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scrupulous faction. A Protestant, Mr. Spring Rice carried with him his influential connexions and friends of that persuasion. Early in 1815, he wrote a pamphlet, in which he vehemently denounced the Grand Jury Laws. The Corporation had become rank in the nostrils of all classes, and every man wished to see an end to its ignominious reign of audacity and spoliation. Mr. Tuthill had fought the good fight, but was defeated by a combination of the most discordant elements. A great blow to the interests of all parties was struck at the declaration of peace, after the battle of Waterloo; and as history repeats itself, we have to record the fact, that in the years following 1815 the country fell from comparative prosperity to the very abyss of misery and woe; bankruptcies in country and town were rife; farmers and landlords, shopkeepers and merchants, brokers and money-changers, all fell in promiscuous ruin; and no where was the visitation more severely experienced than in the city and county of Limerick. Of the several banks in the city, the bank of Messrs. Thomas and William Roche, was the only private bank that withstood the shock and braved the storm in Limerick. To the everlasting honour of the Roches be it said, they paid every penny to every holder of their notes; and, whilst others succumbed beneath an unexampled and unforeseen pressure, they kept their credit and proved that confidence was well placed in their honor.

At this time, Mr. Thomas Grady, of Belmont, wooed the Muses in the shape of an Ode to Peace, a remarkable production; and just when the country was convulsed by a social revolution, resulting from a sudden fall in prices, and its heart-breaking effects on society, the poet manifested a spirit capable of feeling for the miseries of the people, however bitter and unscrupulous his satire was against Mr. Bruce.

Mr. Grady complimented several of the resident landlords of the county; but it should be stated, that the social condition of the people had given the greatest pain and affliction, even before the peace of 1815, to the well-thinking and reflecting amongst the highest in the land-some few of whom were an exception to the overwhelming majority. If Judge Day wrote himself down as a truculent upholder of the state of things that existed, and went about charging, in a manner of which his friend Toler might well approve, there were other judges on the bench who saw the evil in its true features, and who did not hesitate to denounce the causes and the results with noble firmness, and the eloquence of truth and sincerity. Among those judges, Judge Fletcher stood in the loftiest grade-he was bold, honest, firm, and unflinching. Would that the lofty bearing, the sterling honesty, the dignified power of Judge Fletcher, had those to imitate his judicial virtues and admirable character at this day! Would that from the high seat of the judge, were poured into the ears of men in authority, words fraught with wholesome admonition, and lessons which, for the sake of the country, it would be well that landlords and others would take to heart, and profit by. If Mr. Thomas Grady wrote powerfully in reference to the multitudinous evils against which even he did not shut his eyes, Judge Fletcher about the same time, gave warning to those who should listen to his admonitions

His charge to the Grand Jury of the County of Wexford, edited by the late Frederick Wm. Conway, of the Dublin Evening Post, and given to the world at a moment when the iron had entered into the souls of the people, was an expression of opinion from the judgment seat, on the wrongs of Ireland, which deserves an everlasting place in the grateful memory of all faithful Irishmen !

to put their house in order, and prepare for the evil time which so soon came upon them. He denounced, in terms not to be mistaken, the system which to this hour has acted like an anthrax in eating up the vitals of native prosperity, in oppressing and overloading the poor with an insufferable weight of wretchedness, in setting up land to the highest bidder, who, when he obtains it, tires of his bargain, and again becomes himself the victim of the same system which annihilated his predecessor.

The battle of independence continued to wage in the city. Mr. Rice already the champion of the popular cause, was looked upon as the future representative in parliament of Limerick. At every meeting of the Independents he took a prominent part.-He aided all who stood forth against the irresponsible iniquity of the Corporation. As each sum was doled out by that body for corrupt purposes, he, and the Independents took note, and exerted themselves to check the wrong doings of their honors, but it was all in vain for a time; the manufacture of freemen by the Corporation was such, that nothing could resist its bad effects in interfering with the exertions of the citizens, who, nothing daunted-persevered, knowing that truth and justice were on their side. Magna est veritas et prevalebit."

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Mr. Tuthill was chaired after a contest between him and Major Vereker, in which, however, the gallant Major was victorious. The local Tory organ did not publish a report of the popular ovation, because it had been always ranged on the opposite side; but in a Dublin paper of the day, the chairing was described as an unparalleled popular triumph, during which Mr. Tuthill was surrounded by at least 30,000 people.

On the chair were four labels in letters of gold; the first was, God save the King; the second, the Man of the People; the third, the Champion of our Rights; and the fourth, Tuthill and Independence. He was presented with favours from the several trades: with a beautiful sash from the clothiers. What heightened the scene, and excited the greatest enthusiasm, was the presenting him with a branch of laurel, the leaves of which were edged with gold, by Mrs. Russell, of Glentworth-street. This was done amidst loud huzzas, waving of handkerchiefs and hats. The procession, in the following order, then moved on: first, the different tradesmen with cockades and favours, amounting to some thousands, their respective banners in front, and walking arm in arm, indiscriminately united. Next came a square car, with high railing, interwoven with shrubs and flowers; in the middle was planted the tree of knowledge, representing the garden of Eden; two children were standing at the step of the garden, dressed in buff to represent Adam and Eve in their innocent state; a large eel was twined round the tree, in imitation of the serpent who alights on it, and was anxiously expecting Adam would take the apple from Eve that she was presenting him with. Then came the chair, preceded by gentlemen bearing banners, on which were inscribed, 'Our Music is the Voice of the People: and now our longing eyes beheld Mr. Tuthill surrounded with nearly all the wealth, talent, and respectability of Limerick. On the platform were Mr. William Roche, the banker, Mr. Mathew Barrington, and other respectable gentlemen; and the chair was followed by about 800 respectable citizens with wands, to which branches of laurel were bound. The procession was closed by an innumerable concourse of people, and proceeded through every quarter of the city, even to the liberties; but in going through George's-street, Major Vereker stepped out on the balcony at the Club-house, respectfully bowed

to Mr. Tuthill, and remained uncovered untill the procession passed by.1 Returning, the procession stopped at the prison to pay a token of respect to Mr. Bryan M'Mahon, who had been sheriff in 1808, with Mr. Abraham Colclough Stretch, and who became legally liable for the defalcations incurred by his colleague, was arrested and incarcerated after having voted for Mr. Tuthill, and hence the demonstration in his favor.

Such was a chairing in the times at which our history has arrived, and such was the enthusiasm of the citizens, though success did not smile on their exertions. The Corporation, in the face of these demonstrations, proceeded in its iniquitous and spoliating courses. Hundreds of freemen continued to be manufactured. And about this time, it having been proposed by Lord Viscount Gort to become tenant to the several lots of ground, houses and premises, then just out of lease, at Thomondgate, Carrstreet, Limekiln concern, West Watergate, Crotagh or Garryowen, Johnstreet, Pennywell, Diocesan School and elsewhere, on a lease of lives renewable for ever, "at a rent to be valued and ascertained by a committee of the Council to be appointed for the purpose," it was resolved that "the said houses, plots and concerns, to Lord Viscount Gort be let at the rent which. shall be ascertained by the said committee, and that leases of lives renewable for ever be perfected to him of the same." The committee was appointed; it consisted of creatures of Lord Gort; the leases were perfected; and the public property was dealt with as if it were a valueless nuisance. No wonder that the "rising star" of Thomas Spring Rice should be regarded under auspices so favourable to the interests he undertook to promote.2

On the 17th December, 1817, the Corporation moved an address of condolence to the Prince Regent on the melancholy and sudden death of the Princess Charlotte of Wales, Consort of His Highness Leopold of SaxeCoburgh. An address was passed to the Lord Lieutenant, through whom the former address was transmitted.3

On the 4th of January, 1817, the Corporation presented, through the Lord Lieutenant, an address of condolence to the Prince Regent on the death of his mother, the Queen, and on the same day it resolved to defend a petition against Major Vereker, which was presented to Parliament, and to defray the expenses.

On the 19th of June, 1818, the Mayor's salary, which had been £365 per annum, was increased to £500 per annum; the Recorder's salary was increased to £200 per annum ; and the payment to the Mayor was ordered to be made in advance by the considerate Corporators.

It is no wonder that legalised vengeance should have befallen the Corporation. In the history of the world there has been seldom heard of such malversation, spoliation, and unblushing plunder.

About this time, viz. in 1817, the County Gaol, on the Cork road, was commenced. At Spring assizes 1816, the Grand Jury had granted a sum of

This mark of respect was certainly felt as it ought to be: it was of a piece with his conduct all through the election, which was highly honourable and praiseworthy; and which we have no hesitation in saying, made a good many friends for himself.

2 Mr. Tuthill, who had been the man of the people, fell, in some short time afterwards, from his high estate, and went over to the enemy, which he had expended such enormous sums, and so much energy and determination in opposing.

By what means the Princess Charlotte died, history is silent, though the busy tongue of rumour has it that Her Royal Highness was put out of the way by the foulest means imaginable. The petition referred to the manufacture of non-resident freemen, and to the fact that multitudes of men were not granted their freedom who had the right.

£23,000 to be invested in Commissioners for the purpose of building this Gaol. The Government in the first instance, advanced the money, to be repaid by instalments at the rate of £1,916 13s. 4d. each assizes: there had been a fund of 5,000 on hands for this purpose. In 1821 it was finished at an expense of £23,000.

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Andrew Fletcher, of Saltouns, says he knew a wise man who believed it mattered not who made the laws if he had the making of the ballads.— These times were rife in ballads and poetical pamphlets. Mr. Thomas Grady, as we have seen, wrote from his retreat at Belmont, where it is said, when a happy thought struck him, it was his custom, at dead of night, to ring the bell, to ask the servant to strike a light, proceed to the library, and there sit up, perhaps, till morning, throwing off in verse the sentiments by which he was actuated, lest by postponement he should forget them. were other and not bad poets too, and ballad rhymers, at the time3.

There

Just about the very time when the courtiers and flatterers of George the Fourth, and some sanguine Irish patriots, who believed in the reality of his favorable intentions towards Ireland, were calculating upon the happy results of the Royal visit, in August, 1821, disturbances of a very serious character again broke out in the County Limerick, and parts of Cork and Tipperary, as if in mockery of the predictions of the tranquilising effects of that visit which were made by Mr. W. Conyngham Plunket, and other admirers and beneficiaries of that deceitful and profligate Sovereign. Mr. Plunket, indeed, who had always acted with the small, but noble and energetic party who represented Irish national interests in the English House of Commons, the friends and followers of Grattan, Ponsonby Shaw, and Sir John Newport, had been appointed his Majesty's Attorney-General, at the King's particular

Messrs. Pain and Harman's proposals for building the new gaol was accepted by the Commissioners on the 27th of March-their estimate was £21 250, which did not amount to more than 1 d. an acre on the county at each assizes. The whole was repaid in six years. It was built on the modern model, similar to which nearly all the gaols in the country were afterwards erected. A sum of £2,000 was expended on a tread mill, kitchen, laundry, &c. It contains 22 apartments for debtors, and 103 cells for criminals and convicts. There are five solitary, or what were denominated "condemned" cells. Immediately after its completion, it was thronged with prisoners, as it was just at this period that those disturbances commenced in the county, on which we shall have much to say, and which originated in the unsettled relations of landlord and tenant, and gave occasion for the greatest possible amount of irritation, &c., for a lengthened period. The former County Gaol was the one anciently adjoining the present City Prison, with an entrance from Crosby Row. The cost on the County and Liberties of the Insurrection Act in 1816, was

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2 I have this on the authority of a domestic who had lived with him for a long period.

"Martin Farrel, Philomath," was a very powerful rhymer at the time. He published a long poem in four cantos, in 1820, which he "most respectfully dedicated to the Independence of Limerick" and which has a vignette, very well engraved, of Mr. Thomas Spring Rice, in top boots, with wand in hand, trampling on the hydra of corruption. Mr. Rice holds the charter of "the rights of the city of Limerick restored," whilst a citizen, in top boots, is handing the keys of the city to him--and the angel of independence is crowning him with laurels. In the back ground is the temple of justice, and the arms of the city-the Castles, flag, &c. The poem describes the state to which the country was reduced after the fall of Bonaparte-the crushing of banks, the ruin of the farmers, &c., and it pays to the Messrs. Roche a tribute of praise which they well deserved.

desire; and hence it was not unnatural to expect that this eminent man had abated somewhat of the zeal which had distinguished him five or six years before when supporting the motion made by that able and patriotic statesman, Sir John Newport, in 1816, for a change in the coercive measures pursued towards Ireland, he declared that the state of the country indisputably showed that some intrinsic vice was in the Government, which must be removed before tranquillity was restored. Civil disabilities, the brutal and offensive assertion of superiority by the Orange societies over the whole Catholic body, and the offering of designed offence to the Catholic Priesthood by the government of the day, were amongst the reasons assigned by Mr. Plunket for the evils which afflicted Ireland in those days-and, as one instance of the latter fault, he mentioned the case of a Priest in the county Limerick, who had been instrumental in quelling a disturbance, for which a letter of thanks had been sent him by the Right Honourable Sir Robert Peel, at that time Chief Secretary; but, before it could reach his hands, it was published in the newspapers, in consequence of which this clergyman was held up to the suspicion of his fraternity and his flock, as a person aiding the tyrannical purposes of government. He advised ministers to retrace the steps as exactly as possible which they had pursued in the government of Ireland, and to adopt, instead of the narrow principles of Protestant exclusion, measures calculated to secure the happiness of all classes.

1

Such was Plunket in 1816. But when Sir John Newport brought forward his motion in April, 1822, to enquire into the state of Ireland, Plunket justified the government, of which he was so able and energetic an official, in conferring additional power on the Irish government to arrest the prevailing outrages.2

While Mr. C. Hutchinson, Sir John Newport, Sir F. Burdett, Sir Lucius O'Brien, Mr. Spring Rice, and other members of Parliament of liberal tendencies, were recommending a policy of conciliation as a remedy for the prevailing disturbances, the aggravation, if not the commencement, of these agrarian troubles, in the county Limerick at least, was generally ascribed to the oppressive treatment of the tenants on the Courtenay estates, which were at this time under the management of an exceedingly unpopular agent. These immense and beautiful estates, granted to the ancestors of the Earl of Devon by Queen Elizabeth, had been in the hands of English trustees, the then owner, Lord Viscount Courtenay, residing in some part of America. He had been selling this old forfeiture for some years, the sales amounting to some £200,000; but he had still remaining 42,000 Irish plantation acres-from which fact it will easily be inferred what great influence for good or evil one individual possessed in a country where all depended on agriculture for their support. The agent was a Mr. Hoskins, whose son was murdered by the followers of Captain Rock, and who was succeeded by a gentleman of a gentleman of a very different character, Albert Furlong, Esq., of Dublin. We shall mention a few others of the outrages which disgraced the country at this unhappy period. At the commencement of the disturbances, Major Going, a county magistrate, had been shot on the Commons of Rathkeale, and shortly afterwards Mr. Christopher Sparling, a

Plunket's Speeches. Duffy, Dublin, 1859.

2 It was on this occasion that he alluded to the happy effects of the King's visit, of which Lord Byron, with the instinct of genius, took much more correct views in his poem called the Avatar; and on this occasion also he suggested the advisability of placing the landlords, whom he censured, between the people and the Protestant clergy, of whom he spoke in favourable terms.

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