At home the condition of affairs was not such as to discourage them.  The people had not lost heart; the fighting spirit was still rife amongst them.  The rebellion had been trampled out, but it had been sustained mainly by a county or two, and it had served to show that a general uprising of the people would be sufficient to sweep every vestige of British power from the land.  Then they had in their favour the exasperation against the government which was caused by that most infamous transaction, the passage of the Act of Union.  But they found their chief encouragement in the imminence of another war between France and England.  Once more the United Irishmen put themselves into communication with Buonaparte, then First Consul, and again they received flattering promises of assistance.  Robert Emmet obtained an interview with that great man, and learned from him that it was his settled purpose on the breaking out of hostilities, which could not long be deferred, to effect an invasion of England.  Full of high hopes, Emmet returned to Dublin in October, 1802; and as he was now in very heart of a movement for another insurrection, he took every precaution to avoid discovery.  He passed under feigned names, and moved about as little as possible.  He gathered together the remnants of the United Irish organization, and with some money of his own, added to considerable sums supplied to him by a Mr. Long, a merchant, residing at No. 4 Crow-street, and other sympathisers, he commenced the collection of an armament and military stores for his followers.  In the month of May, 1803, the expected war between France and England broke out.  This event of course raised still higher his hopes, and gave a great stimulus to his exertions.  To and fro he went from one to another of the depots which he had established for the manufacture and storage of arms in various parts of the city, cheering, directing, and assisting his men at their work.  Pikes were got ready by the thousand, and ingeniously stowed away until they should be wanted; rockets, hand-grenades, and other deadly missiles were carefully prepared; but an accidental explosion, which occurred on the 16th of July, in one of these manufactories situate in Patrick-street, was very near leading to the discovery of the entire business, and had the effect of precipitating the outbreak.  The government at this time had undoubtedly got on the scent of the movement, and the leaders considered that no time was to be lost in bringing matters to a crisis.  Emmet now took up his abode in the Marshalsea-lane depot, snatching his few hours of sleep “on a mattress, surrounded by all the implements of death.”  There he made a final arrangement of his plans, and communicated his instructions to his subordinates, fixing the 23rd of July as the date for the rising.