Jan. 31, 1845,the proportionis 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 It will also be remembered that the Penal Laws were passed by the Irish Parliament and repealed by that of the United Kingdom.

Transcriber’s Notes

Punctuation and spelling were made consistent when a predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.

Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced quotation marks retained.

Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained; occurrences of inconsistent hyphenation have not been changed.

[Footnote 3], originally on page [5]: The day of the month was missing.

[Footnote 64], originally on page [178]: “M‘Culloch’s” was printed that way, with the right-curling apostrophe.