404 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



of procuring arms, and the fre- 

 quency of these attacks, and the 

 open and daring manner in wliich 

 they were made, were sufficient 

 proofs of the desire which gene- 

 rally prevailed amongst thoie con- 

 cerned in the disturbances to col- 

 lect large quantities of arms, and 

 thus possess the means of prose- 

 cuting their ulterior objects with 

 a better prospect of success. Se- 

 veral instances occurred, in which 

 the houses of respectable indivi- 

 duals were attacked, even in the 

 open day, by large bodies of armed 

 men; and others, in which the 

 military, acting under the direc- 

 tions of magistrates, met with 

 considerable resistance. It is wor- 

 thy of remark, that in the many 

 successful attacks which were 

 made upon houses with the view 

 of depriving the proprietors of 

 their arms, it rarely occurred 

 that any other species of i)ro- 

 perty was molested by the as- 

 sailants. 



The principal objects of hosti- 

 lity, or rather the principal suf- 

 ferers on account of their inade- 

 quate means of defence, were 

 those persons who, on the expi- 

 ration of leases, had taken small 

 farms at a higher rent than the 

 late occupiers had ofle;ed j and 

 all those who were suspected of 

 a disposition to give information 

 to magistrates against the dis- 

 turbers of the peace, or to bear 

 testimony against them in a court 

 of justice, in the event of their 

 apprehension and trial. In some 

 counties, particularly in ^Vest- 

 meath and Roscommon, the most 

 barbarous punishments were fre- 

 quently mflicted upon the persons 

 of those Avho bad thus reftclered 



themselves obnoxious, and upon 

 the persons of their lelatives.* 



From the general terror which 

 these proceedings occasioned, it 

 became almost ini])ossible to pro- 

 cure satisfictory evidence against 

 the guilty. It freciueutly hap- 

 pened that the sufferers from such 

 atrocities .is 1 have alluded to, 

 when visited by a magistrate, 

 would depose only generally to 

 the facts of their having been 

 perpetrated, and not denying their 

 knowledge of the offenders, would 

 yet steadily refuse to disclose their 

 names, or describe their persons, 

 from the fear of future additional 

 injury to themselves or their rela- 

 tives. Even where the parties 

 offending were deposed against 

 and apprehended, there was fre- 

 quently the greatest difficulty in 

 effecting their conviction, from 

 the intimidation of witnesses, and 

 in some cases of jurors. 



I fear few instances can be 

 found of late, in the counties 

 which I have mentioned, in which 

 it has been possible for witnesses, 

 having given evidence in favour 

 of the Crown, on any trial con- 

 nected with the disturbance of the 

 peace, to remain secure in their 

 usual places of abode. 



In the latter end of the year 

 1813, a meeting of the magistracy 

 of the county of Westmeath took 

 place, at wliich eighteen of that 

 body attended. They addressed a 



* It is well known, that one of the com- 

 binations existing in these and other neigh- 

 bouring counties derived the name of Car- 

 dera from the nature cf the torture with 

 ■which the objects of its vengeance were 

 visited, and which consisted in the lacera- 

 tion of their bodies with a wool-card, or 

 (ome siisilar iqurumcnt. 



