522 



ANNUAL REGISTER, ibli. 



chief. I therefore am utterly at a 

 loss to account for those alarming 

 assertions circulated throughout the 

 enapire by those advertisements in 

 the Wexford Journals of March 

 and April last, importing to be re- 

 solutions, declaring tlie county in 

 a state of disturbance ; whilst, on 

 the contrary side, we have the 

 advertisements of respectable Ma- 

 gistrates, affirming that there was 

 no colour for those alarming as- 

 sertions, and that the county was 

 in a state of profound tranquillity. 

 This subject affords matter of se- 

 rious reflection indeed. 



Gentlemen, these facts, peculiar 

 to your county, have induced me 

 to travel at length into this subject 

 in order to guard you against 

 being affected by similar alarms, 

 originating in other counties. I 

 hope, that by your steady conduct 

 in your own county, you will pre- 

 vent the maligners of this country 

 from asserting any where, that the 

 Almighty has poured the full 

 phials of his wrath upon this land, 

 so favoured by nature with her 

 richest gifts ; or that he has cursed 

 it, by implanting in it a race of 

 men of so vicious and depraved a 

 nature, as is not elsewhere to be 

 found. Gentlemen, I say it is 

 incumbent upon you to vindicate 

 the state of your county. You 

 have ample materials for so doing ; 

 you know the roots of those evils 

 which distract the country ; they 

 are to be found in those causes 

 which I have now stated. 



But, Gentlemen, is there no 

 method of allaying those discon- 

 tents of the people, and preventing 

 them froQ' flying in the face of the 

 laws ? Is there no remedy but Act 

 of Parliament after Act of Parlia- 

 ment, ill quick succession, framed 



for coercing and punishing ? Is 

 there no corrective, but the rope 

 and the gibbet ? Yes, Gentlemen, 

 the removal of those causes of 

 disturbance, which 1 have men- 

 tioned to you, will operate as the 

 remedy. I should imagine that 

 the permanent absentees ought to 

 see the policy (if no better motive 

 can influence them) of appropri- 

 ating, liberally, some part of those 

 splendid revenues, which they 

 draw from this country, which 

 pay no land tax or poor-rate, and 

 of which not a shilling is ex- 

 pended in this country ! Is it not 

 high time for those permanent 

 absentees to offer some assistance, 

 originating from themselves, out 

 of their own private purses, to- 

 wards improving and ameliorating 

 the condition of the lower orders 

 of the peasantry upon their great 

 domains, and rendering their lives 

 more comfortable ? Indeed, I be- 

 lieve that some of them do not set 

 up their lands to auction. 1 know 

 that the Earl Fitzwilliam, in one 

 county (Wicklow), and the Mar- 

 quis of Hertford, in another, 

 (Antrim), act upon enlightened 

 and liberal principles ; for, al- 

 though their leases, generally, are 

 only leases for one life and twenty- 

 one years, the tenant in possession 

 well knows, that upon a reasonable 

 advance (merely proportionate to 

 the general rise of the times), he 

 will get his farm without rack rent 

 or extortion. But, I say that the 

 permanent absentees ought to 

 know that it is their interest to con- 

 tribute every thing in their power, 

 and within the sphere of their 

 extensive influence, towards the 

 improvement of a country, from 

 whence they derive such ample 

 revenue and solid benefits. In- 



