Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1868-09-27
a
Arrest Of Gen COrbef--Tnter, ST.
ing Historical Resume.
From the washing on Chronicle

From the Washing on Ohroniclel
From Ireland there is a singular story.
which, iftrue, may lead to at least an IN
pleasant diplomatic correspondence be-
tween France and England. It appears
that General 7. Corbet, who is deserted
as ian Irishman by birth, but a distin-
guished officer of the French Imperial
Guard, and adorned with the ribbon of
the Legion Of Honor, arrived in ireland
! a short time since on a visit to his rela-
tive, Mr.. Lyons, Of Muyfeld, near Cork,
but was soon arrested as a Fenian SYM
pathizer by the police. AS the General
speaks English very imperfectly he was
detained in custody for more than an
hour The event produced quite an ex-
cltement in the South of Ireland" 1t
appears, by another account, that be vent
to see Mr.. Lyons. his grand nephew, and
IN very imperfect Engl sh inquired for
the lady of the house, his relative.
She was then employed on her toilet, and
therefore was unable to see him at once.
The irish servant girl, hearing him speak
in a manner different to what she was
accustomed to, jumped at the conclusion
that General Corbet must be a Fenian.
and, in an impulse of "loyal" zeal.
rushed out to d~enounce himto the police.
who fastened to arrest him, search his
pockets, and we're about dragging him
before a magistrate, whom Mrs. Lyons
came in, explained who her visitor was.
rand had no small difficulty in persuadiug
the myrmidons of the Government to
leave the house without a prisoner.
There is reason to believe that General
COrbet is French BIZ birth, though Irish
by descent, which makes the difficulty
greater. In the year 1871, when Thomas
Moore, the poet, was at Trinity College,
Dublin, his most intimate friends were
Robert Emmett and two other students.
the Corbets, of Cork. When Emmett
was expelled from his alma mater on
account of decided and rather ostenta-
tiously avowed anti English sentiments.
the Corbets shared his fate. One OF
them, named William, then in his seven
tenth year, had intended to become a
lawyer. His expulsion, which excluded
him from the bar, changed his destiny.
In the following Year-that dreadful
Ninety-Eight, which saw the outbreak
and suppression of rebellion, ~fomented,
if not actually created, by the irish
GoYernment-William Corbet was sent
as an officer in the Irish army, on a mis-
sion to Paris to solicit the Directory to
send military sucoor to the patriots of
his country. After the failure of General
Humbert's invasion Corbet returned to
Hamburg, a neutral city, whence he in
tended to re-enter France. But the
English Government claimed him and
three other Irishmen, one of whom was
the celebrated Napier Tandy. For
eighteen months COrbet was detained a
prisoner in Kilmainham, near Dublin.
whence he escaped by a bold ~stratagem,
and again went to Paris on q mission,
viii h was rendered useless by the treaty
of Amiens, whereby friendly relations
between France and England were estab-
lished. War soon recommended, and
COrbet entered into the military service
Of France, participating in the dangers
Of the Peninsular war of the unfortunate
Russian campaign of 1812-13, and in
the battle of Leipsic and Paris. He was
colonel in 1914, when Napoleon abdi-
Gated, and then retired into private life,
but resumed his sword in 1928, to join
the French expedition to the Morea,
where he distinguished himself, roso to
the rank of mlrechal de camp, estab-
lished OHIO of Bavaria on the throne of
by a great victory at Argos, and
established a regular government in Ath-
ems. Returning TO France, ne was the
general in command of the military
of Caen, when Moore visited him
there in 1837-forty years after his
collegiate misadventure. He found his
view Of Irish politics greatly modified,
for Moore has set down in his diary that,
considering division to be a source Of
weakness to both countries, he (Corbet)
so far from wishing to see ireland
severed from England that ne considers
heir union in support of good govern
nent and free institutions to be essential
not only to their own well being, but
llso most important as an example to all
This report of Corbet's miti-
gated views of Irish politics must be taken
nm graHo sails, because at the tile
1880 when Moore jotted it down his
,wn patriotism had fallen to zero, and he
lad not long before been placed, to the
mount of 1900 per annum, on the +.
,snsion-list of England.
The French General Corbet, who was
in Cork, as above described, is
most probably the son Of William Corbet, !
Thom Moore visited at Caen, and who
led at Saint Dennis, near Paris, in April, {
S42, at the age of sizty-one. As the d
belongs TO Cork, it was natural l
nat its foreign representative should have :
isited that city. His arrest by the :
oliee as a " sympathizer' with the Fe-
isns, after the Government boast that :
be suspension of the habeas corpus /
ct in ireland had ended, is a great mis- I ,
Ike. If Napoleon should want an ex- /
use for humbling England by making {
er " eat humble pie" in an apology for !
he outrage of seizing 4 French general I
hcer, he has the chance now. L