one from the Catholic archbishops and bishops; the other from the Catholic laity.

The corporation of Dublin declared their feelings plainly enough, by an address of affectionate condolence, which they presented to Mr. Saurin, on his unexpected removal from the high office, that had been so long filled by him with the most distinguished ability. On another occasion, too, they gave a very clear proof, that they were not inclined to concur in the sentiments of their new rulers. On the 14th of January, an attempt was made to set an example for the introduction of Roman Catholics into corporations. For that purpose, at the quarterly guild of the merchants of Dublin, a proposal was brought forward for the admission of Catholic freemen into their number. The question was put upon the petition of a Mr. Hugh O'Connor, praying to be admitted into the guild by grace special. It was rejected by a majority. A ballot was then demanded; and the demand was supported, among others, by Mr. Grattan, Mr. Hely Hutchinson, and lord Cloncurry. The opponents of it, among whom was Mr. Ellis, moved an amendment, that the question should be adjourned sine die. A ballot took place upon the amendment; when there appeared for the adjournment, 180; against it, 59. The Orange party, as might have been expected, exulted not a little in their triumphant majority of 121, which had been called forth into action by this premature attempt to promote the work of conciliation.

A short time after this event, the committee, who had been appointed to arrange a grand conci

liation dinner in commemoration of his majesty's visit in the preceding year, were compelled to relinquish publicly their trust, from the impossibility which they experienced of carrying it into effect.

If the presence of the marquis Wellesley was ineffectual to allay the heart-burnings and jealousies which raged between the upper classes in Ireland, it was equally inadequate to the suppression of those outrages, which made a great part of the island a tempestuous scene of violence, iniquity, and disorder. Atrocious deeds, similar to those which disgraced the conclusion of the preceding year, continued to be daily and nightly perpetrated. In vain had the military force been augmented in the disturbed districts; in vain had the judges and ministers of the law performed their functions with stern severity; in vain had many of the deluded wretches atoned on the scaffold for their crimes. The country was still in the same insecure and unquiet state; the outrages, instead of ceasing, were multiplied in number, and became more audacious in their character. Nearly the whole of Munster was in a situation into which it is difficult to conceive how a civilized country could fall, that was not afflicted by foreign invasion, or had not been the seat of a protracted civil war.

The proceedings in the county of Cork show,* most clearly, the

*On so important a topic as that of the Irish disturbances, and one with which party spirit generally mixes up much falsehood, we have followed only lord Wellesley's official dispatches to the Secretary of State for the home department.

nature and magnitude of the evils which now afflicted Ireland. One of the first official documents, which came under the eye of the new lordlieutenant, was a memorial addressed to him by twenty-eight magistrates of the southern part of that county. "The progress," say they in that memorial, "of this diabolical system of outrage during the last month has been most rapid and alarming; and we regret to say, that we have been obliged, from want of adequate assistance, to remain almost passive spectators of its daring advances, until at length many have been obliged to convert their habitations into garrisons, and others have sought security in the towns. "We know that nightly meetings are held in various parts of the district, which it would be our duty to disperse, and, if possible, to bring those concerned in them to justice; and we are most willing to do our duty if we had the means, but we are utterly destitute of any force adequate to such an undertaking. We cannot expect individuals to leave their houses and families exposed, while they go out with patroling parties, and even if they could, for one or two nights, engage in such duty, they could not continue it; it would be beyond their physical strength, and incompatible with their other avocations.

"From Clonakilty, where there is a yeomanry corps on duty, to Skibbereen, where there is a subaltern and sixteen men of a regiment of infantry, a distance of 16 miles, with a crowded population, there are about six police men. From Skibbereen to Crookhaven, a distance of 24 miles, equally populous, there may be perhaps eight police men-an establishment

wholly inadequate to the ordinary duties of civil constables, much less to the suppression of formidable insurrection. In fact, the whole district may be said to be in a defenceless state."

There would be no end to an enumeration of the various outrages that were committed in the month of January; a few specimens must suffice. In the neighbourhood of Bantry, the house of a Mr. Mellifont was attacked by a body of men, some hundreds in number, all armed and mounted on horseback. They were pursued, but without effect, upwards of fourteen miles; an indubitable proof that they had been brought together from a great distance by a regularly connected system. On the 8th of January, the house of Dr. Townsend, at Kilmaraird was entered by a large party with their faces blackened, who, after searching in vain for arms, robbed the house and beat the owner. Two nights afterwards, some of the military having come up with a party of the White-boys, at Anverstown (a distance of fifteen miles from Dr. Townsend's), one of the miscreants was shot, and on his person were found various articles, the property of Dr. Townsend. The man himself lived thirty miles from the place where he met his fate. Facts like these could not be isolated events, springing from individual poverty or distress; they must have been the result of a concerted system of action.

Such was the audacity of the White-boys, that they did not fear to oppose force to force. On the 11th of January a report reached lord Bantry, that nearly five hundred men, mounted and partly armed, had attacked some houses in that neighbourhood, and robbed

them of arms. His lordship, with five other gentlemen, immediately collected a force, and proceeded in pursuit of the offenders. They came up with them, but immediately received a volley from the White-boys, who showed such an undaunted countenance, that his lordship's party was compelled to retreat, and was, in its turn, pursued.

Notices were everywhere affixed threatening vengeance against all who distrained for rent or tithes, or who purchased what was distrained. These threats were very punctually carried into effect.

In some parts, the acts of out rage were directed exclusively against Protestants. In the neighbourhood of Bandon, for example, several families of that persuasion were obliged to quit their habitations in the country and to take refuge in the town.

Towards the middle of January, notwithstanding the incessant exertions of the magistrates and the military, the spirit of insubordina tion rose to a still more alarming height. Not a night passed, on which illegal meetings were not held; on which scores of houses were not broken into, and were then always robbed of arms, and most frequently subjected to indiscriminate plunder. The offenders generally assembled in large bodies, and then separating into smaller parties, made simultaneous attacks on various houses. They were often bold enough to commence operations as early as 6 or 7 in the evening; and that, too, in situations, which might have been supposed to have afforded protection to the householders. It was seldom that the soldiers could discover the marauders, or arrive in time enough to prevent or revenge

their outrages. The caution and activity of the White-boys, added to their care in avoiding the public roads, and to their knowledge of the country, enabled them, for the most part, to elude the vigilance of the military patroles, and, though large rewards were offered, the magistrates everywhere complained of the difficulty of obtaining information.

In consequence of the beforementioned memorial of the magistracy a military force had been stationed at Macroom and at Bandon, and orders had been given to move the whole of the 22d regiment into that district. The necessity and the inefficiency of the precautions were alike evinced by an engagement which took place on the 21st of January, between the inhabitants of the hilly district between Bantry and Macroom, and the civil power, aided by a detachment of the 39th regiment. On the preceding evening, lord Bantry had sent to major Carthew, to require the assistance of the mili tary in apprehending of some persons charged with being concerned in the disturbances. The major came with fourteen soldiers, and the whole force assembled, including the constables and tenantry, amounted to fifty-five men. At 5 o'clock in the morning they marched from Bantry, and, about 8 o'clock, having advanced about 10 or 12 miles, they arrived at a glen on the road to Macroom. This glen forms a very strong pass; and lord Bantry, with a number of mounted gentlemen, having been attacked in it a few days before, had with difficulty made good his retreat. Major Carthew, therefore, posted his small force of 14 soldiers upon the heights at the entrance, for the purpose of prevent

ing those in the glen from being assailed in their retreat with stones, from the immensely high cliffs which inclosed it. Lord Bantry, then, accompanied by 35 mounted gentlemen, proceeded through the glen towards Inchegeelah. Scarcely had they entered, when shouts were raised, and horns and bugle horns were heard sounding; and men, appearing in every direction, fired on lord Bantry's party, who, judging the distance too great to use their arms with effect, did not return the fire. One man, advancing towards them with a pike in his hand, asked if they were not captain Rock's men. He was made a prisoner. Lord Bantry continued to advance, but, not having found the persons at home, whom he had gone in quest of, he began his retreat. No sooner was this perceived, than a systematic attack upon him was prepared, for the purpose of rescuing the prisoners whom he had taken. The insurgents now appeared in two parties; one of which consisted of two hundred and fifty, or three hundred men, and the other of about sixty. The former had nine mus kets with them; the latter only five; the rest were irregularly armed. The larger body took to the heights, in order to cut off the party retiring through the glen; they did not perceive major Carthew's force until they came close to it, when they instantly fired a shot. The major then ordered his men to move forward, and drove them back a considerable distance; but their numbers increasing, and he having observed that they were ascending the mountain above him, he was obliged to retreat; and with some difficulty and hard fighting, succeeded in regaining the pass. The

insurgents were under some sort of discipline; they had a regular bugle, which sounded the advance and retreat; and they fought in so resolute and determined a manner, that the soldiers were forced to expend about twenty-five rounds of ammunition a man, in keeping them in check. One of the soldiers, advancing too far, was surrounded, knocked down, and most barbarously beaten. Some of his comrades endeavoured to bring him off, and for this purpose had placed him on the back of one of them; when the White-boys rushed down upon them in such numbers, that it became necessary to abandon the unfortunate victim to his fate. He was murdered with strokes of sticks and spades. Another party endeavoured, by occupying the glen, to prevent lord Bantry's retreat; but they were soon dis lodged.

This affair was succeeded by others of a similar description.

On the 24th of January a large body of persons attacked the mail. coach passing from Tralee to Cork; and after having killed some of the horses, and wounded the guard, coachman, and a passenger, overturned the coach and obtained possession of the mail. On the receipt of this intelligence, colonel Mitchell, who commanded at Macroom, proceeded thence with a detachment of troops in the direc tion of Mill-street, near which place the coach had been attacked. He found there a large body of men partly armed; who made a show of resistance, but upon being attacked by the troops, fled with precipitation; twenty-three prisoners were secured.

On the same day, two dragoons, dispatched with orders to the officer at Mill-street, were attacked and

wounded on their road. The officer under direction of a magistrate, proceeded with some troops in the direction of Macroom, and met a large force of the insurgents, probably the same which had been encountered by colonel Mitchell. Their number appeared to him to be nearly 5,000; they were armed with weapons of various descriptions, of which muskets formed but an inconsiderable proportion.

On the same day, in the neighbourhood of Charleville, a body of 300 persons, of whom the leader and several others were armed with muskets, effected the rescue of a man (who had been apprehended, and was in charge of a party of police), and compelled the police

to retire.

On the 25th, intelligence was conveyed to sir J. Lambert, the commander of the district, that the whole male population, to the north of Bandon, was proceeding to the mountains; and it was ascertained, that the previous night had been employed in assembling the people, and that large bodies had been observed in the morning, on their march in that direction. Colonel Mitchell again marched from Macroom in the direction of Millstreet, where a man, who was conveying the mail, had been that morning attacked and murdered. He found there a body, supposed to amount to 2,000 men, posted on the heights, near the road; of these, about 1,000 descended to attack his detachment, and fired three shots; but on the advance of the troops, they immediately took to flight, leaving 30 prisoners in the hands of the military.

At the same time, a very large body of people assembled in the neighbourhood of Newmarket and

Kanturk, imagining, from the departure of some dragoons who had been stationed there, that the force of infantry remaining would be unequal to resistance.

The rioters approached the town of Newmarket, and occupied the road. A detachment of the 22nd regiment rapidly dislodged them, and secured 3 prisoners.

On the evening of the same day a detachment of the 11th regiment was attacked, on its march from Macroom to Bandon, by a party of 60 men, who followed it for three miles, and took advantage of the enclosures to fire, and to retard the march of the king's troops.

About the same time, the greater part of the population of the northern part of the county of Cork, had also assembled in the mountains. They had in some places made demonstrations of attack, and in others, had committed outrages by day, with increased forces and boldness.

Such was the state of the county of Cork in the beginning of the year. Scenes, the same in kind, though on a minor scale and exhibiting less audacity, presented themselves in many other districts. In Kerry, Tipperary, and Limerick, assassinations were frequent; and houses were everywhere attacked and robbed of arms.

The county of Clare, though not altogether tranquil, was more so, than any other part of Munster, except, perhaps, Waterford. That part of Kilkenny, which bordered on Tipperary, was in a state scarcely less disturbed. The system of threatening tithe proctors. was there in full' vigour; persons, who enforced tithe processes, were sure to be made the victims of outrage; nor was it possible to obtain information concerning the