scribed in promoting the purposes of this meeting, and to apply to all persons possessed of property in the county, for their assistance and contribution, and that ten per cent. be paid down. And we do hereby appoint the following magistrates-Sir Fenton Aylmer, bart. John Wolfe, Wogan Browne, Arthur Burdett, Michael Aylmer, Theobald Wolfe, John Montgomery, and Thomas Ryan, esqrs. to be a committee, to judge of the propriety of claims, and to pay rewards, any three of them acting together, to be empowered to draw on Messrs. Finlay and Co. at whose house the amount of the several subscriptions is to be deposited. And as it appears to us, that the introduction of that execrable spirit of outrage, (which has disgraced so great a portion of this kingdom) into our hitherto peaceable and happy county, and which by promises which cannot be effected, and systems which cannot be realized, has deluded many honest, and otherwise welldisposed persons, must be promoted and extended by exertions on the part of the enemies of our country. And as the avowed object of the persons then conducting to prison, and who appear to be leaders of the Defenders, is to sup. port and unite with the enemies of our king and country, we think it necessary for us to declare our determined resolution, at all times, and at every personal risk, and by every influence and power of property, to maintain our king, our constitution, and our laws, against any attack whatever; that we will give effectual protection, which the military aid afforded us by government enables us to promise to all persons who may be in danger from their opposition to, and exertions against the said persons styled Defenders; and that we will use our best endeavours to procure the compensation which the grand juries are authorised to make by presentment, for all injuries sustained by them in their property or persons. And that if any person shall, notwithstanding (without obvious necessity) submit to any of the illegal requisitions of the said Defenders, or shall withhold any material information from the magistracy, we do hereby declare our determination by every means in our power to shew our disapprobation of such conduct. That we will in private life consider the exertions of individuals as entitled to our warmest thanks, and the supineness of any gentleman or man of property, as deserving (under these circumstances) of a loss of private esteem and public character. We use this opportunity to recommend to our countrymen, dependents or not, sworn or unsworn, to inquire, without taking our word, from their pastors or well-informed friends, whether an oath to do an unlawful act, taken voluntarily or by compulsion, be binding or not; we declaring upon our conviction, and upon our honours that it is not binding on any man, and that however he may have offended against his religion by the indiscretion of his oath, his guilt 63 would be increased by keeping it; and in order that all persons may be apprised of the laws, touching the said unlawful proceedings, we recommend it to the committee to procure printed extracts of the same, to be dispersed throughout the county. That the thanks of this county are due to sir Fenton Aylmer, bart. our worthy high sheriff; and to the rev. John Walsh, Wogan Browne, Michael Aylmer, and Thomas Ryan, esqrs. who assisted the said sheriff, in repelling the attack made upon the peace of this county, by those miscreants, called Defenders! That those our resolutions be published in the public papers. That the thanks of this county be given to captain Burke, of the north Mayo militia, for his very zealous and spirited conduct, in apprehending O'Connor, and four other persons now in custody. The high sheriff having quitted the chair, and lord Mayo being called thereto, the thanks of the county were given to sir Fenton Aylmer, bart. for his proper conduct in the chair, and in his having so speedily convened the county. SUBSCRIBERS. £. s. d. £. s. d. Leinster 200 0 0 Mayo Walter Dowdall Harberton Thos. Js. Rawson 50 0 0 Fenton Aylmer Thomas Burgh James Spencer Robert Latouche John Tyrrell John Latouche John Digby John Montgomery 50 C. Nangle John Taylor John Hort D. W. O'Reilly 50 O M. B. S. L. Keat ing, esq. John Wolfe 100 John Esmond 50 Sim. Digby Richard Dease Arthur Burdett R. Bookey 50 O 9000 0002 6 R. Finlay Rev. Dean Keat Wogan Browne Michael Aylmer Theobald Wolfe Ambrose Farrel John Latouche inge 22 15 Rev. J. Cramer 22 15 100 0 O Rev. J. Walsh, 100 0 O Edward Hendrick rector of Kilcock 22 15 Thomas Tyrrell 22 15 0 22 15 0 22 15 0 R. Griffith John Fitzgerald Thomas Tickell 50 0 0 John Fish E. Fitzgerald Robert Bayley Eyre Powell, esq. Samuel Mills Robert Montgo LORD VISCOUNT GOSFORD'S ADDRESS TO THE GRAND JURY OF ARMAGH....PAGE 202. GENTLEMEN, HAVING requested your attendance here this day, it becomes my duty to state the grounds upon which I thought it adviseable to propose this meeting, and at the same time to submit to your consideration a plan which occurs to me as most likely to check the enormities that have already brought disgrace upon this county, and may soon reduce it into deep dis tress. It is no secret, that a persecution, accompanied with all the circumstances of ferocious cruelty, which have in all ages distinguished that dreadful calamity, is now raging in this county. Neither age nor sex, or even acknowledged innocence as to any guilt in the late disturbances, is sufficient to excite mercy, much less to afford protection. The only crime which the wretched objects of this ruthless persecution are charged with, is a crime, indeed, of easy proof; it is simply a profession of the Roman Catholic faith, or an intimate connexion with a person professing this faith. A lawless banditti have constituted themselves judges of this new species of delinquency, and the sentence they have denounced is equally concise and terrible! It is nothing less than a confiscation of all property, and an immediate banishment. It would be extremely painful, and surely unnecessary, to detail the horrors that attend the execution of so rude and tremendous a proscription,-a proscription that certainly exceeds in the comparative numbers of those it consigns to ruin and misery, every example that ancient and modern history can supply: for where have we heard, or in what story of human cruelties have we read of more than half the inhabitants of a populous country deprived at one blow of the means as well as of the fruits of their industry, and driven, in the midst of an inclement season, to seek a shelter for themselves and their helpless families where chance may guide them. This is no exaggerated picture of the horrid scenes now acting in this county. Yet surely it is sufficient to awaken sentiments of indignation and compassion in the coldest bosoms. These horrors are now acting with impunity. The spirit of impartial justice (without which law is nothing better than an instrument of tyranny) has for a time disappeared in this county, and the supineness of the magistracy of Armagh is become a common topic of conversation in every corner of the kingdom. It is said in reply, the Catholics are dangerous, they may be so--they may be dangerous from their numbers, and still more dangerous from their unbounded views they have been encouraged to entertain; but I will venture to assert, without fear of contradiction, that these proceedings are not more contrary to humanity than they are to sound policy. It is to be lamented, that no civil magistrate happened to be present with the military detachment on the night of the 21st instant; but, I trust, the suddenness of the occasion, the unexpected and instantaneous aggression on the part of the delinquents will be universally admitted as a full vindication of the conduct of the officer, and the party acting under his command. Gentlemen, I have the honour to hold a situation in this country, which calls upon me to deliver my sen timents, and I do it without fear and without disguise. I am as true a Protestant as any gentleman in this room, I inherit a property which my family derived under a Protestant title, and, with the blessing of God, I will maintain that title to the utmost of my power. I will never consent to make a sacrifice of Protestant ascendancy to Catholic claims, with whatever menace they may be urged, or however speciously or invidiously supported. Conscious of my sincerity in this public declaration, which I do not make unadvisedly, but as the result of mature deliberation, I defy the paltry insinuations that malice or party-spirit may suggest. I know my own heart, and I should despise myself, if, under any intimidation, I could close my eyes against such scenes as present themselves on every side, or my ears against the complaints of a persecuted people. I should be guilty of an unpardonable injustice to the feelings of gentlemen here present, were I to say more on this subject. I have now acquitted myself to my conscience and my country, and take the liberty of proposing the following resolutions: 1st. That it appears to this meeting, that the county of Ar magh is at this moment in a state of uncommon disorder; that the Roman Catholic inhabitants are grievously oppressed by lawless persons unknown, who attack and plunder their houses by night, and threaten them with instant destruction, unless they immediately abandon their lands and habitations. 2d. That a committee of magistrates be appointed to sit on Tuesdays and Saturdays in the Chapter-room in the town of Armagh, to receive information against all persons of whatever description, who disturb the peace of this county. 3d. That the instruction of the whole body of magistrates to their committee shall be to use every legal means within their power to stop the progress of the persecution now carrying on by an ungovernable mob against the Roman Catholic inhabitants of this county. 4th. That said committee, or any three of them, be empowered to expend any sum or sums of money, for information or secret service, out of the fund subscribed by the gentlemen of this county. 5th. That a meeting of the whole body of the magistracy be held every second Monday, at the house of Mr. Charles M'Reynolds, in the town of Armagh, to hear the reports of the committee, and to give such further instructions as the exigence of the case may require. 6th. That offenders of every description in the present disturbances shall be prosecuted out of the fund subscribed by the gentlemen of this county. No. C. MR. ARTHUR O'CONNOR'S ADDRESS TO HIS FELLOW CITIZENS, FOR WHICH HE WAS CONFINED BY AN ORDER OF THE PRIVY COUNCIL....PAGE 236. FELLOW CITIZENS, THE post-office is so immediately dependent on the government, that any anonymous production issuing from thence, must be looked on as coming from the administration itself; in this light I have viewed the anonymous paper which has been so industriously distributed through the post-offices of the |