authentic account extant of the rise, progress, and ultimate views of the former society; but I must also observe, that the utmost extent of the information during the insurrection in the county of Wexford was the oath of admission and secrecy and with respect to the latter society, I can make no authentic reference whatever. Orange associations became at length so general and indiscriminate, that their members could by no means be considered capable of constituting a select assemblage, as multitudes of them were of the lowest and uninformed vulgar, and of course subject to the weakest passions, prejudices, and frailties of human nature. Many of them certainly did no honor to the association; but it must be also said of United Irishmen, that individuals of them, contrary to the avowed principles of union and brotherhood, which they were sworn to preserve, disgraced themselves by acts quite opposite to the spirit of their institution. Freemasonry, though very generally embraced throughout Ireland, has yet escaped similar imputation, which I believe is owing to its being rather a social and moral than political fraternity. I have conversed with many gentlemen who avowed themselves Orangemen, and whose conduct and principles I have every reason to suppose honorable; yet, I have heard them declare, that they would by no means graduate in the society, but remain in the state of simple Orangemen. I do not mean, however, in any degree to compare these honorable men to the Orange informers in Wexford, on the 20th of June, 1798, who said they had not taken the purple degree of the order. How the conduct of persons assuming the name of Orangemen, in the county of Wexford, may be viewed by the association at large, I know not; but truth imposes on me the task of relating the melancholy consequences of the conduct of some who avowed themselves Orangemen. After the insurrection in the county of Wexford was suppressed, Orangemen wore ribands and medals without any disguise; and on the death of an Orangeman, the general decorations of black were laid aside, and orange substituted at their wakes and funerals. After the interment, houses have been burned, alleged to be in retaliation for the previous conduct of croppies whose houses were adjacent to the churchyard. Not unfrequently, on the night of a well-attended funeral, or after a rejoicing day, a Catholic chapel was consumed, and the frequency of these conflagrations manifests the most rancorous spirit of intolerance and inveterate party-prejudice !!! What makes these transactions more lamentable is, that not a single person has as yet been punished or even arrested for the perpetration of these crimes. Is it possible this could be the case but through the supineness of the magistracy? How could the repetition and impunity of such acts be otherwise accounted for, but from their not doing their duty? and does not such neglect necessarily imply connivance ? From my knowledge of the country, I would venture to stake my existence, that I would discover the perpetrators, had I the assistance of an English or Scotch regiment to protect those who could give information from the merciless fury of these incendiaries; and it is much to the disgrace of the country that this is not accomplished. A reward of one hundred pounds. was offered for the discovery of those that had burned Catholic chapels by the grand-jury of the county of Wexford, at the summer assizes in 1799, published in some Dublin papers, which, however, produced no information. Maglass, Ramsgrange, Chapels burned in the county of Wexford and diocese of Ferns, with the dates of their respective conflagration. Boolevogue, May 27, 1798 Ballegarret, Jan. 15, 1799 1799 Feb. 24, 1799 June 21, 1798 Murntown, Apr. 24, 1799 Ballemurrin, May 3, 1799 1798 Kilrush, May 15, 1799 Annacurragh, Sept. 2, 1798 Marshalstown, Ju. 8 or 9, 1799 Crane, Sept. 17, These and many other shocking deeds could not have been constantly reiterated throughout the country, were the magistrates willing to do their duty; and it is astonishing that the country gentlemen could so far forget their own real interests, which are superseded by the narrow and prejudiced notions with which they are blindfolded. It will scarcely be believed that such neglect was possible; and the gentlemen themselves will lament it hereafter, when they come to their sober recollections, and feel the melancholy effects of religious prejudice, in the inevitable consequences of leaving such acts unpunished; which although they did not actually commit themselves, yet they have encouraged them by their inactivity and negligence. It is to be observed that the insurrection was completely suppressed in the county of Wexford, in June, 1798, previous to, and during which period, five Catholic chapels appear to have been burnt, and the remaining conflagrations took place when the country was not disturbed by any other transactions but these enormities, perpetrated when the utmost tranquillity otherwise prevailed. Various depredations and excesses were also committed through the country. Murders were prevalent, houses were burnt, and notices were posted on the doors of many Catholics, desiring them to quit their habitations, of a similar tendency with those in the county of Armagh in the year 1795. The notices in the counties of Wexford and Wicklow, prevalent in 1798, 1799, and 1800, were conceived pretty nearly in the following terms:-" A- B- we give you notice in six days to quit-or if you don't, by G-, we will visit your house with fire, and yourself with lead. We are the grinders-Moll Doyle's true grandsons." These and such like notices were posted on the doors of Catholics in the night, and many quitted their houses and habitations in consequence of some of these threats being put into actual execution. I shall cite an example of these dreadful practices, exemplified in the case of Mr. Swiny, a Protestant gentleman, who resided for several years in Yorkshire, and had an estate called Court, between Oulart and Ballecanow, which was tenanted by many Catholics, whose leases expired in 1799; but who, by the prevailing system, were rendered incapable to retake their farms, as their houses were all burned, and all the property they possessed destroyed; but what manifested this business quite systematic was, that notices were posted up afterwards through the country, purporting that no papist should presume to take the lands; and that, if even a son of Moll Doyle should offer more than half-a-guinea an acre, (worth fifty shillings,) he should forfeit all privileges of the fraternity, and undergo the same punishment for his transgression as if he was a papist. The lands of Court thus proscribed, remained waste for nearly two years! Is it not melancholy to reflect that this and many such manifest outrages, but more prevalent in the Macomores than any other part of the county, did not rouse the feelings of landlords, at a time that their own interests were so closely connected with the suppression of such deeds? And yet the tribe of middlemen seems to have so much influence, as to be able still to keep up the like occurrences, in the hope that they might benefit by the destruction or banishment of the great majority of the people. Miserable policy, that low minds alone, debased by prejudice, can harbor! These cannot be sensible that the population of a country constitutes its principal advantage, and is what enables them to raise themselves on a foundation of which they meditate the destruction, and thus endanger the superstructure which they wish to enjoy; not perceiving that it must totter, when so undermined, and involve themselves in the general ruin! • Courts-martial continued to sit in Wexford for nearly three years after the insurrection, although the regular assizes and general jail delivery were resumed in the spring of 1799. Prisoners confined in the jail of Wexford were parcelled out into different lots, to be tried by the civil and military tribunals, according to the discrimination of the gentlemen of the county! Others have been arraigned at an assizes, and on showing legal cause, had their trials put off to the next; when the judge has called for prisoners not produced, although returned on the crown-book, then it has been discovered that they had been handed over to a military tribunal, and ac |