'e of the benefit of this Proclamation.
Before he took this step; O'Connor had written a
letter to Mr. Pelham,
_ex:ft-acts from' which he
would now read, observing that this letter com-
menced
.with all the easy familiarity of an old .and
established correspondent ; it was dated the '3d pf
Jul.,. 1797

‘r On the Bth, ultimo I-received from my wife"—
The mention of this Lady, the At iorney;G_eneral
said was extremely painful to him ; he wished to
avoid it as much as possible; whatever her other
conduct might have been, she had proved-her love
and attachment to ,her husband,' and even to such.
a man love and attachment in a wife was laudable.
Of her he should _ say no more, but proceed in the.
letter—

"A letter written on the Ist of June,: wherewith
:was.sent a copy of the Proclamation of the 17th of
.May, which I most carefully perused, 'and found

that every line of it, according to, the intormation
received of me by. Government, and every excep-
tion, APPLIED exactly to me ; consider me in the
light.of a traitor, which I totis veribus deny ; I most
'solemnly declare to you I was MISLED solely by the
complexion of the limes, and that my associates were
only thespeasantry V the country where 1 reside."
Here was Mr. Roger O'Connor, a man, unhap-
pily for his, country, of good education and some
talent, declaring to the Executive Government that

be was, in committing aas, which tie indeed.does
not admit to be treason, but which every sensible
man in the community must see were highly trea-
_sonable, misled, and - confessing that his associates
(those\by whom he might be supposed to be en-
titled) were not the artful traitors of the higher
ranks of society, but tile ignorant peasantry of the
country..

. He goes on in the same letter tb say— .
" Information was given to 'Brigadier-General
Coote, that be would find a vast quantity of arms
and ammunition, pikes, &c. at my house; on the
most diligent search he could find nothing but one
blunderbuss without a lock; my whole stock of
arms of all kind, and ammunition, consisted of
twenty-two pikes, one brass 'blundtirbuss, one fowl-
ing. piece, fifteen muskets, all in bad repair; nine
brass swivels, which I had besto%ved to 'Sir John
Freke, and often told him to send for ; four or five
pounds of powder, and about four hundred and fifty
ball-cartridges, and as you nizy be dt sirous to know
why I had pen so much, I:will'infor'm you. When
my
.brother was taken up on suspicion, and when I
learned that he .would be-detained ddring the sus-
pension .of the Habeas Corpus, I heard that some
Gentlemen of the. barony -of Nuskerry (the barony

LON N : Pnnted by -fti HARD HARRIS, ox No. 4, Martlett,.court, Bow-street ; and
At the Sux-OFFics,,No. i IT, Strand, where ildvertisements, Orders foi

• .in which he lived) had said at their tables that every
day an order was expe&ed to come -from dovern-
ment to the Mu,kerry Yeomanry to apprehend me."
Such was the reputation of this loyal 6enileman
amongst those who knew him best. . ,

" Fired with indignation at the thought of Gen-
tlemen with whom I had lived in habits of intimacy
and friendship on my own part, many_ of the corps
too my own and family's tenants—l called as many
of my tenants and faithful people on whom I thought.
I could rely, as would be'a match for the Muske&y.
Yeomanry—l charged the swivels -which I bad
mounted—l charged the guns--I made these ball-
cartridges above-mentioned, and I had two arid-twen-
ty pikes forged, and I gave these orders, having first
placed sentries— if Dragoons are coining, make
haste and give me notice, that I may get out of the
way; if Yeomanry are coming, let me know it,
the last. in the yard must lock the gates ; if the
order be on information received, I %ill not shew ;
if it be on suspicion, I will warn them not
.to at-
tempt an arrest ; and if they don't go off quietly,
'we must make them."

Such Was not the condu& of an innocent man,
relying on his loyalty and good col,.'utrt—to array an
army 'to oppose the execution of the law, and to pre-
pare to resist the King's forces in the execution of
their duty. •
" I used these precautions from the sth to the
12th of February, and my armoury about the middle
.of March was reduced tO the blunderbuss and fowl-
ing-piece, and two mtAkets I sawed off the heads
of the pikes and made handles of rakes and pitch-
forks of the' handles of them ; the swivels were dis-
charged and thrown aside ; the powder and car-
tridges I left at Connorville, and these my wife had
thrown into the River Bandon the day after I left
home, (which was- the 2Vd of 'Aptil) as she has
since informed me."

Another letter of explanation, written to the Lord
Lieutenant, would serve to develope the views and
conduct of this man as clearly as the most sub,tan-
tial proof or his guilt; it bore the same date and
commenced with the same ease as the letter to Mr.
Pelham : in it he attempts to palliate the crime of
which he knew himself to be guilty ; but his at-
tempt was so gross as he trusted could nut impose
upon any man who should hear it read
" Soon after I returned to my own house,
formed a plan of engaging all my tenants, and the
peasants in my own neighbourhood, to pledge them-
selves in case of invasion merely to stand by each
other in defence of our lives and propetties, but not
by oaths; nor did I ever hear at that time of an
:oath being -administered. On the 23d of Decem-
ber the-reports of invasion were verified by-the ar-
rival of an enemy's fleet in an harbour (gantry Bay);
tny.condud towards the troops, &c. is well known,"
&c. &c.