The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1821-10-23 00:00:00

many of their evil ett.t.ets.

That a very wicked spirit has appeared io moors
instances within • shot., period in the coNttity of
Limerick cannot be doubted, but the elements of
society within that county cannot differ very widely
from what we know them to be in any other portion
of the KING'S dominions; so that if ate find the
populace of the county of Limerick acting with
more daring violence and more impunity than the
populace of any other 'dace, we cannot avoid @tuts •
buting the evil less to them than to those who have
neglected to use the authority with which the laws
have invested them for the suppression of a riotous
and turbulent disposition. The mere rabble of
every country in the world seem to be eternally im-
pelled by the necessity of their condition, or their
habitual thoughtlessness, to acts of viuleuce and
outrage, and over such persons the Magistrates
ought to exercise an unwinking vigilance. But
what can we think of the Magistrates of the town of
Ratlikeale, when we know that some short time
since the cirringe that conveys the mail through
that 10.11 was stopped in the streets by the pus
pulace—that two persons who were obnoxious to
them, as having appeared in a Court of Justice as
witnesses for the Crown in a criminal prosecution,
were dragged from it, and that these unfortunate
men were treated by the populace with such extreme
brutality, that they both died in consequence of
it ? The town of Rathkeale is large and populous,
and has Magistrates residing within it. • No oppo-
sition, however, we are given to understand, was
offered by any Magistrate, Constable, or other per-
son in authority, to this brutal outrage, and no
effort was subsequently made to visit the murderers
with the punishment of their guilt. If such
an offence could be committed with present
safety and future impunity, in the streets of a
considerable town, who can wonder that the country
parts of the county of Limerick should be infested
with armed banditti, that private houses shOutd
be attacked and plundered, and that the vengeful
spirit which tasted the blood of the two obnoxious
witnesses within the town of Ratlikeale, should
subsequently and with increased confidence thirst
after the lives of Mr. GOING and Mr. %Vault ?
No person, we think, can entertain any doubt that
nothing but the apprehension of immediate chas-
tisement prevents the rabble of any city or town in
the empire from proceeding at once to the plunder
of their more wealthy neighbours, and to the in-
dulgence of every deloused passion. The relaxa-
tion of authority would be attended with precisely
the same effects in London and in Limerick. It
cannot, we think, be asserted that the county..of
Limerick labours under any peculiar grievance of
a public nature, political or moral, from which the
rest of Ireland is exempt, yet we do not find that
any other part of Ireland is afflicted by a spirit so
mischievous as that which now agitates that unfor-
tunate county. As the evil is local, in undoubt-
edly are the causes of it ; and we think that the
occurrence iii the streets of Ratlikeale, to Which
we have now alluded, offers such a proof of the •
inefficiency of the local magistracy, and of the re-
laxation of authority in that vicinity, that we need
rot li.ok much farther for the sources of the exist-
big rtsturbacces.
Something has heeu said respecting the necessity
of devising some means for .ameliorating the con-
dition of the Irish peasant, us if this condition at
the present moment were the cause of the existime
disturbances. We should rejoice that some means
could indeed be devised for relieving the peasantry
of Ireland from some part of the immense load of
wretchedness which time, evil habits, bad insti-
tutions, absent landlords, and rapacious agents
have accumulated over them ; butthia improvement
cannot he effected by any legislative measures, it
must and can flow from the great landed proprie-
tors wily : but, at all events, we are satisfied that
with the disturbances in the, county of Limerick tbe
actual state of the peaaatitry of Ireland lasalittle if
any connexion. The rioters, we will venture tO*Y.
are not numerous, and also that they are trot fir•
mere, but consist of those disorderly characters.who
are to be found every where, and who hang too lamely
upon society to be bound by its influence or princiis
plop, or to feel any sympathy in its happiness. It is
lamentable to think that a presumption, growing out
of the very improper supineness of the Magistrates,:
of being able to disturb the public tranquillity with
I impunity, should have tempted such ruffians to un-i
&flake a course of rapine and murder, and even
I still more to be lamented that such a combination,
iof untoward circumstances tiliculil tend to throw die-,
credit upon the character of a whole county, per.
hips of all Ireland, as if the majority of the people
were incapable of appreciating the blessings of
social confidence, or of enjoying the advantages of
repose.

. •
The Funds experieeced so smptoreamit yes-
terday.
Sir Roar= GIYFORD, his MAJESTY'S Attorneys
General, dined with a large party of the coy:4
Magistrates at the Old London fittl,Mzeier
Wednesday.