ced
were not paid, the cabins which they had made comfortable were filled
with ribbonmen, and when the poor had learnt in the schools to
disobey their masters and landlords. Sir Michael never contradicted
all this, and he would probably have become a second Jonas Brown, and
much more injurious, because so much more extensive in his interests,
were it not for the counteracting influence of Counsellor Webb, who
was in all his opinions diametrically opposed to Mr. Brown.

Mr. Webb was a clear-headed, and a much more talented man than his
brother magistrate. He was, moreover, a kind-hearted landlord--ever
anxious to ameliorate the condition of the poor--and by no means
greedy after money, though he was neither very opulent nor very
economical. But, nevertheless, with all these high qualities he was
hardly the man most fit to do real good in a very poor and ignorant
neighbourhood. He was, in the first place, by far too fond of
popularity, and of being the favourite among the peasantry; and, in
the next, he had become so habituated to oppose Jonas Brown in all
his sayings and doings, that he now did so whether he was right or
wrong.

Thady's case had been much talked of in the country, and the rival
magistrates, of course, held diametrically opposite opinions
respecting it.

Jonas Brown had declared at his own table, that "unless that young
man were hanged, there would be an end to anything like law in the
country; his being the son of a landlord made it ten times worse; if
the landlords themselves turned ribbonmen, and taught the tenants all
manner of iniquity, and the law didn't then interfere, it would be
impossible to live in the country; he, for one, should leave it. Here
had a most praiseworthy servant of the crown--a man who had merited
the thanks of the whole country by the fearless manner in which he
had performed his duties, here," he said, "had this man been murdered
in cold blood by a known ribbonman, by one, who, as he understood,
had, a few days before the murder, conspired with others to commit
it; and yet he was told there were a pack of people through the
country--priests, and popularity hunters, who were not only using
their best endeavours to screen the murderer, but who absolutely
justified the deed. By G----d, he couldn't understand how a man,
holding the position of a gentleman, could so far forget what he owed
to his country and himself as to dirty his hands with such a filthy
business as this, how