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parative improvement was most observable in those districts, where the evil had shortly before reached the greatest height; chiefly, because a large military and civil force was there kept in constant action, in whose presence the open acts of rebellion, and the operations approaching almost to those of regular warfare, which had

disturbance. On Sunday night detachments of the 78th Highlanders, in garrison here, scoured the country

in that direction to a considerable ex

tent, but without coming in contact with the marauders, although a numerous armed body of these ruffians visited the house of Michael Deacon, in that barony, on the same night, and for the fourth time, in search of arms. The fellows placed Mr. Deacon on his knees, and threatened with dreadful imprecations to put him to death; but they ultimately retired without carrying their menaces into execution.

After the fellows taken by the rev. Mr. Rochford, were brought to the Bridewell of Newcastle, one of them said, in the most careless manner, I know I'll be hanged; but I don't care about it, as I shall die in a good cause, for the benefit of my country.' When they were made prisoners, one of them threw a powder-horn, full of gunpowder, into the fire-place, with the intent of blowing up the house and all who were in it. The powder-horn remained there for some time, until Mr. Furling observing it lying in the ashes, coolly walked to the spot, and took it up with his hand.

"On Thursday a farmer, in the neighbourhood of Nine Mile House, county of Tipperary, was shot for having disregarded the notices which had been served upon him by order of general Rock. On Friday, the rev.

John Croker of Croom Glebe, a magistrate of the county of Limerick, was also nearly assassinated by two ruffians, who snapped their blunderbusses at him while he was travelling with his servant. Both the pieces providentially missed fire. The villains were shortly afterwards pursued, but effected their escape."

taken place in the beginning of the year, could not be attempted. The southern and western districts of Munster had been brought into apparently better order; and Connaught seemed to be tolerably tranquil. But in the conterminous districts of Munster and Leinster, especially in Tipperary and Kilkenny, the spirit of disorder was little, if at all abated, and displayed itself in an unbroken series of atrocities.

of those, who were best acquainted According to the representations with the south of Ireland, the insurgents consisted of various descriptions of men, who, though acting in concert at the moment, were influenced by very different motives. They may be divided into three classes, according as they were chiefly actuated by pecuniary distress-by political disaffection— or by superstition. Of the first class there were many, who, by the depression of farming produce, had been reduced from the rank of substantial yeomen to complete indigence. By the custom of letting lands in perpetuity, or for very long periods of years, many farmers had been induced to expend their whole property upon buildings and improvements; calculating upon a permanent interest in farms, for which, however, they now paid full rackThese men rents, or even more. fell in readily with any project likely to embroil the country; and, by the share of education they possessed, unaccompanied by correct religious sentiments, became at once the ablest and the least restrained promoters of mischief. The second class consisted of the survivors of those, who had been engaged in the rebellion of 1798, and of their disciples. These

patrons of Jacobinical principles were not numerous. Still, however, a few of them remained, who were to be found chiefly in towns, and thence carried on a correspondence with the adjacent peasantry. Some of this description were said to have quitted Cork in the beginning of the year, in order to join the insurgents on the mountains, fifteen or twenty miles to the westward of that city. The third class comprehended the formidable mass of ignorance and bigotry, which is diffused throughout the whole south of Ireland. It consisted of persons, who, plunged in ignorance, and under the influence of a few fanatical leaders, incited, like themselves, by artful predictions of the approaching overthrow of the Protestant church and constitution, hoped for, and were eager to contribute to, the speedy arrival of that event. Publications had been long circulated, and one such in the year 1817, foretelling the extirpation of Protestants in 1818: nor were these infatuated devotees to popery undeceived by the notorious falsification of the prophecies employed for their delusion; on the contrary, they were still quite confident, that the Protestant name was on the eve of final extinction. The prelates and upper clergy of the Romish church, indeed, held these things in utter contempt; and were sufficiently acute to see, that their best security lay in a steady adherence to the government, and in the maintenance of strict subordination. But what could they do? Superstition, pretended miracles, and legendary impostures, were interwoven with the very essence of their ecclesiastical system; and some of the lower clergy countenanced delu

sions and abuses to a much greater extent than their public ritual rendered necessary. Against these men the prelates dared not lift their voices, well knowing that an infallible church cannot disown that upon which it has once set the stamp of orthodoxy; and that the least attempt to displace one stone in the edifice, would inevitably tend to its total destruction.

It was a mistake to suppose, that the pressure of tithes and taxes was the sole or principal inciting cause to the unhappy tumults and atrocities that disgraced Ireland. These might doubtless have some influence in swelling the numbers of the first-mentioned class of the disturbers of the peace, by adding to the difficulties of men who were in pecuniary embarrassments. But, even in this respect, their operation was over-rated. Many species of agricultural produce were exempt from ecclesiastical claims: for instance, no agistment tithe was paid; neither was any tithe paid of calves, lambs, pigs, or live stock; and even the tithable articles--corn, hay, and potatoes were not rated at any thing like their full value. With regard to taxes, the Irish husbandman paid none to the state directly: even the more opulent class of farmers were exempt from direct taxation, for, having seldom more than six windows, they did not become liable to the window duty. Nor, indeed, unless they used tobacco or fermented liquors, did they even pay any indirect taxthe small one on leather excepted.

At the same time, the clamour about taxes was not groundless; for, owing to the absence of the great landed proprietors, the important offices of grand juror and

justice of the peace were often filled by inferior persons, by whom jobbing was practised to a shameful extent, and local charges laid on without mercy.

When the con

stable of a barony came to levy these rates, the poor cotter-tenant, remembering neither the mode of their assessment, nor the uses to which they were to be applied (some of which were frequently most unjustifiable), considered himself oppressed by taxes; and, feeling that the levy was made by legal authority, drew no kind of distinction between this proceeding, and the proper act of the government. The pressure of these local assessments was rendered still more grievous, by the circumstance, that there are no modern surveys of baronies or town lands; so that it often happened, that a farm of 300 acres had to pay as much county and barony rate, as a neighbouring one of 1,200 acres; both in an equal state of culture, and equally contiguous to the market.

Many persons, who had much local acquaintance with the south

western part of Ireland, entertained an opinion, and seemingly not without reason, that the disturbances were fermented, and the peasantry stirred up to insurrection, by the unprincipled men who carried on the contraband trade in tobacco, &c., upon the western coast; and by the proprietors of unlicensed distilleries in some remote parts of the county of Cork, who, it was thought, had furnished the peasantry with arms and ammunition, in order that, the army being kept occupied in the interior, they might prosecute their nefarious trade with less interruption. Smuggling had been carried on with an effrontery unmatched at any former period; its agents were men, who shrunk not back from perjury and murder; and they had numberless opportunities of bringing in from Holland and France supplies of military stores, which they could easily land in Bantry-bay, and the other deep bays of the western coast, where the country was thinly inhabited.

CHAP. III.

Famine in Connaught and Munster-Comparative tranquillity of the Country-The causes of the sudden appearance of the Famine, and of its being confined to particular districts-Measures adopted by Parliament and by the Irish Government, for the mitigation of the Famine -General Contributions and Subscriptions in London, and every part of England-Application of the Subscriptions to relieve the Distress -Appropriation of the Surplus-Renewal of the Insurrection ActGrounds alleged for the necessity of this Measure-Objections to itProvisions of the Constabulary Act-Debate on this Bill-It is opposed by Mr. C. Grant-Provisions of the Act concerning Leases of Irish Tithes-Mr. Hume's Motion on Irish Tithes-Sir John Newport's Amendment-Lord Lansdown's Motion on the state of Ireland -His views opposed by the Lord Chancellor and Lord LiverpoolThe Disturbances in Munster increase-Changes in the Irish Magistracy-Anti-Orange Policy of Lord Wellesley-His Unpopularity in Dublin-He is insulted in the Theatre-Legal Proceedings-Remarks on Lord Wellesley's Policy.

TOWARDS the end of April,

the disturbed districts began to exhibit an aspect of tolerable quiet. But as one evil disappeared, another, scarcely less terrible, spread suffering and dismay. In consequence of the heavy and incessant rains of the preceding year, the potatoes had decayed and perished in the ground, so that a considerable part of that crop was lost. The deficient supply, how ever, of this vegetable, which constitutes the staple food of the population of the South of Ireland, attracted little attention. The peasantry consumed as usual, so long as their stores lasted; each saying to himself probably, that when his own supply was exhausted, he should buy more with the earnings of his labour. The stock, which they had, began to draw towards an end, and they VOL. LXIV.

now found that the market afforded them no relief. The usual price of potatoes was from a penny to three-half-pence per stone. By the middle of April, the price had risen to 64d. Potatoes being too dear to be purchased, the consumption of oatmeal was increased; and happy was the peasant who could obtain one scanty repast a day; that repast consisting of oatmeal and water. Oatmeal soon rose in price, and, as might have been expected, this resource failed them too. Before the beginning of May, the whole provinces of Connaught and Munster, were in a state of actual starvation. The peasantry, leaving their cabins and the little allotments of potato ground which were their usual source of lazy subsistance, crowded into the villages in the vain hope of finding employment where there [D]

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was no demand for their labour, or of being relieved by the charity of those, who were not far removed from a state of suffering equal to their own. There was scarcely a town in the South of Ireland, the streets of which were not filled with hundreds of able-bodied men, wandering in quest of food or of any means of obtaining wherewith to purchase it. The distress reached far beyond the lowest class. According to the testimony of sir Edward O'Brien, one third of the respectable inhabitants of the county of Clare, were reduced to a condition little short of complete starvation; and all the neighbour ing counties, more especially Cork, Limerick, Kerry, Mayo, Roscommon, and Sligo, were in a similar situation. One effect of the famine, which threatened to extend its mischievous influence beyond the actual moment, and to add to present suffering the destruction of the hope of the future, was, that, under the all-constraining power of hunger, the poor cottager consumed as food, that last remainder of his stock of potatos which should have served him as seed for the ensuing year. In some parts, as in Kerry, it was calculated, that not one-fourth of the usual quantity of ground was planted. There was felt, also, a considerable scarcity of hay; and hence there resulted a great mortality among the cattle. Typhus fever, too, the usual concomitant of famine, soon began to spread its ravages: and, by a sad alternation of misery, the districts, which a few weeks before had been the theatre of nightly assassination and plunder, now presented a horrid scene of famine and disease.*

It is, however, not a little striking, that the approach of the most formidable of evils, seems to have operated as a queller of the spirit of disorder, rather than as an exciter; for during the continuance of the distress in its utmost severity, very few (and these comparatively slight infractions of the law) were heard of. It is true, that the season of the year was that which was the least suitable for deeds of violence, and that the military and civil authorities continued to watch vigilantly over the preservation of the public peace. Perhaps, too, the scarcity of food rendered it much more difficult for the organizers of mischief to carry on their plans. The peasantry could no longer withdraw into the more remote and thinly-peopled tracts: they were forced into the neighbourhood of towns and villages, in order to receive from the hands of magistrates, and committees, and cor porate bodies, the alms by which alone they had any chance of sustaining life. The fact, however, from whatever source emanating, proves amply, that though the pecuniary embarrassments of the farmers may have contributed to the preceding disorders, yet distress, taken, as that word generally is, to denote difficulty on the part of the population in finding neeessary subsistence, could have had little or no share in producing

them.

Such an event as that of the sudden apparition of a devouring famine in a particular district, while the rest of the country enjoys tolerable plenty, is apt to excite no little wonder in those who have been accustomed to the hap

We subjoin a few specimens of the details, which for weeks continued

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