c colonists of North
America. He afterwards became filled with the ideas of the French
Revolution, and got into trouble more than once by expressing his
sentiments too freely while yet he wore the uniform of the British
army. In Paris he became acquainted with Thomas Paine and was greatly
taken with the theories and charmed with the ways of the revolutionary
thinker, and in the company of Paine and congenial associates he took
part in Republican celebrations which became talked of in England and
led to his dismissal from the army. Lord Edward Fitzgerald had a
strong love of adventure and exploration, and had contrived to combine
with his military career in the New {313} World a number of episodes
almost any one of which might have supplied the materials for a
romance. He was a man of a thoroughly lovable nature, gallant,
high-spirited, generous. Like Wolfe Tone, he had made a romantic
marriage. His wife was the famous Pamela, the beautiful girl who was
ward to Madame de Genlis, and commonly believed to be the daughter of
the Duke of Orleans, Philippe Egalite. Louis Philippe, afterwards King
of France, was one of the witnesses at the marriage ceremony. Lord
Edward was perfectly happy with his young and beautiful wife until the
political events came on which gave the sudden and tragic turn to his
life. He was a member of the Irish Parliament for many years, and had
on several occasions supported the policy which was advocated by
Grattan. He too, however, soon made up his mind, as Wolfe Tone had
done, that there was nothing to be expected from the Sovereign and his
ministers, and he became an active member of the Society of United
Irishmen when that association ceased to be a constitutional body and
set its heart on armed rebellion. Lord Edward went over to France and
worked hard there for the purpose of obtaining armed assistance for the
Irish cause, but he returned to Ireland to work up the rebellious
movement there while Tone remained in France to influence as well as he
could the policy of Napoleon and Carnot.

Among the other distinguished Irishmen who worked at home or in
France--sometimes at home and sometimes in France--to promote the
rebellion were Arthur O'Connor and Thomas Addis Emmet. Arthur O'Connor
came of a great Irish family; Thomas Addis Emmet, after the failure of
the rebellious movement, escaped to the United States and made a great
position for himself as an advocate in New York. A younger