64 



" By way of compliment to Mr. Atkinson, and of hint to his calumniators, 

 Dr. Shell said 



" ' Sir, after the able speech of Mr. Johnston, who anticipated the observations 

 I should have felt inclined to make, I shall no longer trespass upon the time of 

 the meeting by saying more, than that I cordially concur in this tribute of respect 

 to Mr. Atkinson ; and that I hope his enemies (if such there be) will, after this 

 day, reflect on the expediency of leaving the country, and of retiring from a 

 neighbourhood in which they can only expect to meet henceforth with silent 

 scorn and contempt.' (Loud cheers.) 



" This is like playing up the ' Rogues' March.' The Doctor is quite right : 

 if neighbours cannot agree they should separate, and there is no room for 

 debating the question who should move. It is extremely gratifying to find that 

 the magistrates of Donegal, of all shades of politics, live upon terms of friendship, 

 and interchange kindnesses. The time, we hope, is fast coming, when this will 

 be the case in all parts of Ireland." 



" To /.he Editor of the Bally shannon Herald. 



" Sir, I have refrained from noticing a certain calumnious publication, which 

 has been recently advertised in the Herald, purporting to give the evidence 

 adduced at a late investigation, together with comments thereon by the author, of 

 a most foul and malignant nature ; either of which I consider as wholly unworthy 

 of attention ; nor should I now advert to it, were it not that a document was intro- 

 duced which was represented as conveying the decision of the Lord- Lieutenant 

 on the result of that investigation which document was also published in your 

 paper of Friday last. I lost no time, in consequence, in addressing a letter to 

 Lord Morpeth, requesting he would call the attention of his Excellency to the 

 subject, in order that he might be pleased officially to communicate the result of 

 his decision. I beg you will insert the reply, together with a copy of my letter 

 to Lord Morpeth. I am not disposed to deprive Mr. Atkinson of the full benefit 

 of the decision of the Chancellor, to whom his Excellency felt it his duty to 

 submit the case, so far as it can be considered favourable to him ; while, at the 

 same time, I have a right to avail myself of that portion of the reply which 

 exonerates Mr. Hayden and myself from the base imputation which is brought 

 against us. There is no doubt that if, in the opinion of the Chancellor, the allega- 

 tion was considered ' groundless and wholly unsupported,' such an imputation would 

 have existed ; but it appears his decision was influenced by the contradictory 

 nature of the evidence, and, as a matter of course, Mr. Atkinson was entitled to 

 the benefit of this doubt. The fact of Mr. Savage having been ordered to Bally- 

 shannon, as a Resident Magistrate, is sufficiently indicative that, in the mind of 

 his Excellency at least, a false or fabricated charge had not been made. It is not 

 my object now to prove whether there existed grounds sufficient for making the 

 allegation, in the first instance, as I am perfectly satisfied to leave the whole 

 matter in the position in which the official document received from the Under- 

 secretary places it. It is not by perverting motives, or by basely maligning the 

 character of others, that a cause can be supported, as it only tends the rather to 

 betray the weakness of a cause, when recourse is had to the agency of those who 

 employ such contemptible means. I do not hesitate to express the deep regret I 

 have felt at having consented to become the medium of making the communica- 

 tion which led to the late unpleasant investigation ; however I may have felt 

 myself to have been personally aggrieved, circumstanced as I am from the 

 position in which I am placed as a clergyman. I frankly acknowledge my error ; 

 and I admit I should have adhered to my original intention of not interfering in 

 what was undoubtedly the duty of the Sub-Inspector ; but having yielded, and 

 having made an assertion, I could not afterwards shrink from the consequences : 

 in fact, I never anticipated being individually called on to support that allegation, 

 at the investigation before Mr. Drumrnond. I, however, came to the determina- 



