34 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1818. [Mar. 



overthraw our Government, and 

 destroy our constitution. Thus, 

 may the late rebellion, the atroci- 

 ties which marked its progress, 

 the shocking tale of Scullabogue 

 — all, all, be traced to the Ar- 

 magh persecutions, wanton, as 

 they were unprovoked. The 

 cruel and pitiless warfare of an 

 infuriated populace waged against 

 a defenceless people, while the 

 magistrates, who ought to have 

 been their protectors, looked on, 

 it is said (you can best judge if 

 truly) quiescent, if not approving. 

 It may not be mal Apropos that I 

 should mention a circumstance 

 related to me by a gentleman 

 with whom I had the honour to 

 have a considerable degree of 

 intimacy — a gentleman of great 

 worth and intelligence, Mr. 

 Hume, the Member for Wicklow. 

 In the county of Wicklow, at 

 least in two baronies of that 

 county, where he had great ^nd 

 well -deserved influence, and in 

 which his estates lay, he learned 

 that for many nights the Roman 

 Catholic inhabitants had deserted 

 their dwellings, and had lain in 

 the fields under the apprehension 

 of being massacred by their Pro- 

 testant neighbours. He found 

 an artful emissary of rebellion 

 had used the too true and too 

 cruel story of Armagh persecu- 

 tions, to work upon the fears of 

 an industrious and simple peasan- 

 try, with a view to bind them, 

 while under the panic of expect- 

 ed suffering, in illegal associa- 

 tions. My friend was fortunate 

 (thus we understood the learned 

 judge, who spoke throughout in 

 rather an under tone ) to discover 

 and trace this incendiary, and to 

 bring him to justice and deserved 



punishment. But you see. Gen- 

 tlemen, in this anecdote, the 

 train of mischief which flows from 

 an encouragement of any faction. 

 Association naturally begets coun- 

 ter-association. There is no know- 

 ing where the evil will end — no 

 tracing its malignant ramifications 

 — no saying to it in the language 

 of Omnipotence, 'thus far shalt 

 thou go, and no farther.' Gentle- 

 men, I am happy to find Faction 

 sleeps in your county — smother 

 the monster, I entreat you ! Let 

 him never resuscitate. I trust 

 the people of this industrious and 

 populous county will never again 

 be deceived either by their own 

 inflamed prejudices, or the artful 

 instigators of any sordid and 

 short-sighted politician, to con- 

 ceive that any good can accrue 

 to them from the persecution of 

 their neighbours, who may believe 

 a little more or a little less, or 

 who may worship God in a dif- 

 ferent temple or with difierent 

 observances. Let them never 

 again be so deceived, as to their 

 happiness or their duties. For 

 myself, I think it right to say to 

 you, Gentlemen, that I regard all 

 those associations as illegal. I 

 care not what the badge, whether 

 green or orange, nor what the 

 pretence, nor what the profession 

 — all are illegal ; and when any 

 indictment against either comes 

 before me, so shall I charge the 

 jury. The law knows no dif- 

 ference, regards no distinction of 

 colour or pretension, and it is the 

 judge's duty to administer the 

 law. 



" Gentlemen, — I have come 

 from a county of whose politics I 

 know as little personally as of 

 yours. There, a most atrociou* 



and 



