ty. The promise, therefore, which the Rapparee had made
to the baronet as a proof of gratitude for his protection, he now found
himself incapable of fulfilling, in consequence of the dispersion and
disappearance of his band. When he stated this fact to Sir Robert, he
gained little credit from him; and the consequence was that his patron
felt disposed to think that he was not a man to be depended on. Still,
what he had advanced in his own defence might be true; and although his
confidence in him was shaken, he resolved to maintain him yet in his
service, and that for two reasons--one of which was, that by having him
under his eye, and within his grasp, he could pounce upon him at any
moment; the other was, that, as he knew, from the previous shifts and
necessities of his own lawless life, all those dens and recesses and
caverns to which the Catholic priesthood, and a good number of the
people, were obliged to fly and conceal themselves, he must necessarily
be a useful guide to him as a priest-hunter. It is true he assured him
that he had procured his pardon from Government, principally, he said,
in consequence of his own influence, and because, in all his robberies,
it had not been known that he ever took away human life. In general,
however, this was the policy of the Rapparees, unless when they
identified themselves with political contests and outrages, and on those
occasions they were savage and cruel as fiends. In simple robbery on the
king's highway, or in burglaries in houses, they seldom, almost never,
committed murder, unless when resisted, and in defence of their lives.
On the contrary, they were quite gallant to females, whom they treated
with a kind of rude courtesy, not unfrequently returning the lady of the
house her gold watch--but this only on occasions when they had secured
a large booty of plate and money. The Threshers of 1805-6 and '7, so far
as cruelty goes, were a thousand times worse; for they spared neither
man nor woman in their infamous and nocturnal visits; and it is enough
to say, besides, that their cowardice was equal to their cruelty. It has
been proved, at special commissions held about those periods, that four
or five men, with red coats on them, have made between two or three
hundred of the miscreants run for their lives, and they tolerably
well-armed. Whether Sir Robert's account of the Rapparee's pardon was
true or false will appear in due time; for the truth is, that Whitecraft
was one o