Jan. 31, 1845, the proportion is one in 4¼
April 30, 1845, ” ” 3-1/12
July 31, 1845, ” ” 4⅖
Oct. 31, 1845, ” ” 5⅓
Jan. 31, 1846, ” ” 4
April 30, 1846, ” ” 3⅓
July 31, 1846, ” ” 8
Oct. 31, 1846, ” ” 19
Jan. 31, 1847, ” ” 54
April 30, 1847, ” ” 64
July 31, 1847, ” ” 42
Oct. 31, 1847, ” ” 12
The increase of agrarian crimes which has lately taken place, is more
connected with resistance to the payment of rents, than with opposition
to ejectments from the possession of land; and it has been almost
entirely confined to the counties of Tipperary, Clare, Limerick, and
Roscommon. Out of 195 crimes committed in the whole of Ireland in
October 1847, 139 were committed in Clare, Limerick, and Tipperary;
being 71 per cent. of the whole number, although the population of
these three counties is only 13 per cent. of the population of Ireland.
The districts in the north-west and south-west of Ireland, which
suffered most from the failure of the potato crop in 1845-6, were at
the same time remarkable for the absence of atrocious crimes.
[72] The manner in which the Clanmorris and Blessington properties,
and a portion of that belonging to the Cunningham family, have been
disposed of, are instances in point.
[73] Although we do not intend to excuse the system of the Penal Laws,
it is fair to mention, that these measures of restraint were considered
at the time to be necessary for the protection of the liberty and
religion of the country, and that they were imposed at the conclusion
of a desperate struggle, the renewal of which was for a long time a
source of serious apprehension. The battles of the Boyne, Enniskillen,
and Aughrim, the sieges of Londonderry and Limerick, and the critical
operations at Athlone, ushered in the Penal Laws, the real object
of which was to keep in check the great political party which had
arrayed itself on the side of the Stuarts and of their principles of
Government; and as the danger diminished, these Laws were gradually
relaxed until they were finally abolished by the Catholic Emancipation
Act in 1829. It will also be remembered that the Penal Laws were passed
by the Irish Parliament and repealed by that of the United Kingdom.