The Land-War in Ireland: A History for the TimesGodkin, James
History
The Land-War in Ireland: A History for the Times
Godkin, James
Ireland -- Economic conditions; Land tenure -- Ireland
The officer who commanded the military force in Clare during the
election, testified, as the result of his observation there, that,
even in the constabulary and the army, the sympathies of a common
cause, political and religious, could not be altogether repressed,
and that implicit reliance could not long be placed on the effect of
discipline and the duty of obedience. On July 20, Lord Anglesea wrote
as follows:--
'We hear occasionally of the Catholic soldiers being ill-disposed, and
entirely under the influence of the priests. One regiment of infantry
is said to be divided into Orange and Catholic factions. It is certain
that, on July 12, the guard at the castle had Orange lilies about
them.' On July 26, the viceroy wrote another letter, from which the
following is an extract:--'The priests are using very inflammatory
language, and are certainly working upon the Catholics of the army.
I think it important that the depôts of Irish recruits should be
gradually removed, under the appearance of being required to join
their regiments, and that whatever regiments are sent here should be
those of Scotland, or, at all events, of men not recruited from the
south of Ireland. I desired Sir John Byng to convey this opinion to
Lord Hill.'
Emancipation was carried, and the people were disaffected still.
And why should they not be disaffected still? Emancipation had
done nothing for them. The farmers were still at the mercy of the
landlords, whose pride they humbled at the hustings of Clare and
Waterford. They were still tormented by the tithe-proctor seizing the
tenth of all that their labour produced on the land. The labourers
were still wretched, deprived of the forty-shilling freehold, which
protected them from the horrors of eviction and of transportation in
a floating hell across the Atlantic. I well remember the celebrated
anti-tithe war in 1831, as well as the system by which it was
provoked, and I can bear witness to the accuracy of the following
description of the tithe-proctor by Henry Grattan. He said:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account