gerous progrefs of the treafon, and the active preparations of the enemy for the invafion of this kingdom, were announced in the fpeech from the throne. Bills were immediately brought in and paffed without delay for fufpending the Habeas Corpus act, as alfo for the establishment of the yeomanry;-meafures to which your Committee feel themselves juftified in attributing the falvation of the country, and which being taken immediately fubfequent to the formal alliance concluded between the Executive of the Union and the French Directory, at once prove the vigilance of Government, as alfo their well-founded confidence in thus entrusting the defence of the kingdom and its conftitution to the loyalty of its inhabitants. Your Committee have to obferve with great fatisfaction, that the estimate for the yeomanry as first laid before Parliament was for a number not exceeding twenty thoufand men-that in the courfe of fix months about thirty-feven thousand were arrayed; and that the zeal of the country had fo rifen with its difficulties, that during the late rebellion the yeomanry force exceeded fifty thousand men, and might have been increased to a much greater extent. It is unneceffary to recall to the recollection and gratitude of Parliament and of the country, the fervices they have performed during the unhappy ftruggle in which we have been engaged; fharing all the hardships and dangers, and performing all the duties in common with the King's regular and militia forces. The next measure to which your Committee beg leave to point the attention of the Houfe is, the proclamation of the Lord Lieutenant and Council, bearing date the 6th of November 1796, iffued in confequence of the difaffected having adopted a practice of marching in military array, and affembling in large bodies, in fome inftances to the number of feveral thoufands, under the pretence of faving corn and digging potatoes; but in fact to terrify the peaceable and well-difpofed, and to compel them to enter into their treafonable affociations. The fame fyftem has fince frequently been had recourse to by the United Irithmen in other parts of the kingdom under various pretences, fuch as funerals, foot-ball meetings, &c. with a view of difplaying their strength, giving the people the habit of affembling from great diftances upon an order being iffued, and making them more accustomed to fhow themselves openly in fupport of the cause. The next measure to which the Government was driven by the traitorous exceffes of the United Irifhmen, and to which your Committee beg leave to advert, is the proclamation of Lieutenant-general Lake, then commanding in Ulfter, iffued on the 13th of March, in confequence of a letter addreffed to him by the Lord Lieutenant's fecretary, Mr. Pelham. The The diforders which called for this interpofition of military authority are fufficiently fet forth in the body of the letter; and your Committee have only to obferve, that in carrying Lieutenant-general Låke's proclamation into effect, no acts of severity whatever were ufed by the military towards perfons concealing or refufing to give up their arms; but that, on the contrary, the fearch for the arms of the difaffected was conducted with all poffible mildness; and that where perfons voluntarily brought in their arms, certificates were granted by the magiftrates, and affurances given to the people that their arms would be returned as foon as the country was restored to tranquillity. It must however be obferved, that in June following, when a general infurrection was decided on by the party, and upon the point of breaking out in the province of Ulfter, more vigorous means of compelling the furrender of arms were had recourfe to, under the authority of the proclamation of the 17th of May a measure abfolutely indifpenfable to the public fecurity, and, under the circumstances of the cafe, ftrictly defenfive. Of the quantity of arms which appeared by their own report to be in the hands of the difaffected, comparatively few were obtained by the fearch then made in Ulfter by General Lake's orders; and it is alfo to be obferved, that previously to, and during the circuit which took place in the month of April 1797, acts of violence of every defcription became more frequent, and were at the fame time fo fyftematically directed, with a view to stop the course of criminal juftice against the United Irishmen, that the Crown profecutions in the difturbed counties proved from their failure an encouragement rather than a restraint upon the reafonable projects of the party. The Report of the Secret Committee was followed by the proclamation of the 17th of May 1797, which after reciting many acts of outrage and rebellion that had been committed, and offering pardon with certain exceptions to all perfons guilty of the faid offences who fhould furrender within the period of a month, and give fecurity for their future good behaviour, declared that the civil power had proved ineffectual, and that it became neceffary to employ the military force for the immediate fuppreffion of fuch rebellious attempts. It appears to your Committee, that notwithstanding this meafure of mercy and warning to the difaffected, in the latter end of the fame month, as will be more fully explained hereafter, a general infurrection in Ulfter was decided on, and the plan of attack for each county arranged. The intention tranfpired, and was defeated by the active exertions of the army; notwithstanding which, a partial rifing did take place near the mountains in the county of Down, where the infurgents, finding themfelves unfupported, foon difperfed. VOL. VII. The 3 B The effect of the measures then adopted was immediately felt; the arms of the difaffected by necellary acts of coercion were collected throughout the province in great numbers: the loyal were encouraged to declare themselves-fuch as had been misled, came in in crowds to take the benefit of the proclamation of pardon, which was extended for another month; outrage ceafed, and public confidence was fo far reftored throughout Ulfter in the course of the months of July and Auguft, that the laws were administered with effect in the different counties during the autumn circuit, and the manufacturing induftry of the country was restored to its ufual vigour during the remainder of that year. Your Committee think it peculiarly incumbent on them to ftate, that during and fubfequent to the affizes of the faid circuit, the civil authority was found throughout Ulfter fully adequate to the preservation of the public peace, and that all military interference was generally difcontinued from that period. It appears to your Committee, that the inferior focieties of United Irithmen, in general, difcontinued their meetings; that the people applied themselves to their ordinary occupations; and though fome of the higher committees were kept alive by the active leaders in the treafon, yet it will appear from an infpection of the authentic reports of their proceedings, that for feveral months only a proportion of the counties of Ulfter were reprefented in the provincial committee; that the others refused to fend delegates; that little money was collected; that they could not fucceed in reviving the inferior focieties; and that although they encouraged each other in the hopes of bringing the lower orders of the people again into action in cafe the enemy fhould land, they were not able to make any impreffion of confequence, till the infurrection in Leinster was on the point of breaking forth; and your Committee feel themfelves warranted in ftating, that the beneficial confequences arising from the measures adopted in the year 1797, in the north, were ftrongly exemplified in the feebleness of the late infurrection in that quarter, and in the fpirit difplayed on that occafion by the yeomanry and loyal inhabitants of the province of Ulfter. It appears to your Committee, that the leaders of the treafon, apprehenfive left the enemy might be difcouraged from any further plan of invafion, by the loyal difpofition manifefted throughout Munfter and Connaught on their former attempt, determined to direct all their exertions to the propagation of the fyftem in thofe provinces which had hitherto been but partially infected. With this view emiffaries were fent into the fouth and weft in great numbers, of whofe fuccefs in forming new focieties, and adminiftering the oaths of the Union, there were, in the course of a few months, but too evident proofs in the introduction of the the fame difturbances and enormities into Munfter with which the northern province had been fo feverely vifited. In May 1797, although numbers had been fworn both in Munster and Leinster, the ftrength of the organization, exclufively of Ulfter, lay chiefly in the metropolis and in a few neighbouring counties, namely, Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Westmeath, and the King's County. It is obfervable, that the counties in which defenderifm had prevailed easily became converts to the new doctrines; and in the fummer of 1797, the ufual concomitants of the treafon, namely, the plundering houfes of arms, the fabrication of pikes, and the murder of those who did not join their party, began to appear in the midland counties. In order to engage the peafantry in the fouthern counties, particularly in the counties of Waterford and Cork, the more eagerly in their caufe, the United Irishmen found it expedient, in urging their general principles, to dwell with peculiar energy on the fuppofed oppreffiveness of tithes (which had been the pretext for the old White-boy infurrections). And it is obfervable, that in addition to the acts of violence ufually reforted to by the party, for the furtherance of their purposes, the ancient practice of burning the corn and houghing the cattle of thofe against whom their refentment was directed was revived, and very generally practised in thofe counties. With a view to excite the refentment of the Catholics, and to turn their resentment to the purposes of the party, fabricated and false tests were reprefented as having been taken to exterminate Catholics, and were induftrioufly diffeminated by the emiffaries of the treason throughout the provinces of Leinster, Munster, and Connaught.-Reports were frequently circulated amongst the ignorant of the Catholic persuasion, that large bodies of men were coming to put them to death. This fabrication, however extravagant and abfurd, was one among the many wicked means by which the deluded peafantry were engaged the more rapidly in the treafon. In addition to the above arts practifed to excite the people, and to turn local prejudices to the furtherance of their purpose, the party did not fail to avail themselves, to the fullest extent, of the most wicked and licentious abufe of the prefs. In the fummer of 1797, an infamous paper called the Union Star was privately printed and circulated, inculcating the principles of infurrection and affaffination in direct terms, and containing a defcription of thofe perfons by name (particularly magiftrates and fuch as had ferved on juries), who were to be held out to the party as objects of affaffination, on account of their active loyalty, or a confcientious difcharge of their duty. Towards the end of the fame year, a newfpaper called the 3 B 2 Prefs Prefs was established, lately published in the name of Mr. A. O'Connor, as proprietor thereof, who has admitted before your Committee, that he was for more than a year a member of the Executive Directory of the Irish Union, and who, as it appears to your Committee from various channels of information, was a most active and confidential leader of their treafon in its principal departments both at home and abroad, which conveyed periodical exhortations to all manner of outrage and infubordination. Every fpecies of mifreprefentation and fophiftry was made ufe of to vilify the government, to extend the Union, to shake the connexion with Great Britain, to induce the people to look to French affiftance, to exaggerate the force and numbers of the difaffected, and fyftematically to degrade the adminiftration of justice in all its departments. This paper, conducted on principles ftill more licentious than the Northern Star (which had contributed fo largely to the extenfion of treafon in the north), was diftributed throughout all parts of the kingdom, and, from the activity of its partifans, had immediately a more extenfive circulation than any paper long established. The measures thus adopted by the party completely fucceeded in detaching the minds of the lower claffes from their usual habits and pursuits, infomuch that, in the course of the autumn and winter of 1797, the peafantry in the midland and fouthern counties were fworn, and ripe for infurrection. Pikes were fabricated in fuch numbers, that in the fingle county of Kildare, in confequence of the measures adopted by Government, twelve thousand have been furrendered; and your Committee have every reafon to believe, that a ftill greater portion was retained: and that the preparation of arms in other counties by the difaffected was nearly as extenfive as the organization itself, will appear as well from the numbers feized in different parts of the kingdom, amounting in the whole to above one hundred and twenty-nine thousand of different defcriptions, as from the fact, that wherever the infurrection broke out, the mafs of the people were univerfally armed either with mufkets or pikes. While they were thus maturing their defign, and fecretly ac quiring the ftrength and confiftency of a revolutionary army, they omitted no artifice by which they could hope either to weaken or embarrass the government of the country. So early as the year 1792, the feduction of the foldiery made a part of their fyftem. They imagined that the feafon was now arrived for its accomplishment, and no means which wicked fubtlety could fuggeft were left unemployed. Printed papers were induftriously circulated amongst the privates and non-commiffioned officers, urging them to infubordination and revolt, and holding out the most tempting offers of preferment to fuch as fhould defert their colours. The atrocious crimes to which they were incited will best appear |