an officer that six of the jury (probably referring to persons on both grand and petty juries) had been United Irishmen. In 1796 efforts to raise a yeomanry corps in Belfast had to be abandoned because of lack of support. On 5 April 1803, in response to rumours of Russell's mission, the town's citizens proclaimed their readiness to repel the attacks of foreign or domestic enemies, and two new corps were raised. Of the three lieutenants appointed two were all former United Irishmen: Robert Getty and Gilbert McIlveen. The physician James MacDonnell, who had warned Russell that if he returned to Belfast he would find "a great difference in this place", subscribed 50 guineas to a public subscription for arrest. He later claimed that he had done so dispel suspicion of his own sudden departure from Belfast, a result of his being called away to perform an operation. They had been friends: MacDonnell had allowed Russell to lodge with him from October 1792 to February 1794 and, with Drennan, had helped him get the position at the Linen Hall library. He had corresponded with him while in Newgate (where Russell was treated by MacDonnell's Dublin counterpart and friend, Dr. Whitely Stokes). But MacDonnell had always taken issue with Russell's militant republicanism, suggesting that, just as in their shared scientific interests, his judgement in politics was often rash and, in working "all from first principles", naive. Concluding his remarkst to the court, Russell exhorted "those gentlemen who have all the wealth and power of the country in their hands" to "attend to the wants and distresses of the poor"-- "the labouring class of the community, their tenantry and dependants". While it might not secure their position, their solicitude may at least ensure that "their fall will be gentle". In passing sentence on Russell, the Judge said that "he was sorry and surprised that a Gentleman of education could so pervert his understanding, as to imagine that he was acting either honourably, or religiously, when he asserted to his ignorant followers what he knew was untrue, namely, that the French were [already] landed in great force at Ballywalter". The charge, based on the testimony of a state witness, greatly distressed Mary Ann McCracken who, on enquiry, satisfied herself that it was false. According to another witness, what Russell had offered was not that the French were ashore but that "they were to