Star. — London, England, 1814-08-25 00:00:00

PLETCHep • CHARGE tne GRANT) JURY ot TUN COUNTY or viEUPORDnAT TUE ANSON *mous, 1814. (lentlensen of the Gran.' Juiry—lt is with sincere pleasure I cosier iodate tern noon the appearance of the state of your county--I say appearance, because I have nn means whatever a knowing any thing upon the suhjec . except from the calendar now before me. In 'hat calendar I filet very few numbers indeed.— Two, it three. or fnur crimes, of general occurrence in the smutty t saw homicide. which appeais to have been 0-emitted, certainly with dircornstances of atro city t Buts as far T Can collect from ere examinations, originating in private malice and individual revenge: and not connected with any of those disturbances of %el ich we have heaid so much, in different parts of this kingdom. I' Gentlemen—lt is a matter of great congratula tion, that, after a period of 30 years, (at the commence. silent of which I first knew the County of Wexford), I hive re isen In say, it is precisely in the situation in which it was then. except as to an increase of wealth and population, and an improvement in 1 griculture, which has ameliorated its cenditinn and multiplied its eesources. The County of Wexford was then a mor it Curiosity. When other parts of the country walt law less and disturbed, this County had a Peasantry; dustri. us in their habits ; social in their dispositions; satisfied with their state, and amenable to the Laws ; Cultivating their farms withanassiduity which insured -S competency. 44 Their conduct was peaceful, their apparel whole, their morals improvedoheir lives spentin the frequent interch , nge of mutual good offices. It was a state of things which I tell .ct upon with pleasure. Each suc• seeding circuit :hewed me wild heaths and uncultivated tracts, brought under the dominion of the plough, and -• producing corn for the .ustenance of man. As it - was then, so it continued for many years; until those unhappy disturtances, which turst out iu this county, with such a sudden and unexpected explosion. I knew what the state of things was then, and how that explosionlwas pr. duced—professionally 1 knew it ; be cause I eejoyed peculiar advantages of knowledge, which other men did not enjoy. For several years I conducted the prosecutions for the Crown at Wex ford ; and hence I derived an intimate knowledge of those transactions. Besides, I was connected with no party —I was indifferent about party. But here I stop ▪ willingly draw a veil over the events of those days. and their causes. Go]) forbid ! that I should tear asunder wounds, which, I hope, are completely end tor ever closed. • N I have new been absent from this county twelve years (with the exception of one Assizes, when I came here in the King's Commission, but, upon that occa sion I did not sit, as I now do, in the Crown Court). -I can say, however, with the greatest truth, that at no period from my earliest acquaintance with your county, down to the present time, do I remember to have seen it in more profound tranquillity—more per fect peace—more complete security than at present— s uae of thugs indicating a due administration of the laws by Magistrates, neither over zealous and too kctive on the one hand, nor too negligent and supine on the other. 44 Such, I do hope, is the true and actual state of your county ; for Gentlemen, I have; I. repeat it, no means of knowing the fact, except from the qtran ity of elledged crime, the number of persons charged, and the nature of those charges, as are set out in-this calendar. aut. why, Gentlemen, have I entered into this detail ? I answer, for these weighty and cogent reasons—because much exaggeraton and mi.repre• sentation have gone abroad • and the extent and causes of disturbances have been much mistated. In what I now say, or shall say, I do not impute .ary thing to any individual of this county—l will not meddle with its internal politics ; but this I know, that its situation has been variously represented. Se *era' advertisements in Newspapers, now before me • [The Wexford 1 urnals of last March and April] —describe this county as being in 'a most alarming state of disturbance. Other advertisements affirm, on the other hand, that the country has never enjoyed more profeued tranquillity. These advertisements have been, I understand, republished in the prints of Dublin and London; and have naturally excited . strong sensations. It is not for me tie enquire into the motive of those opposite statements. I know them not. It is not my intention —it is n tmy duty to im pute and particular motives to any individuals; but K is within the sphere of my public this, to state, for , your instruction, wli it 1 have observed as the origin and grounds let similar reports and misrepreseatatiens in other colonies, whither the discharge of my public duty has called me ; and abet, I have had judicial knowledge of what had pissed. It may not be win structive •ci smut, what appeared so me to be the causes of th se disturbance,, which have occasioned • those misrepresentritions and exaggerations--together with the reasons which have impelled the Legisla ture to swell the Criminal etrde, session after session, with new statutes, for vindscating the peace of this is ary. In my Circuit through other parts of the king dom, l have seen the luwer (riders of the people disturbed by many causes, not peculiar to any para. cola'. Counties—operating with more effect in soave, • but to a greater or less client in all. I have seen them operating with extended effect in the north-west Circuit, in the Counties of Mayo, Donegal, Derry, Roscommon, & i. &c. These Ota* have made a deep impressittreen my mind. My alterations, cer tainly, have been those of an indliridwil— bat of an individual, seeing the same facts coming before him, judicially, time after time—and I do now publicly state, that never, during the entire period of my ju. -dicial experience (comprising . sixteen Circuits) have I discovered or observed any serious purpose, or set tied scheme, of assailing his Majesty's Government, or any conspiracy connected with internal rebels or foreign foes. . But various deep-rooted, and neglected • causes, producing similar effects threughout this country, have conspired to create the evils Which really and truly do exist. 740fd1l of Land, •: -r- t. Puler—Tie cur nary ,rise , occa. • ;.iisioned.....y . the ;great and incrersing demand fur the `necessaries of bieoand by producing large profits to the possessors of farms, excited a proportionate avi. dity for acquiring or renting hinds. Hence extrava. sant reins have been bid - 1..1 lands, without any great consideration ; and I have seen these two circum stances operadot upon each other, like 'cause and t . • jda.' • • ja .• • I: 4 II • eteet-i-the cause prodochYs the erect; Ana the &ea, by resoction, producing the cause. • a Nest, we all know, that the countty has been deluged by an enorsnogs Paper Currency, which has generated a new crime, now prominent upon the list, in every Calendar—the crime of making and uttering forged Bank Notes. In every Province, we have seen Private Banks failing,. and ruining multitudes, and thus have fresh mischiefs flowed from this Paper Circulation. In the next place, the country has seen a Magistracy, over-active in some instances, and quite supine in others. This circumstance has materially affected the administration of the laws in Ireland.— In thisrespect I have found that those Societies, called ORANGE SOCIETIES, have produced most mischievous effects ; and particularly in the North of Ireland.— They poison the very Fountains of Justice ; and even some Magistrates, under their influence, have, in too many instances, violated their duty and their oaths. 1 tiO no; hesitate to 'say, that ALL Associations, of every description in this country, whether ORANGE. MEN or RlRSONMEN—whether distinguished by the colour of uranje or of Green—allcombinations of per sons. bound to each other (by the obligation of an Oath) in a league for a common purpose, endanger , ing the peace of the country, I pronounce them to be antral! to Law. And should it ever come before me to decide upon the question, I shall not hesitate to send up Bills of Indictment to a Grand Jury against the individuals, Members of such an Association, wherever I can find the charge properly sustained.— ,Of this am certain, that, so long as those Associa. (lons are permitted to act in the lawless mariner they do, there will be no tranquillity in this country ; and particularly in the North of Ireland. There, those disturbers of the public peace, who assume the name of Orange Yeomen. frequent the fairs and marlizts, with arms in their bands, under the pretence of self defence, or of proteCting the public peace, but with the lurking view of inviting the attacks of the R.bbon-, men—confident that, armed as they are, they must overcome defenceless opponents, and put them down. Murders have been repeatedly perpetrated upon such occasions ; and, though legal prosecutions have en sued, yet, such have b een the baleful consequences of those factious Associations, that, under their in. licence, Petty Juries have declined (upon some occa sions) to do their duty. These facts have fallen under my own view. It was stacient to say— such a man displayed such a colour, to produce an utter disbelief of his testimony ; or, when another has stood with his hanclat the bar, the display of his party-badge has mitigated the murder into manslaughter ! 66 Gentlemen—l do repeat, that these are my sen timents, not merely as an individual, but as a man discharging his judicial duty, I hope with firmness and integrity. With these Orange Associations I connect all Commemorations and Processions—pro. diming embittering recollection:, and inflicting wounds upon the, feelings of others ; and I do emphatically state it as my settled opinion, that, until those Asso. ciations are effectually put down, and the arms taken from their hands, in vain will the North of Ireland ex pect tranquillity or peace. " Gentlemen—That moderate pittance, which th* high rents leave to the poor Peasantry, the large County Assessments nearly take from them ; roads are frequently planned and made, not for the general advantage of the Country; but to suit the particular views of a neighbouring Landholder, at the public ex pense. Such abuses shake the very foundation of the Law—they ought to be checked. Superaddekt to thole mischiefs, are the permanent and occ rsional absentee Landlords, residing in another Country,. not known to their Tenantry, but by the's. Agents; who extract the uttermost penny of the value of the lands. Ii a lease happens to fall in, they let the farm by public auction to the highest bidder. Na gratitude for par services—no preference of the fair oiler—no preitil.c (ion for the ancient tenantry (be they ever so de serving) but, if the highest price be not acceded to, the depopulation of an entire track et country ensues. What then is the wretched peasant to do I Graced from the spot where he had gist drawn his breath— where he had first seen the light of Heaven, incapable of procuring any other means of existence—vexed with those ex fictions I have enumerated, and harassed by the payment of tythes—can we be mrprised that a Peasant, of unenlightened mind, of uneaucated habits, sh,uid rush upon the perpetration of crimes, followed by the punishmerd of the rope and the gibbet? Nothing (as the Peasantry imagine) remains for them, thus harassed and thus destitute, but with strong hand to deter the stranger from intruding upon their farms; rtirsti to extort from the weakness and terrors of their 'Landlords pions whose gratitude or good feelings they have tailed to win it) a kind of preference for their ancient tenantry. of Such, Gentlemen, have been the causes which It have seen thus operating in the North of Ireland, and in part of the South and West. I have observed, too, as the consequences of these Orange Coeobinatioos and Confederacies, men, ferocious in their habits, nn educated, not knowing what remedy to resort to—in their despair flying in the face of the Law,. miming into dangerous and criminal counter associations, sad . endeavouring to procure arms, in orda to meet, upon nal terms, their 4:orange-assailants. , 4 To these several causes of disturbance, w* may pdd certain moral causes. 'There has existed as an. cent connection, solitary in its nature, between the Catholic Pastor and his Flock. This connectjuo i has been often, with very little reflection,inveighed by those who Call themselves friends to the Constitu tion in Church and State. I have had judicial op. portunities of knowing, that this connection between the Catholic Pastor and his Flock, has been, in some instances, weakened, and nearly destroyed; the Flock, goaded by their wants, and flying in.* face of the pastor, with a lamentable abandonment of all religious feeling, and a dereliction of all regard to that pastoral superintendence, which is so essential. to the tranq of the Country. For, if men have no prospect here, but of a continued series of walle t and labour. and privation ; and if the hopes and. fears of a future state are withdrawn from them, by an utter separation from their own Pastor, what must. be the state of society ? The ties of religion and morality being thus loosened, a frightful state of things has ensued . Perjury has abounded . The safe tity of oaths have ceased to be binding, save where they administer to the passions of Parties. The Oaths. of the Orange Associatious, or of the Ribbon men, have, indeed, continued to be obligatory. As fur Oaths administered in a Court of Justice, they have been set ai uau4lit. Another deep-rooted cause of ;tn. ' b *totality Imbed! Ilse opeeation of the bounty Present ment Cade of tatland—abused,as It has been, for the purposes of trend and peculation► fill you not be astonished, sellea I assure you, that I have had in formation judicially, from an upright Country Gen ' tlernan and Grand Juror of unquestionable veracity in a Western County, that in the general practice, not one in ten of the Accounting Affidavits was ac tually sworn at all 3 Magistrates have signed. and , given away printed forms of such Affidavits in Maxi, to be filled up at the pleasure of the party. This abuse produced a strong representation from me to the Grand Jury; and'had I known the fact in time, I would have made an example of those Magistrates who were guilty of so scandalous a dereliction of duty. " Another source of immorality may be traced in the Registry of Freeholds. Oaths of Registration are taken, which, if not perjury, are something very near it. The Tenantry are driven to the Hustings, and there, collected like sheep in a pen, they must poll for the great Undertaker, who has purchased them by his Jobs; and this is frequently done, with little regard to conscience or duty, or real value of the alledged freehold. 41 Another source of immorality lay in the hasty mode of pronouncing Decrees upon Civil Bills, which WAS common before Assistant Barristers were nomi• nated for the several Counties. All these concurring causes, however, created such a contempt for oaths, that I have often lamented it to be my painful lot to preside in a Court of Justice, and to be obliged to listen to such abominable profanation. " I now come to another source of vice and mis chief, with which you are, perhaps, unacquainted— • Illicit Distillation." ' Frem this source, a dreadful torrent of evils and crimes has flowed upon our land. The excessive increase of rents had induced many persons to bid rents for their farms, which they knew they could not fairly or properly discharge; but they flattered themselves, that, in the course of years, the value of those farms would rise still higher, and that thus they might ultimately acquire beneficial interests. In the Mean time, they have had recourse to Illicit Distillation, as the means of making good their rents. Hence :the Public Revenue has been defrauded to the amount- of millions. Nay, it is a fact, that at one period not far back there was not a single licensed Distillery in an entire Province—namely, the North West circuit, where-the consumption of spiritous liquors is, perhaps, called for by the coldness and humidity of the climate. " The old powers of the law having proved una vailing, the I. :: ) -,, , islature was compelled to enact new laws, which, C.,ough clashing with the very first prin ciples of evidence underour nappy Constitution, were yet called for by the exigency of the times—laws, which qualify a prosecutor to be as a witness. in his own cause. If he feared not the consequences of per jury, he gained the suit, and put the money into his pocket. Hence, a kind of bounty seas necessarily tendered to false swearing : and, we all know the Re venue folk are net very remarkable for a scrupulous feeling in such cases.—These oaths were answered again by the oaths of -the parties charged, who, in order to avoid the fine, denied the existence of any still upon their hinds. Thus have 1 witnessed trials, where, in my judg ment, the Revenue Officer, who came to impose the fine, was perjured—the witnesses who came to avert it, perjured—and the Petty Jury, who tried the cause, p.ajure4—for they declined to do their duty, because tin y were, or might be, interested in the event : or, orcau►e the easy procurement of those illicit sp:rits produced an enct eased consumption of grain for their uenefi.. Ihr resident gentry of the country generally winked with both their eyes at this practice, and why —because it brought home to the doors of tilde te nantry a market for their corn; and consequently in creased the rents of their lands—besides, they were Vienne/yes Consumers of those liquors, and in every town and village them was an tudiceuced house for retailing them. This c-nsumption of spirits produced such. petnicious effects that at length the Executive Powers deemed it hi6h time to put as end to the Istem. The consequence was, that the people, ren dered ferocious by the use of those liquors. and accus tomed to lawless habits, resorted to force, resisted the Jaws, opposed the military, and hence have resulted riots, assaults, and murders. " Can you wonder, that, in such an immoral state of things, all tranquillity and obedience to the•law, ,were banished front those countries ? Absentees, too, have increased ; disgusted with the state of things, they desert their post in the time of peril—but, yet, should a farm happen to fallout of lease, keeping strict eye that it be set up to the highest bidder. These things have produced dis:tubances every where; but, Gentlemen. whether they apply to your county, to any extent, or at all, is for your consideration. -14 I have thought it right, from the false colouring that has been given to those things, to remove all such illusions, and to state the plain facts. " Gentlemen--I have heretofore, with good suc cess, called upon the Grand Jury of a great nothern county (Donegal), when private distillation had . reached to an intolerable excess, to chew some sense of their own interests by the suppression of that prac. tux; and I. am happy to say, that call was attended to, and produced useful Public Resolutions. I am glad to hear that this• mischief is a•straeger in your county, guard against its introdectidn, it is out lof toe greatest practical mischiefs—the revenue is plundered by it—the morals of the people depraved —and their conduct rendered riotous and savage : establish, in the room of whiskey, a wholesome malt liquor, and you will keep your peasantry in peace, in health i and in vigour. " Having thus given you a sort of sketch of what I have seen upon other CirCuits, 1 shall advert to what I have seen upon the present Circuit. The .first county of this Circuit, which was the object of his Majesty's Commission, was Kilkenny. The country had been previously alarmed, with such rumours and stories horn that quarter, that the order of this Cir cuit was inverted, for the express. purpose, as was al-, ledged, of meeting th e suppose d exigenc i es o f t h at county by an ratty Assizes. I did not preside in the Criminal Court ther e, _ but I have been iniormed t by my hrother Judge (Day) of what. passed, 1.. ,ur ca pita convictions wok ploceo f winch the subject mat , trr arose from two transactions only. One of thcie transactions, comprising two of those conviction, was of uo recent date—it occurred early. in 1813 and had been already tried .at the 4tinsmur Assizes at Kilkenny, in dad/ear. .At that Assizes, the two I criminals had Wee tositd °tin etten* et as. sassination—a most atrociodt.Wrige indeed. Their execution was suspended by an arguinent upon legality of their conviction =the ecnviction was proved illegal; and of course they were, for the second time s tried and convicted at the late Assizes. Bat how Rich a ease could warrant the . extraordinary colouring which was given to the - *Hedged disturbances of that county, or called far any peradt or bustle, I am wh;tily at a loss discover. 71)12 other of those transactions was, also, of a itigitioits itatnre—it sal a heinous burglary, crnriiitted by the two other era. minds, in the house of Mr. Sutton. They evert eon: victed, and have suffered the punishment due to dieji crime. But was this a case for exciting public A or spreading national disquietude, or fur causing t ordinary course of the Circuit to be inverted, an leading every person to appre.hend machiliatithis a conspiracies of the most deep and Japers& kind ?—: From Kilkenny the Commission proceeded Ici Cleo% mel. There I presided in the Croon Conn—the C lendat presented a sad list Of crimes—one hundted and twenty names appeared upon the face of thit Crown Book. There were several Government pro: secutions— conducted by able Gentlemen of the B ir, and by the Crown Solicitor ; at the appointm-nt, and by the direction of the Government--who had been alarmed for the peace of the country. Yet, notwith standing all this formidable array of crime. and this multitude of Prisoners, I had the good f.rtune to dis charge the gaol of that county in two days and a half. Two persons only were capital.y colivicted at that Assizes. One of them was neither the ite.jeet of a public prosecution, nor of a private one. as t .se upon Lord Ellenb. rough's Act, 'fee ami.tuito,g with weapons (in that case with a pitch-torsi) wish an in tention to kill, mains or disfigure. The ti brunet* man had been out upon bails and. supposing that he had made his peace with his Prcs coot, had surren dered himself, not apprehending any prosecution.— The bail bad forfeited their recognia.t.tce at the As sizes preceding—and I mention this fact. lest it night be imagined that the conductors of the Crown Prose. cutions had slumbered on their posts, or had bow». miss in their duty. Ido believe they knew noshing of the Prosecutor's intention to appear. The prisoner was compelled to come in by the Magistrate who had bailed him, and who had bees at the preceding A.ssiaes, fined one hundred pounds for thus bailing a person, charged with a capital felony. The prisoner had the benefit of able Counsel—Ai, trial was not hurried on—'a Jury of his Coeutryoser der the superintendance of a Jake (I hope. cot du. void of humanity). found him guilty. Bur.* ate ask. what had all this to do with public disturbances/ A people ferocious in their habits and violent in their animosities—.when intoxicated with whiskey—termed into factions amongst themselves, Awed by bar. berms appellations, may bruise each other with sticks or even slay each other with mortal weapons; but would ask any man, what connexion could the cos. VigflOß of that criminal (under Lord Ellenbrough's Act) have with associations egoistic law, order, and the Government? . (n be Continent) Ships it Market alp sok. Pain. SSi Newcaatle - 994 - 4ia. W. to 571648 6 Sunderland - S - 49 s 91 to Slit t HS On the 14th instant, at Alderley, in Gloucestershire, I. Theodosia Hale, of a see- ' Sunday se'&nibt, at All Cunnings, near Deflate, t/.e lady the Rev A. Methuen, of a sea. MARRIED Ott the 18th inst at Cheltenham, Capt. Oatlaw. of the Him East India Ctesparty's se vice, to Miss Fanny Turquad, aser daughter of tiutton Torquan.., Esq. At Kensington, on i uestlay hst, the Rev. W. D. Conybeare. to Sarah Anne, second daugher of the cats Charles Rankin, Es% of the Hoe. last India Compaal s service. At the Earl of Buckinghamshire's home at Hi g h gate , is T ues . day, Mr. Rqhinvon, to Lady Hobart. bik.O. Suddenly. on Thursdas , the t 1 tb instant, whist on a attic sr Mr. J Doughty's, of Brnitdish. near Ha:4room, Norfulk, Mrs, Means, the wile of Mr. John Mean-, of Rood-lane. Feeteloseeis. street, in the 47th year of I.er age. As 0.. m lived retyreted son beloved by all who knew her, so is I.er %lath as universally bw talented, but most by those who cats bat mums to &r erase. Vary worth. Aug. 12, Robert Blennerhassett. Esq. of Firtfir i (Korey)—. lie was returning to his lodgings in *frets..., A;ita ad ly an p. rtes health, its company wit:i another gentleman, and when w..his a few yards of the house., leit lifeess to the ground Ou the 17th, aged tht. Amelia C. Mackay. wlfs of Dr. Wm. Mackay, R.N. IT has been too frequently thi subject of just and 1 general repftbition, that raven destitute of the dements of tie medical art have 'arta therncelves as candidates hoe public pa. trohage In the profeosion of Physic. For the purpose sidings kw Hem to the nook of our 'balks and esperienes, audio poem us hem being classed among those empiric* whose intpusleat.pre tensions have, unfortunately for society, been too isvouraidy re. ceived, weiseg leave to submit to the liberal and enfighteuesl, a faithful %torment of our pumice aid ectdroments. After having received a regular medical education, as tbspepb of Messrs. Grindal and jiBlsard , whom lectures sal provice ow carefully attended, as Profession and littrocons of the London Hos pital, we entered ourselves as student& in that potty ce4edira7ad school for medical acquirements, the Royal Cello e of En*. burgh, and weft instructed in the different breeches af Anasemy s Surgery, the Theory and Practice of Physic. Conaiddry, wifery, Botany, &c. &c. site. by those antnent Da Monro, Oregnty, Bloch, Hamilton. Duncan, and Rutherieen. We tam me shall not be darned pr estoomatme to eavyiag. *Ma our profideney and acquirements at *not Inconsiderable. Haase fur a long series of years made and the various diseases of DEBILITY, the pectleatar otOrt our r udirs and practice, It will, we hope, be sneered that we L.. acquired 'superior knowledge of their matinee: *tat we. ha slight and recent cases of infection, a perfect re-esuibilteintrat is completed in the short period at two days, and in those as oho utmost inveteracy, where ether prectitioufts hove had of (m -eets, a proper perseveraice in our plan of bluntest (moreover the patient a safe and radical cuft. ,A - mhist the tnelaneholy voider of tlisc , edges which are the recta el a habit hog and aunt wahappey pursued by the fonds d both sizes, there are mummer, atamniog or more distramaragtis those dellehmosies and debilities which trossently regent er eas bitter the roabinsenlal state. Po such persons it mast be a 4 : 0 •° sulag relkttion to know that they may now, bra new and ads& Nu mode of ematment, be restored to that greatest of all hums blessings, a strong, manly, and mien*, mud:miss In an aro , ddebihiy, from whatever cause &mina. w7ll as la every at tics et venereal infection, w e may b e consul , ed . by pat:lints at either set with the greatest secrecy and heseer. Hour, of astis saltation at home from tau se.three, and from dais the avenue till tin at night. Parents is the country are remiested to state ptrilcular'd their case, age, and general habit of living, &c. Inelq•lttg a tr:tit tance for advice and medicines, when the .-,me w.fi begiv. - n Oat to any part of the kingdom. "i (a ensure that, secrecy Aar- Alittial .nor undertaking, de postage or l ette r s may t. : a ;,' 1,4 y, account for me es. „ t. 4...:PiLatlit and 1.10 &neaps, No 107, tirtni Guam". CV A. k LOND9S ,IRODQE 4;. • Mornini Si infnatre cer 10 Alrernooli * thisuces Aar it Ptisited by Lrvieir47l;:Picitet: labs tellst diem and ardor kir sattkla aft - • ,o .: