41Q ANNUAL REGISTER, 1816. 



nnd that they had enjoyed a state 

 of tranquillity to whi(;h they had 

 been unaccustomed for some time 

 past : that those provisions of the 

 insurrection act which give faci- 

 lities to the magistrates to recover 

 arms from persons who are not 

 entitled hy law to possess them, 

 had operated very beneficially ; 

 and I felt it due to the magistrates 

 residing in the disturbed districts 

 to repoi-t to your Lordship the 

 great unanimity with %vhich they 

 acted, and the strong disposition 

 they had shown to give effect by 

 their personal exertions to the 

 measures of government. At 

 this period I received addresses 

 from each of the grand juries of 

 the county and city of Limerick, 

 assembled at the special commis- 

 sion then about to terminate, ex- 

 pressing their satisfiiction with 

 the measures which had been 

 adopted for the suppression of 

 disturbance, and conveying an as- 

 surance that they had been at- 

 tended with success , 



Notwithstanding the intimation 

 which I had so recently conveyed 

 to your loidship, that the state of 

 the county of Tipperary was im- 

 proved, at least there had been of 

 late fewer violations of the public 

 peace, towards the latter end of 

 the month of November, Mr. 

 William Baker, a gentleman of 

 considerable fortune, and of the 

 highest character and respecta- 

 bility, was assassinated on his 

 return home from the special 

 sessions at Cashel, where he had 

 been discharging his duty as a 

 magistrate. The circumstances 

 under which this murder Avas 

 committed, and which were proved 

 in evidence on the trial of two 

 persons concerned in it. 



are 



strongly indicative of that depra- 

 vity and sanguinary disposition 

 of which this county had pre- 

 sented £0 many lamentable proofs. 

 It appeared that in the month of 

 September a house in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Ml-. Baker's resi- 

 dence had been attacked by an 

 armed body of men, and, after 

 considerable resistance on the part 

 of the inhabitants, had been 

 burned. Mr. Baker had exerted 

 himself with great activity and 

 success in detecting and com- 

 mitting to prison the perpetrators 

 of this outiage ; and in conse- 

 quence of his exertions a conspi- 

 racy to murder him was formed 

 in the early part of November. 

 The murder was committed on 

 the 27th of November in the day 

 time, by a party of five persons. 

 It appeared that in consequence of 

 an order which had been issued 

 (it has not been traced from 

 whom) several persons (many of 

 them from considerable distances) 

 assembled on that day and the 

 evening preceding, upon the dif- 

 ferent roads by which it was pos- 

 sible for Mr. Baker to return 

 from Cashel, and were stationed 

 in small detachments in different 

 houses and places of concealment, 

 for the purpose of intercepting 

 him ; that Mr. Baker was watch- 

 ed the whole day by persons ap- 

 pointed for the pvupose ; that his 

 departure from Cashel was com- 

 numicated by signals, and that 

 when the sliots were fired which 

 deprived him of his life, a shout 

 of triumph was raised by a num- 

 ber of people who had assembled 

 in the neighbourhood, evidently 

 to witness this barbarous murder. 

 On the 2d of December I issued 

 a proclamation in council, oft'er- 



ing 



