the "Caravats" were levying contributions from the small farmers every night, and seizing arms and ammunition, and by describing the horrible system of carding then practised by the violators of the public peace. The outrages described by him to have been committed at that day were of the most daring description. He declared upon the authority of a representation from thirty-six magistrates, which was confirmed by subsequent resolutions of the grand jury at the assizes and other documents, that bands of armed men were traversing the country in open day-and that assassinations had been perpetrated at a place of worship and in the face of a large congregation without resistance. He expressed his belief, however, that flagrant as these outrages were, they did not arise from political combination. In 1816, during the vice-royalty of Lord Whitworth, it was found necessary to protect the mail-coaches with dragoons; and in 1822, when Lord Wellesley called for a renewal of the Insurrection Act, his despatches stated that the peasantry of Cork were up in arms-that they had actually fought a battle with the king's troops-that murder stalked abroad by day, and conflagration blazed by night. If we mistake not, Lord Roden was present at the debate on this question in the House of Lords, and did not deny the great extent of disturbance and the formidable combinations that existed, which he then attributed to absenteeism. Again in 1833, every one remembers the celebrated speech of Mr. Stanley -his description of the murder of Mr. Houston-of the burning of the house of Maddocks and destruction of its inmates-and the long list of outrages he read from the Reports of the Chief Constables. These chiefly consisted of burglarious attacks on houses and robberies of arms, "at "once the object of those nightly plunderings, and the means "of fresh depredation and outrage." He stated

"The number of attacks on houses in the province of Leinster during the last three months of the years 1829, 1830, 1831, and 1832 is as follows in 1829, 39; in 1830, 94; in 1831, 251; and in 1832, 530. The number of cases of serious assault in the same periods respectively, is, in 1829, 45; in 1830, 54; in 1831, 89; and in the last three months of 1832, 235. Embracing the totals of crimes of every description committed in Leinster during the same periods the result is, in 1829, 300; in 1830, 499; in 1831, 814; in 1832, 1513."

Several committees of both Houses of Parliament inquired into the causes of the state of the country we have described. Mr. Blackburne, who had been appointed one of the King's Counsel to administer the Insurrection Act in parts of the counties of Limerick and Clare, in his evidence before the Select Committee of the House of Commons appointed in 1823 to inquire into the grounds of disturbances, stated that he was of opinion that in Limerick and the adjacent parts of the counties of Cork and Kerry, the spirit of insurrection which had broken out proceeded from local causes and the condition of the lower orders of the people*. It was most prevalent in districts where the population was extremely dense and the condition of the peasantry most miserable, and that outrages were in general stimulated by some personal motive, or something which was felt as an act of aggression, by the parties who committed them. Land, being the only mode of livelihood, became a necessary of life, and the rent had risen to a price beyond anything which could be called its intrinsic value. The general objects of attack, was the property of the landlord who had distrained or ejected a tenant, or the property of the tenant who had succeeded the former occupant. In acts requiring combination or force, Mr. Blackburne stated that the criminal law had been executed and persons brought to justice and punished-and that such offences only escaped detection and punishment which could be committed by a single hand, such as the burning a house, hay and corn, the houghing of cattle, and the posting threatening notices. Hiring a stranger in the country, was a matter against which confederacies had shown great hostility. A man had been charged with murder in the county of Kerry; he came to Limerick some time previous to 1823, where he hired himself permanently. A party of from nine to twelve persons, after having drunk a great deal of whiskey at a neighbouring public house, called at the house where this man was hired and beat him to such a degree that they left him supposing him to be dead. They could have got rid of him by delivering him up to justice; but they preferred doing justice, as they

* Minutes of Evidence, p. 1.

called it, themselves. Mr. Blackburne was asked, if in the cases of some persons ejected there was any misconstruction as to the nature of the lease, or if they did not distinctly understand they had only a temporary interest in their holdings? He replied that there was none; but " that the situa"tion of a tenant in such a country who was about to lose "his land must be considered; his land is his sole means "of existence and support; it is really the only thing to "which he can look as the means of preserving the exist"ence of himself or his family; he therefore clings to it "with the utmost determination. In truth, it is necessity "that makes him look to the loss of his land as the greatest "evil that can befal him."

He added, that the conspiracies which then existed had not any object that could be termed religious or political. When local irritation induced the people to combine, their first measures were the taking of arms and administering unlawful oaths. Property being the object of attack, and the dominion of it being in the hands of Protestants, might have given a religious character to those conspiracies; but Roman Catholics were attacked as well as Protestants. In answer to a question respecting the nature of Ribbonism, Mr. Blackburne replied, "I consider the whole confederacy a Ribbon society."

The Roman Catholic priests exerted their influence for breaking up these combinations, with the most beneficial results, and the bishops in their pastoral addresses zealously denounced them. One of these, from the Roman Catholic bishop of Limerick, about this time excited a good deal of attention, and affords an abundant proof that in the disturbed districts the clergy exerted themselves to the utmost to induce the people to abandon insurrectionary habits. We annex a portion of it, as an answer to the pamphlet quoted by Lord Roden :

"At the commencement of the present unfortunate disturbances of this distracted country, I addressed letters to the clergymen of this diocese, requesting they would impress upon the minds of the people entrusted to their care, the severe and destructive calamities they were bringing on themselves and their miserable families. I have since waited, expecting that the admonitions given and the general prayers offered up to the throne of mercy, would have the happy effect; but, alas! no sign of amendment

or repentance has appeared; even the evil has been increased, by the wicked enemy sowing his tares amongst the good seed. Was I convinced that this obduracy proceeded from a total contempt of religion and want of obedience to the laws, and that you had lost all influence over your flocks, I would offer up my most fervent prayers and tears in silence for their conversion. But as I have reason to think that this is not entirely the case, and that there may still remain some hope of their sincere conversion and repentance, I request you will still persevere in your present exhortations to them. Let them know that I most solemnly declare, that I have no other motive under heaven but their happiness and salvation; and, like the good shepherd, I am ordered by the express word of God to prevent the wolves from destroying the flock. But surely when the people are seduced by the false and treacherous promises of wicked men to abandon their families and houses, and exchange their usual habits of industry and useful labour for bloodshed, famine, crimes, and disease, no man who loves Ireland should be silent. I know that you consider the happiness and salvation of your flocks to be your chief study, and the employment of your whole lives. Gratitude, I hope, is not yet extinguished in the hearts of Irishmen, and I am confident they will return to their peaceable habits, before the cup of iniquity overflows and no further time is granted for repentance. Thus only, by the surrender of the destructive weapons of bloodshed and death, can they expect pardon and forgiveness; let them deliver them to magistrates, clergy, and proper authorities for receiving them, and not until then can anything be done to ameliorate their condition. * Let them render to all men their dues, custom to whom custom, fear to whom

tribute to whom tribute is due, fear, honour to whom honour."

In this address, the people are reminded of the gratitude they owe to the gentry of the county for their liberal donations for the erection of chapels-of the then recent visit of the king, and of his promise "to be always attentive to the affairs of Ireland,”—and of the exertions of the Duke of Sussex in behalf of the St. Patrick's charity. Every topic of irritation is avoided, although there was a great deal of indignation excited in the neighbourhood about this time by the cruelties exercised upon the people. The agent of one estate had, for the purpose of consolidation, dispossessed a numerous body of the tenantry; their houses were prostrated, leaving the people at liberty to carry away the timber. The number of persons thus deprived of their homes was very large, consisting of about forty families-persons of all ages and sexes, and one woman almost in the extremity of death. The celebrated pastoral letter of Dr. Doyle, addressed to his diocese about this period, was re-published by Sir John.

Lambert, the commander of the forces in the south, and circulated amongst the people. It contained the following amongst other striking passages:

"Is it by the breaking of canals, by the destroying of cattle, by the burning of houses, corn, and hay, and by establishing a reign of terror throughout the entire country, that you are to obtain employment? Is it by rendering the farmer insecure in the possession of his property that you will induce him to increase his tillage? Is it by being leagued against the gentry that you will prevail on them to improve their homes and demesnes? Is it by causing a heavy police establishment to be quartered throughout the country, to be paid by taxes collected from the holders of land, that you will enable them to give you employment?"

Major Willcocks, who was inspector under the Constabulary Bill in the province of Munster, and who previous to that appointment was chief magistrate of police, under the Peace Preservation Act, in the counties of Tipperary and Limerick, was examined before that Committee, and stated that he found disturbance most prevalent where the lower classes were in the state of the greatest wretchedness and poverty. That in the western parts of the county of Limerick he found the people lying on a thing which grows upon the edges of the bogs, called sedge, strewed over a corner of their wretched hovels, and with very little covering. The disturbers of the peace consisted of the very lowest class of peasantry and servant-boys, and disturbance originated in local causes :-in Waterford, its object was to keep strangers out of the county, who came there at certain periods of the year to assist in agricultural pursuits-in Meath it was caused by disputes about land and rights of commonagein Tipperary, the exciting causes were land and tithe. At Askeaton, in the county of Limerick, a skirmish had taken place between the police and peasantry, in which several of the people were killed and one policeman shot. It was alleged that two persons who had been dangerously wounded in the affray, were brought into Rathkeale and thrown into some pit or hole, that had been dug for the purpose, before the vital spark was extinct and without any rite of sepulture. This circumstance produced a strong impression upon the minds of the peasantry, who have a particular anxiety with regard to the ceremony of burial. Major Willcocks was of opinion, that although there was heat in the bodies, the men