Arthur O'Connor (United Irishman)

In 1796, he became a member of the Society of United Irishmen and determined, on its platform, to contest what had been his uncle Lord Longueville's Irish parliamentary seat in Antrim. In January 1797, to the "free electors" of the county he commended the "entire abolition of religious distinctions" and the "establishment of a National Government", while protesting the "invasion" of the country by English and Scottish troops.[4] Arrests frustrated his attempts to canvass, and with Lord Edward Fitzgerald and others in the leadership in Dublin his thoughts turned to securing "fraternal" Franch support for a revolutionary insurrection.

While traveling to France in March 1798 he was arrested alongside Father James Coigly, a Catholic priest, and three other United Irishmen. Coigly, who found to be carrying an incriminating letter, was hanged, whereas O'Connor, able to call Charles James Fox in his defence, was acquitted. He was re-arrested immediately and imprisoned at Fort George in Scotland along with his brother Roger. On his way to confinement,[5] he distributed a poem, which, seeming to recant his republican beliefs, with verses re-ordered, was instead a ringing re-affirmation of them:[6]

The pomp of courts, and pride of kings,
I prize above all earthly things;
I love my country, but my king,
Above all men his praise I'll sing.
The royal banners are display'd,
And may success the standard aid:
I fain would banish far from hence
The Rights of Man and Common Sense.
Destruction to that odious name,
The plague of princes, Thomas Paine,
Defeat and ruin seize the cause
Of France, her liberty, and laws.[7]

O'Connor was released in 1802 under the condition of "banishment".[8] He travelled to Paris, where he was regarded as the accredited representative of the United Irishmen by Napoleon who, in February 1804, appointed him General of Division in the French army. General Berthier, Minister of War, directed that O'Connor was to join the expeditionary army intended for the invasion of Ireland at Brest.

When the plan fell through, O'Connor retired from the army. He offered his services to Napoleon during the Hundred Days. After Napoleon's defeat he was allowed to retire, becoming a naturalised French citizen in 1818. He supported the 1830 revolution which created the July Monarchy, publishing a defence of events in the form of an open letter to General Lafayette. After the revolution he became mayor of Le Bignon-Mirabeau. The rest of his life was spent composing literary works on political and social topics.[9] Arthur and his wife continued the efforts of her mother, Sophie de Condorcet (who was herself an accomplished translator of Thomas Paine and Adam Smith), to publish her father's, the Marquis de Condorcet, works in twelve volumes between 1847 and 1849.[10]

His descendants continued to serve, as officers, in the French army and still reside at Château du Bignon.[18] Through his only surviving son Daniel, he was a grandfather of two boys, Arthur O'Connor (1844–1909), who served in the French army, and Fernand O'Connor (1847–1905), a Brigade General who served in Africa and was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour.[19] His grandson, Arthur, married Marguerite de Ganay (1859–1940), a daughter of Emily and Etienne, Marquis de Ganay, in 1878. They had two daughters, Elisabeth O’Connor, the wife of Alexandre de La Taulotte; and Brigitte Emilie Fernande O'Connor (1880–1948), who in 1904 married the Comte François de La Tour du Pin (1878–1914), who was killed ten years later at the Battle of the Marne.[20][lower-alpha 1]