county committees, and were composed of members delegated by the upper baronials. Each upper baronial committee delegated one of its members to the district or county committee, and these district or county committees had the superintendance and direc tion of all the upper baronials who contributed to their institution. Having thus organized the several counties and populous towns, a subordinate directory was erected in each of the four provinces, composed of two or three members, according to the extent and population of the district which they represented, who were delegated to a provincial committee, and had the immediate direction and superintendance of the several county and district committees in each of the four provinces; and a general executive directory, composed of five persons only, was elected by the provincial directories, to whom the supreme and uncon trolled command of the whole of this complex machine was committed. The election of these five directors was conducted in a very singular manner. They were balloted from the members of the provincial committees, the secretaries of which alone knew the persons on whom the election devolved, and notified the appointment to no one except to the directors themselves. The manner of communicating the orders issued by this hidden directing power, was peculiarly calculated to baffle all attempts at discovery, being conveyed by not very easily discoverable chains of communication through the whole organized body. One member alone of the executive communicated to the secretary of each provincial committee the mandates of himself and his colleagues; by each secretary the order was transmitted severally to the secretaries of the district and county committees; by the latter to those of the upper baronial committees; from the upper baronial to those of the lower baronial committees; and by them they were communicated to the twelve. members of their respective inferior or simple societies.

The military organization of this artfully-constituted union, was engrafted on that of the civil. The secretary of each subordinate society was appointed its noncommissioned officer, serjeant or corporal, having a military command over twelve men; the delegate of five simple societies to a lower baronial committee was, for the most part, captain of these five, that is, of a company of sixty men; the delegate of ten lower baronial

committees to an upper or district committee, was generally colonel, or commander of a body of six hundred men, composed of the fifty simple societies under the direction of this upper committee. The colonels of battalions in each county transmitted to the executive directory the names of three persons of the union, one of whom was by them appointed adjutant-general of the county, whose duty it was to receive and communicate military orders from the directory to the colonels of battalions, and in general to act as officer of the revolutionary staff. They were obliged to inform themselves of the state of the rebel regiments within their respective districts, and to report the same to the principals of the union; together with the number of mills, the roads, rivers, bridges, and fords, the military positions, the capacity of the towns and villages to receive troops, to communicate every movement of the enemy (meaning the king's troops;) to announce the first appearance of their allies, the French; and immediately to collect their force. The plan of warlike preparation was completed by the appointment of a military committee, who were to devise the most effectual means of assisting the French, or, in case of an unaided rebellion, to direct the exertion of the national force. The directory issued orders that every person, connected with the association, who could, should furnish himself with fire-arms and ammunition, and if circumstances would not allow that, to provide himself with a pike; and that monthly subscriptions, according to the zeal and ability of the members, should be collected in the societies, in order to form a fund for the expences of the association. The numerous emissaries dispatched throughout the kingdom for the purpose of extending the union, were supported from this fund. These emissaries were instructed to address themselves to, and to rouze, by every possible means, the passions, the prejudices, the hopes, and the fears, of the lower classes with whom they had communion.

The Northern Star, and another newspaper, intitled the Press-the former published in Belfast, the latter in Dublintogether with the Union Star, notwithstanding the greatest precautions taken by the government to circumscribe the publication of inimical literary productions, continued to employ every means in their power to inflame the public discontent

The Union Star which was privately printed, and circulated with the greatest industry, besides being pasted frequently on the walls, that as many as possible might have an opportunity of catching its spirit, was conducted in a manner which the following extract may convey some idea of to our readers :~

"Let the indignation of man be raised against the impious "wretch who profanely assumes the title of reigning by the 66 grace of God, and impudently tells the world he can do no

wrong-Irishmen! Is granting a patent, and offering premi"ums to murderers, to depopulate your country, and take your "properties, no wrong? Is taking part of the spoil, no wrong? "Is the foreign despot incapable of wrong, who sharpens the "sword that deprives you of life, and exposes your children to " poverty and all its consequent calamities? O man! or rather "less, O king! will the smothered groans of my countrymen, "who in thy name fill the innumerable dungeons you have "made, for asserting the rights of man, be considered no wrongs? "Will enlightened Irishmen believe you incapable of wrong, "who offer up the most amiable of mankind daily on the scaf"fold, or the gibbet, to thy insatiable ambition? Is burning "the villages of what you call your people, and shooting the "trembling sufferers, no wrong? Is taking the church into part"nership, and encouraging its idle voluptuous drones to despoil industry of its reward, and teach a lying doctrine to sanction "their injustice, no wrong? Are the continual wars you engen"der and provoke, to destroy mankind, no wrong? Go, impious "blasphemer, and your hypocritical sorcerers, to the fate, phi"losophy, justice, and liberty, consign thee. It is inevitable; "thy impositions are detected. Thy kind have been brought "to justice. The first professor of thy trade has recently bled "for the crimes of the craft: his idle and vile followers, who "escaped the national axe, are walking memorials of justice, begging a miserable livelihood over those countries, whose tottering thrones encourage but an uncertain asylum. Ere "the grave, which is opening for thy despised person embosoms "thee, make one atonement for the vices of thy predecessors; "resist not the claims of a people reduced to every misery; in thy name give back the properties that thy nation wrested "from a suffering people; and let the descendants of those

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66 English ruffians restore to Irishmen their country, and to their "country, liberty: 'tis rather late to trifle; one fortunate breeze may do it; and then, woe to him who was a tyrant, or who is "unjust!"

Of the Press, which was interdicted under a new act of parliament, the following may serve as a specimen ;

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"The rule of right is a rule that in morals should never vary; but in these kingdoms to preach up royalism is the best "rule; and the wisdom of government protects those who em

brace this right side of the question, while it punishes with “equal rectitude those who maintain that a republic is the only ❝right form of government :-Let us apply this rule to the "continent. France is not a nation of fools; and some among "them have as much sense (God forgive them) as *****, "but no matter. The fools of France tell you that monarchy "is a coat of arms, whose supporters are the church and the "aristocracy-its crest, the bloody hand-and its motto, Odi "profanum vulgus; but that democracy, not possessing these rampant wits is the ægis of wisdom, whose right rule should "C govern the world. Now these are two rules of right, both "pronounced to be the very best for the government of man, "and each declared superior to the other in excellence; yet a "man shall be punished alternately for observing this or that, "according to the air which he breathes."

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The suppression of these papers towards the end of seventeen hundred and ninety-seven having deprived the heads of the Union of so valuable a channel of communication, at a time when the peasantry in the middle and southern counties were generally preparing for insurrection, hand-bills were substituted as the means of conveying intelligence. By these and by verbal messages, instructions were conveyed through the whole body of the association to abstain totally from the use of spirituous liquors. In one of them, after hinting at a speedy insurrection is the following:

"In the preparative interim let sobriety be national and unchangeable; by abstaining totally from the use of spirituous "liquors you will destroy the excise, which is the only branch "of revenue remaining, whence is produced the principal strength of government; you will prevent the distillation of

<t grain, which consumes near double the quantity that is other"wise used for the necessaries of life; you will consequently "make bread one-third cheaper, benefit the community, and "embarrass your enemies."

This order was obeyed to a degree no less surprising than unexpected. From habits of drunkenness and debauchery, the people suddenly became perfectly sober and cautious of tasting drink; a strong proof of the sincerity of their attachment to their cause. Another order, communicated by hand-bills, instructed them to refrain from the purchase of the quit-rents of the crown; by which they hoped to embarrass government and prevent the raising of supplies :

"Whereas it has been proposed by the chancellor of the ex66 chequer to sell the quit rents of the crown, in order to raise "new supplies for the prosecution of this unjust, unnecessary, "and ruinous war: now we, the United Irishmen, impelled by "a sense of public duty, and sincere regard to the rights of " property, think fit to give you this public caution, that no such "fraudulent transaction, consuming by anticipation the re

sources and future revenues of the nation, will be sufficient to "stand good in the event of a revolution and a free legislature; "a fair and solid bargain must have the sanction of due autho"6 rity: but this, as well as every other loan or contract, now in "agitation, is in itself invalidated by the nefariousness of its object, and the incompetency of the present parliament to bind "the nation by any act whatsoever, as it is notorious to the "whole world that it was named by the crown under the terrors "of martial law; that there exists in it no freedom of action"but that it is the bought base instrument of supporting an "exterminating government and foreign dominion. After this, "let the dupes blame themselves."

The attempts of the heads of the Union to prevent the circulation of bank-notes, however, proved unsuccessful. Bank-notes being legal payment, the refusal to take them as such, cancelled the debt: such as declined parting with their goods for them were liable to be heavily burdened by the quartering of soldiers in their houses.

"Those appointed by you to superintend your interests, have * from time to time sent you such advice or information as they