combining together; viz., in the first instance to better their own condition, to enforce an advance of wages, and to lower the rents of land generally."-H. C., 1832, Nos. 4359.—60.

The manner in which the system is to be worked, the crimes to be committed, and the mode of committing them, are of course the subjects of consultation among the parties concerned; all or most of whom doubtless know one another. But there does not appear to be any such regular organization as deserves the name of committees bestowed by some of the witnesses on these meetings. It seems as if the combination was very imperfect, except at times, when a blow is to be struck. Moreover, the practice doubtless varies in different places; but there appears no where to be a trace of any organization like that of the Orange or Ribbon lodges. The only testimonies to the existence of committees which I have met with are those of the following two magistrates of the Queen's County.

Colonel R. Johnson :

'Have they any organization by committees?—I have reason to believe they have. On a search for arms that took place some time since in that part of the country, there was a regular case found drawn out, the same as a brief, stating the circumstances of the land that the man wished to lay claim to; in fact the case was decided on by the committee, and Rockite notices were found in this man's possession to be served on the individual he wished to eject.

"Can you trace the proceedings farther?-No, we could not; the man was put in gaol; he was not tried at the last commission, as well as I recollect.

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"In cases where they have required parties to give up land, you conceive it has been the result of a previous investigation of the claim ?—I have no doubt of it; for some people who have remonstrated with these legislators have been told that

they might hold their possessions till they heard from them again, and it appears they have satisfied this committee that it would be a hardship in removing them, as they have been allowed to remain ; at least they have not been interfered with; and it is generally supposed that these committees are to be bought over for a certain sum, but I have no proof of that." H. C., 1832., Nos. 759-61.

Hovenden Stapleton, Esq.:

"Is the system governed by committees ?—I have reason to think that it is. I think there is what they call a head committee, composed of seven members, who sit and discuss all matters; then there is a sub-committee under them, who receive orders from the head committee. The body at large are sworn to commit whatever may be ordered."—H. C., 1832, No. 1518*.

The following statements will, however, probably be found to contain a more precise account of the process in fact adopted.

Major Powell:- »

"Does there appear to you to have been an organized system of outrage?—Yes; it does appear to be organized.

"Whom do you suppose to have been at the head of it?— That I am quite unable to answer. There is a general combination.

"What proof have you of that combination ?-Persons have been reported to me, as having been taken in nightly assemblies, and coming from distant points to those meetings.

"Does that rest entirely on report?-All my information is on report.

Have any such assemblies been discovered by the constables? They have.

* A story about an organized system of Whiteboy committees, with signs and summonses in blank signature is told in Hickey's confession already mentioned (p. 122,) which probably never had any existence except in his own imagination. H. C., 1824, p. 302.

"To what number were they assembled ?-Forty or fifty, according to the population of the district.

"Have they been armed?-In no instance have they been armed when taken at such meetings; since the Insurrection Act has been in force, they do not meet."-H. L., 1824, pp. 106, 107.

M. Barrington, Esq. :

"Are they governed by any committees ?-I could never find out any, except in one instance at Doneraile; but there are oaths administered, and there are heads of parties, the most desperate character generally being the head or leader." -H. C. 1832, No. 25.

Wm. W. Despard, Esq. :

"Have they any system of management, any committees ? -Yes, they have, amongst themselves; they meet in publichouses.

"Do they investigate the cases, and decide what house they will attack, or what individual they will ill-treat?--Yes, they decide it some days previously to the attack.

"When there is an attack made upon a man to give up his land, is it the result of an investigation of the case, and the decision of the committee, and an order that the person shall be turned out of his land?—Yes, that is decided at a meeting of the committee previously concerted some days.

"Can you give a history of those Whitefeet as they proceed? You have spoken of the committees, can you say how they concert the attack of a house ?-When a house is to be attacked, the man who gets up the attack will go off eight or nine miles or further; he will go to his brother Whitefeet; they know each other by signs; he brings this party or sends this party; he would be known himself; he sends that party to that house, and they attack the man's house, or take his arms, or beat him, or murder him, or shoot at him.

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They arrange this through a meeting of the committee ?— It is arranged, I know; they generally meet.

"Do you mean to say that they are so combined they will be ready to go any distance to get a party to come and murder a man for a particular individual grudge of their own?—Yes, most certainly; they have done it."-H. C., 1832, Nos. 533-5, 547-9.

John Dillon, Esq. :

"Do you think that this organization which exists in Queen's County is carried on under any general system, under any organized leaders, or is merely an ebullition of different portions of the county resisting their grievances ?—I think it is the ebullition of different portions of the county on account of local grievances; there is no general organization in the county; the oath taken in one part of the county frequently differs from that taken in the other parts of it."-H. C., 1832, No. 2480.

Rev. Nicholas O'Connor :

"Are these Whitefeet managed by any committees ?—No, there are no committees among them; if they find a grievance, they communicate it to others, and strangers come, sometimes by night, to execute their vengeance, but of late most of the outrages, and the worst of them, have been committed by day.

"Have they any concert or plan of acting?—None, but what they devise amongst themselves on the spur of the moment."-H. C., 1832, No. 3190-1.

Notwithstanding the numerous and powerful motives which we have described as inducing the Irish peasant to join the Whiteboy combinations, yet when an occasion arises for an assertion of the terrors of this code, it seems that the bulk of the peasantry are unwilling to be personally concerned, and that the system is chiefly propagated by intimidation.

The means used for this purpose are, in the first instance, the administration of a secret oath, binding

the party sworn to lend his assistance when called on, for furthering the objects of the confederacy. The following very detailed account by Major Warburton furnishes an instance of a more systematic proceeding than probably has often occurred.

"Have you ever known any instances in which these illegal oaths have been administered through entire parishes and considerable districts in one night, by individuals not known to the parties taking those oaths ?-A part of the system was, that a certain number went into one parish and swore a certain number; and the first part of the oath was that the person so sworn was to go into the adjoining parish and swear an additional number; it was pushed on in that way in the instance of the county of Galway; and when it first came into the county of Clare, from that county.

"In performance of that obligation they did proceed on the subsequent night, in the manner you have described ?—They did.

"Were the persons who first swore the parish known to those who took the obligation?—They were not.

"Were they not in very small numbers?—The persons who appeared on those occasions were very few, they were generally accompanied by others, who held back; persons, I suppose, merely recruited on those occasions, and who might have been known if seen, but the parties exposed to those they came to swear were very few in number.

"Have you known an instance of a parish expecting, with great anxiety, the visits of those persons, and soliciting assistance and protection against it?-I have known that to have occurred in several instances.

"Have you not known the inhabitants leave their houses and lie out at night in the fields, to avoid these nocturnal visits? -I have known that to occur.

"Did it not happen to a considerable extent in the eastern part of the county of Clare, in 1819-20?-It did, certainly. "In what numbers did those persons go about, who com