FITZGERALD, EDWARD, Lord. 176-98; one of the- leaders of the united Irish men, a younger son of the first duke of Leinster; born near Dublin. At 10 years of age, he lost his father, and, his mother marrying again, the family Soon after settled in France. Lord Edward was carefully educated by his step-father. Mr. Ogilvie, chiefly with a view to the profession of a soldier. Returning to England in 1779, he entered the English army, and in 1781 he sailed with his regiment for America, where he soon obtained the appointment of aide-de-camp on the staff of lord Rawdon. He served in the war with no little reputation for personal courage, readiness of resource, and humane feeling. He was severely wounded at the battle of Eutaw Springs. After the surrender at Yorktown, he joined the staff of gen. O'Hara at St.. Lucia, and the same year returned to Ireland. He was returned as member for Athy to the Trish parliament; but the high hopes which he had cherished for serving his country faded away at the spectacle of political corruption and suppression of all genuine representation by the penal law against Roman Catholics. In 1787, he set out for a visit to the s. of Europe, went afterwards to America, and in returned to Eng land, and resumdd his seat iu the Irish parliament. The French revolution had broken out, and he was one of those ardent spirits that welcomed with enthusiasm the promise of its first days. In 1792, he was attracted to Paris, and made the acquaintance of the most famous leaders of the revolution. Having publicly renounced his title of nobility and avowed his sympathy with the republicans, he was dismissed, with other officers; from the English army. It was during his visit to Paris that he was introduced to the
lady then known as " Pamela," the daughter of Madame de by the duke of -Orleans. In 1792, they were married at Tournay, and returned to Ireland in 1793. After a period of singular happiness spent in a country home, his sympathies with the struggles of his countrymen led him out to the troubled arena of politics. He joined in 1796 the united Irishmen, and was sent to France to negotiate a treaty with the directory for a French invasion of Ireland, and to urge on with the utmost zeal the preparation for an Irish insurrection. But the scheme was betrayed, several of the leaders were arrested, and Fitzgerald concealed himself iu a house in Dublin, still continuing to direct the movement. A price was set on his head, the place of his retreat was discovered, and, after a severe struggle, he was captured by police officers and committed to prisott. There he died of the wounds which he had received; a bill of attainder was passed against him, and his estates were confiscated; but the attainder was at a later time reversed. His widow married Mr. Pitcairn, American consul at Hamburg; but the union was an unhappy one, and ended in a separation by mutual consent. Lady Fitz gerald henceforward lived in retirement at Montauban till 1830, when she removed to Paris—Louis Philippe, the associate of her childhood, having become king of the French. He, however, refused to see her, and she died in poverty in 1831. [Compiled from Eney. Brit., 9th ed.]