The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-12 00:00:00

MURDER OF MR. ROE-MEETING OF MAGIS

TRATES.
As I have already notified to you, there was a meeting of-
the magistracy of the southern division of Tipperary, held on
Thursday last at Cashel, the High Sheriff of the county,
Lord Suirdale, presiding, to take into consideration the
course that body ought to adopt touching the assassination of
Mr. Roe, of Rockwell. There was a very large attendance
of magistrates, not fewer than forty-two being present.
Among them were Lord Glengall, Vice-Lieuteuant, Lord
Hawsrden, and Mr. N. Maher, M.P. for the county.
Lord SUIRI/ALE, on taking the chair, adverted to the oc-
casion which called them together. He described the cha-
racter of Mr. Roe as one of great humanity. He had main-
tained during the late season of destitution a soup kitchen at
Roekwell, whence the peasantry were supplied with food.
The Mines Roe, hie sisters, attended at this institution,
superintending its arrangements; and the result of their
labours superinduced fever, by which disease both ladies were
severely attacked, though both are happily recovered. Mr.
Roe, however, amerted his rights as a landlord. He had a
tenant who owed him two years' rent last May ; his holding
amounted to i acres, and Mr. Roe offered him 101., toforgive
him the arrears due, and to allow him the tillage on one acre,
which was all the man had cultivated this' year, if he gave
up possession. These terms the tenant refused, and Mr. Roe
ejected him from the premises. "It is believed," said Lord
Suirdale, " that this man was Mr Roe's murderer." The
noble lord contended that the landlords of Ireland had done
their duty in the recent circumstances of the country ; and,
referring to the difficulties of residence, said—" A great deal
has been said about absenteeism. It is an evil. (Hear, hear.)
The absentee but hears at a distance the voice of affliction—
the havoc made by famine—the desolation of pestilence—he
is removed from the scene of these miseries; and the worse
that may happen him is that his agent may be shot. ( A laugh.)
But look at the man who stops on the spot—see the position
he is placed in. If he ejects the tenant who pays no rent,
and who does not cultivate the land—or if he introduces a
system of cultivation—he is murdered."
Lord GLLNGALL proposed the adoption of a memorial,
setting forth the condition of the county and the suggestions
for remedying it. He eulogised Mr. Roe's character, and
said he regretted to think he must adopt the conviction that
he had been murdered by persons resident on his property.
Mr. Roe had been in communication with the board of works
to effect drainage on hie property and to afford employment,
and the day after his death a letter came to his address from
the board of works, agreeing to advance him the money.
Lord Glengall, in reference to the circumstances preceding
Mr. Roe's murder, said, no person doubts that on this pro-
perty of Boytonrath a conspiracy existed to deprive Mr. Roe
of his claims on his tenants. It appears, from strong proof
which we have, that several other tenants owed
large arrears of rents ; and a determination existed
amongst some of those tenants not to pay—in
consequence of which resolution some of the parties
met and considered what steps they should adopt
to carry out their schemes. It formed a subject of considera-
tion whether Mr. Roe, or a gentleman who acts as his agent,
should be shot. They admitted in their hellish committee
that Mr. Roe was a kind and liberal man, and that it was
better to shoot his agent. But when they came to consider
the whole case is all its bearings, they thought it better to
shoot the landlord. (Sensation.) The reason why they
selected the landlord was this—they were aware that Mr.
Roe's children were very young indeed; that the affairs of
the property would he placed under the Court of Chancery ;
that a receiver would be appointed under that court ; that
that receiver, as is general is such cases, would have no in-
terest in the well-being of the minors; and that these
scheming tenants would obtain great reductions of rent; and
that thus these fatherless minors and the widow would be
plundered of their dues. (Hear, hear.) That, gentlemen, we
believe to be the cause that led to this melancholy
event. (Hear, hear.) I apprehend else, gentlemen, that
there is another melancholy feature connected with this
dreadful event. I fear there is too much reason to believe
that the tenants had very bad advisers—very bad counsellors
—that aided and assisted by the advice of these scheming
counsellors, they did all they could, instead of meeting Mr.
Roe's claims by honest industry, to avoid the payment of
their just and legitimate obligations to their landlord, by
every chicane, quibble, and quirk of law in order to deprive
Mr. Roe of his rights. (Hear.) The noble earl then touched
upon the condition of the peasantry, the anxiety of the land-
lords to improve it, and other matters referred to in the me-
morial which he proposed for adoption, and which is as
follows;

TO hie F.acellency George Earl of Clarendon. Lord Lieutenant General
and General Governor of Ireland. &c. We.
We, the tendersipodmegistrates of the wady of Tipperary, this
day aseenlikel it Cidid. at a any short *lee, beg leave respectfully
to Adele preirendOiney, that it le with thenngs of the deepest
hared we Wine yew did es estarday, Se Sa inrt., at eleven
ebidt line ft, Ir. Willem Beet • tribleste of this co u nty, was
ammelentsd =Se blt re* at de knit et Hogonrath, in the
Wow at leillseftk Ina= or person who And at him.
nit aneisee mkt wee am the imam of the an.
keenees eel ain yids of were hats The
hie nr. Beeves es with* englelesle, • Mei sad entilente *d-
ie* seat eisibdiete Sr peer, imp meet geodes end
ha Se aseserie he pied le veils ampleynen br E
thel
perentry m his peparty. Per Wt pan= he wee Yon coot-
easein, in oddities' to Inds= web, es estinthes= of
deinge ; and Maim( the We rend et Menem In a
hilt of food at his own spa* whisk ins gandlendr
to the destitute woke the sersdelninse et hie eine; loth of
when Innovational lev einit le the Menem et then nee-
taint duties. the perrelly *port 111111.101616 weir that
Ile. Roe had eltuteders et his Monts who hat sees saw et lend
et
a moderate she. Ile owed Mr. Roe We ,sere{ rent nit Idays
eh sat of an. edge were totally wade* eneeithelled. YYrr
dee edbridlea IS. Wag* all saner, end to he han hoe the
pews Bathe an nee he had tilled, Hbe geiddykid peedielon
of
Ills puma the tenant ream* eddied, sawnto
WI Om, pond erlasiskssykr rest. We have 1 to Wien
tint a asupiresursilst to &stirs Mr. ]hen et hie hpl claims
amen ellen at lis Ismis, sad that Sit elm hes* • portion
of he plott. We id le sir duty to ..tin Sege partied*
to your coosiksay, loommit of lisie It lee bus las
In
of again poem. —Wei--I is is tas We piettlan In
*kb very any of the Ininnen ere nell7 pleen eta Men
to their twin%M ithgerele We eimiste talar *St a*
ens" air WIN dannellelle nelhon n binste the *il-
l* and Inwit—lhe War allostboos ins doo and easily led
stray by oilmen, Seeds. we feats* nen that the great
=Sdee hnisis of Ms part of the we* hare done their
s* Oak avecially vim the album which
h. issispeeidena ere seseidded. W bade thet It nniverselly
the peogie inn thee Int dellana foes which the
lo▪
wed order were the greatest sudden, the landed pntry
did all In thek power to mitigate the alliittSgil of the destitute,
although &wired of their usual renames by the general new-
payment of rent. We are aware that year ezieltroey under.
stand. the state of the ociantry, and that yea an adalowly occu-
pied in mil:Midas to its walk eettivenleg to am upon all
chose of the seueunity the wasilOl t atiallog dissolves with
determination We energy to taste the Wed eel asses of the
moron. We mire your easeilemy We vs Nast sislossis
to your sent** •; we pp etelese inn, ant elitir
you our humble la di mite work yea ban undertelien;
we le= =he int mein wit mown our finned farts,
and ash es Sae *II net to future stain 09.7 =MIL
We eoloweledie es Maly I. spay *latest portion of them ad-
gra my be spired; sad we pledge cierester to revery
mass In or pow ft siege the edited* of rasa ter did *pc*
It le mob, mostowoory le venial your wary that thew pose
kw has lege* en isomer Sart* re the owners and
occupier*, lend Ink** It le not our *kiss on tide melan-
choly mania io ante to yet oar °pinks of the manure;
L the it kw of the We se each we are bound to respect it,
and tarry eat be Psalters to the hod of our abilities. But
while oar nepertir see ieseembrely tided ler the pumas of re-
grZyk• Jed debt,. We Sr the More eoppert or the destitute,
a that our hod !moor will only end to talon and ruin tooii
selves, if we ere gra** by helm gotten, and opposition to l
desande tram seinehlog *past tts wer rrer peeper*, and -
tradming seek lespressants as maybe arrossmy, to mak the land
to meet the Inereend Ilatilides Imposed ao it We eon it our
duly, CM fib meat sweet nedoe to to yen agniney that
end leneadty le mile ,
arises tram the lenserineete
einem; by wry lowed eh* tithe
Clidaletteetien amen We lekenre ere W.Wdby W int
deinelei tineelen—lien annies ere paWeM; thevedie, we
trot, that eraser veneffe wig he elniel tennedlythe aeo. We an
fully etude* too W *ohm by refe me= cm
severalsisitedialles skirl In Seteverywill
be made WSe le Wog leJestne Veentreens t this
foul ass*, sod Mad that neendS le Ids We p nese.
sari Sz Os IMMO If aft glee Vail INF!,

A lengthened discussion arose upon the portion of]
the memorial which has reference to the poesenuon of fire-
arms indiscriminately by the people. Mr. Massey, who
said he was formerly an advocate for an arms bill, opposed
that portion of the memorial. Ile thought every man had •
right to be able to carry arms, unless be used them against
the government. Mr. Maher, M.P., thought that all per-
sons having land or other property to defend ought to have
the privilege of carrying arms, but he thought that parties
were now possessed of arms who should not possess them.
Mr. W. HERBERT : As I was coming up to my son-in-
law's residence • few weeks ago from Carrick on Suir, I saw
eighteen or twenty persons together in one group em-
ployed in shooting. This was on a Sunday—in fact,
nothing but shots are heard every day in:our neighbourhood.
Mr. Quirce, Loghloher : They shoot men on Sundays and
birds on week days. (Laughter).
Lord SUIRDALE: No; they shoot birds on Sundays and
men on week days. (Renewed laughter).
The memorial was ultimately 'adopted, it being under-
stood parties agreeing to it were not bound to tke principle of
an Arms Act. It was signed by the high sheriff and 39
other magistrates.

MURDER OF MR. Rog.—Sir,—Your paper is PO exten-
sively circulated, and your notices of Ireland and the Irish
are, for the most part, written in so fair a spirit, I trust you
will lend me a small place in your columns, in drawing the
attention of the English public to the late dreadful 11.311115i-
nation which has taken place in this vicinity, and the diffi-
cult position in which that proscribed class, the Irish land-
lords, are now placed. In doing so, though a small land-
holder myself, I am not about to enter into any apology
or defence for my more largely acred brethren. I fully ad-
mit their general want of energy and ability, and that mor-
bid feeling of pride which confines their ideas to local preju-
dices and petty notions of exclusiveness, more especially in
this county ; but this can form no reason why they should
be held up in England to public hatred, and cut off in de-
tail by the bullet of the sausain in Ireland. Long experience
has taught me that, in the county of Tipperary, in proportion
as a landlord endeavoured to improve his estate, and to in-
troduce a regular system of cropping, and rent-paying ; so
was his position one of discomfort and peril; whilst, if he
were content to allow his tenants to proceed in the old sys-
tem, permit weeds and arrears to grow up together, he ran
no danger from " the finest peasantry" in the world. The
late Mr. Roc, of Rockwell—who was waylaid and shot down
on Saturday week last, at a quarter past 11 in the morning,
having only arrived in the eountry on Thursday evening,
to visit his aged mother—had the misfortune to be " an
1 improving landlord," his tenantry, through mistaken kind-
ness on his part, were allowed to run into arrears of rent
(and it may be as well that the English public
should know that in Ireland one year's rent is
generally allowed to remain unpaid). Four years
back the suspected assassin held fifteen acres of land
under Mr. Roe, but as he seldom payed any rent for
that quantity of ground, Mr. Roe gave half of the fifteen
acres to a brother of Lonergan's, the suspected murderer,
and excused the former arrears which had accrued. However
the tenant in question managed no better with seven than
he had with fifteen acres; the ground was not properly
tilled, the rent badly paid ; accordingly, two months since,
Mr. Roe offered to excuse the payment of three years' rent,
and also give ten pounds in hand, provided Lonergan
would leave the place. This offer was steadfastly and con-
temptuously refused. There was no alternative. Lonergan was
ejected, It then became whispered through the country that
Mr. RPe was marked as a " wild duck ;" the term in Tip-
perary by which a man is ticketed for assassination. A meet-
ing took place at Holycross for the alleged purpose of peti-
tioning parliament for ' tenant right." You have recorded
the sentiments propounded on that occasion. The chairman
of that meeting, holding no land himself, was the brother of
one of Mr. Roe's tenants, and all Mr. Roe's tenants
in the townland of Boytenrath, where this Lonergan
resided, attended that meeting. To men owing large arrears
of rent, the doctrine of the perpetual holdings bas great
charms, and to those who had been ejected for non-payment
of rent, Mr. Doheny's denunciation of Mr. Roe would
not have blunted their feelings of revenge. Doheny, "a
rising barrister," holds a few acres of townland Irons the
corporation of Cashel ; he had been previously brought
out by William Longhuane (the chairman), to visit the scene
of Lonergan's ejectment, and Mr. Roe was held up as an "ex-
terminator" at the Holycross meeting. Now it has been said
this meeting was a " failure." Undoubtedly all the priests and
respectable repealers set their faces against it. Nevertheless, the
doctrines enunciated were too well calculated to inflame the
minds of ignorant men, to allow those who know the country
to look on this meeting as a " failure," in arraying the
tenant against the landlord. Mr. Roc had been denounced,
and was shot in broad daylight ; and though severs! of the
tenantry must have seen the murderer almost in commis-
sion of the deed, none moved to arrest the murderer !
further, when Mr. Roe was carried to his grave this week,
net a single tenant from the townland of Boytenrath paid
the relics the tribute of respect usually paid in Ireland, by
following the funeral procession. Indeed, it cannot be con-
cealed that the public sympathy goes with the assassin, who
is regarded as the champion of the Holycross version of
" tenant-right." Now, sir, I am an advocate for " tenant-
right," though not of the " Lalor Doheny school ;" but I
would ask, Whilst our indigenous brawlers are crying out for
justice for Ireland, what justice is to be given to men
chained by the ties of property to the spot, called upon to
give employment and pay heavy rates, and shot down if they
ask for the wherewithal to give employment and pay rates ?
Is this justice to Ireland ? Already it is broadly insinuated
that Mr. Roe's murder is but the precursor of other
attempts of the sort. Even the gentry, with that
callousness which men attain by living in Tipperary,
joke that " Mr. such a one, the agent, wilt soon
be shot." The provincial press points at the victim, and
you may safely calculate that not long after some of these
journals have held up an unfortunate landlord, looking for
his rent, as an "advocate of the clearance system," and an
"exterminator," that the next paper will contain an account
that he has been accordingly shot at. In the case of Mr. Roe
this was literally true. I ask how long will the English
parliament and public permit this state of things to continue?
Will any man maintain that the county in which such scenes
are enacted can be fit to be ruled by ordinary laws ? Depend
on it, concede what you may, the time approaches when no-
thing short of a resettlement of this blood-stained county
will make it habitable, or banish the reign of terror which
now prevails.—A SQUIREEN.—CasheI, Oct. 9.
DUBLIN CITY ATTACIIMENTS.--Sir : In the communica-
tion of your Irish correspondent in your paper, upon
the question of city attachments in Dublin, I have read
with surprise the following sentence:—" It may be hoped
that the government will no longer leave with the corpora-
tion a bad privilege of this nature, which they do not desire
to retain." As this is not the first time I have noticed mis-
statements made by the same writer, apparently with the
view of disparaging the corporation of Bublin, I must beg of
you to allow me to state that the corporation have no more
to do with this " bad privilege " than the editor of the
Express. The corporation endeavoured to obtain, in the
last session' of parliament," an act for the improvement of
Dublin, which, amongst other things, would have forbidden
for the future the issue of these attachments from the Re-
corder'a Court, over which they have no authority or influ-
ence, direct or indirect. It is, therefore, as much a mis-
statement to say that they do not desire to retain this privi-
lege, as that they possess it. The truth, and what your
correspondent, as a well-informed inhabitant of Dublin,
should have written, is, that the Recorder possesses this bad
(and to his court profitable) privilege, and that the corpora-
tion do not desire that he should retain it. But your cor-
respondent was one of those who lent a hand to write down
the Improvement Bill of loot session, and thus afforded the
tories an occasion for rallying the disjointed sections of their
party, to prevent the passing of s. measure which would have
been another step in the progress of municipal and sanitary
reform in Ireland, where both are indescribably needed.
—Frnatis.
" Fidelis" complains that I should have said the pritdege
of city attachments was a privilege of the corporOthn,
which body, he says, I should have known have nothing
more to do with it than you have. Let us see. Every
attachment is founded upon an affidavit of debt. That affi-
davit is sworn before the Lord Mayor, who is, I suppose
" Fidelis " will admit, an officer of the corporation. For that
affidavit a fee is chargeable, and paid. Under these circum-
stances, I think I was not incorrect in designating the " bad
privilege " of city attachments a privilege of the corporation.
I stated in the p hto which "Fidelis " refers that the
proceedings after affidavit were taken in the Recorder's
Court, so that, upon consideration, he will perceive I
am not miainfenned upon the nature of those pro-
ceedings. Of course the Recorder receives fees, and
so do his officers, for such proceedings as are con-
ducted in his court. But whatever law shall abolish these
attachments, must, you will perceive, interfere with a power
enjoyed by, the Lord Mayor, as at officer of the oorpo-
' ration, and thus, I think, that my communication was not
' incorrect. I believe you are perfectly aware that lam not
politically an admirer of the Recorder, and that I do not
regret the demolition of the old corporation ; but allow me to
state, for the satisfaction of " Fidel*" that there is no citizen
of Dublin who would more cordially maintain the first privi-
' leges of the reformed body than—YounConasseosinzur.
EITATE OF TIIE COUNTRY.—The story of the murder of
Mr. Lowe is, as I anticipated, pronounced to bee fabrication.
That gentleman is alive and well, and no attempt was made
upon his puce or safety. Indications of the unsettled tem-
per of the populace continue to be manifested in almost
every journal we receive. To-day there are several cases of
authenticated outrage; none, however, fortunately involving
loss of life. The principal outrages. occurred:at Ferbane,
King's County, at Caherbane, County Clare, in both of
which the object was to possess arms three of the perpetra-
tors in the former case were arrested. At Kenmore, Lime-
rick, a gentleman named (dubbin* had seized on the property
of certain tenants to compel payment of rent. The persona
in charge, two in number, were fired at from behind a ditch
as they were inspecting the seizure in the evening, and one
was slightly wounded by a pellet in the back part of the bead.
At Newport, in Tipperary, a Mr. Young had made a seizure
for rent, but the peasantry assembled at the period of the
i sale in such numbers that he was afraid to proceed.