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RESPONSIBILITY NECESSARY.

anarchy, as certainly as an explosion would follow the application of a lighted firebrand to a barrel of gunpowder. They received very precise orders from the Government that they were not to prohibit these meetings, and therefore felt themselves relieved from the small sense of responsibility that they might otherwise have experienced. It is, at least, a fact that resident magistrates were not vested with any particular executive authority, by virtue of any rules, regulations, or Act of Parliament, over either the troops or the constabulary, beyond that which belonged to them as ordinary justices of the peace. As regards myself, having been sent specially to restore order in certain localities, though receiving no specific instructions or written authority, I assumed that all the forces of the Crown within my jurisdiction were at my disposal, and I acted accordingly. Had the presumption been an erroneous one, it was to little purpose charging me with the mission. In India, where I had received ten years' official

REINFORCEMENTS REQUIRED.

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training, the officer in charge of a district was responsible for the maintenance of order and general executive good government within it. Had such a system been in force in Ireland, we should not have had to deplore a long succession of civil disorders and abortive revolutions.

As a preliminary to the serious work which we were entering upon, it became necessary to ask for immediate reinforcements of constabulary; for there was no means at my disposal for asserting the law throughout the district, protecting life and property, or maintaining order. A detachment of infantry and a troop of the Army Transport Corps were also applied for. These in due course arrived, with six waggons, capable of carrying twenty men each; and it is to the mobility thus secured that is owed whatever success attended our efforts in this particular part of Ireland. There being no suitable accommodation for the troops in the town, a large country-house, the property of Mr Coote, and distant about

two miles from Kilmallock, was rented as a barrack. It was a handsome house, beautifully situated in extensive grounds. Some of the forty transport horses occupied the stables, and others were picketed in the vicinity under the trees, while the waggons were parked in the yard. The soldiers took possession of the large reception-rooms, and the officers lived in the dining-room. Mr Coote kindly reserved for my use the best bedroom, which, however, notwithstanding the proffered hospitality of the officers, I was unable to occupy more than once or twice.

I well recall my first impressions of Mount Coote. It was almost midsummer. The lake was but half hidden from view by the rich foliage of many trees. Swans gracefully glided upon the water, here and there attracting the eye. Beyond, the rooks had built their nests where the wood was thickest, and a large herd of cattle was browsing upon the green meadow. It was a peaceful, lovely spot, and strangely out of harmony with the daily scenes con

nected with a military occupation. It was a summer evening, and I was sitting under the spreading branches of some large tree by the lake, my escort of armed men close at hand. How strangely nature seemed to be outraged by man! The trees, the swans, the rooks, the fields, the fattened cattle, all seemed at peace and enjoying the blessings of God, while man alone was fiercely contending. The words of Bishop Heber—

"Where every prospect pleases,

And only man is vile ".

seemed, indeed, well suited to the time and place.

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THE LAW PUT IN FORCE.

CHAPTER VI.

THE LAW PUT IN FORCE-A LOCAL JUSTICE AND THE MOBBEHAVIOUR OF PEOPLE-PATROLLING BY TROOPS AND CONSTABULARY RESTITUTION OF PROPERTIES UNLAWFULLY SEIZED THE ORDINARY LAW-THE STRENGTH OF ITS ADMINISTRATION RESTS WITH MAGISTRATE-RELATIVE ADMINISTRATION BY JUDGES AND MAGISTRATE-EXAMPLES-BREAKDOWN IN TRIALS BY JURY-DENIS MURPHY'S CASE-NO RENT -EMERGENCY COMMITTEE AND PROPERTY DEFENCE ASSOCIATION MR GODDARD EVICTION SEIZURE OF CATTLEMURNANE'S CASE-HIS ADDRESS TO THE PRESS-THE LAW DEFEATED MURNANE REVISITED WITH MORE SUCCESS

SEIZURES AT BRUREE-COSTLY PRINCIPLES.

THERE was little time for reverie. Loyal men and rebels were both awaiting in anxiety the action it was believed would speedily follow the arrests. The first thing to be done was to bring to justice all those persons who had committed violent crime, and against whom up to date no proceedings had been instituted. Informations were taken against the ringleaders in those serious riots that had