22 August 1798: Terms granted to the "state prisoners" appear more odious than before to ultra-loyalists once they ascertain that the "memoir" presented to the Castle by the United Irishmen does not contain major disclosures. Robert Johnson queries on the 18th: "What do the people on the other side of the water (England) really think of our method of extinguishing rebellion? Killing about 25,000 of the followers and then pardoning between 70 and 80 of the leaders?"
Kildare, convulsed in the early summer, witnesses a resurgence of unrest on the 19th when 1,300 rebels allegedly mass in the Bog of Allen. Their leaders are reputedly 42 captains and 103 sergeants "who had been liberated by the High Sheriff upon taking the oath of allegiance". News of this further discredits the Amnesty Act, but of more immediate concern is the fresh appearance of sedition in once quiet districts. Hundreds of armed King's County (Offaly) insurgents assemble on the 20th at Devil's Bit expecting reinforcement from Queen's County (Laois) rebels. They are engaged and dispersed by the Shinrone and Dunkerrin cavalry before this is effected. The scare occurs on the day King's County freeholders petition parliament to disenfranchise men known to "have taken the United Irishman or Defenders' oath, considering those who have conspired the destruction of our glorious constitution unworthy of that privilege".
Twenty-seven prisoners tried in Clonmel and sent from Carrick-on-Suir to Waterford are taken out of the port's Exchange on the 21st and dispatched to a "receiving ship" moored off New Geneva Barracks. These rebels and deserters are augmented by 15 inmates of Waterford's county gaol and 22 guardhouse inmates. New Geneva, Finn's Leinster Journal reports, "is now fitting up for the reception of prisoners under sentence of transportation. The windows are to be secured by iron bars, the walls around it to be raised six feet higher, and outside a large trench is to be dug, across which drawbridges are to be erected. The proposals for building the barrack in this city are to be received till the 3rd of September."
Many in Dublin feel that better times lie ahead. A city correspondent observes on the 22nd that "the rebellion seems to have made its last struggle and we may now hope for a restoration of peace". This optimism is cruelly deflated by the arrival of the long-awaited French invasion force at Killala (Mayo). Gen Jean Humbert's vanguard sails from Rochelle with three frigates, a brig and around 1,100 French army veterans of the Italian and Vendean campaigns. They carry proclamations declaring "The moment for breaking your chains is arrived. Our triumphant troops are now flying to the extremities of the earth, to tear up the roots of the wealth and tyranny of our enemies . . . Union! Liberty! the Irish Republic!"
Arthur and Edwin Stock, sons of the newly instated Church of Ireland Bishop of Killala and Achrony, Joseph Stock, row out to greet what they believe to be British warships owing to the friendly colours hoisted by the French as a ruse. The pair become the first captives of the invaders, along with the port surveyor and two officers of the Prince of Wales's regiment. A much larger Irish-bound force remains blockaded into Brest and Dunkirk with the expedition's chief commander, Gen Jean Hardy. The Rebellion is re-ignited by those for whom the United Irish army was conceived to support.