The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-18 00:00:00

Otceninl PPult

LONDON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1141.

The new Irish rebellion, after all, turns out to be
little more than an organized system of robbery on a
large scale. Heavy contributions are levied by and
on behalf of the patriots, who make predatory excur-
sions from their mountain fastnesses, plundering the
houses of all who have not joined in the movement, of
money, arms, and provisions, and carrying off the
flocks and herds of the farmers to feed their gallant
associates at the camp on Slievenamon. Feast-
ing is the order of the day, and those
who under ordinary circumstances enjoy a meal of
meat but once or twice in the year, are now gorging
themselves to repletion, day after day, with the finest
beef and mutton, fattened in the rich meadows and fer-
tile valleys of Tipperary. This may not prove quite
so satisfactory to the farmers. It would, no doubt, be
very agreeable to meet the demands of the landlord,
or the rate-collector, with assertions that the entire pro-
duce of their holdings had been carried off by the boys;
that the wheat which had been threshed for market,
and the fat cattle, by the sale of which the rent, rates,
taxes, and other demands were to have been provided
for, had supplied the commissariat of the national
troops ; but the reality is not quite so pleasing—a few
thousands of hungry men, whose appetites are
sharpened by the keen air of the mountains, will re-
quire considerable supplies
_of provisions to maintain
them ; although they may in the first in-
stance be contented to prey upon the Saxon
and the oppressor, their friends themselves must
in time provide for their wants and exigencies.
When a necessity arises they will not pause to in-
quire whether the devoted sheep are the property of
friend or foe, of the supporters of the union, or of true
and genuine Irishmen, but the leg or loin will be
devoured with equal gusto, 'whoever may be at the
cost of providing them.
At present nothing can be pleasanter than the lives
of the insurgents. Everything is " couleur de rose:'
The weather is admirably suited for al fresco enjoy-
rents, and the Irish peasantry are at all times ready
selenjoy the present moment without troubling them-
ves very deeply as to the consequences of their
frolic. But the day of retribution will speedily
arrive, and then a very materialalteration 'lltake
place in their vwieiwths 1
and feelings. They will occa-
sionally meet
warm receptions, and not be
permitted to carry
off
impunity. In their neighbours' goods with
place of
of sheep, or a few sacks
fat ox, half a score
ried oft; some eight 0 of corn being car-
may chance to remain
oinrn thet field, or to be con-
en of the plunderers
i
e
veyed to durance vile
to atone hy perpetual banishmen°tnrn el or Nenagh
for their violation
for mutton. An or gani z A band of in h
their
plunderers
taste
y, and
erers cannot
e vic-
long continue to set the law at defiance. T
tints will speedily find it essential to brio
tern to a termination gtheir
sYs.
, and to put the police
a
military on the track of the cattle-stealers. Thnd
will begin to think the cleitns of their landlords les3s.
difficult to be encountered than the unascertained and
unlimited demand of the pikemen and riflemen,
who may chance to bivouac in their vicinities. When
the receipt of the half-year's gale is snugly de•
posited in their pockets no new demand can be made

on account of that rent, but it ii quite different with
the armed bands who prey upon the country. It will
not be received as a plea against any new contribu-