=Source.=—_Memoirs by Sir Robert Peel_, vol. ii., p. 302.
_Letter from Colonel Sir Charles O’Donnell to the Military
Secretary, Dublin._
CAVAN,
_June, 15, 1846_.
Upon the whole, outrages have probably decreased both in number and
in the seriousness of their character during the past period, and the
general state of most of the country above-mentioned (Cavan, Leitrim,
Roscommon, King’s County, Westmeath, and Longford) may be considered
tolerably peaceable; but in the wild parts of Leitrim and Roscommon,
and their adjacent districts, the state of things is not altogether so
satisfactory. Here Ribbonism is still in force; intimidation by means
of threatening notices and visits from armed and disguised “Molly
Maguires” is persevered in; waylaying, assaults, and robberies of arms
and money take place; and all these arising, for the most part, from
what is termed agrarian causes.
A man of the name of Donohue was, about the beginning of the month,
fired at in the open day in the neighbourhood of Killeshandra, by
several men, merely for having taken a farm in preference to another
person, whose relative had previously held it. This man is marked for
assassination, and will probably suffer.
A man and his wife, of the name of Tuthill, residing between Drummod
and Ushill, were, on the morning (early) of the 7th instant, visited
by a party of six men armed with guns and bayonets; and having beaten
the husband till he was senseless, they stripped his wife, and placed
her on her back over some fire which they raked out of the fireplace
for the purpose. This was also for the same agrarian cause; and so
intimidated are the sufferers that, although it is supposed they know
perfectly well the perpetrators of the offence, they refrain from
giving evidence.
Some few days ago, Bryan Kenny returning to Mullingar on a car, with
a labouring man, while passing some cottages and a public-house, was
fired at and wounded by a man who walked deliberately away unmolested
by several persons who witnessed the event. Sir John Nugent had
given Kenny some land, from which he had ejected another tenant for
non-payment of rent; and though Sir John had given the ejected tenant
compensation, and Kenny had paid him and taken a receipt for his
“goodwill in full,” the transaction was not considered satisfactory.
The day before yesterday, about 2 o’clock a.m., a party of nine or ten
persons, some of them armed, went to the house of John Hazard, residing
near Miltown. On gaining entry by force they wounded the man’s wife in
the breast with a sharp instrument, and then, dragging Hazard outside,
after beating him, endeavoured to induce him to swear he would not
accept a situation as herd, from which another man had been dismissed.
Petty robberies and depredations continue to be committed in many parts
of the country.
The Repeal movement goes on, but I have observed little energy with
regard to it of late. Dissensions and mistrust are apparent amongst the
members of this Association.
[NOTE.—“Repeal” at this time generally meaning
repeal of the Corn Laws, it should be remarked
that in the above paragraph it means Repeal of
the Union.]