serve a certain degree of self-restraint, and the excesses unconnected with their object into which they may degenerate are rather the work of scattered individuals, than the result of a general and wide-spreading licence.

Such then is the system by which the Whiteboys carry their law into execution; such are the sanctions by which they enforce their commands. As however the means which they use for administering their own law are in every case a contravention of the criminal law of the state, it becomes necessary to take measures for nullifying this law, and for preventing the punishers from being themselves punished in their turn. For this, the most arduous part of their proceedings, a whole series of precautions and exertions are employed: it is easy to commit a crime, but the difficulty is to avoid detection, conviction, and punishment for it. At first sight it might seem that a poor, an ignorant, and an unorganized peasantry would wage a very unequal war with a Government having almost unlimited resources at its command: it is however remarkable to what an extent they have been successful in this struggle.

In the first place it is to be remarked that the Whiteboys find in their favour already existing general and settled hatred of the law among the great body of the peasantry. The Irish peasant has been accustomed to look upon the law as an engine for oppressing and coercing him, administered by hostile persons, and in a hostile spirit *. This has arisen from

*Rev. John Keily:

"I believe it was a pretty general feeling among the common people in Ireland, that there was little justice to be had for them; in fact, I conceive it to be one of the greatest blessings that Ireland can obtain, an equal

the unfortunate religious and civil distinctions in Ireland, and from the other causes, tending to alienate the upper and lower classes, which have been explained in a former chapter. He has been accustomed to look upon himself as the object of general persecution; the world has not been his friend nor the world's law' and he has sought for protection from illegal combination against legal oppression. The extent to which the hatred of the law and the sympathy with criminals are carried in Ireland, is so great as to be scarcely credible to persons who have lived in a country where the mass of the community feel that their interests are on the side of the established order of things. I have heard it remarked by persons engaged in the administration of criminal justice in Ireland, that the bystanders will hear with calm indifference the prosecutor's account of the most brutal assault and of the severest wounds and injuries inflicted on him: but when the jury have found their verdict, and the court proceeds to pass sentence on the prisoner, a thrill of pity and sympathy runs through the auditory. A singular instance of this feeling (which came to the author's knowledge in Ireland) was the conduct of a labourer, in the county of Tipperary, who, unable to obtain employment in his own neighbourhood, changed

distribution of justice to all classes there. I do not here make distinction of classes as it regards religion, but I mean the poor and the rich. It was formerly an Irish adage, that a word in the court was better than a pound in the purse. It is an Irish phrase, the idea that nothing was to to be done but through interest, I will not say bribery. But, that a word in the court was better than a pound in the purse, is a phrase almost in every person's mouth in the country whence I came.

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What circumstances induced them to entertain those opinions?—A general feeling that might was more powerful than law and right in Ireland."-H. C., 1825, p. 397.

his abode; and in order to excite the sympathy of the farmers, gave it to be understood that he had quitted his home on account of having committed a murder. This plea was successful, and he received work: but his statement having transpired and reached the ears of the police, he was arrested and examined, when it appeared quite clearly that his story was a pure fiction, and he was accordingly discharged.

The following testimonies will further substantiate what has been just said :—

W. W. Becher, Esq.:

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Having stated, that you consider those disturbances to arise, in some degree, from the want of attachment, on the part of the people, to the constitution, do you mean by that, that the peasantry are not attached to the laws of the country? -They are not attached to the laws, nor do I think that they feel an interest in the constitution; they do not feel that sort of interest which the people of this country seem to feel on the subject.

"Is that general?—I think it is.

"Has that existed, more or less, in the district with which you are acquainted, during the whole period of your acquaintance?-During the whole period of my acquaintance, they have always appeared to me to want that feeling."—H. C., 1824, p. 181.

M. Barrington, Esq. :—

"Do you not conceive that where there is a great difficulty in executing civil process, that tends in a great measure to accustom the people of the district to breaches of the public peace?—I conceive that every breach of the law must still further accustom the people to violate the public peace. The great object in Ireland is to make them respect the law as they do in England, where if a man picks your pocket, everybody is ready to assist you in apprehendiug the offender; but if a man does so in Ireland, they will hustle you to let him escape. "Have there not been instances of workmen being actually

murdered in the noon-day, in the presence of persons, none of whom have come forward to prosecute? That is frequently the case in Ireland; there is a kind of chivalrous feeling in thinking it an honour to protect any man who is charged with an offence.

"You stated in a former answer that the peasantry in Ireland were always anxious to give an offender an opportunity to escape, and you instanced the case of a pick-pocket; have you not known that in cases of robbery the peasantry have generally been very anxious to have the robber apprehended, and that it is only in cases of outrage where they try to screen them? I have known some few cases in which the farmers have pursued robbers, and the consequence was, it being so unusual, that they were rewarded handsomely for doing so. My general impression is, that they do not like to see a man prosecuted, and they will assist him to escape if they can. I attribute it to a sort of chivalrous feeling.

"Do you know that in France it is the habit to publish a large paper, mentioning the name of each offender, the crime he has committed, and the punishment awarded; do you think such a system would be useful to the people of Ireland?—I do not. I think in many insurrectionary cases they would consider them as martyrs; and in other instances I do not think it would be of any use.

"Can you state to the Committee, in your opinion, what it is that makes the common people have such an antipathy to the law, and which renders them so little amenable to the law in Ireland?—I cannot; but when a friend or even an acquaintance is in gaol, they have great anxiety to get him out, without thinking of his guilt or innocence. This is a feeling that runs through them all; you will find it very difficult to get a witness against a person, while hundreds will be found to swear an alibi, or anything else, to save him."-H. C. 1832, Nos. 146-7; 225, 227, 230.

Mr. John Bray:

"Is there not a great inclination in Ireland to screen offenders in Ireland ?-Yes, greatly so.

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They are not looked upon as in this country?-There has been a feeling of that kind.

"Is there that feeling now?-I never conversed with anybody who did not wish the Whitefeet and Blackfeet to be stopped by any and every means; and that is the feeling which you do not find in all cases.

"How do you account for the difficulty of getting information against them?—There is a feeling against informers in Ireland of a very long standing.

"Can you state how long the difficulty of obtaining the arrest of offenders has existed ?-A very long time.

"Can you account for it?—It is difficult to be accounted for.

"Is it from a want of sympathy?-The people generally find the law executed against them, and not in their favour. "Is not that a very general feeling ?—Yes."—H. C., 1832, No. 3569-76.

The following instance of the general unpopularity of the law is mentioned by Sir R. Musgrave, in reference to the Rightboys of 1786 :

"The conspirators (he says) bound each other by oath to resist the laws of the land, and to obey none but those of Captain Right; and so strictly did they adhere to them, that the high sheriff of the county of Waterford (the writer of these pages was high-sheriff at that time) could not procure a person to execute the sentence of the law on one of those miscreants who was condemned to be whipped at Carrick-onSuir, though he offered a large sum of money for that purpose. He was therefore under the necessity of performing that duty himself, in the face of an enraged mob."-p. 46.

This feeling of dislike for the law, and of sympathy with the criminal, though it exists to a certain degree in all cases, is particularly pronounced in all Whiteboy offences, as in these the peasantry take a general interest. Robbers for mere personal gain would excite little interest; and some species of crimes, for ex