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1820 March 15. True Despotism dangerous.
From the Morning Chronicle, of Saturday, March 11th, 1820.
Extract of a letter from Galway, March 4th, 1820:
With respect to the state of the County, matters are much
worse than when I wrote you last. The whole of the County
is organized to obey certain orders whenever received.
All the Gentlemen east of this have either been attacked, obliged
to give up their arms, o threatened in such a ferocious
manner, that they are in a state of constant read of
their properties being destroyed and themselves assassinated. The
whole of the lower classes of people are sworn, so that no Magistrate
or Gentleman can place the smallest dependance upon their own servants.
The villains call at our houses in the dead of the night,
& demand arms. Our houses are in general thatched, & we cannot
defend them. In vain we answer, "we have only one stand of arms;"
they reply, "we know better you have sent them away & if you do
not have them here such a night, we will murder you." The labourers
who till our lands come & openly give it up, urging that
they are sworn not to go beyond a certain sum. A Magistrate dare
not leave his house after dark for fear of being shot, and cannot
venture out to obtain military aid in the night should he be called
upon; and the military cannot stir without the presence of a
Magistrate. Mr Grant, it appears, is acting in opposition to the
measures of Mr Peel, and will not listen to the repeated appeals of the
inhabitants for the insurrection Act. The Ribbon-men are now so
numerous, that it is looked upon as an Act of madness in any individual
to oppose them. We have had a number of them in gaol, but they have
been allowed to go out on bail by order of Government, to do more
mischief. Most of the Protestants expect that an attempt at a general
massacre of them will be made on Patrick's Day. Even those of the lower
classes who were inclined at first, and would have defended us had
they been backed, have been compelled, by want of assistance to join the
ranks of the Ribbon-men, and are now as desperate as the rest. My relation, ****, & his cousin, who had left their houses & retired into
town, have received orders from these miscreants to return with their
arms, and deliver them up for that destruction awaited them. The vilains are so well acquainted with every circumstance, through the treachery of your servants,
that nothing escapes their knowledge, and you receive a notice
either personally, or posted upon your gate.
I heard yesterday an account of a most dreadful murder which
was perpetrated here, from a man who said that he saw the corpses
of the deceased. One of these deluded wretches who had been sworn, repented,
and said that he knew the fellows who had sworn him, &
that he would give information against them. The villains heard of it came to
his cabin, seized and mutilated him, and then blew the upper part
of his skull off with a blunderbuss; took his wife, put a musket to
her breast, and shot her dead; then brought out the bodies in the
road, laid them across each other, and left them!
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Identifier: | JB/109/135/001 "JB/" can not be assigned to a declared number type with value 109.
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1820-03-15 |
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109 |
Parliamentary Reform |
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135 |
For Despotism dangerous |
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From the Morning Chronicle, of Saturday, March 11th, 1820 |
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