"Son of a duke, heir to estates and influence, Lord Edward died in a Dublin jail as a rebel and a traitor. Born in 1763, he joined the British army and fought in the American War of Independence. Elected to the Irish Parliament in 1783, he soon made his radical sentiments known - his belief in the goodness of man and the importance of liberty and equality.

Returning to North America in 1787, Lord Edward spent time with the Iroquois and was virtually adopted by them; back in Europe, he became a disciple of Thomas Paine, visited revolutionary France, and then joined the Irish underground in the 1790s. Even his love life was political - from his tragic affection for Elizabeth Linley, wife of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, to his marriage to the daughter of a French republican.".

"In the final years of his dramatic life, politics and passion came together. With his wife as his helpmate, Lord Edward plotted Irish independence from Britain. He was captured and died, wounded and raving, as the bloody rebellion of 1798 raged around him."--BOOK JACKET.