University of Virginia Library

At this period also Mrs. Orr addressed lady
Camden in the following terms:—

“To her Excellency the Countess of Camden.—For

this freedom, grief like mine thinks not of apology.
Despair and sorrow are my only companions; yet
hope bids me look up to you for happiness. A
miserable object, a mother and a wife, comes praying
for mercy for the father of her children.

“Pardon, most gracious lady, the frenzy of a
distracted woman, and listen to the petition of the
miserable wife of the unfortunate William Orr. I
come a suppliant, a low and humble slave of misery,
praying your ladyship's intercession in behalf of
the life of my husband, whose existence is dearer
to me than my own. O hear my complaint, and
grant one beam of hope to my frantic imagination.
You are the only person who has it in her power
to remove never-ending misery from a wretched
individual; to cheer the afflicted heart, and give
comfort and consolation to her that was ready to
perish. Suffer me to assure you that he is innocent
of the crime for which he is under sentence of
death. O cruel sentence! that will, without your
interference, tear me from my husband, and rob
my five poor little unoffending children of their father—the
best of fathers, the kindest and dearest
that ever lived. They join in solicitation for his
life; their innocent, fervent, grateful prayers, will
rise as a memorial before the throne of God; their
lisping tongues shall be taught, with unceasing
gratitude, to bless and adore the noble and generous,
exalted character of their benefactress, the
revered and loved countess of Camden. How will
that name be printed upon their souls never to be
effaced! Forgive my importunity—the life of my
husband, the father of my children, is at stake.
Despair has almost made me mad. I call upon
you to exert yourself to save his life. Thy God
will reward, thy country will thank thee, his children
will bless thee, if thou grantest my petition;
and when length of years, and increase of horror

shall make thee tired of earthly joys, and the curtain
of death shall gently close around thy bed,
may the angels of God descend and take care that
the last ray of thy existence shall not receive one
rude blast to hasten its extinction. At that awful
period, may the recollection of your successful interference,
added to the prospect of your future
felicity * * * * * * * * * * *.”

The eyes of the whole community were fixed
upon these transactions, and public anxiety was
strained to the uttermost respecting the fate of the
prisoner. The last respite was to terminate on the
14th of October, on the evening preceding which
day, a messenger arrived from government to the
high sheriff of the county. It was fondly hoped
and confidently expected, that he was the messenger
of mercy; but no; he brought the mandate
of death—a death which snapped asunder every
lingering tie by which the government had yet any
hold on the affections of wavering thousands. The
shock which was given to the public mind is not
easy to be conceived—multitudes swore that oath
of vengeance, which was afterwards but too fatally
performed.

On the morning of the 14th of October, he was
taken from the jail. Although his long confinement
had diminished the glow of health which his
countenance had formerly worn, still it retained a
more than ordinary degree of comeliness. His person
was dignified and graceful, his stature being
fully six feet, and his whole deportment such as to
make a favourable and lasting impression on the
spectators. As to his private character, a very
candid writer of that day, who knew him well, observes
that among his neighbours he was universally
beloved, and in his domestic relations, as a

husband, and a father, his affection and tenderness
may have been equalled, but never surpassed.

At one o'clock he arrived at the place of execution,
on the sea shore, about a mile to the south of
Carrickfergus, in a carriage, accompanied with two
clergymen, whom he had selected for the occasion.
He was escorted by a strong guard of horse, foot
and artillery, detached from various regiments lying
at Carrickfergus and Belfast.

At the fatal spot, he sung some verses of the 23d
and 35th Psalms. On the 4th verse of the former,

he dwelt with particular emphasis; and also upon
the following passage of the 14th chapter of Corinthians.

“So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruptible,
and this mortality shall have put on
immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying,
Death is swallowed up in victory. O death
where is thy sting? O grave where is thy victory?”

He then addressed the by-standers, for several
minutes, and boldly and earnestly declared his innocence
and the falsehood of his accusers; after
which he shook hands with those friends who were
convenient to him, and ascended the scaffold with
a firm step. When the executioner had fixed the
rope about his neck, he, for the first time, exhibited
some symptoms of indignation, exclaiming, “I am
no traitor; I am persecuted for a persecuted country.
Great Jehovah receive my soul! I die in the
true faith of a presbyterian.”

He then gave the pre-concerted signal with his
handkerchief, and was launched into eternity.

Thus was accomplished a deed, the very mention
of which, to this day, makes the blood of indignation
boil in the hearts of thousands of Irishmen,

even of those who are in reality friends to the constitution,
and to the general conduct of the government
as it has been administered since the Union.

Had the administration of that day, singled out
some restless, disorganizing and dangerous demagogue,
some profligate disseminator of the new-fangled
French doctrines of deism and equality, or
the perpetrator of some act of violence or fraud,
as the victim of its vengeful policy, the sensation of
wrath, the passion of revenge, which seized upon,
and maddened in the minds of the people, would
either never have existed, or had they existed, being
less defensible, would have evaporated whenever
the subsiding of the first incitement of vexation
and rage permitted the return of reflection.
But unfortunately Orr was not a character either
dissolute or dangerous, and consequently reflection
in the public mind, only gave permanence to those
revengeful passions to which exasperation had
given origin.

To show the impression of Orr's mind on the
subject of religion, a subject on which no man who
has sincere and solemn impressions, can be a bad
member of society, the reader is here presented
with a farewell letter, which he wrote to his wife
shortly before he left the jail for the last fatal
scene.