old religious hatred of the Romanists, who constitute the great mass of the people, where these émissaries were sent, against their protestant fellow-subjects. To rouse this numerous body by terror and resentment into a preparation for hostility, which the chiefs of the Union might hope to turn to their own purposes, dreadful accounts were invented and industriously propagated concerning the designs of the Orange association, the members of which were asserted to have entered into engagements to exterminate the Romanists, to wade knee-deep, or even, if occasion should require, to ride saddle-deep in their blood; and, to impress the belief of this horrible falsehood, fabricated resolutions of Orangemen were printed and dispersed. Reports were from time to time circulated of intended nocturnal massacres of the Romanists by large troops of protestants; and such was the immediate effect, that the terrified inhabitants of the districts where these reports were spread, fled from their houses at the approach of night, and lay concealed in the fields till morning.

Societies of Orangemen took their first rise in the county of Armagh, where a mortal feud, originating, as it is said, from a private quarrel, had subsisted since the year 1785, between the lowest class of the presbyterians and Romanists. The former, denominated peep-of-day boys, from their appearing assembled in bands frequently about the dawn, having gained the superiority;

the latter associated under the title of defenders, and seem to have been regularly organized in the year 1789. Among the outrages perpetrated by. these Romanists was the assassination of a family of the name of Barclay, at a place called Forkhill, in the above-mentioned county, in the year 1791. The master of the family who had been appointed to preside over a newly endowed protestant school, his wife, and his brother-in-law, the two latter of whom died of their wounds, were maimed in a horrid manner; the first by the amputation of his fingers and part of his tongue; the second, a beautiful young woman, by the amputation of her breasts, her tongue, and the calves of her legs; and the third by a similar mutilation. For self-preservation against this religious confede racy, which had spread itself widely through the neighbouring counties, the protestants of the county of Armagh began at length, in the latter part of the year 1795, to form associations under the denomination of Orangemen, a denomination derived from King William the Third, Prince of Orange, who had rescued the protestants of Ireland by his arms, and given them that ascendency which they have since maintained. After the loss of many lives on both sides in the contest, the Orangemen obtained a decided superiority, and, as must be expected, the lower sort abused their victory, expelling from their houses and Jands great numbers of the opposite party, who

generally took refuge in Connaught. This political association of protestants was diffused in 1797, into the county of Monaghan, other parts of Ulster, some towns in Leinster, and particu larly the metropolis, where it became general in the beginning of the following year. Many men of considerable rank had now entered into this confederate body, the object of which was, in a printed publication, declared to be the preservation of public order, of the existing system of government, and the protection of all persons who conducted themselves with loyalty, without regard to differences of religion. They made the most solemn protestation, that to injure any person on account of his religious opinion never entered their hearts. But so successful were the agents of revolt in their endeavours to counteract this protestation, that it gained no credit with the lower classes of Romanists. I took once in particular an opportunity to read the declaration to a number of my neighbours, of this description, adding some comments from myself to persuade them into a belief of its sincerity. They said among themselves, "see there now; "it is not as we were told;" and other words to the same purpose; and all seemed satisfied that they had been deceived. Yet, when I met some of them the following day, and spoke on the subject, they said that no reliance could be placed in such declarations, as Orangemen had entered

into engagements, one with another, which were kept profoundly secret from all other people.

The mutual distrust and hostility of mind, of protestants and Romanists, was greatly aug mented by the publication, in 1797, of a pastoral letter of Dr. Hussey, Roman catholic bishop of Waterford. In this he treats the protestants with great insolence, as a contemptible sect, which must soon have an end; he accuses the protestants of practices of which they were not, and are not guilty, and exhorts the catholic clergy not to suffer, under pain of excommunication, the children of their parishioners to mix with protestants in places of education. The immediate effect of this was an augmentation of bigotry among the Romanists, the withdrawing of their children from protestant schools to avoid the infection of heresy, and a general separation of the two sects. Many Roman catholic gentlemen, I find now, affirm, that the bishop was encouraged, if not instigated, by the British ministry, to cause dissention among the Irish; and allege for proof, that he has been since cherished by the ministry. Whether or not this may have foundation, I am not qualified to form a judgment.

As from the exorbitant rents at which the lands of Ireland are in general set, on account of the great monopolies of land, entails, settlements, and bad customs, the payment of tithes, which are so unfortunately modified as to rest their

weight almost exclusively on tillage, appears to the cottager, (exhausted by the demands of his landlord and the services and douceurs exacted by his landlord's agent,)* an almost intolerable grievance, the agitators of revolution spoke most forcibly to the feelings of the peasantry on that subject, particularly in the counties of Cork and Waterford, where the discontent on this account is greatest, representing the establishment of a commonwealth to include, by necessary conse quence, the total abolition of this hated species of reut. Why tithes, however, with which the clergy have been endowed " by a title more an"cient by ages than the title of any subject of

this, or any other kingdom in Europe, to his

* I have not in this intended offence to any individual; yet I am told that many are offended, and allege in return that the lands are not set high by the owners of estates, but by their tenants, who reset lands on advanced rents. Tenants undoubt edly raise the rents of lands, because they raise the real value of them by manuring and other improvements. Let us for elucidation, suppose that a man has taken a hundred acres of land at a guinea an acre, and has expended a thousand pounds in its improvement, which, at the rate of ten pounds an acre, for mapure alone, is not extravagant in some parts of Ireland. When convenience or necessity causes him to remove, is he to have no profit rent for his money and personal attention? Probably the person to whom he sets this ground has a much better bargain than himself, as the sub-tenant has no fees nor douceurs to pay to an agent, and has the land prepared for a quick return of profit. When the lease expires, the advanced rent goes to the holder of the estate, who ultimately enjoys all the advantage of the tenant's money and labour.