nant, and the Rev. Steele Dickson, a Presbyterian minister.

Another striking instance of the clemency of the government was this:-In the beginning of September, 1798, an act of general pardon, with but few exceptions, was passed; but it was not productive of as much benefit as might have been expected; for robbery and assassi nation continued to be perpetrated the whole of that year, and till the end of 1799, in many parts of Leinster. Not only in that province, but in some parts of Munster, particularly in the counties of Waterford and. Tipperary, treasonable combinations continued to be formed, and a strong spirit of insurrection appeared. Even in our own days the same spirit is at work. Ribbon Societies are in operation, and the Repeal Association is carrying out its principles the former, contains the officers of the law,* and the latter is composed of the legislators.†

* Witness the murder of Mr. Waller.

"No Saxon shall usurp our rights."-O'CONNELL,

CONSPIRACIES, &c.

COUNTY CARLOW.

Not only in Carlow, but in most of the counties of Ireland, the priests, in the years 1791 and 1792, began to take an accurate account of their sectaries in every family within their respective parishes, which was supposed to be done with a view of ascertaining their relative strength, by their numbers, when compared with the members of the Established Church. About the same time, maps, pointing out the property of the old Popish possessors, were printed and published.

The great zeal with which the priests began, about that time, to establish religious fraternities among the populace, of which the Scapular was the most prominent, gave an additional proof that a conspiracy was in contemplation. This institution introduced amongst them an extraordinary sanctity and austerity of manners, and afforded a trial of their silence, which was so essential to promote such a

measure.

The insolence of the lower class of the people was obviously increased about the year 1793, by the following incidents:-The priests were enabled to build stately chapels by the subscriptions, not only of their own flocks, but of Protestants, which formed a striking contrast to, and reflected on, the ruined edifices where Protestants, less enthusiastic, worshipped their God.

At a time that a Protestant clergyman in that county could not obtain a sum of money to build a church for three hundred Protestants, the priests of Carlow built a chapel and college, which must have cost from £3,000 to £4,000.

In the beginning of the year 1797, the insolent looks and haughty demeanour of the peasants, who would not

formerly approach a gentleman but with the greatest humility, challenged his attention with a broad stare, often followed by a sardonic grin.

Such was the state of the county Carlow in the month of November, 1797, when some informations, sworn privately before a magistrate, gave unquestionable proofs that a conspiracy was forming; and the following event removed every doubt on that head:-Mr. Bennett, who lived near Leghlin Bridge, was rash enough to declare his detestation of a United Irishman, and that he would give £500 for the head of one; for which, on the same night, he was murdered, in the dead hour of the night, and his house was robbed of £500 in cash.

This money, and their success in gratifying their vengeance against so respectable an enemy, inspired them so much with the hope of accomplishing their main design, that they began to assemble in great numbers, and to organise with great celerity.

A gentleman, passing through Leighlin Bridge, said he made it a rule to give the people a drink; and, having ordered a barrel of ale for them, the conspirators, in great numbers, who seemed prepared for the business, mounted one of their drummers on the barrel, and proceeded in regular array, and with some arms, to the house of a man at Moneybeg, who had sworn examinations against some of them, and murdered him in his bed. They then proceeded to the house of Mr. Bagnal, a gentleman who had formerly represented the county; but, having kept behind a bank of earth, it protected them from the shot of three of his Protestant yeomen, who kept up a constant fire on them, until an accidental shot from a blunderbuss of one of their own party killed one of the United men, of the inauspicious name of Paine.

Six of his Popish yeomen were posted outside his house, behind a wall (for he kept the Protestants within it), commanded by his lieutenant, whò afterwards recommended to Mr. Bagnal not to depend on a Papist, though he and his two sons were of that persuasion, as he could not prevail on the three others to fire on the assailants; and he declared that he never would serve with any of them.

In their retreat, they plundered and shattered the house of Mr. Mulhallow, and beat and insulted him in the most cruel and ferocious manner.

From that time they never ceased to plunder houses of arms, and other valuable articles, avoiding the patrols of Mr. Robert Rochfort of Clogrennan, and of Mr. Cornwall of Myshall Lodge, who, much to their honour, never ceased to harrass those miscreants by night, at the head of their respective yeomen corps, while other gentlemen, palsied by fear, sought for protection by courting the priests. In short, we have been assured, that the county of Carlow would have been as much desolated as the county of Wexford, but that these gentlemen, by their unabated exertions, and the most undaunted courage, struck terror into the rebels, by surprising and arresting numbers of them in their most secret haunts and recesses.

In all their depredations they never offered any injury to the property, or insult to the person of, a Papist, except that in some cases they took arms from such persons of that persuasion as were not likely to use them, or were not engaged in the confederacy.

On requiring arms of a widow of the Popish religion, near Leighlin, they informed her that they were for her benefit, and that of the Catholic cause. A man of the name of Hughes appeared before Mr. Cornwall, of Myshall Lodge, a magistrate, on the 21st of July, and confessed that he had been a lieutenant under a Captain James Nowlan, and he stated the whole progress of the rebellion from its commencement. He said that, the night previous to the attack on Borris, Leighlin Bridge, and Bagnalstown, he received orders from Nowlan how he was to attack the enemy; and, on asking him whom he was to consider as such, the captain replied, the King's troops, and the Protestants in general. The Popish rabble. and numbers of Roman Catholics in comfortable, nay, in opulent situations, took oaths of allegiance before magistrates, who gave them certificates of their having done so; and an abundance of such certificates were found in their pockets when they were made prisoners at the battle of Kilcomney, and elsewhere.

Many Protestants were murdered, many of their houses

N

burnt, and much of their property destroyed, in that part of the county Carlow bordering upon the counties of Wicklow and Wexford.

Most of the Popish yeomen in the county of Carlow were disaffected, and would, had an opportunity offered, have turned their arms against their King and country.

In Sir Richard Butler's Corps of Cavalry, nine Papists, of whom his permanent sergeant was one, conspired to murder its Protestant members. The sergeant was to have posted in the rear the conspirators, who were to have fired on the Protestants in the action. Seven of them were convicted and hanged, the other two fled, but, coming in under the proclamation, obtained their pardon.

Mr. Burton, member for the county, had a corps of infantry, in which he discovered twenty Popish traitors, whom he expelled, and seventeen of them were afterwards hanged or transported. The arms of his corps being deposited in the guard-house, and guarded by six Popish members, when the insurrection was expected, they poured water into the muzzles, and wet the pans of their firelocks.

About thirty-six Popish yeomen were shot in Carlow and its vicinity; but there was not a single instance of disaffection discovered in a Protestant that we could hear of, except Sir Edward Crosbie, who was hanged at Carlow, and it is well known that he had long piqued himself on being a deist and a republican.

KING'S AND QUEEN'S COUNTIES.

In these the Defenders had existed before an attempt was made to organise them by the United Irishmen, which took place in the beginning of the year 1797.

We find in the report of the secret committee, that the King's County was reckoned one of the best organised in the kingdom.

Popish fanaticism was the only spring of action among the rebels there, and the discovery of it by a Protestant of republican principles, who had been deluded by them, prevented the fatal effects of the plot.

He pointed out the captains who were to have headed the conspiracy; on which many of them fled, and others were taken up.