Madden, who, when he at last saw, in the 'Castlereagh
Papers,' Reinhard's letters to De la Croix, regarded the cir-
cumstance as damning proof of his treachery.' Subsequently
Mignet, the great French historian and keeper of the minis-
terial archives at Paris, who had ample official means of
knowing the character and acts of both Eeinhard and De la
Croix, assured Madden in writing that both men were in-
corruptible. This may be taken as conclusive, for, unlike
Tm*ner, there is not a line in any English State Paper
tending to compromise Eeinhard or De la Croix.*

For the act of betraj^al we must therefore look to Samuel
Turner, agent at Hamburg of the United Irish Brotherhood ;
the man who had access to the most secret papers in Lady
Fitzgerald's house, and who, we learn, * was admitted to close

* Castlcreagh Papers, i. 281^6.
' Beinbard seems to have complained to the French Directory that his letters
to De la Croix were not answered. The last intercepted letters are dated July
1797 ; and on the 15th of the same month Talleyiand was appointed to succeed
De la Croix, who had been unjustly suspected. De la Croix survived until 1805,
when he died at Bordeaux, stung by the desertion of some old friends.
* Lives ami Times of tJis United Irishmen, ii. 290.
* Arthur O'Connor, at all times distrustful, seems to have suspected the
upright Macnevin. They were never quite cordial afterwards, and in 1804, when
both served in the Irish Legion > a duel very nearly took place between them.
