farmer class, perfectly
atrocious. The result of the trial was, that the clearest proof was
obtained that the deceased lady had died a natural death; that no
attempt to murder her had ever been made; that the alleged criminals had
really no motive for such a crime; that they were innocent, and that the
accusation was the fruit of a conspiracy among dismissed servants and
tenants of the accused, in order to be revenged upon him. The family of
the accused were considered over zealous Protestants, and this formed
an additional incitement to combine for the purpose of a legal
assassination more cruel and terrible than if he had, like so many
other Irish gentlemen, been shot down upon the public road. The latter
terrible fate befell Mr. E. White, of Abbeleix, for asserting his right
to some peat land which he had purchased. This circumstance offended
the "Ribband" men, who in open day lodged a bullet in his heart, in a
populous neighbourhood. The murderers were well known, but the populace
sympathised with them. In the north of Ireland several gentlemen and men
of humble note fell victims to the weapons of the "Ribband" assassins,
under circumstances plainly indicating the complicity of the great mass
of the peasantry of the Roman Catholic communion. Mr. Bateson, brother
of Sir Robert Bateson, was beaten to death with bludgeons on the road
near Castle Blayney. Men were arrested against whom the strongest proofs
of guilt were produced, but the jury refused to convict. The difficulty
of obtaining Roman Catholic members of juries to convict in Ribband
cases, even upon the clearest evidence, greatly impeded the course of
justice in Ireland. Mr. Eastwood, a magistrate, and deputy-lieutenant
of a county, incurred a fate similar to that of Mr. Bateson. It was
generally felt by the peaceable and loyal in Ireland, and by the people
of England generally, that justice was not scrupulously administered
by the whig party in Ireland. Anxious to preserve their majority by the
votes of the Irish Roman Catholic members, and of latitudinarian members
who represented Roman Catholic constituencies, the Whigs were unwilling
to do anything, however called for by equity or imperial policy, which
offended the popular party in Ireland, unless a _quid pro quo_ were
attainable in increased English support. The ecclesiastical titles bill,
however imperfect (designedly so), secured an amount of British support
which more than balanced any loss of Irish me