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all the delegates attended to take the oaths of allegiance prescribed in the late act of parliament, and this meeting ended in dissolution. The collections made by the Catholics of Ireland to defray the necessary expences attendant on the pursuit of their emancipation were voluntary subscriptions, not in any degree assessments, as it is evident, that the entreaties of the sub-committee (by no means orders) were not attended to, as two-thirds of the counties of Ireland never produced one farthing. I paid the collection of the county of Wexford to the treasurer in 1792, and no second collection ever was made there. The statue of the king could not be erected, although voted by Catholic gratitude, which along with other honourable engagements of the committee, were superseded by the illiberality of the general and calumnious outcry raised at the time against our collections. The petition of the Catholics of Ireland, presented to the king on the 2d January, 1798, might be supposed to escape animadversion, when his majesty was graciously pleased to signify his strongest approbation in his recommendation to the parliament of Ireland, who in consequence repealed the greater part of the penal statutes against Catholics. The late Earl of Clare did assert, as you have done in your history, that the Catholic petition was surprisingly fraught with misrepresentation. On this assertion being so publicly made, the petition was reprinted, reciting the statutes, on which the allegations were grounded, prepared by the honourable Simon Butler, whose reputation as a lawyer, the chancellor was too well aware of to attempt to expose his error again, and gave up the point; so that I imagine this public document will be equally convincing to you, as I send it to you along with all the proceedings of the Catholic committee relating to this event, for your perusal, as I should wish your avowal to proceed from the most perfect information on the subject. Although I profess the Roman Catholic religion, I should not be of that communion one single hour were their tenets, as they are represented, through that baneful prejudice so prevalent in Ireland, that proves such an effectual drawback to the otherwise infallible prosperity of the country, and I cannot sufficiently lament to see so industriously circulated, as it only serves to keep alive those prejudices that all liberal men see through and reprobate as a pest to society. A sloop had been fitted out by the insurgents, but twice condemned as totally unfit for that service, was hauled on one side in the harbour, where she sunk within a foot of her deck, and remained in that situation for a month, when she was pumped out, and I was on the same day, without trial or inquiry, sent on board along with those that had been tried, and sentenced to transportation. The wet straw was left in the hold, and a little dry straw shook over it, which our walking on soon made as bad as

the rest, so that it was not possible to sit or lie down without imbibing the wet, nor could we even have the satisfaction of resting against the sides of the ship, as the planks were water soaked, and the effervescence of the putrid malt so strong as to turn 'money black in our pockets in the course of a few hours; we had also a profusion of rats, that bit some of the prisoners. My health has been greatly impaired by five weeks confinement on board this sloop, and I fear it may never be perfectly re-established. I should detain you too long was I to enumerate the various hardships I have endured during a period of thirteen months that I was confined, which I was at last released from by an honourable acquittal, at the summer assizes in Wexford, 1799, independent of the amnesty bill, whereas my persecutors could be punished by the fundamental laws of the constitution, had they not the indemnity bills to screen their base and tyrannical conduct toward me. I have confined myself merely to the facts stated in your history, in which I have been an eye witness, and in some degree concerned, so that it precludes the possibility of cavilling or contradiction, and hope you may be kind enough to set them in their proper colours. I request the favour of your answer, as I am anxious to learn your determination on a subject you have hitherto been so much misinformed, as I do not mean to let such a misrepresentation pass unrefuted, to posterity, I am therefore anxious to learn your answer, and have the honour to be, with great respect,

Rev. Sir,

Your most obedient humble servant,

Dublin, 6th July, 1802.

EDWARD HAY.

No. CXIV.

(PAGE 17.)

At a meeting of the General and several Officers of the United Army of the County of Wexford, the following Resolutions were agreed upon:

RESOLVED, that the commander in chief shall send guards to certain baronies, for the purpose of bringing in all men they shall find loitering and delaying at home, or elsewhere; and if

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any resistance be given to those guards, so to be sent by the commanding officer's orders, it is our desire and order that such persons so giving resistance shall be liable to be put to death by the guards, who are to bear a commission for that purpose, and all such persons found to be so loitering and delaying at home, when brought in by the guards, shall be tried by a court martial, appointed and chosen from among the commanders of all the different corps, and be punished with death.

Resolved, That all officers shall immediately repair to their respective quarters, and remain with their different corps, and not depart therefrom under pain of death, unless authorized to quit by written orders from the commander in chief for that purpose.

It is also ordered, that a guard shall be kept in the rear of the different armies, with orders to shoot all persons who shall fly or desert from any engagement; and that these orders shall be taken notice of by all officers commanding in such engage

ment.

All men refusing to obey their superior officers, to be tried by a court martial, and punished according to their sentence.

It is ordered, that all men who shall attempt to leave their respective quarters, when they have been halted by the commander in chief, shall suffer death, unless they shall have leave from their officers for so doing."

It is ordered by the commander in chief, that all persons, who have stolen or taken away any horse or horses, shall immediately bring in all such horses to the camp, at head quarters, otherwise for any horse that shall be found in the possession of any person to whom he does not belong, that person shall on being convicted thereof, suffer death.

And any goods that shall have been plundered from any house, if not brought into head quarters, or returned immedi ately to the houses or owners, that all persons so plundering as aforesaid, shall, on being convicted thereof, suffer death.

It is also resolved, that any person, who shall take upon them to kill or murder any person or prisoner, burn any house, or commit any plunder, without special written orders from the commander in chief, shall suffer death.

By order of B. B. HARVEY, commander in Chief, Head-quarters, Carrick

Burne Camp, June 6, 1798.

FRANCIS BREEN, Sec. and Adj.

A proclamation of similar tendency was issued at Wexford on the 17th, addressed to the insurgent armies by General Edward Roche, conceived in the following words:

To the People of Ireland.

COUNTRYMEN AND FELLOW SOLDIERS!

YOUR patriotic exertions in the cause of your country have hitherto exceeded your most sanguine expectations, and in a short time must ultimately be crowned with success. Liberty has raised her drooping head, thousands daily flock to her standard, the voice of her children every where prevails. Let us then in the moment of triumph, return thanks to the Almighty Ruler of the Universe, that a total stop has been put to those sanguinary measures, which of late were but too often resorted to by the creatures of government, to keep the people in slavery.

Nothing now, my countrymen, appears necessary to secure the conquests you have already won, but an implicit obedience to the commands of your chiefs; for through a want of proper subordination and discipline, all may be changed.

At this eventful period, all Europe must admire, and posterity will read with astonishment, the heroic acts achieved by people strangers to military tactics, and having few professional commanders; but what power can resist men fighting for liberty?

In the moment of triumph, my countrymen, let not your victories be tarnished with any wanton act of cruelty; many of those unfortunate men now in prison were not your enemies from principle; most of them, compelled by necessity, were obliged to oppose you; neither let a difference in religious sentiments cause a difference among the people. Recur to the debates in the Irish House of Lords on the 19th of February last; you will there see a patriotic and enlightened Protestant bishop (Down, and many of the lay lords) with manly eloquence, pleading for Catholic emancipation and parliamentary reform, in opposition to the haughty arguments of the lord chancellor, and the powerful opposition of his fellow-courtiers.

To promote a union of brotherhood and affection among our countrymen of all religious persuasions, has been our principal object: we have sworn in the most solemn manner, have associated for this laudable purpose, and no power on earth shall shake our resolution.

To my Protestant soldiers I feel much indebted for their gallant behaviour in the field, where they exhibited signal proofs of bravery in the cause. EDWARD ROCHE

Wexford, June 7, 1798.

No. CXIV.

[PAGE 30.]

1

REFUTATION OF THE CHARGES AGAINST DR. CAULFIELD AND

THE CATHOLIC CLERGY OF WEXFORD.

SIR Richard Musgrave, in a pamphlet entitled, Observations on the Reply of the Rev. Doctor Caulfield, and of the Roman Catholic Clergy of Wexford, has lately published a copy of an affidavit without any date, supposed to have been made by one Higginbottom, with a view to criminate the Catholic bishop of Ferns and his clergy, to the following effect, viz.

John Higginbottom sweareth on the Holy Evangelists, that he was a prisoner with the rebels in Gorey, the day of the battle of Arklow; that he was bailed out by Furlong, D'Arcy, and Rossiter, of Gorey, and thereby permitted to be a prisoner at large; that he went with Rossiter into D'Arcy's, a public house, and into a room where they sat to drink, and shortly after, Kavanagh and Synnott, priests, and two other rebels, came in to them; that, after some time, Synnott said, Murphy had but seven men when he began the business, and now you see what it has come to; he then took out a letter and shewed it to Redmond, saying, you may read that, and see how long I have been concerned in this business; and though I stood against it as long as I could, you may see, in that letter, how I was compelled by my bishop to it: some time after, while the battle raged and could be heard, he said, there are some people now lashed round hell with an iron flail.

Sworn before me, PETER BROWne.

JOHN HIGGINBOTTOM.

I certify, that the above affidavit was made before me, and that I know Higginbottom well, and believe him to be well worthy of credit.

PETER BROWNE, Dean of Ferns.

Too many persons are attempted to be traduced and criminated by the publication of the above affidavit, not to set the public right upon the fact. The prurient lust for falsehood in some authors is as unbounded as it is incomprehensible. The following declaration of Mr. Synnott is submitted to the reader, with some affidavits of respectable persons in refutation of that of Higginbottom.

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