[410] Letter of January 4, 1793.
[411] The zealous subserviency of Collins, as in the case of Reynolds and Magan, originated in pecuniary straits. A letter of January 24, 1792, to Giffard, speaks of the accommodation he had received at his hands; and addressing Mr. Cooke (June 26, 1793), he dilates on his 'embarrassments.'
[412] Beresford Correspondence, ii. 26 (unpublished).
[413] Autobiography of Archibald Hamilton Rowan, p. [183].
[414] Rowan, until the willing hands were found, remained in Mr. Sweetman's house, now known as Rosedale, Raheny.
[415] Mr. Froude says that the proclamation named '£2,000 for Rowan's apprehension' (Hist. iii. 119). The proclamation, dated May 2, 1794, offers '£1,000 to any person or persons who shall apprehend the said Hamilton Rowan, wherever he may be found, or to so discover him that he may be apprehended or committed to prison.'
[416] Autobiography of Hamilton Rowan, p. [220].
[417] In December 1796 Tone accompanied the French fleet to Bantry Bay. Mr. Froude and other historians think that it was Grouchy who failed to attempt a landing. 'Then, as twenty years later, on another occasion, no less critical,' he writes, meaning Waterloo, 'Grouchy was the good genius of the British Empire' (iii. 205). In point of fact, Grouchy was not at Bantry. M. Guillon, in France et Irlande, written with full access to the papers of the French Admiralty, makes it clear that Bouvet, and not Grouchy, was the man who ought to have been named.
[418] Several persons named Collins, and described as silk mercers, appear in the Dublin Directory between the years 1770 and 1800. Thomas Collins vanishes in 1793; and 'Samuel Collins, silk and worsted manufacturer, 35 Pill Lane,' is also found for the last time in the Directory for 1793. They seem to have been brothers. A bill of Samuel, duly receipted, for goods supplied to Dr. McNevin, a leading rebel, is enclosed by Thomas in one of his secret missives to Cooke.
[419] Other entries follow: 'Thomas Collins' bill, from London, 54l. 3s. 4d.' is entered on September 22, 1798. These payments continue to be made until 1799, when they become very frequent.