ly
supporting your opponent; and there is a scoundrel here who is often
closeted with him--a rascally painter named Easel, _quem ego_--you see
I have a little of my Latin still, my Lord. The fellow--this wild goose,
Easel, I mean--says he has come to the neighborhood to take sketches;
but if I don't mistake much I shall ere long put him in a condition to
sketch the Bay of Sidney. I have already reported him to government,
and, indeed, I have every reason to suppose he is a Popish Agent, sent
here to sow the seeds of treason and disaffection among the people.
Nothing else can account for the dreadful progress which Whiteboyism has
made upon your Lordship's property, where it is much more outrageous and
turbulent than in any other district that I am acquainted with. I have
also to acquaint you, my Lord, that even if I were disposed to keep
M'Loughlin and Harman on the property--that is, granting that I were
sufficiently treacherous to your interest to do so, it is now out of my
power. Their own dishonesty has at length fallen upon their heads. They
are bankrupts, and not now in a condition to pay a renewal fine for
their leases; but I am happy to inform your Lordship, that my son
Phil, and Mr. M'Slime, have each offered five hundred pounds for their
respective holdings--a tender which I might in vain expect from any
other quarter and which I cannot conscientiously refuse.

"Harman was acquitted for the murder of Harpur--in consequence, it is
thought, of a treacherous scoundrel, named Sharpe, who was once one of
our corps, having taken a bribe to give evidence in his favor. This same
Sharpe is to be a sergeant in Hartley's corps; and, when I say that,
Hartley and Harman are and have been on very intimate terms, I think
it shows how the wind blows between them, at all events. I have been
receiving rent yesterday and to-day, and cannot but regret the desperate
state to which things have been brought. There is no gettin' in
money, and the only consolation I feel is, that I have honestly and
conscientiously discharged my duty. I have cleared a great number of
our enemies from the property, but, unfortunately, such is the state
of things here, that there is the greater number of the holdings still
unoccupied, other tenants that we could depend on being afraid to enter
upon them, in consequence of the spirit of intimidation that is abroad.
This M'Loughlin is certainly a most consummate swindler: he was unable
to pay his rent, an