s were instantly arrested, and Lord Edward had to fly
and conceal himself. His hiding-place was soon discovered, and he was
arrested in Thomas Street, Dublin, on May 19, 1798. Lord Edward at
first refused to surrender, and fought desperately for his life. He
wounded some of his assailants, and received himself a bullet in his
body. He was then carried to prison, where he died sixteen days after.
"Fitly might the stranger lingering here," as Byron says of another
hero, {323} "pray for that gallant spirit's bright repose." Even
George the Third himself might have felt some regret for the state of
laws which had turned Edward Fitzgerald into an enemy.

[Sidenote: 1798--Ireland invaded by General Humbert]

Suddenly another attempt to help Ireland and harass England was made
from the French side of the English Channel. Bonaparte was away on his
Egyptian expedition, and the Directory in his absence did not wish to
forego all idea of sending a force to Ireland, but were evidently not
very strong on the subject and did not seem quite to know how to set
about such a business. For awhile they kept two or three small bodies
of troops ready at certain ports within easy reach of the English
shores, and a number of vessels at each port waiting for sudden orders.
General Humbert, an adventurous soldier of fortune, who had courage
enough but not much wisdom, grew impatient at the long delay of the
Directory, and thought he could not do better to force the hand of the
Directory than to start an expedition himself. Accordingly he took
command of a force of about a thousand men in number which had been
placed at his disposal for an undefined date, and with three or four
ships to convey his men he made for the Irish shores. He landed at
Killala Bay, in the province of Connaught, and he made his way inland
as far as the county of Longford. The Irish peasantry rallied round
him in considerable numbers, and were received by him as part of the
army and invested with the French uniform. He began his march with a
sudden and complete victory over a body of English troops considerably
outnumbering his own force, but whom he managed cleverly to surprise,
and among whom a regular panic seems to have set in. Humbert's scheme
was, however, hopeless. The part of the country through which he was
marching was thinly populated, and large bodies of English troops,
under experienced commanders, were approaching him from all sides. By
the time