"rebels in the most summary manner, according to martial law, "does hereby give notice to all his majesty's subjects, that he is "determined to exert the powers entrusted to him in the most "vigorous manner, for the immediate suppression of the same; " and that all persons acting in the present rebellion, or in any "wise aiding or assisting therein, will be treated by him as re"bels, and punished accordingly."

"And lieutenant general Lake hereby requires all the inhabi"tants of the city of Dublin (the great officers of state, members "of the houses of parliament, privy counsellors, magistrates, and "military persons, in uniform, excepted), to remain within their "respective dwellings from nine o'clock at night till five in the "morning, under pain of punishment."

On the same morning also, for better securing the peace of the city, the lord mayor published the following proclamation : "THOMAS FLEMING.

"WHEREAS the circumstances of the present "crisis demand every possible precaution, these are therefore "to desire all persons who have registered arms, forthwith to give "in (in writing) an exact list or inventory of such arms at the town clerk's office, who will file and enter the same in a book to "be kept for that purpose; and all persons who have not regis"tered their arms, are hereby required forthwith to deliver up to (6 me, or some other of the magistrates of this city, all arms and "ammunition of every kind in their possession: And if, after "this proclamation, any person having registered their arms shall "be found not to have given in a true list or inventory of such arms; or if any person who has not registered, shall be "found to have in their power or possession any arms or am"munition whatever, such person or persons will, on such arms "being discovered, be forthwith sent on board his majesty's navy, as by law directed.

66

"And I do hereby desire, that all housekeepers do place upon "the outside of their doors a list of all persons in their respec"tive houses, distinguishing such as are strangers from those "who actually make part of their family: but as there may happen to be persons who, from pecuniary embarrassments, are "obliged to conceal themselves, I do not require such names to "be placed on the outside of the door, provided their names are sent to me. And I hereby call upon all his majesty's subjects "within the county of the city of Dublin immediately to comply "with this regulation, as calculated for the public security; as "those persons who shall wilfully neglect a regulation so easy "and salutary, as well as persons giving false statements of the "inmates of their houses, must, in the present crisis, abide the consequences of such neglect."

These measures of government so far appeased the turbulency of the insurgents, and tranquillized the metropolis, that the House of Commons met amidst the surrounding din of arms, and uninterruptedly went through the business of the day. Lord Castlereagh presented to them a message from the lord lieutenant, that he thought it his indispensable duty, with the advice of the privy council, under the present circumstances of the kingdom, to issue a proclamation, which he had ordered to be laid before the House of Commons, to whom he remarked, the time for speaking was now gone by, and that period at last come, when deeds and not words were to shew the dispositions of members of that house, and of every man who truly valued the constitution of the land, or wished to maintain the laws, and protect the lives and properties of his majesty's subjects. Every thing which courage, honour, fortune, could offer in the common cause, was now called for. The rebels had openly thrown off the mask, and avowed themselves in open arms; and notwithstanding their numbers and desperation, he found no reason to tremble for the issue of the contest, but expected that in a few days it would be decided, to their utter discomfiture and destruction.

Afterwards the chancellor of the exchequer rose and said, that the events which had so recently occurred had fully proved the

*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 ad"vice of the privy council, has issued orders to all the general officers, com"manding his majesty's forces, to punish all persons acting, aiding, or in any manner assisting in the rebellion, which now exists, within this kingdom, and "has broken out in the most daring and violent attacks upon his majesty's "forces, according to martial law, either by death or otherwise, as to them "shall seem expedient, for the punishment and suppression of all rebels in "their several districts, of which all his majesty's subjects are hereby required

"to take notice.

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

"W. Armagh,

"Clare, C.

Ely,
Dillon,

"Charles Cashell,

Perry,

"W. Tuam,

O'Neill,

J. Beresford,
J. Parnell,
H. Cavendish,
J. Blaquiere,
H. Langrishe,
Theo. Jones,
Jos. Cooper,
D. Latouche,
J. Monck Mason,
A. thur Wolfe,
Robert Ross,
Isaac Corry,
Lodge Morres.

"GOD save the KING."

measures taken by government were right, and fully justified the house in the support which it had already given with so much He spirit and promptitude to his excellency on the occasion. then moved the following resolution: "That an humble address "be presented to his excellency the lord lieutenant, to express "our cordial acknowledgment for the message sent 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 necessity. We renew our "engagement of support, we reflect on the general firmness and "vigour which are manifested, we feel the fullest assurance, that "the rebellion will be speedily crushed."

the

Colonel Maxwell rose to express his hearty assent to the adHe sincerely gave credit to dress, and to second the motion. government for the measures they had adopted through the He observed, the rebels were now in whole of that business. open arms against his majesty's forces, and against them the procThe principal fomenters lamation of that day was directed. and leaders of the rebellion were in prison, and as the object of vesting confidentially an absolute authority in the executive, was for the purpose of crushing rebellion as speedily as possible, and insuring the security of the state, he would submit to the wisdom of the house, whether it would not be right and necessary, that military executions should have retrospect to those persons that were then confined, and that they should be disposed of as expeditiously as possible, in order that the rebels, who looked up to them as leaders, might no longer derive any encouragement from the expectation of rescuing them at a future day from their captivity.

Lord Castlereagh most earnestly besought gentlemen, that they would not suffer the zeal and warmth of their feelings on this occa sion to run away with their good sense: that they would not proceed to that which would be unconstitutional indeed; but above all, he conjured them not to press a measure upon his excellency, which must brand his administration with the imputation of cruelty, and sink it to the same degraded and sanguinary level with that government which sought to destroy the happiest constitution. For heaven's sake, let not gentlemen press a general and indiscriminating system of unnecessary vengeance, nor call upon his excellency to violate the great duty of the executive, that of administering justice in mercy. He most earnestly conjured them not to think of clogging the address by any such amendment as that suggested, nor in their laudable zeal for the repression of rebellion to close the door of mercy against the deluded inhabitants of Ireland, disposed to return to their allegiance,

and whom the state was anxious once more to embrace in its parental arms.

The question being put, was carried nem. con. and on the motion of lord Castlereagh, ordered to be presented as expeditiously as possible to his excellency, by such members as were of his majesty's privy council.

The house on the motion of lord Castlereagh adjourned to that day se'nnight.

The rigorous vigilance of government within the capital kept such of the conspirators from rising, who remained in the city for the purposes of internal insurrection: but the seizure of so many of their leaders prevented any concert or command, and consequently effect in their movements. The country was in the mean time beset in every direction for twenty or thirty miles around with different corps of this undisciplined and ferocious rabble, acting for the most part half armed, and without plan or command. They generally awaited the signal, which they expected, of the castle, the barracks, and the whole city of Dublin, being in their possession. It was a most melancholy proof of the progress of rebellion, that every person almost without distinction, in and about Dublin, whose situation in life put him in the occasion of retaining any number of men either as servants, artificers, workmen, or labourers, was suddenly left and abandoned by those persons attending their respective posts for the general rising. These are awful lessons of the powerful force of secret combinations, in a people linked together at first upon fair principles, cemented by a common cause of unquestionable grievance, at last goaded into revenge and despair by cruelty. The determined secrecy, and silence, and energy, and confidence, and boldness of some hundred thousands of every description, mostly in the lowest orders of society, fill the mind with the most alarming gloom, that the roots of such an inveterate hold of the passions may be still gaining strength in the ground, above which they have for a season ceased to send forth any shoots. Future prevention and remedy must be radical, if unfortunately again these evils should return. The pruning knife in lopping off a single twig gives germination to a little forest. This cautious reserve or malignant check upon the passions of a ferocious multitude, whilst it fills the mind with dread, loudly acquits the body of the base charge of systematic assassination. Had such been their design, the admission into families must have been their first object: and yet it is lamentably true, that scarcely was there a family of consequence throughout the nation, in which several sworn 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 aut

were the picquetings, stranglings, floggings, and torturings, to extort confessions, justified or sanctioned, yet it is universally known, that under the very eye of government, and with more than their tacit permission, were these outrages practised, in defiance of the constitution as admitted by all, in defiance of humanity and policy as maintained by most men. In mentioning the Irish government, it is not meant, that this system proceeded from its chief governor it was boasted to have been extorted from him. And to this hour it is not only defended and justified, but panegyrized by the advocates and creatures of the infuriate drivers of that system of terrorism.

So far from there being any doubt of the existence of any such practices a short time previous to and during the rebellion, that sir Richard Musgrave has, in an additional appendix to his memoirs of the different rebellions in Ireland, given to the public his observations upon whipping and free quarters. He admits indeed, that whosoever considers it abstractedly, must of course condemn it as obviously repugnant to the letter of the law, the benign principles of our constitution, and those of justice and humanity; but he was convinced, that such persons as dispassionately considered the existing circumstances, and the pressure of the occasion under which it was adopted, would readily admit them to be, if not an excuse, at least an ample extenuation of that practice. "Sup66 pose," says he, "the fullest information could have been obtain"ed of the guilt of every individual, it would have been imprac"ticable to arrest and commit the multitude. Some men of "discernment and fortitude perceived, that some new expedient "must be adopted to prevent the subversion of government, and "the destruction of society; and whipping was resorted to.

"As to the violation of the forms of the law by this practice, "it should be recollected, the law of nature, which suggested the "necessity of it, supercedes all positive institutions, as it is im"printed on the heart of man for the preservation of his creatures, "as it speaks strongly and instinctively, and as its end will be "baffled by the slowness of deliberation.

"When the sword of civil war is drawn, the laws are silent. "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 sanctioned by government, as they "on the contrary, used their utmost exertions to prevent it; and "the evidence extorted from the person whipped never was used "to convict any person, and was employed for no other reason "but to discover concealed arms, and to defeat the deleterious Tt

VOL. IV.