Virginia Argus. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1796-1816, 1808-03-22
FRoM SIMPSONS MEMOIRS.
BRITISH ARMY IN IRELAND, 1898.

cat leagth, to pass over world c. odi
Gus details, came the marquis CORVALLIS,
Infringing words of peace. Civil and mill
ltary hccntiousnes were now at their he; ght.
You must have heard, ti,at when the cal
liant and respected Abercrombie, since dead
in the field of honor, was sent to command
the army in Ireland, he found it impossible
to make head against so much crime and
anarchy. The combined efforts of Clare
and Carhampton, and the weakness oe what
they called q strong government, had dri-
ven the whole people toreb ellon, and made
ienemies of almost every honest man. The
old and respectable magistrates, men of
property and reputation in the country,
were struck out OF the commission of the
peace, and foreign WerCenaries put into it.
The population of whole districts were
swept without remorse on board tenders and
prison ships; AMI fathers OF families torn
from their poor and peaceful cottages, to
be sent on board the British feet, where the
tale of their bitter and just complain, was
necessarily to form the leaven of that fear
tul event so aptiy called Carhcmhton's MT
tiny; and which was like to lhave cost the
king of England more than the violence OF
a million of snch men, with their strong go
UeTnments, could ever do him good. WeQk
men, they had not minds to conceive that
the only strong government, is that which
is strong in the confidence Of The heof,le go
pernc6. They called these crimes, dictated
by their own petty passions, by the name of
"uigor beyond the iazv."-So Robesperre
called his. In short, he and his associates.
seemed IN every thing. except sincerity, to
be their model. The difference was, that his
cruelties fell chiefly on the rich and great
theirs afflicted the humble and the poor
The eloquence of Europe has been exhaust
ed IN rcprobating his crime. The mention
OF theirs, is still treason and death. Alas
the advocates of the poor, are few, and their
reward is ruin. To celebrate successful
viiiH'hy, is the shure road to gain and to
preferment."
Lord CORVALLIS, something wiser than
his predecessors, or at least uaactuated by
party spite. ANYHOW nearly all was lost, and
formed better plan. He shat up the hous-
es OF torture He forbade frischrd CARS TO
be 6Rr'lcd on mems heads. He put an end,
IN great measure, to the raUishing or7uo-
men, and the killing or 7vhifhing Of Irish
men for short. He interdcted hdifhanginr
70 ertort confessions. He put stop to much
OF the petty-fogging and chcaning part of
the administration and he offered pardon
ana protection to such as would lay down
their arms and return to their homes. But
lunhappily, whether it was that the faction
were too strong for him. and wished to black
en- him as fsithless and disioyaI, and to gra-
tify their jealousy by thwarting his mea-
sures, certain il is that nanv had no soon
er laid down their arms, than they were
murdered dctenceless, and in one instance
particularly, the massacre of Glencoe was
acted over on the CuT"|gh CT Kildare
It is bnt justice, however, to this noble
man, 70 relate one instance in which he as
100 u.
yeomen, so they called themselves, had gone
to the house of a poor widow; whilst one
Guarded the door, the other went in, drag
gsd young boy from his sick bed, and in
contempt OF every protection which ne had
received from the gcvernme Mt, shot the son
IN the arms OF his mother The culpIit, on
MS trial, avowed the fact ; and audaciousy
called several officers to justify him under
military orders, and to depose upon their
oaths that what he did was his duty. And
in their sense so it certainly was, and he was
readily acquitted But Lord CORVALLIS saw
| 1t differently, and ordered his disapproba-
ton at the sentence to be read in open court,
to Irrd EnniskIl.en the president and the
other officers composing the court martial :;
disqualified them forever from sitting on any
ether court martial, and the women from
ever serving the king And this, as il was
1
cially in the newspapers, g for having ac-
quilted, sOithoaf any frete1t, a man gHilty
ufon tie cLcGreSt and uncOntradicted Ell.
deHce Of a 7ci fnL and deliberate murder.''-
Perhaps you will wonder that should state
this fact as any thing extraordinary you
will be surprised, possibly, to hear, that any
country, where the British constitution was
professed, should be in such a state of
wretchedness, that an act Of iusice no
stronger than the punishment Of murder and
msprison by repremand, should excite
furious amnesty on ono side, and transports
OF admiration on the other. But so long had
the reign Of terror lasted, that the verv
mention OF bringing any Of this faction to
Justice, was looked upon by the rest, as an
insolent encroaebTent upon their murde-
rous prerogatIves. Nor would this story
ever been known either to Isofd Cornwallis
or to the public, more than thousands of o.
theirs buried with the victims in the grave,
had 1t not been for the accidental protection
afforded 70 this poor widow, by lady of
fortune and fashion--Mrs. Latouche."