Editing Robert Emmet (section)

===Connection with English radicals and with France===
In January 1802 the arrival in Dublin of William Dowdall, following his release from [[Fort George, Highland|Fort George]], injected new life into the United Irishmen, and by March, contact was re-established with the United Britons network in England. In July, McCabe, returning to Paris from a visit to Dublin, brought news to [[Manchester]] that the United Irishmen were ready to rise again as soon as the continental war was renewed. In this expectation, preparations in England were intensified, including in London where [[Edward Despard]] sought to enlist in the republican conspiracy soldiers of the guards' regiment stationed at [[Windsor Castle|Windsor]] and the [[Tower of London]].  In October, Emmet (one of the few in exile against whom charges were not pending in Ireland)<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Parkhill |first=Trevor |date=2003 |title=The Wild Geese of 1798: Emigrés of the Rebellion |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25746923 |journal=Seanchas Ardmhacha: Journal of the Armagh Diocesan Historical Society |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=118–135 [129] |jstor=25746923 |issn=0488-0196}}</ref> was dispatched from Paris to assist Dowdall with the Dublin preparations.<ref name="Elliott3">{{cite journal|last1=Elliott|first1=Marianne|date=May 1977|title=The 'Despard Plot' Reconsidered|journal=Past & Present|issue=75 |pages=46–61 [56–60]|doi=10.1093/past/75.1.46}}</ref>

In November 1802 the government moved on the conspirators in London. It did not discover the full extent of the plot, but the arrest of Despard and his execution in February 1803 may have weakened English support. Emmet's emissaries from Dublin found a cooler reception in London and the mill towns of Lancashire and Yorkshire than they had expected.<ref name="Elliott3" />

In May 1803 the war with France was renewed. McCabe appeared to enjoy Napoleon's favour,<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Kelly|first=James|date=2012|title=Official List of Radical Activists and Suspected Activists Involved in Emmet's Rebellion, 1803|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23317181|journal=Analecta Hibernica|issue=43|pages=129–200, 149|issn=0791-6167|jstor=23317181|access-date=8 June 2021|archive-date=12 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210512192052/https://www.jstor.org/stable/23317181|url-status=live}}</ref> and had had assurances of his intention to help Ireland secure her independence. From his own interviews with Napoleon, and with [[Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord|Talleyrand]], in the autumn of 1802, Emmet emerged unconvinced. He was persuaded that the [[French Consulate|First Consul]] was considering a Channel crossing for August 1803, but that in the contest with England there would be scant consideration for Ireland's interests.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web|last=Webb|first=Alfred|date=1878|title=Robert Emmet - Irish Biography|url=https://www.libraryireland.com/biography/RobertEmmet.php|url-status=live|access-date=2021-06-11|website=www.libraryireland.com|archive-date=4 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210604180027/https://www.libraryireland.com/biography/RobertEmmet.php}}</ref> (Sympathetic to the cause, [[Denis Taaffe]] proposed that if ever France took possession of Ireland she would trade it for a West Indian sugar island).<ref name=":22">{{Cite web|last=Ceretta|first=Manuela|date=2009|title=Taaffe, Denis {{!}} Dictionary of Irish Biography|url=https://www.dib.ie/biography/taaffe-denis-a8433|access-date=2022-01-11|website=www.dib.ie}}</ref>

Disputing with [[Arthur O'Connor (United Irishman)|Arthur O'Connor]], who in Paris insisted on a guarantee of a French landing,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Geohegan|first=Patrick|title=Robert Emmet|publisher=Gill & Macmillan|year=2002|isbn=0717133877|location=Dublin|pages=111–112}}</ref> when war was resumed Emmet sent his own emissary, Patrick Gallagher, to Paris, to ask for "money, arms, ammunition and officers" but not for large numbers of troops. After the rising in Dublin misfired, and with no further prospects at home, in August Emmet did send [[Myles Byrne]] to Paris to do all he could to encourage an invasion.  But at his trial, while he conceded that a "connection with France was, indeed, intended" it was to be "only as far as mutual interest would sanction require":<ref name="Quinn 2002 267">{{Cite book|last=Quinn|first=James|title=Soul on Fire: a Life of Thomas Russell|publisher=Irish Academic Press|year=2002|isbn=9780716527329|location=Dublin|pages=267}}</ref>  no man should "calumniate" his memory by believing that he had "hoped for freedom from the government of France".<ref>{{Cite book|last=Elliott|first=Marianne|title=Partners in Revolution: the United Irishmen and France|publisher=Yale University Press|year=1982|location=New Haven|pages=314}}</ref>

Michael Fayne, a Kildare conspirator, later testified that Emmet used talk of French assistance only to "encourage the lower orders of people", as he often heard him say that as bad as an English government was, it was better than a French one", and that his object was "an independent state brought about by Irishmen only".<ref name=":10">{{Cite book|last=Geoghegan|first=Patrick|title=Robert Emmet, a Life|publisher=Gill & Macmillan|year=2002|isbn=9780717133871|location=Dublin|pages=112}}</ref>