might be diminished, and consequently the revenue and strength of government, arising from that great subject of excise. In one of the circular hand-bills, a hint of an approaching necessity of insurrection is followed by these words: "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 pro"duced the principal strength of government ; you "will prevent the distillation of grain, which "consumes near double the quantity that is "otherwise used for the necessaries of life; you "will consequently make bread one-third "cheaper, benefit the community, and embarrass your enemies."* The leaders of the union might have also had in view the advantages of sobriety in its members for the promotion of its ends; as without it neither the secrets entrusted to the lower classes could be supposed so secure, nor their co-operation so regular and effectual when an order should be issued to take arms. This instruction was obeyed so well, that a striking change was quickly perceived in the generality of the common people from drunkenness to sobriety-a change which, for my part, I at first attributed to another cause, the fear of exposing themselves to the danger of Appendix to the report, &c. No. 25,

arrest by the king's troops, who had orders to stop all persons after a certain hour of the night. However blameable the purpose of the United Irish leaders in this instruction, this particular step taken to promote that purpose is not to be regretted; and the truest loyalists must wish its effect permanent, since any defect of royal revenue thereby occasioned could be amply supplied from other sources, in consequence of the habits of sobriety and order among the lower people, with which economy and industry have a natural connection.

Another instruction given with a design to embarrass government, with respect to the public revenue, could be attended with no such good influence. This was a caution against the purchase of the quit rents of the crown, which were to be sold for the raising of supplies, and against the acceptance of bank-notes, or paper money, in place of coin, in pecuniary dealings. With this design were distributed hand-bills, contrived for the depreciation of government securities in general.-One of these, addressed in the name of the United Irishmen to the landed and monied interests of Ireland, runs in these words: "Whereas it has been proposed by the chancellor of the exchecquer 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 trans"action, consuming by anticipation the resources "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 "authority: 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 parlia"ment 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."

Of a hand-bill distributed with design to obstruct the circulation of bank-notes, and termed a caution to the brethren, the following is an extract: "Those appointed by you to super"intend your intérests, have from time to time "sent you such advice or information as they "were enabled, from reflection or enquiry, to "offer for your advantage and the general good. "Still actuated by the same principle of zeal

"and fidelity, they deem it their duty to caution

you against the immense quantity of bank"notes, which government is fabricating without "bounds. We need not tell you that the value of

any bank-note rests upon the credit of him who "issues it. And in our opinion, the issuer of "this paper is a bankrupt, who, in all likelihood, "must shortly shut up and run away. The pre"sent convenience of circulation will be but poor "amends for the subsequent beggary and ruin "it will bring on the holders; for you know that "it will be waste-paper, and must stop some "where, as soon as there is a burst, and that the possessor (God help him) will be robbed of so "much property as he has taken it for."* In consequence of this monition the members of the union, and those who were influenced by them, declined the acceptance of this paper money, and great inconvenience was felt in pecuniary transactions; but the circulation was forced, for the tender of bank-notes amounted to legal payment, the rejection of which cancelled the debt; and those who refused to part with their goods for money of this description, were liable to be heavily amerced by the quartering of soldiers on their houses.

Hand-bills also were employed to assist the emissaries in attempts to seduce the armyattempts which had commenced so early as the

Appendix to the report, &c. No. 28.

year 1792, but which were, by the active circumspection of government, particularly that most wise measure of augmenting the pay of the military, rendered abortive. Of one of these distributed papers, signed Shamroc, dated the 27th of March, 1798, and addressed from Westmeath to the soldiers of Ireland, calculated to interest the feelings of these men, the following is an extract. "My countrymen, what "can you say when you hear of scenes of blood acting on the spot where your native hamlets once stood, but now no more: their owners, your friends, either sent to seek repose in the grave by the hands of these villainous Orange "murderers, or immured in the damp and dreary

dungeons of the bastiles of this country: pining in chill despondency, waiting for a "trial seldom obtained, and when obtained, "acquitted, after years of dreary solitary con"finement!! Some hurried on board prison"ships-some actually transported to the set"tlements on the coast of Africa-others sent "to serve in the West Indies, certain victims to "the climate, or left to rot, chained in the hold "of a filthy coasting vessel! Your wives

despoiled to gratify the insatiable lust of "these ravishers!-And these scenes, my countrymen, suffered to go unpunished by those in power, whom you protect; to whose frowns your array adds terror; to whom you