"sed brethren, whose trials approach, the benefit "of legal defence; and the sentinels whom you "have appointed to watch over your interests, "stand firm at their posts, vigilant of events, "and prompt to give you notice and advice, which, on every occasion at all requiring it, "rely on receiving.—This recital, Irishmen, is

meant to guard those of you who are remote "from the scene of the late events, against the consequences of misrepresentation and mistake. "The most unfounded rumours have been set "afloat, fabricated for the double purpose of de"lusion and intimidation. Your enemies talk "of treachery, in the vain and fallacious hope "of creating it; but you, who scorn equally to "be their dupes or their slaves, will meet their for

geries with dignified contempt, incapable of "being either goaded into untimely violence, "or sunk into pusilanimous despondency. Be "firm, Irishmen-but be cool and cautious; be patient yet a while; trust to no unauthorised "communications; and above all, we warn you -again and again we warn you-against doing the work of your tyrants, by premature, by

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partial, or divided exertion." If Ireland shall “be forced to throw away the scabbard, let it be` "at her own time, not at theirs."*

This and the other arrests, and other strong measures to which the government had hitherto * Appendix to the Report, &c. No. 25.

had recourse, though very debilitating to the conspiracy, were far from sufficient to destroy its force, or prevent its final success. Partial proclamations, or the putting of districts under the severity of the new laws enacted to prevent insurrection, had only a partial effect; the audacity of the united in Leinster and Munster yielding so little on the whole amount, that many acts of hostility were committed against the peaceable inhabitants by men assembled in large numbers; an instance of which has been thought worthy of notice in the report of the secret committee of the commons house of parliament; that a body of men amounting to about eight hundred, mostly on horseback, had entered the town of Cahir, in the county of Tipperary, openly in the day, and held possession of it until they collected all the arms and ammunition which they could find after a regular search through all the houses. At length recourse was had to a general proclamation and military execution. In the former, dated March the thirtieth, 1798, was a declaration, that a traitorous couspiracy, existing within the kingdom, for the destruction of the established government, had been considerably extended, and had manifested itself in acts of open violence and rebellion; and that in consequence thereof, the most direct and positive orders had been issued to the officers commanding his Majesty's forces to employ them

with the utmost vigour and decision, for the immediate suppression of this conspiracy, and for the disarming of the rebels and all disaffected persons, by the most summary and effectual mea

sures.

To Sir Ralph Abercrombie, then chief com mander of the forces, orders were issued from the lord lieutenant to proceed with his army into the disturbed counties, vested with full powers to act according to his discretion for the attainment of the proposed object. A manifesto, dated from his head quarters at Kildare, the third of April, was addressed to the inhabitants of the county by the general, requiring them to surrender their arms in the space of ten days from the date of the notice, threatening, in case of non-compliance, to distribute large bodies of troops among them to live at free quarter-promising rewards to such as would give information of concealed arms or ammunition-and denouncing his resolution of recurring to other severities if the county should still continue in a disturbed state. *

On the advance of the military into each county, the same notice was given to its inhabitants, and at the expiration of the term pre-, scribed, the troops were quartered on the houses of the disaffected or suspected, in numbers proportioned to the supposed guilt and ability of the

* Appendix to the report, &c. Nos. 36 and 37

owners, whose pecuniary circumstances were often deeply injured by the maintenance of the soldiery, and the waste which was otherwise. made of their effects. Great numbers of houses, with their furniture, were burned, where concealed arms were found-where meetings of the united had been held, or whose occupants had been guilty of the fabrication of pikes, or of other practices for the promotion of the conspiracy. Many of the common people, and some even in circumstances of life superior to that class, particularly in the city of Dublin, were scourged, some picketed, or otherwise put to pain, to force a confession of concealed arms or plots. Some irregularities may naturally be supposed also committed by common soldiers, without the approbation or knowledge of their officers, in such a state of affairs, and many acts of severity by persons not in the regular troops-some from an unfeigned, and others from an affected zeal for the service of the crown. These various vexations amounted on the whole to such a mass of disquietude and distress, that the exhortations of the chiefs to bear their evils with steady patience, until an opportunity of successful insurrection should occur, proved vain with the lower classes. Such numbers of these in the months of April and May were surrendering their arms, taking the oath of allegiance, and giving information against their

1

officers and seducers, particularly in the counties of Kildare and Tipperary, which were by these means in great measure disorganized, that the chiefs of the union, fearing a total derangement of their scheme, and destruction of their force, before a favourable opportunity of revolt should arrivé, came to a determination to try their strength against government, without the assistance of their French allies, and a plan for the purpose was accordingly digested by the military committee.

To authorize the burning of houses and furniture, the wisdom of administration may have seen as good reason as for other acts of severity, though to me and many others that reason is not clear. These burnings doubtless caused no small terror and consternation to the disaffected, but they caused also a loss to the community at large, rendered many quite desperate who were deprived of all, and augmented the violence of hatred in those among whom these houseless people took refuge. The destruction of corn and other provisions, of which great quantities were consumed by fire, together with houses, was, in my opinion, worse than impolitic; and its effects were felt in dearth and famine for two years after. Probably in this, as in other cases, the lower actors in the political scene sometimes exceeded the limits within which the wisdom of administration would have confined them, if that had been practicable,