The Sun. — 1844-03-20 (London, England)

IRELAND.  TULLAMORE, THURSDAY, MARCH 14.—Dowling, who was convicted yesterday for the murder of Mr. Gatchell, stands for execution on the 26th. '.The case of this wretched culprit is, in some measure, illustrative of the landlord and tenant 'system, and the crime and misery attendant upon the insecurity of tenure, and the extraordinary power vested in the hands of landlords. Dowling's father held a dear farm, upon which he made some improvements, and was in rather comfortable circumstances, until a change in the times, caused by additional local taxation, and a fall in the price of agricultural produce, rendered him unable to pay his rent : he applied for an abatement,to 'Mr. Gatchell, who was agent over him, but his application was rejected. He then wrote to the landlady, but she said she could not interfere with the agent. It is said that Gatchell was displeased at this communication, which he lOoked upon in the light of a complaint against himself, and he seized upon all his little property, which was sold for the arrears of rent then due. The sale left a balance of some six or seven pounds behind, and for this he was processed, decreed, and ultimately sent to gaol. The day he was arrested his wife was exceedingly ill, without even a sufliCiency of, food, or an atom of property left. She died soon after the husband was sent to prison, and the wretched old man petitioned Mr. Gatchell to allow him home to his wife's wake, and that he wouldreturn to gaol after the funeral, but his request was not complied with. A son and daughter of his then took ill and died, it may be said of starvation, for ,in their illness they had not even enough of bad potatoes. His other son, who was convicted yesterday, was married to the sister of Dunne, the approver, who, as alleged, was also treated by Gatchell with cruelty, and, according to his account, they had come to the determination to shoot Mr. Gatchell, as the . only means of preventing his total ruin, as well as that of the Dowling family. There was something peculiarly revolting in a man swearing away the life of his own brother-in-law, and leaving his sister a widow ; but the same causes which lead to the concoction and perpetration of atrocious crimes, can hardly fail to eradicate every moral sentiment, and convert the best feelings of the heart into a degraded selfishness, regardless even of the ties of consanguinity : partners in guilt can never be partners in sympathy or affection towards each other. The facts I have stated here are beyond all contradiction; they are known to all who reside in the neighbourhood, and have been stated in the sworn deposition of one of the witnesses who was examined for the prose,mtion. After the total ruin of old Dowling, and the death of three members of his family, he consented to give up possession of his land, and was then let out of prison : he is now a wretched mendicant through the country. I should, perhaps, have stated, that the arrear of rent due was of four or five years standing, that it had accrued during two very hard years for farmers, and that it was suppose I by the tenants it would never have been demanded."  TUE MARQUIS or