ragedy. A number of writs against
defaulters were issued by the court of exchequer, and entrusted to
the care of process-servers, who, guarded by a strong body of police,
proceeded on their mission with secrecy and dispatch. Bonfires along
the surrounding hills, however, and shrill whistles soon convinced
them that the people were not unprepared for their visitors. But
the yeomanry pushed boldly on. Suddenly an immense assemblage of
peasantry, armed with scythes and pitchforks, poured down upon them.
A terrible hand-to-hand struggle ensued, and in the course of a few
moments eighteen of the police, including the commanding officer,
were slaughtered. The remainder consulted safety and fled, marking the
course of their retreat by the blood that trickled from their wounds.
A coroner's jury pronounced this deed of death as 'wilful murder'
against some persons unknown. A large government reward was offered,
but it failed to produce a single conviction. At Castlepollard, in
Westmeath, on the occasion of an attempted rescue, the chief constable
was knocked down. The police fired, and nine or ten persons were
killed. One of the most lamentable of these conflicts occurred at
Gurtroe, near Rathcormac, in the county of Cork. Archdeacon Ryder
brought a number of the military to recover the tithes of a farm
belonging to a widow named Ryan. The assembled people resisted, the
military were ordered to fire, eight persons were killed and thirteen
wounded; and among the killed was the widow's son.

These disorders appealed with irresistible force to the Government and
the legislature, to put an end to a system fraught with so much evil,
and threatening the utter disruption of society in Ireland. In the
first place, something must be done to meet the wants of the destitute
clergy and their families. Accordingly, Lord Stanley brought in a
bill, in May 1832, authorising the lord lieutenant of Ireland to
advance 60,000 l. as a fund for the payment of the clergy, who were
unable to collect their tithes for the year 1831. This measure was
designed to meet the present necessity, and was only a preliminary to
the promised settlement of the tithe question. It was therefore passed
quickly through both Houses, and became law on June 1. But the money
thus advanced was not placed on the consolidated fund.

The Government took upon itself the collection of the arrears of
tithes for that one year. It was a maxim with Lord Stanley that the
people shou