"Can you say in what manner those smugglers of which you are speaking were occupied during the spring and summer of 1821 ?—I think they, and some discontented farmers connected with them, were the fomenters of the Whiteboys, and were the chief leaders in the mountain parts of it.-H. C., 1824, p. 228.

Occasionally, however, a somewhat higher class are implicated, partly from interest, but chiefly from intimidation: anybody, in fact, who wishes to resist the law may, if he is inclined, make use of the services of the Whiteboys *.

Mr. Blackburne :

"Can you speak as to the sentiments of the better and middle ranks of farmers in the county of Limerick, with respect to the continuance of the Insurrection Act?-I cannot; if I were to form an opinion, 1 should say that several of them have felt an interest in those disturbances, and that their immunity from the payment of rent during the disturbances was an advantage they felt they derived from them. I recollect particularly a case, in which a farmer of opulence had screened and protected two men charged with murder; and they were discovered under a bed, upon which his wife and daughter were lying to conceal them. I recollect another instance, in which a farmer came forward to prosecute a man upon a charge of delivering a threatening message; and the cross examination of this man by the prisoner himself, went to show, that the farmer brought forward the charge under a belief that the prisoner, who knew his secrets, would betray him, and bring him to justice for some insurrectionary offences, unless he was before-hand with him."-H. C. 1824, p. 18.

Mr. Barrington:

"You have found no substantial person possessed of property ever engaged in these disturbances ?—I have never found any but the lowest occupiers of land. I do not even recollect an instance of any man of any substance, except three or four

* See above, p. 150.

years ago, at Doneraile, some farmers were concerned in an outrage.

"Did you understand that these people had joined willingly, or from necessity or intimidation? That case never came to such a result as to trace its origin sufficiently.

"And that is a solitary instance ?—It is.

"Have you generally found that farmers of substance, finding themselves getting into arrears, on a disturbance coming into the county, look rather favourably on it, as a probable means of their continuing their farms?—I cannot say that they have done so.

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Have you ever known farmers' sons connected with these disturbances? Very frequently. There was one executed for the murder of Mr. Blood; the father would not believe it until Mr. Blood's watch was found in his house, and it was said that he was so indignant that he would not see his son previous to execution, though the rest of his family did."H. C. 1832. Nos. 53-7.

Hovenden Stapleton, Esq. :—

"Of what class of persons are the head committee?—I think men rather above the lower order, who in the collieries are called contractors of pits, some of whom hold a good deal of ground, and are in comfortable circumstances.

"That class of persons in the country, do they do nothing that interferes with the feelings of the lower orders; do they never turn out tenants?—They have been as great landjobbers as others, and as oppressive perhaps; but being principals or heads of the Whitefeet party, they are exempted.

"Do you think they take that character, and place themselves in some degree in connexion with the Whitefeet, in order to seek protection by it ?-No, I do not think it is probable, although it is an object to secure protection. I think it is from their own nature and disposition those persons I speak of join in it. I do not speak generally of the respectable class of farmers, that the head committee is composed of such.

What number of acres do those persons generally hold?

-One of them holds a considerable number; I dare say about thirty or forty acres of land; and I think his brother holds a considerable deal more.

"Are they the better class of farmers?—Yes; but they have been mostly concerned in the coal business, by which means they have a great deal of influence over the lower class.

*

*

*

"Several well-disposed farmers in the country have come to me, and said, 'Will there be any law given to keep these people from coming to our houses, and visiting us at night?' Others have told me they have not slept a wink for many nights, watching their sons for fear they will get out.

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In speaking of the respectable farmers that spoke to you about the state of the country, wishing something to be done to check outrage, were they Catholic farmers ?-Mostly. The men convicted for Whiteboy offences are not the persons most deeply concerned in these outrages. I know one man convicted at the last sessions, a young man of most excellent character; several came forward to give him a character: many I am sure are forced into it, and many have left the country to avoid the system. Parties who go out at night decoy the sons of farmers and others, who may be detected and brought to punishment, as at the last sessions, and who are now under the sentence of transportation."-H. C., Nos. 1519-23, 1859, 1870.

Matthew Singleton, Esq. :

"Amongst those persons called Whitefeet, are there any respectable farmers, or are they confined exclusively to the lower classes?-There is a man now under sentence of death in Maryborough gaol, who is one of the most respectable class of farmers; he is of the name of James Dowling, and he was the next-door neighbour to Mr. Jacob, whose house was attacked, and I have found many of that class equally connected with the disturbances in the county of Galway.

"Do you consider that many of that class have joined this illegal association from oppression?-Certainly not of that

class; at the same time I must say, and I firmly believe, that there are many persons forced into the disturbance of the country from intimidation."-H. C., 1832, Nos. 4105-6.

The circumstance that few of the parties immediately concerned in the Whiteboy outrages possess any land, has misled some persons into the error that the occupation of land is not the main object of them.

"I do not know (says Mr. John Bray) that the letting of land has anything to do with it, for I do not think any of those disturbers hold any land: except a few of them, they are the very lower orders.

"Have they not any real grievance (he is asked) to induce them to take this course?-They do complain (he answers) of the driving off the tenantry, and all those things that are grievances, more or less; but looking at the class of persons really Blackfeet and Whitefeet, I do not think that could affect them."-H. C., 1832, Nos. 3460, 3464.

In the first place it may be observed that none but the very poorest of the Irish labourers are entirely without land, either permanently or as conacre; but it by no means follows that because the parties concerned have no dealings in land, it is not the end of the system to regulate such dealings. They act on the general impression, prevalent among their class, that land is necessary to the maintenance of a poor man's family; and though they may not have a present, yet they have a future interest in the matter; though they may not be personally concerned, yet their kinsmen and friends and fellows are concerned. It would seem as if those who made use of this argument had forgotten that it is possible for men to be swayed by a regard for the general advantage of their order, without reaping any individual and immediate benefit. In like

manner we are not to conclude because all the Whiteboys are not ejected tenants, therefore the prevention of ejectment is not the object of their system: the fear of losing land may be as powerful a motive as the actual loss of it. This point is satisfactorily explained by the Rev. Mr. O'Connor.

"Are the Whitefeet in general persons urged by their necessities to combine?—Yes, at first they were; but now they have found it a useful system. I think if there was a legal provision for the poor, neither priest, nor bishop, nor pope, nor agitator, whoever they might be, could unsettle their minds.

"The object of the question was, to ascertain whether the men called Whitefeet were men driven by their poverty to form that association, or are they men not in that state of want that would appear to justify in some degree their joining in it?Their poverty and destitution must be very great, from their being ejected out of their ground and turned adrift upon the world."

"Are the Committee to understand that the Whitefeet are confined to those ejected from their grounds?—It is not confined to them, but they have been the persons that first made it general, and others had an apprehension of a similar fate, and they have joined it from thinking it would be a protection to them to keep them in their land."-H. C., 1832, Nos. 3237-9.

Also the Rev. Mr. Delaney :

"Are they the occupiers of land that form these associations?-Latterly there have been a few instances of persons occupying land compelled by the system of terrorism that so generally prevailed to join hem: at first they were composed solely of persons alike destitute of property or character; generally speaking of the lowest grade in society.

"That being the case how could they consider rent a grievance, if they were so low as not to be themselves tenants ?— That is one of the objects that they profess to have in view in