"but as there may happen to be perfons who, from pecuniary embarraff"ments, are obliged to conceal themfelves, I do not require fuch names to "be placed on the outfide of the door, provided their names are fent to me. "And I hereby call upon all his majefty's fubjects within the county of the city of Dublin immediately to comply with this regulation, as calculated "for the public fecurity; as thofe perfons who fhall wilfully neglect a regu"lation fo eafy and falutary, as well as perfons giving falfe ftatements of the "inmates of their houfes, muft, in the prefent crifis, abide the confequences "of fuch neglect."

These measures of government fo far appeafed the turbulency of the infurgents, and tranquillized the metropolis, that the Houfe of Commons met amidft the furrounding din of arms, and uninterruptedly went through the bufinefs of the day. Lord Caftlereagh prefented to them a meffage from the lord lieutenant, that he thought it his indifpenfable duty, with the advice of the privy council, under the prefent circumftances of the kingdom, to iffue a proclamation,* which he had ordered to be laid before the House of Commons,

*The following is the form of that proclamation.

"By the Lord Lieutenant and Council of Ireland-A Proclamation.

"CAMDEN.

"HIS excellency the lord lieutenant, by and with the advice of the privy "council, has iffued orders to all the general officers, commanding his majefty's forces, to punith "all perfons acting, aiding, or in any manner affifting in the rebellion, which now exifts, within "this kingdom, and has broken out in the moft daring and violent attacks upon his majesty's "forces, according to martial law, either by death or otherwife, as to them fhall feem expedient, "for the punishment and fuppreffion of all rebels in their several districts, of which all his majesty's "fubjects are hereby required to take notice.

"Given at the council chamber in Dublin, the 24th day of May, 1798.

" W. Armagh,

Commons, to whom he remarked, the time for fpeaking was now gone by, and that period at last come, when deeds and not words were to fhew the dif pofitions of members of that houfe, and of every man who truly valued the conftitution of the land, or wifhed to maintain the laws, and protect the lives and properties of his majesty's fubjects. Every thing which courage, honor, fortune, could offer in the common caufe, was now called for. The rebels had openly thrown off the mask, and avowed themselves in open arms; and notwithstanding their numbers and defperation, he found no reafon to tremble for the iffue of the conteft, but expected that in a few days it would be decided, to their utter discomfiture and deftruction.

Afterwards the chancellor of the exchequer rofe and faid, that the events which had fo recently occurred had fully proved the measures taken by government were right, and fully justified the house in the fupport which it had already given with so much spirit and promptitude to his excellency on the occafion. He then moved the following refolution: "That an humble "addrefs be prefented to his excellency the lord lieutenant, to express our "cordial acknowledgment for the meffage fent this day by his excellency to the house. We entirely approve the decisive measure his excellency has "taken by the advice of the privy council, however we may lament its ne

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ceffity. We renew our engagement of fupport, we reflect on the general "firmnefs and vigor which are manifefted, we feel the fullest affurance, that "the rebellion will be fpeedily crushed."

Colonel Maxwell rofe to exprefs his hearty affent to the addrefs, and to fecond the motion. He fincerely gave great credit to the government for the measures they had adopted through the whole of that business. He obferved, the rebels were now in open arms against his majesty's forces, and against them the proclamation of that day was directed. The principal fomenters and leaders of the rebellion were in prison, and as the object of vesting confidentially an abfolute authority in the executive, was for the purpose of crushing rebellion as speedily as poffible, and infuring the fecurity of the ftate, he would fubmit to the wisdom of the house, whether it would not be

right and neceffary, that military executions fhould have retrospect to those perfons that were then confined, and that they should be difpofed of as expeditiously as poffible, in order that the rebels, who looked up to them as leaders, might no longer derive any encouragement from the expectation of refcuing them at a future day from their captivity.

Lord Caftlereagh moft earneftly befought gentlemen, that they would not fuffer the zeal and warmth of their feelings on this occafion to run away with their good fenfe; that they would not proceed to that which would be unconftitutional indeed; but above all, he conjured them not to prefs a meafure upon his excellency, which muft brand his adminiftration with the imputation of cruelty, and fink it to the fame degraded and fanguinary level with that government, which fought to deftroy the happiest constitution. For Heaven's fake, let not gentlemen prefs a general and indifcriminating fyftem of unnecessary vengeance, nor call upon his excellency to violate the great duty of the executive, that of adminiftering juftice in mercy. He moft earneftly conjured them not to think of clogging the addrefs by any such amendment as that fuggefted, nor in their laudable zeal for the repreffion of rebellion to clofe the door of mercy against the deluded inhabitants of Ireland, difpofed to return to their allegiance, and whom the ftate was anxious. once more to embrace in its parental arms.

The queftion being put, was carried nem. con. and on the motion of Lord Caftlereagh, ordered to be prefented as expeditioufly as poffible to his excellency, by fuch members as were of his majefty's privy council.

The house on the motion of Lord Caftlereagh adjourned to that day fe'nnight.

The rigorous vigilance of government within the capital kept fuch of the confpirators from rifing, who remained in the city for the purposes of internal infurrection: but the feizure of fo many of their leaders prevented any concert or command, and confequently effect in their movements. The country was in the mean time befet in every direction for twenty or thirty miles around with different corps of this undifciplined and ferocious rabble, acting for the moft part half armed, and without plan or command. They generally awaited the fignal, which they expected, of the cafile, the barracks, and the whole city of Dublin, being in their poffeffion. It was a most melancholy proof of the progrefs of rebellion, that every person almost without diftinétion, in and about Dublin, whofe fituation in life put him him in the

occafion

occafion of retaining any number of men either as fervants, artificers, workmen, or labourers, was fuddenly left and abandoned by thofe perfons attending their respective pofts for the general rifing. Thefe are awful leffons of the powerful force of fecret combinations, in a people linked together at first upon fair principles, cemented by a common cause of unquestionable grievance, at laft goaded into revenge and defpair by cruelty. The determined fecrefy, and filence, and energy, and confidence, and boldness of some hundred thousands of every defcription, moftly in the lowest orders of society, fill the mind with the most alarming gloom, that the roots of fuch an inveterate hold of the paffions may be still gaining strength in the ground, above which they have for a feafon ceafed to fend forth any fhoots. Future prevention and remedy muft be radical, if unfortunately again these evils fhould return. The pruning knife in lopping off a fingle twig gives germination to a little foreft. This cautious referve or malignant check upon the paffions of a ferocious multitude, whilft it fills the mind with dread, loudly acquits the body of the bafe charge of fyftematic affaffination. Had fuch been their defign, the admiffion into families must have been their first object: and yet it is lamentably true, that fcarcely was there a family of confequence throughout the nation, in which feveral fworn members of the union were not to be found. War having now been openly commenced by the rebels, government proceeded to the strongest measures of coercion. Although by no public official act were the picketings, stranglings, floggings, and torturings to extort confeffions, justified or fanctioned, yet it is universally known, that under the very eye of government, and with more than their tacit permiffion, were thefe outrages practifed, in defiance of the conftitution as admitted by all, in defiance of humanity and policy as maintained by moft men. In mentioning the Irish government, it is not meant, that this fyftem proceeded from its chief governor: it was boafted to have been extorted from him. And to this hour it is not only defended and juftified, but panegyrized by the advocates and creatures of the infuriate drivers of that fyftem of terrorifm.

So far from there being any doubt of the existence of any fuch practices a fhort time previous to and during the rebellion, that Sir Richard Mufgrave has, in an additional appendix to his memoirs of the different rebellions in Ireland, given to the public his obfervations upon whipping and free quarters. He admits indeed, that whofoever confiders it abftractedly, muft of course condemn

condemn it as obviously repugnant to the letter of the law, the benign principles of our conftitution, and thofe of juftice and humanity; but he was convinced, that fuch perfons as difpaffionately confidered the exifting circumftances, and the preffure of the occafion under which it was adopted, would readily admit them to be, if not an excufe, at least an ample extenuation of that practice. Suppofe," fays he, "the fulleft information could "have been obtained of the guilt of every individual, it would have been impracticable to arreft and commit the multitude. Some men of difcernment and fortitude perceived, that fome new expedient must be adopted "to prevent the fubverfion of government, and the deftruction of fociety; "and whipping was reforted to.

"As to the violation of the forms of the law by this practice, it fhould be "recollected, the law of nature, which fuggefted the neceffity of it, fuper"fedes all positive inftitutions, as it is imprinted on the heart of man for the "prefervation of his creatures, as it fpeaks ftrongly and inftinctively, and as "its end will be baffled by the flownefs of deliberation.

"When the fword of civil war is drawn, the laws are filent. As to the "violation of humanity, it should be recollected, that nothing could exceed "the cruelty of this banditti; that their object was the extirpation of the loyalists; that of the whippers, the preservation of the community at large. "This practice was never fanctioned by government, as they, on the con66 trary, used their utmost exertions to prevent it; and the evidence extorted "from the perfon whipped never was used to convict any perfon, and was

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employed for no other perfon but to discover concealed arms, and to defeat the deleterious fchemes of the traitors. Free quarter was confined "merely to the province of Leinster.

"When government were poffeffed of the evidence, that the inhabitants "of a village or a town, who had taken the ufual oaths to lull and deceive "the magiftrates, were poffeffed of concealed arms, and meditated an infur"rection and maffacre, they fent amongst them a certain number of troops, "whom they were obliged to maintain by contributions levied on them"felves. This took place a few days before the rebellion broke out.

"It has been univerfally allowed, that the military feverities practised in "the county of Kildare occafioned a premature explosion of the plot, which "the directory intended to have deferred, till the French effected a landing ; "and one of them, Mr. Emmet, declared, in his evidence upon oath, be

fore