danger like the others; but all well in
sight of any destruction that might befall the officers of the law.
This house, No. 3, when last examined in June, was found vacant, door
not locked, but open, and used as a shelter for cattle. Finding it
locked now, X. detached the lock, pushed the door open, and he and I
and others went inside. The house was empty, but a pile of stones was
heaped up in the doorway, some of them had been displaced by the door
when opened, and the top of a box 6 in. square was seen embedded in a
barrel containing 25 lbs. of 'excellent gunpowder,' a bottle full of
sulphuric acid, and other explosives, as well as a number of
detonators, and the blade of a knife (apparently) with a spring
attached by a coil of string to the door, the machine being so
arranged as to be liable to explode in two ways. The expert who
examined the machine said that had the sulphuric acid been liberated,
as meant, all our party, twenty in all, must have been destroyed, as
there were enough explosives to destroy any living thing within 100
yards. Neither on that day, nor on the 22nd (date of sale) did either
the tenant or the Woodford leaders--R. and K.--utter one word of
surprise, much less of abhorrence!'
The tenant proceeded against (says Lord Clanricarde, owed four and
a-half years' rent, at L47 8s. per annum) much below the taxation
valuation of L67 19s., for a mill, with the sole use of the
water-power, a valuable privilege, and 440 statute acres, a
considerable part of them arable land. He had ten sub-tenants, was
reported to make L500 per annum from mill and farm, and though he had
removed part of his stock, there were still cattle on the land on the
day of eviction enough to cover two years' arrears. If he had paid
even those two years on account he would have received an abatement,
and saved his farm. The judge in Dublin who gave the decree against
him, gave also costs against him to mark his sense of the tenant's bad
conduct."
And to think that good, honest, noble-hearted, and sincere Englishmen,
who in their own persons are law-abiding, just, honourable, and
faithful, should uphold a state of things which strikes at the root of
all law, all commercial honesty--blinded as they are by the glamour of
a generous, unreal, and unworkable sentiment! If only they would go
over to Ireland to judge for themselves on the basis of facts, not
fancies--and to be informed by truths not lies!
I know that we cannot all s
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