It appears that a number of popish prelates and other ecclefiafticks, being affembled at the house of Teigue Mc. Carthy, alias Rabagh, titular bishop of Cork, Conner Keefe, bifhop of Limerick, prefented a letter to the faid Mc. Carthy, from doctor Butler, titular archbishop of Cafhel, informing him, that his Holinefs the pope, had at laft complied with the requeft of the Irish archbishops and bishops, in granting them an indulgence for the above purpose. The purport of the bull was this: "That every communicant duly confefling, and receiving the fa crament on the patron days of every refpective parish, and every Sunday, from the first day of May to September, having repeated the Lord's prayer five times, and once the apoftles creed, and upon paying two pence each time, was to have a plenary indulgence for his fins; and all approved confeffors had full power to abfolve in all cafes, with intent that God would speedily place James III. on the throne of England. Every parish prieft was to pay 51. towards this fund, and was to account upon oath for the collection of it; and the pretender had an agent in each province to collect it." Some of the papers of thefe traitors were difcovered, and feized, by which the confpiracy was detected. * * See the journals before cited. D 2 ORIGIN ORIGIN OF THE WHITE BOYS. IN the year 1759, and under the administration of the duke of Bedford, an alarming fpirit of infurgency appeared in the South of Ireland, which manifested itfelf by the numerous and frequent rifings of the lower class of Roman catholicks, dreffed in white uniforms, whence they were denominated white boys; but they were encouraged, and often headed, by perfons of their own perfuafion of fome confideration. They were armed with guns, fwords, and piftols, of which they plundered protestants, and they marched through the country, in military array, preceded by the mufick of bag-pipes, or the founding of horns. In their nocturnal perambulations, they enlifted, or preffed into their fervice every perfon of their own religion, who was capable of ferving them, and bound them by oaths of fecrefy, of fidelity and obedience to their officers; and thofe officers were bound by oaths of allegiance to the French king, and prince Charles the pretender to the crown of England, which appeared by the confeffion and the informations of feveral of the infurgents, fome of whom were convicted of high treason, and various other crimes. The pretext they made ufe of for rifing and affembling was, to redrefs the following grievances: The illegal enclosure of commons, the extortion of tythe proctors, and the exorbitant fees exacted by their own clergy, though it appeared that they were deeply concerned in encouraging and fomenting them, in the commiffion of outrages.. They committed dreadful barbarities on fuch perfons as hesitated to obey their mandates, or refused to join in their confederacy; they cut out their tongues, amputated their nofes or ears; they made them ride many miles in the night on horfeback, naked or bare-backed; they buried them naked, in graves lined with furze, up to their chins; they plundered plundered and often burned houses; they houghed and maimed cattle; they feized arms, and horfes, which they rode about the country, and levied money, at times even in the day. I fhall refer the reader to Appendix, No. I. for their deigns and practices. * They resembled the modern defenders in every respect, except in the title which they affumed; and their object was exactly the fame, that of fubverting the conftitution, and feparating Ireland from England, with the affiftance of France. Thefe mifcreants became fo formidable in many parts of the provinces of Leinfter and Munfter, that many laws, which I fhall explain in the fequel, were enacted for their fuppreffion. In the year 1762, the marquis of Drogheda was fent to command a large diftrict in the province of Munster, and made Clogheen in the county of Tipperary his head-quarters, at that time much difturbed by the white boys, who used to affemble in bodies of from five hundred to two thousand. On the night of the day on which he arrived at Clogheen, a number of white boys, well armed and headed by father Nicholas Sheehy, affembled close to that town, and were on the point of attacking it, which induced his lordship to double the guard. From this, the inhabitants of it, having a fufpicion that he was going to march out against the infurgents, father Doyle, parish priest of Ardfinnan, (alluded to in the information of David Landregin, Appendix, No. I. 2.) after having expoftulated with them on the danger of affaulting the town, went to lord Drogheda, pale and trembling with fear, affured his lordship that his garrison was in no danger, and befought him not to march out against the infurgents. I received this information from the marquis himself, and it corresponds exactly with the depofition of Landregin. His There is a grofs mifreprefentation of thefe infurgents in the Encyclopædia Britannica, under the title of Ireland, printed for James Mcore in College-green, in the year 1792. His lordship's regiment killed great numbers of them in that and the adjacent country; and he affured me, that French money was found in the pockets of fome of them.. His lordship, during his refidence there, took the famous father Nicholas Sheehy, who was afterwards hanged at Clonmel. He had been a noted leader of the white boys, and incited them to commit murder, and various outrages; and yet his memory is held in fuch veneration by the popith multitude, and the clay of his tomb is fuppofed to be endued with fuch fupernatural powers, that various miraculous cures are imputed to it; in confequence of which, it is in fuch request among the popish rabble, that the fexton of the church, where his body is interred, is obliged very often to renew it. To infpire the fuperftitious rabble with an opinion that all thofe, who were concerned in bringing this traitor to justice, incurred the divine anger, it has been faid, that all the jurors, who convicted him, died premature and fudden deaths, which is a notorious falfhood. I have extracted their names from the crown-office; and it is well known that they died in their beds. * The marquis of Drogheda took, in the caftle of Cahir, the domeftick chaplain of the then lord Cahir, who conftantly refided with his lordfhip, on ferious charges against him for high treafon. It is moft certain, that the white boy fyftem was at first formed to co-operate with the French, who meditated an invasion of Ireland under Conflans; but when that was defeated, and even during a time of profound peace, the barbarous rabble, free from all moral reftraint, elate with the hope of plunder, and fraught with difaffection to a proteftant ftate, continued to commit • William Minchin, John Andrews, John Short, Jonathan Willington, Philip Going, William Woodward, Solomon Cambie, John Domville, Robert Going, Edward Vize, Simon Foulks, John Hayman. March 19th, 1766. commit the most horrid enbrmities in many parts of Leinfter and Muniter, for above twenty-five years after. John Twohy states in his information, that they began to enlift men for the French fo early as the year 1756. See Appendix, No. I. 7. At first they were headed, marfhalled, and dif ciplined, by officers who had ferved in the Irish brigades, in the French fervice; but when peace was concluded, their leaders confifted of popifh farmers and perfons in a mean fituation, Mr. Conway, an Irish Roman catholick gentleman. refident at Paris, ufed to remit money to them, on the part and by orders of the French government; and fome popish merchants of the province of Munfter, who received and diftributed it among the infurgents, were afterwards members of the Catholick committee in 1792. In the year 1762, they committed fuch dreadful exceffes in the South of Ireland, that fir Richard Afton, lord chief juftice of the common pleas, was fent down with a special commiffion to try them; and the mistaken lenity which he fhewed them in the courfe of his circuit was fuch, that it encouraged them to perfevere in the commiffion of enormities for fome years after. The late earl of Carrick and the reverend Mr. Hewetfon in the county of Kilkenny, fir Thomas Maude, baronet, afterwards lord De Montalt, William Bagwell and John Bagenall, efquires, of the county of Tipperary, took a very active part in fuppreffing the white boys, for which they were as much traduced and vilified, as the orangemen, yeomen, and all loyal fubjects who endeavoured to put down the defenders. The grand jury of the county of Dublin were fo much incensed at this, that they voted an addrefs of thanks, Appendix I. 6. to the earl of Carrick and thofe gentlemen, for their spirited and laudable exertions. It appears by the examination of David Landregin, |