lineage, Blackwell sheltered him from their fury and saved his life. And when Murat was seeking to be appointed Commander of the new Cavalry Guard of the Directory of Paris, a memorial was drawn up by the officers of the regiment, which, headed by Blackwell's name as Captain, recommended him for the post by reason of his ability, courage and patriotism." Father James Coigly, in an unrelated incident, further attests to the charitable side of Blackwell's character. In April 1797 a warrant was issued for Coigly's arrest and he fled to Paris. 'It was my good fortune' he later wrote, 'to meet an old college companion, now an officer of distinction in the regular forces.' Writing later from his death-cell in England, he acknowledged his debt to Blackwell: 'He became my security and protected me [and] offered likewise to procure me employment as a priest.' Blackwell, having participated in the first insurrection of the Revolution in July 1789, fittingly played a dramatic role in the final insurrection of October 1795. Abetted by Royalist intrigues, 20,000 insurgents in the streets of Paris threatened the National Convention which had only 4,000 troops at its command. By order of Napoleon Bonaparte, Murat, now Commander of the Cavalry Guard of the Directory, and Blackwell, made a midnight dash with the Twenty-First Cavalry Regiment and a troop of 300 horse to the park of Les Sablons on the outskirts of the city where the insurgents' artillery was stored. They succeeded in seizing this artillery and thus saved the convention. Hoche's expedition and the 1798 Rebellion The following year Blackwell, holding the rank of Colonel, accompanied Theobald Wolfe Tone on Lazare Hoche's expedition to Bantry Bay. Leaving Brest on 16 December this consisted of 43 sail, 14,450 troops, 41,644 stand of arms, a supply of green cockades and 5,000 uniforms taken from the royalists at Quiberon, which, by an ironic turn of fate, were about to be used against the country which had supplied them. General Hédouville remained behind with orders to prepare immediately a reinforcement of 14–15,000 men, a squadron of cavalry and as much artillery as possible. Previous to this expedition 'a secret report in the Irish State Paper Office, sent by an English agent in France, gives Blackwell's name among the "Irish officers who are about to accompany General Hoche in his projected expedition to Ireland"; in another document in the same office