of these men were prosecutors before the bench on the 19th 

 of June, and Mr. Atkinson was accused by the Rev. Mr. Tre- 

 dennick, of having in their presence, in open court, used 

 encouragement to the people to destroy the bag nets, and 

 injure the property of persons fishing for salmon in the sea. 

 The evidence now published will satisfy the reader that the 

 conduct of Mr. Atkinson did not merit the impression which 

 the Rev. Mr. Tredennick sought to convey of that gentleman 

 to the government. Possessing an independent estate, and 

 fulfilling all the duties of a resident landlord, and having 

 been for more than twenty years on the grand jury of the 

 county of Donegal, Mr. Atkinson had too much spirit to suffer 

 the imputations against him to remain unrefuted. He de- 

 manded a public inquiry, and the result is before the public. 

 In short, if this pamphlet and the evidence it contains exposes 

 covetousness and design where integrity should exist, and good 

 example be held forth, it will also serve to prove that a magis- 

 trate of honest principles is sustained by the public esteem 

 against malevolence and calumny, and entitled to what he 

 assuredly enjoys the respect arid confidence of the upright 

 portion of mankind. 



The letters which I have received from various respectable 

 persons, who have read the first edition which I published of 

 this Investigation, contain abundant proofs that the subject of 

 the Ballyshannon fishery is interesting to a large class, both in- 

 fluential and respectable. The gentlemen anglers, too, of 

 Great Britain, and such as have visited Ballyshannon in the 

 summer season for their amusement, are sensible of the desire 

 on the part of the present proprietors of the fishery to facili- 

 tate their enjoyment of angling. 



The town of Ballyshannon in the summer months is the re- 

 sort of numy gentlemen of fortune, who take pleasure in an- 

 gling for salmon, which, from the 1st of June to the 12th of 

 August, the period allowed by law for angling, are to be had 

 in abundance. One gentleman in the last season, with a single 

 rod and unassisted, caught so many as eighty salmon from the 

 beginning of June to the end of the season. 



