burning houses, whipping and half-hanging numbers, hanging some all out, and shooting others, with attendant atrocities, constitute the characteristic of loyal and good magistrates, they must be allowed -strong claim to eminence. Many unfortunate men who were taken in their own houses, were strung up as it were to be hanged, but were let down now and then to try if strangulation would oblige them to become informers. After these and the like experiments, several persons languished for some time, and at length perished in consequence of them. Smiths and carpenters, whose assistance was considered indispensable in the fabrication of pikes, were pointed out, on evidence of their trades, as the first and fittest objects of torture. But the sagacity of some magistrates became at length so acute, from habit and exercise, that they discerned an united Irishman even at the first glance; and their zeal never suffered any person, whom they deigned to honour with such distinction, to pass off without convincing proof of their attention.

THE two following instances are selected from "An account of the late Rebellion," by Mr. Alexander, a protestant inhabitant of Ross, who keeps an academy in that town:

"I now heard of many punishments of suspected persons, both by flogging and strangulation, being put into execution in the barrack-yard, (in Ross) to extort confession of guilt. There were two of these victims brought from the barrack to the courthouse to undergo a repetition of former punishments. One of them of the name of Driscol was found in Camlin-wood, near Ross, where he said, he generally wandered as a hermit. Upon him were found two Roman catholic prayer-books, with which it was supposed he administered oaths of disloyalty. He had been strangled three times and flogged four times during confinement, but to no purpose! his fellowsufferer was one Fitzpatrick of Dunganstown, near Sutton's parish. This man had been a Newfoundland

sailor, but long utterly disqualified to follow that occupation, by reason of an inveterate scurvy in his legs. He therefore commenced abecedarian, near Sutton's parish. It happened that a magistrate who was a yeoman, and others of his corps, passed by his noisy mansion, which was no other than a little thatched stable, that like a bee-hive, proclaimed the industry of its inhabitants. The magistrate entered, followed by the other yeomen. Here is a man,' says the magistrate, speaking of the master, as I shall call him, though his authority was now for some months to have an end; and a severe vacation it was. • Here is a man, who I presume, can have no objection to take the oath of allegiance.-What do you say? Mr. teacher!'"O dar a leoursa,' (i. e. by this book) I will take it sir, and thank you for bringing it to me.' So saying, he took the book, which the magistrate held forth, and not only took the oath with the most cordial emphasis, but added another expressive of his loyalty at all times. Upon this, the magistrate regarded his companions with a look of dry humour, and observed, that this must be a loyal man indeed. 'Well then, my loyal friend, I suppose you will readily swear to all the pikes, and to the owners and possessors of them, of which you have any knowledge?' The man swore he had no certain knowledge of the kind; and that he never saw a rebel's pike in his life, or a pike of any kind since the rebellion. Then,' says the magistrate, 'you shall swear that you will, to the utmost of your future knowledge, or information this way, give in the best manner you can, all such information to a lawful magistrate, or other officer in his majesty's service.' No sir,' answered Fitzpatrick, 'I will not swear that: I will bring no man's blood on my head, and if I do inform, who will support and protect me, when I have lost all my scholars, and my neighbours turn upon me?'-Upon this he was immediately apprehended and escorted to Ross: he was not strangled, however but flogged with great severity; and it was not with dry eyes that I saw

the punishment inflicted on this humble pioneer of literature. It is most certain that the severities in general, served to accelerate the rebellion.

MANY innocent men were thus taken up, while peaceably engaged in their own private concerns, walking along the road, or passing through the market in the several towns, without any previous accusation, but in consequence of military whim, or the caprice of magisterial loyalty; and those who had been at market, and were passed by unnoticed, had the news of a public exhibition to bring home, for the unfortunate victims thus seized upon, were instantly subjected, at least, to the torture of public whipping. People of timid dispositions, therefore, avoided going to market, fearing that they might be forced to display the like spectacle. Provisions of course became dear, for want of the usual supply in the market towns; and the military, to redress this evil, went out into the country and brought in what they wanted, at what price they pleased; the owners thinking themselves well treated, if they got but half the value of their goods; and, in case of a second visit, happy if they escaped unhurt, which however was not always the case; and thus were the minds of the people brought to admit such powerful impressions of terror, that death itself was sometimes the consequence. The following is a strong instance of this melancholy fact, related by the Rev. Mr. Gordon :

"WHETHER an insurrection in the then existing state of the kingdom would have taken place in the county of Wexford, or, in case of its eruption, how far less formidable and sanguinary it would have been, if no acts of severity had been committed by the soldiery, the yeomen, or their supplementary associates, without the direct authority of their superiors, or command of the magistrate, is a question, which I am not able positively to answer. In the neighbourhood of Gorey, if I am not mistaken, the terror of the whippings was in particular so great, that the people would have been extremely glad, to

renounce for ever all notions of opposition to government, if they could have been assured of permission to remain in a state of quietness. As an instance of this terror, I shall relate the following fact:-on the morning of the 23d of May, a labouring man, named Dennis M'Daniel, came to my house with looks of the utmost consternation and dismay, and confessed to me, that he had taken the united Irishman's oath, and had paid for a pike, with which he had not yet been furnished, nineteen pence halfpenny, to one Kilty a smith, who had administered the oath to him and many others. While I sent my eldest son, who was a lieutenant of yeomanry, to arrest Kilty, I exhorted M'Daniel to surrender himself to a magistrate, and make his confession; but this he positively refused, saying that he should, in that case, be lashed to make him produce a pike, which he had not, and to confess what he knew not. I then advised him, as the only alternative, to remain quietly at home, promising that if he should be arrested on the information of others, I would represent his case to the magistrates. He took my advice, but the fear of arrest and lashing had so taken possession of his thoughts that he could neither eat nor sleep; and on the morning of the 25th, he fell on his face and expired in a little grove near my house."

WHILE the minds of the people were in this state of distraction and alarm, numbers condemned to transportation, by the magistrates of other counties, daily passed thro' the county of Wexford on their way to Duncannon-fort. Groupes of from twelve to fifteen carloads at a time have gone through Ross alone. These terrifying examples added if possible to the apprehensions already entertained, and the precedent was soon after put in practice in the county of Wexford itself.

GREAT as the atrocities already related may appear, (and surely they are very deplorable) enormities still more shocking to humanity remained to be perpetrated. However grating to generous and benevolent

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feelings the sad detail must prove, imperious truth imposes the irksome necessity of proceeding to facts.

Mr. Hunter Gowan had for many years distinguished himself by his activity in apprehending robbers, for which he was rewarded with a pension of 1001. per ann. and it were much to be wished that every one who has obtained a pension had as well deserved it. Now exalted to the rank of magistrate, and promoted to be captain of a corps of yeomen, he was zealous in exertions to inspire the people about Gorey with dutiful submission to the magistracy, and a respectful awe of the yeomanry. On a public day in the week preceding the insurrection, the town of Gorey beheld the triumphal entry of Mr. Gowan at the head of his corps, with his sword drawn, and a human finger stuck on the point of it.

WITH this trophy he marched into the town, parading up and down the streets several times, so that there was not a person in Gorey who did not witness this exhibition; while in the meantime the triumphant corps displayed all the devices of orangmen. After the labour and fatigue of the day, Mr. Gowan and his men retired to a public house to refresh themselves, and, like true blades of game, their punch was stirred about with the finger that had graced their ovation, in imitation of keen fox hunters who whisk a bowl of punch with the brush of a fox before their boozing commences. This captain and magistrate afterwards went to the house of Mr. Jones, where his daughters were, and, while taking a snack that was set before him, he bragged of having blooded his corps that day, and that they were as staunch blood-hounds as any in the world. The daughters begged of their father to shew them the croppy finger, which he deliberately took from his pocket and handed to them. Misses dandled it about with senseless exultation, at which a young lady in the room was so shocked that she turned about to a window, holding her hand to her face to avoid the horrid sight. Mr. Gowan perceiving this, took the finger from his daughters, and