but they were intended as means to convey rapid communication.

"Were the telegraphs erected by the persons that have been disturbing the public peace ?—I cannot say.

“What effect had that holy turf on the minds of the people? -They appeared to be a good deal agitated; and I was told by a person I conceive to be very honest and candid, that there was a deeper view in it; and I was so alarmed myself that I spoke to the army in my house to request that they would be on the alert that night.

"Was your informant a Roman Catholic?—Yes.

"Had you any information from more than one ?—No. "Had the turf been served upon that person that told you? -Yes."-H. C., 1832, Nos. 2981-94.

Having thus shown who are the persons concerned in the Whiteboy system, and what are the means by which it is propagated, we now proceed to explain the manner in which it is worked; in other words, to set forth the process by which the Whiteboy code is carried into execution.

The first and most important step is to obtain possession of arms; inasmuch as without these the peasantry can only enforce their commands by the destruction of property death, the strongest sanction, they are scarcely able to inflict. An unarmed multitude cannot hope to carry into effect an extensive system of intimidation.

"The people, (said Mr. Justice Moore, on the Clare Special Commission, in 1831,) by seizing of arms and getting them into their possession, provide the great means of effecting almost all these wicked acts. A disposition to seize arms has been always the characteristic of offences similar to what have been committed in this county. Therefore, the legislature has visited with the highest penalties the crime of taking arms,

when the country is in a state of disturbance. Either the taking them, or procuring them to be delivered by threats, is a capital offence, and the mere demand, without getting them at all, is a transportable offence *."

The entering of houses and compelling people to give up their arms, or to swear that they have none, is carried on to a great extent at seasons of disturbance†, It is, however, remarkable that though the Whiteboys break into houses, and consequently have all the property contained in them at their command, they rarely take anything except arms.

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When a house is attacked and robbed of arms, (Colonel Johnson is asked,) do they ever take money?—I think latterly they have; in the first instance they certainly did not, but latterly they have assumed more the character of robbers than they formerly did.”—H. C., 1832, No. 762.

The writer of these pages was informed by a clergyman of the Established Church, resident near Athy, that one Sunday, during his absence at church, some persons came to his house and asked for arms: they were led by his wife quite peaceably through the dining room, (where there were silver forks and spoons on the table,) to his study, where she opened a glass case, in which were his arms and a purse containing some money they took away the arms, but touched nothing else. It has been recently stated in the newspapers,

* Proceedings under a Special Commission in Limerick and Clare, in 1831, p. 76.

† An attack on a body of police for the sake of their arms was mentioned above, p. 137. An intended attack on a yeomanry corps, near Limerick, for the same purpose, is described by Major Warburton.— H. C., 1824, p. 138.

The following is an instance of the same proceeding in the recent history of Spain.

"The formation of the Grand Permanent Council was the first great

that the Dublin and Cork Mail was stopped in the night near Cashel, by a large body of men, who demanded the guard's arms, which were surrendered to them; but they did not attempt to rob the coach. Conduct of this kind clearly evinces the feeling of the Whiteboys, that they are the administrators of a general system, meant for the benefit of a body, and by which individuals are not to be allowed to profit. When Wat Tyler's followers set the Savoy Palace on fire, we are told that an individual who took the opportunity of stealing a silver vessel was thrown by the populace into the flames*. There is a conservative feeling even in combinations to resist the law; the persons concerned have a limited purpose in view, and do not seek for indiscriminate plunder: they desire not a general sack, but a new tenure of property: they wish to substitute one government for another, but not to produce anarchy. They are therefore conscious that if each man begins to rob for himself, and abandons the common cause, they themselves may fall a prey in the universal scramble.

Where there is so much intimidation, and so much

step of the Carlists to secure an authority independent as far as possible of the king. While risings took place in various parts of the kingdom, with the avowed object of raising Don Carlos to the throne, inasmuch as Ferdinand was too moderate for a king; and the singular conduct of many bands of brigands, who took only arms, accoutrements, and horses from those they plundered, distinctly declared the ulterior views of his partisans, the Infante distinguished himself in the Council by thwarting the milder propositions of the king."—Cochrane's Foreign Quart. Rev., vol. i. p. 214.

* The words of Knyghton, who has preserved this anecdote, are remarkable. "Unus autem illorum nefandorum sumpsit unam pulcram peciam argenteam, in gremioque abscondit: quod videns alius et sociis referens, ipsum cum pecia in ignem projecerunt, dicentes: Zelatores veritatis et justitiæ, non fures aut latrones."-Twysden, X. Scriptores, col. 2635.

real ground for fear as in Ireland, it is natural that there should be many alarmists; and accordingly it has been sometimes said that the Irish peasantry are armed and organized, and ready to fall into their places when called out by their leaders. It appears, however, from the concurrent evidence of all the best informed witnesses, that the number of arms which they possess is in fact small, and that these are for the most part in bad order, on account of the dampness of the places in which they are usually concealed.

Major Willcocks :

"To what extent are the disturbers in the counties under your superintendence possessed of fire-arms?—I do not think there is by any means the quantity of fire-arms in their possession now that there was three or four years ago. I think that they are now more armed for plunder than for outrage.

"What is the quantity now in their possession?—There is no great quantity of arms in the possession of insurgents in my district, as I believe."-H. C., 1824, p. 123.

Major Warburton :

"Do you think that the population in those districts (Clare and Limerick) are extensively armed now?-Indeed I think any arms they have had they have still; but I never considered the arms they have as very formidable.”—H. C., 1824, p. 166.

W. W. Becher, Esq., M.P., resident in the county of Cork:

"In the district to which you allude, (north of the county of Cork,) was there at any time, to your knowledge, a very considerable number of arms in the possession of the peasantry?

-I do not know that there was a very considerable number of arms in the possession of the peasantry near me; we are apt, I think, to exaggerate upon that point; a great numb. of arms have been taken, but those arms were in the first

stance removed from the neighbourhood to remote places; and a great many have been given up. I am quite sure that the majority of those that have not been given up, have been kept so badly, that they are become decayed and good for nothing. Many people say when they get arms, there is no sincerity in the surrender; they give us up nothing but old arms, and good for nothing; but in my opinion they had very few good arms to give; I speak, however, only of my own neighbourhood, and with some exceptions even there.

"Will you describe to the Committee, how the insurgents keep the arms which they have?—In general they hide them in holes, and hedges and ditches; I have gone out in a night and found some of their arms stuck in ferns and bushes, and covered with rust.

"From the state of their houses, do you think it possible for them to keep arms in their possession, without their becoming unserviceable?-If they could keep them in their houses, I think they might continue serviceable for some time, but they are afraid of that. I have known of instances where they have had them in holes in the wall, and in the thatch very frequently; but if they could get them stuck into the wall, they could keep them for some time."-H. C., 1824, p. 182.

Mr. Newenham (who expresses an opinion that the peasantry of the county of Cork are well provided with arms) gives an account of a search for arms near Liscarrol, made in company with Sir Hugh Gough, who commanded the troops in the district.

"At night we went to that part of the country which the man had mentioned, where we took up, as well as I recollect, fourteen or fifteen men, against whom informations were sworn. Sir Hugh Gough had frequently examined the houses, as all the other magistrates had done in that part of the country, and had had no very great success in the taking of arms. He asked this man whether he could point out the places where the arms had been; the man said that he could. He stated