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# fthte ! aw « by magistrates , neither over zealous and too active on the one hand , nor too negligent and supine on the cither . Such , I do hope , is the true and actual state of your county ; for , Gentlemen , I have , I repeat it , no means of knowing the fact , except from the quantity of alleged crime , the number of persons charged , and the nature of those charges , as are set out in this calendar . But , why , Gentlemen , hpve I entered into this detail ? I answer , for these weighty and cogent reasons , because much exaggeration and misrepresentation have gone abroad 5 and the extent and causes of disturbances have
been much mis-stated . In what I now ay , or shall say , I do not impute any thing to any individual of this county . I will not meddle with its internal politics ; but this I know , that its
situation has been variously represented . Several advertisements in newspapers now before me —[ The Wexford Journals of last March and April ]—describe this county as being in a most alarming state of disturbance . Other
advertisements affirm , on the other hand , that the country has never enjoyed more profound tranquillity . These advertisements have been , I understand , republishcd in the prints of Dublin and London ; and have naturally excited strong sensations . It is not for me to inquire into the motives or' those opposite statements , f know them not . It is not
my intention—it is not my duty , to impute any particular motives to any individuals : but it is within the sphere of my public duty to state , for your instruction , what 1 have observed as tbe origin and grounds of similar reports and misrepresentations in other counties , whither the discharge of my
public duty has called me , and where I ha ^ e had judicial knowledge of what had passed . It may be not uninstructive to state what appeared to me to be the causes of those disturbance » , which have occasioned those misrepresenta tions and exaggerations ; together with the reasons which have impelled the legislature to swell the criminal code ,
smion after session , with new statutes , for vindicating the peace of this country . In my circuits through other parts of the kingdom , I have seen the lower orders of the people disturbed by many causes , not peculiar to any particular
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counties ; operating witfi more effect in some , but to a greater or less extent in all . I have seen them operating with extended effect in the nojrth west circuit in the counties of Mayo , Donegal , Derry , Roscommon , &c . &c . These effects have made a deep impression on my mind . My observations , certainly } have been those of an individual * , but of an individual seeing the same facts
corning before him . judicially , time after time—and 1 do now publicly state , that never , during the entire period of my judicial experience ( comprising sixteen circuits ) have I discovered or observed any serious purpose , or settled scheme , of assailing his majesty ' s
govern ment , or any conspiracy connected with internal rebels or foreign fots . But various deep-rooted and neglected CHUses producing similar effects throughout this country , have conspired to create the evils which really and truly do exist . First , the extraordinary rise of land , occasioned by the great and increasing
demand for the necessaries of life , and by producing large profits to the possessors of farms , excited a proportionate avidity for acquiring or Tenting lands * Hence extravagant rents have been bid for lands , without any great consideration ; and I have seen these two
circumstances operating upon each other , like cause and effect—the cause producing the effect j and the effect , by re-action , producing the cause . Next , we all know , that the country has been deluged by an enormous paper currency , which has generated a new crime , now prominent upon the list , in every calendar—the crime of making
and uttering forged bank notes In every province , we have seen private banks failing , and ruining multitudes , and thus have fresh mischiefs flowed from this paper circulation . In the next place , the country has seen a magittracy , over-active in some instances , and quite ' supine in others . This circumstance has materially affected the administration of the laws in Ireland .
In this respect I have found that thotfe societies , called Orange Societies have produced most mischievous effects ; and particularly in the North of Ireland . They poison the very fountains of justice 5 and even so me magistrates , under their influence , have , in too many instances , violated their duty and their oaths . I da not hesitate to * Hf ? thit
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Judge Fletcher s Charge . 5 ^ 3
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Sept. 2, 1814, page 583, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2444/page/59/
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