Anglo-Celt
Published in Cavan, county Cavan
May 3, 1850
THE TENANT RIGHT MOVEMENT
The agitation for Tenant Right is making rapid strides. Men of every rank and creed are beginning to see that the "vexata questio" must be settled before the country can hope for anything like peace. Sir William Somerville's Bill, now under legislative discussion, gives singular dissatisfaction to all the parties who will be more immediately affected by its provisions. Some landlords resist it on the ground that it is an unwarrantable interference with the rights of private property; and the tenant farmers, particularly of the North, strenuously oppose it, because while it recognises the justice of the tenants' claims in the abstract, it goes far to bar those claims in reality. We have already criticised this bill, and need not refer to it at great length now further than to remark, that it seems to have given a strong impetus to the agitation which it was meant to allay.
APPOINTMENT OF HIGH CONSTABLES
A special sessions was held at Cavan Court-house on Monday, the 29th day of April 1850, for the purpose of appointing High Constables for the Baronies of Lower Loughtee and Tullyhaw in this county.
Magistrates present--Theophilus THOMPSON, Esq., and Abraham BRUSH, Esq.
Mr. William Nixon MORTON was appointed for the Barony of Lower Loughtee. Sureties--Mr. Francis EBBETT, Drumgart; Mr. C. NIXON, Kiltyglasson.
Mr. Moses NETTERFIELD was appointed for the Barony of Tullyhaw. Sureties--Mr. Francis FINLAY. Cornagh; Mr. James KELLS, Ballyconnell.
THE LATE MRS. CLEMENTS--Died on Saturday last, 27th April, at Ashfield, near Cootehill, Louisa, relict of the late Colonel CLEMENTS, and daughter of the late Colonel STEWART of Killymoon, after a long residence in that neighbourhood, and after fulfilling in the most exemplary manner all the duties of a wife and mother, and adorning by her piety, her virtue, and her elegant and polished manner, the circle in which she was placed. She was suddenly and unexpectedly called away from her sorrowing, afflicted children and family, after an illness of only six days. The deep affliction and bereavement of herself and her children on the death of the late Colonel CLEMENTS, as well as her impaired health, compelled her to seek relief and change in a short sojourn on the Continent, but she returned a few years ago, with a heart yearning and anxious for the happiness and comfort her tenantry and of all others, her dependents, at a period of the most severe trial and destitution. Her charities were free from ostentation, and her munificence was boundless--but she possessed the most eminent of all charity, that described by St. Paul, 1st Cor. 13th chapter--she could judge or think ill of no one. To her family and the immediate circle of poor in her neighbourhood her loss is irreparable, and will be long and keenly felt by all who knew her.
ACCOUCHMENT OF THE QUEEN.--On Wednesday, the 24th April, at twenty minutes past eight o'clock, her Majesty was safely delivered of a son, at Buckingham Palace. "The Sovereign and baby are both doing well."
MARRIAGES
In London, on the 28th ult., Michael TEEVAN, Esq., Surgeon of Glocester-road, Hyde Park, to Frances, only child and heiress of the late William WATTON, Esq., of Shirley and of Woodside, in the county of Surrey.
On the 30th ult., in the Presbyterian church at Cremore, by the Rev. Gondy ROSS (brother-in-law to the bride), Mr. Alexander MacDONALD, head master of the district model school, Bailieborough, county of Cavan, to Susan, third daughter of Daniel C. M'CLURE, Esq., Millmount, Port-norris, County of Armagh.
DEATHS
On Monday, the 29th April, at the Royal School, Cavan, Susanna, relict of the late Rev. John MOORE--faithful in life and triumphant in death--she fell asleep in Jesus, at the advanced age of 78 years.
At Rathmines, Dublin, on the 2nd inst., Henry MAUDSLEY, Esq., formerly of Cavan, ex-officer of Exice, 78 years.
May 10, 1850
MILITARY PROMOTIONS
War-Office, May 35th Regiment of Foot - Lieut. Joseph W. T. Dickson has been allowed to retire from the service by the sale of his commission.
16th Foot - Surgeon Henry C. Reade, from 76th Foot, to be surgeon, vice Hamilton, deceased.
25th Foot - Ensign Wm. R. Goodall, from the 62nd Foot, to be ensign, vice Lane, deceased.
51st Foot - Lieut. James E. Goodwin, to be captain, by purchase, vice Taylor, who retires; Ensign Charles Yelverton Balgay (?) to be lieutenant, by purchase, vice Goodwin.
62nd Foot - Ensign Henry Bridges, from the 44th Foot, to e ensign, vice Goodall, appointed to the 25th Foot.
69th Foot - Lieut. William George Daniel has been allowed to retire from the service by the sale of his commission.
87th Foot - Lieut. Charles James Perry, from the t3rd Foot, to be paymaster, vice W. D. Bedford, who has retired upon half-pay.
BAILIEBOROUGH
The first censuses, however, in 1814 and 1821, erroneously surveying the whole ecclesiastical parish as Bailieborough, reported its population in the first year as 5,456, in the latter as 18,480. The last census of 1841 gives the total population of Bailieborough (including the town) distinct as 6,984; only 279 of whom it represents as engaged in manufactures.
Mr. William Brooke, the father of Henry Brooke, whom I spoke of in my fifth letter, was in the commencement of the eighteen century, Incumbent of Moybologue, in connection with whose old church Henry Brooke has left an interesting meditation: "In the year 1780" he writes, "a particular friend paid a visit to this church; he did not expect to meet with anything in it beyond that of any other country church-yard which had sunk under the silent touches of time, but was astonished at the number of monuments which the affection of the living had raised to the memory of the dead. Some of them, it is true, were very rude and some of them very frail, but others were of black marble, with inscriptions that would not disgrace the pages of a Parr or a Naugerius (?). Many of these inscriptions were in the old Gothic character, and did credit to the chisel. Mr. Sheridan, who lived all his life in a little solitary cottage adjoining the church-yard, accompanied the gentleman. He was ninety years of age and, if the conversation of this venerable old man affords the reader as much pleasure as it afforded the traveller, it will render any apology unnecessary for repeating the heads of it in this place.
Traveller. I believe you may be called the patriarch of this parish.
(Some of your Cavan readers may be able to identify the village Syndie(?).)
Sheridan. In point of age I think I may. I was born in it, I was bred in it. Father Gargon taught Latin in a corner of that church at the age of eighty. I read Livy under him, and can repeat some of the speeches at this time. We had no translation of the classics in those days.
Traveller. The Latin tongue was then highly cultivated, I believe, even in the remotest parts of Ireland.
Sheridan. It formed almost the whole of our education; the very shepherd could speak Latin.
Traveller. But you don't appear to have paid any attention to your native tongue, the Irish. Sheridan. We had many who excelled in the study of the Irish language too.
Traveller. I see no epitaphs or inscriptions here in that language.
Sheridan. Yes, there were many, but they have been effaced. Many tombstones too have sunk into the ground; what you see is only of modern date.
Traveller. It is a pity that some one did not copy these inscriptions.
Sheridan. That would have shown the triumph of letters over death and time. You see the very stones decay and sink into their graves; time consumes all - the ashes and the urn; if they even were transcribed who would read them? An Irishman won't read what an Irishman writes; and as to foreigners, I may exclaim with the old Irish Priest in Rome, Nobis ex Hibernia vix bbutyrum pinguescit. But I love this lonely place; in my boyish days I could not be tempted to forsake it. My ancestors for generations sleep in that churchyard. I take my morning and my evening walk in it; it is my library; I dress the graves of those that are neglected by their heirs. It is a very old burying-place, and contains, perhaps more Milesian dust than all the rest of the kingdom put together; it covers, too, the remains of those who have gone into foreign countries in pursuit of fortune and science, but their memories will soon be forgotten. One of our best poets reposts in that corner.
Traveller. What age was he when he died?
Sheridan. About six and twenty. I saw him a few hours before he died. To say that he was resigned would be too cold a term; he spoke of his approaching dissolution with the gaiety of a man who is setting out of a fine morning to visit friends whom he had not seen for many years. Who might this native poet have been? The writer himself of these, unhappily too well-merited, reflections, died within three years after the date assigned to these 'meditations in the tombs.'
Under the provisions of the Acts of Settlement and Explanation, the impropriate tithes of this parish were settled on Patrick Maxwell, then incumbent of Moybolgue, and his successors for ever. Of the transmission of the estate, it must here suffice to say, that in 1814 almost all this Ulster section of the parish was sold by the then proprietor to a descendant of that Sir Peter Young, who conjointly with George Buchanan, conducted the education of the shrewd monarch that devised the Plantation. Sir James Young, the eldest son of that Sir Peter, had at the same time a royal grant for 1,000 acres in the county Longford, while his second son, another Peter, having purchased Auldbar in Scotland, became the founder of the Youngs of that ilk. A descendant of his, the Rev. John Young, married a daughter of the Earl of Douglas, and afterwards settled in Ulster, where he acquired considerable estates, by exchange with the Earl of Aberdeen for an equivalent in the land of his birth. Thomas Young, the fourth in descent from the Rev. John, inherited from his own father the property of Lough Esk, in the County of Donegal, a recovery deed of which is in my possession. This eldest son, another Thomas, married the daughter of the Rev. Arthur Forde, a collateral kinsman of the Fordes of Seaforde, and descended alike with them from that Elias Forde, of Moreton, to whom, as recorded in 'Prince's Worthies of Devon,' William de Mandeville, whether in consideration of his accompanying him to the Holy Land, or for some other reason gave a parcel of land in Moreton-Hamstead near Dartmore, in Devonshire, whereof he was seised in the days of Henry II. The second son of Thomas Young the elder was the Rev. John Young of Eden, county Armach, and he was the father of Wm. Young, the late proprietor of Ballieborough, created a baronet in 1821, and by whose residence and constant supervision this town and its vicinage so greatly improved from his acquisition of the estate.
The town stands pleasantly on a streamlet, that flows into the Blackwater on the road from Kingscourt to Cavan, it has stirring markets, to which approaches from every side by excellent roads mainly contribute. Its area is 10 acres, and its population was returned in 1831 as 1,085, increased in the census of 1841 to 1,203, of which 119 are stated to be employed in manufactures. The number of its houses is 179, erected in one long street, several three storeys in height; while the public buildings comprise a church, contiguous to which are 171 acres of glebe, a Roman Catholic chapel, a court-house, a union workhouse, and two inns. The surface of the parish, though party upland, contains much arable land, which, while generally considered too feeble for wheat, is very fertile in oats and potatoes. Such hills as occur through it are of moderate height, and all pasturable. Bog for turbary is so equally diffused as to be found in almost every farm One stream comes in from mountains neighbouring in the east, and traverses the parish south westward, on its way to the Blackwater, into which it flows, near Moynalty, and another enters it from Eniskeen, and runs across the parish westward, on its way to Lough ramor, which from the town in its vicinity may be styled Virginia-water; loughlets or turns are numerous, and one lake within the demesne of Sir John Young (the present possessor of the property and one of the representatives of the county) presents features of considerable beauty.
Within three miles of the town is situated the spa or medicated water of Lough Sheagh, on the ridge of the mountain, Slieve Mundorn, whose soil and surface are of the spurious red-bog and healthy character; under the bog is white gravel. This tarn is not more than 100 yards in circumference, and about 14 feet in depth throughout; the water is of a brownish tincture, has no scum on it, nor any visible outlet. Dr. Rutty considered the spa as little more than spring and river water impregnated by the turfy channel which it washes, or in which it stagnates, but admits it had acquired no small reputation in the aid of scrofulous and cutaneous disorders. The discovery of its efficacy was, like that of Bath-water, suggested by its previous sanitary effect upon the brute creation; and in 1736, it is recorded in a letter to Dr. Josiah West, then Bishop of Kilmore, that a vast concourse obtained relief here, and "those, going away healed, encouraged multitudes afflicted with all kinds of evil to resort to it, in so much that it has been crowded all the summer like the pool of Bethesda; many tents are erected for the convenience of those who resort to it, who are seldom less than 200 or 300 in a day." This writer enumerates various cures that were then effected; and appeals to the testimony of the incumbents of Ballieborough, Ballyhaise, &c. In that year, says Rutty, many came from England to it as an infallible remedy, and very much of the water was exported for these purposes. The hill above this little lough is 1,116 feet in height, being the greatest elevation in the district, and affording an extensive view of the diversified country that surrounds it.
Your's truly,
JOHN D'ALTON
48, Summer-hill, Dublin
BIRTHS
May 1, at Caledon, county Tyrone, the Countess of Caledon, of a daughter.
May 1, at Victoria-terrace, Royal Canal, the lady of William Holmes BATT, Esq., of a son.
May 3, at Rathmines, the lady of Michael CORCORAN, Esq., of a son.
May 3, at Blessington-street, Dublin, the lady of Arthur G. CODD, Esq., of a son.
MARRIAGES
On the 2nd inst., in Philipstown Church, by the Rev William LITTLE, William ROBINSON, Esq., of Ballyconnell, to Martha, eldest daughter of the late William ELLIS, Esq., of Philipstown.
May 4, Mr. John COOGAN, officer of excise to Mary Teresa, second daughter of Captain BISHOP, of Gore's-bridge, county of Kilkenny.
May 1, in Lurgan Church, the Rev. Robert SEWELL, Methodist Minister, of Cork, to Jane, eldest daughter of the Rev. Wm. HERBERT, of Lurgan.
May 1, in Stranoriar Presbyterian Church, the Rev. John Porter DICKEY, of Carnone, county Antrim, to Anne Jane, only daughter of the Rev. James STEELE, of Stranoriar, same county.
DEATHS
On the 5th inst., at Cranaghan Glebe, Ballyconnell, Rev. John FRITH, Rector of the parish of Tomregan.
May 3, Catherine, wife of Sir Eward (sic) STANLEY.
May 3, John SYMS, Esq., of Ballina, county Mayo.
May 2, James BURY, Esq., T.C.
May 2, at Clifton, Frances Altha Maria, fourth daughter of the late John HAMILTON, Esq., of Grove, county Meath.
May 17, 1850
COOTEHILL PETTY SESSIONS - May 18.
(From a Correspondent)
Magistrates present - John Wilcocks, Esq., R.M.; C. J. Adams, Esq.; Lucas Clements, Esq., in the chair.
The Right Hon. Richard William Earl of Annesley, v. Mathew Corkan and Rose Corkan, his wife.
This was a prosecution at the suit of his lordship, instituted by Mr. W. A. Moore, his lordship's uncle and land agent, who occupied a seat on the bench beside the magistrates, against the defendants (poverty-stricken looking creatures) for taking forcible possession of a house at Doohassan, on the 5th April, and an assault upon Robert Argue, one of his lordship's bailiffs at same place, on the 14th inst.
Mr. John Armstrong of Cavan, one of his lordship's local attorneys, appeared on his behalf, and in an address to the bench, lavished a most glowing eulogium upon Mr. Moore, for his kind, tender, and considerate disposition, being always anxious to ameliorate the condition of the tenantry over whom he was placed as agent. He (Mr. Armstrong) then proceeded to dilate in equally glowing terms upon the enormity of the offence, with which the defendants stood charged, which if not checked (said he) by the strong arm of the law, property, would become valueless, and the observance of all law and order set at nought, and eventually lead to the disruption of society; he therefore called upon the bench to visit the violators of the law in such cases with the most exemplary punishment.
Mr. Wilcocks interposed, and said that the bench could not further permit him (Mr. Armstrong) to address it in that strain, but that he must confine himself to a statement of the facts of the case, as they (the magistrates) did not intend to deal summarily with it, but merely in their ministerial capacity.
Mr. Armstrong - Very well, your worship. He then stated the case of his noble client, and produced and examined as witnesses, Denis McCabe, sheriff's bailiff, Robert Argue and Edward Davis, his lordship's bailiffs, from whose testimony the following appeared to be briefly the facts of the case: - The defendant, Mathew Corkan, occupied a farm in the townland of Doohassan, which is situate upon midway between Cootehill and Cavan, under a middleman, who having died some years ago, his interest in said townland became vested in his widow against whom Mr. Moore, on behalf of his lordship (Lord Annesley) obtained a civil bill ejectment decree, which was executed on the 14th March last, when the defendants were turned out of possession, but on taking that of their dwelling-house, they (the bailiffs) left a portion of their furniture - a deal corner cupboard - still remaining in it, and there being no lock on the door, they put a little boy into it, who fastened it inside with a frail wooden bolt or bar, and having taken him out through a window they (the bailiffs) after having partaken of a quantum sufficit of mountain dew! Went away, and the defendant not having any place of shelter for himself and his unfortunate wife and children, at that inclement season of the year, went back again into possession - conceiving that as a portion of his furniture, the corner cupboard, remained in the house, his eviction was incomplete - and on Mr. Moore having ascertained that the defendants were still in the house, he (on the 15th April) proceeded there, accompanied by his said bailiffs, Argue and Davis, as also a near neighbour of defendant, of the name of Mulligan, thinking the prestige of his (Mr. Moore's) presence would, along with the force he brought with him, be sufficient to induce him (defendant) to give up the possession without the attendance of a sheriff or one of his officers, but in this he was mistaken. His bailiffs then resorted to force, but the unfortunate defendant and his wife and children having no asylum save the workhouse to receive him and them resisted; and in the melee, some very trifling assault was sworn by Davis (one of the bailiffs) to have been committed by defendant Matthew Corkan, upon Robert Argue, for which the magistrates decided upon taking informations, and send it (the case) for trial to the ensuing quarter sessions of Bailieborough; but were of opinion that the charge for taking forcible possession had not been proved, but said that Mr. Moore might go and retake possession with a strong hand if he thought fit.
DEATHS
On the 8th day of this month, in Pullamore, near this town, Sarah, the beloved wife of John M'NALLY, national teacher, immediately after her accouchment, leaving a bereaved husband and ten children, including her new-born babe, to deplore her departure. Full of hope in her Creator's mercy and her Redeemer's merits, she resigned her spirit in full assurance of eternal rest.
On the 8th instant, at Drumbannon Cottage, Bailieborough, the residence of his brother, the Rev. Wm. BELL, Richardson BELL, Esq., aged 68 years.
May 24, 1850
The emigration from the United Kingdom during the ten years ending the 31st December, 1846, amounted to 856,320 persons, giving an average of 85,639 emigrants a year. During the year 1849 the emigration had reached the unparralled (sic) number of 299,498 persons, of which number 260,817 to North American; 519,450 went to the United States, and 41,367 to British North America. The commissioners estimate that 1849, exclusive of cabin passengers, in 1,743,500£ was expended on emigration, of which only 228,700£ was paid out of public funds, leaving more than 1,500,000£ as the probably amount provided out of private or parochial.
SUICIDE.- On Sunday last, in the middle of the day, a police constable names James Clyde, deliberately walked down the banks of the river Glyde, Ardee, and having come to a deep part of the stream and divested himself of his belts, cap, &c., he plunged into the water, and was drowned ere he could be rescued. The cause of this rash act was his hearing from Sub-Inspector Caulfield, of Louth, on that morning, that he had been dismissed from the force for some irregular conduct. He was about fifty years of age, and has left a family after him.
- Drogheda Argus
BIRTH
At St. John's, the lady of the Hon. Francis Brady, Chief Justice of Newfoundland, of a daughter.
MARRIAGES
On the 23rd inst., at the resident of her uncle, W. Babington, Esq., Baggot-street, Dublin, by the Rev. Dr. O'Connell, Thomas, eldest son of John Reilly, Esq. of Derrygarra-House, Butlersbridge to Sarah, youngest daughter of the late Thos. McFadden, M.D. of Cavan.
May 16, at Monkstown Church, by the Rev. Richard Radcliff, Rector of Skryne, Thomas H. Johnson, of Ballymacash, county Antrim, Esq. to Isabella, oungest daughter of Samuel Garnett, of Somersetseat, county Meath. Esq.
DEATHS
At Kingscourt, county Cavan, aged 89 years, Henry Dinning, Esq., medical officer to the fever hospital in that town. Director Dining was in life beloved, in death respected.
May 16, in Rostrevor, Miss Wallace of Downpatrick.
The Belfast News-Letter states that the linen trade of Ireland has never been in a more thriving condition than at present.
Advertisement extraordinary
MATRIMONIAL AGENCY
The Advertiser having seriously considered the various causes which have preinduced and occasioned many persons of both sexes to lead a dreary and disconsolate life of celibacy - although possessing every requisite to render the married state happy and felicitous, so far as wealth, station, mental and physical capabilities and accomplishments could be conducive to that desirable object - he has after mature and due deliberation (notwithstanding that he is aware that he will have to encounter in his arduous undertaking many obstacles through the ignorant and narrow-minded prejudices of many well-thinking people), arrived at the conviction, that he had discovered, at least, a partial remedy for this crying evil; for it must be admitted that it is a very serious evil to any well-regulated state or community, notwithstanding the rhapsodies of Miss Martinneau and other writers on Political Economy of that class, for
"Kings and princes may flourish and may fade,
A breath can make them as a breath hath made,
But a useful population, a nation's pride,
If its increase be checked can never be supplied."Indeed it would be futile to dilate on the benefits that society would derive from a proper and well-digested plan, which would have the effect of enabling over-bashful Ladies and Gentlemen to contract appropriate marriages through the medium of a discreet, intelligent, and honorable agent. And in accordance with those ideas the following is the plan that has suggested itself to him, which he will immediately put into operation, provided he shall be encouraged so to do, by a discriminating and discerning public, who may rely on his observing the strictest and most honorable silence, on such confidential communications as he may be honored with, by such Ladies and Gentlemen for facilitating appropriate and (it is to be hoped) happy marriages, or by the parents, guardians, and other near relatives of young Ladies and Gentlemen who may be also desirous of forming such connections for them, and so to establish them in life.
1st - To open Registry Books - one for the Ladies and the other for the gentlemen - in which the age, size, general health, appearance, personal attractions, in short their tour ensemble acquirements and accomplishments, also their personal or other defects (if any), connections, fortunes and expectations of acquisitions to fortunes, professions (if any), religion, standing in society, manners and disposition (so far as same can be ascertained) of both Ladies and Gentlemen, together with their future prospects in life, are to be set forth and detailed in the most correct and accurate manner, without mentioning the names or residence of the parties, or their connections, so as to prevent the possibility of the identity of either being discovered or surmised with any degree of certainty, to be submitted for the inspection of each Lady and Gentleman who shall have been registered alternately, and such particulars of each candidate for the matrimonial state (having regard to the strictest propriety and delicacy) will be published in the newspapers weekly.
2ndly - A Private Registry, in which the real name and address of each Lady and Gentleman, &c., so to be entered, is to be kept, which is to be inaccessible and inviolate, and the name of parties are not on any account to be disclosed to any person or persons, what or whomsoever, or even to each other, without the full consent and approbation of each, and all written correspondence will be carried on between the parties at least in the first instance, by the agent for which he is to be remunerated at their will and pleasure.
Fees. - A sum of £1 is to be paid to the Agent by each Lady and Gentleman, on making an entry for them in the Registry, to defray the expense of advertising, &c., &c., and 2-1/2 per cent. to be charged by him on the fortunes of both Lady and Gentleman on the completion of a marriage.
Communications from principals only, with real signatures, addressed to "J. K. L., Matrimonial Agent, Post-office Cootehill," (pre-paid and marked private and confidential,) will receive marked attention and an immediate reply.
N. B. - Respectable reference will be given and required in the first instance, to prevent the possibility of hoaxing, without which requisite, no communications will be attended to.
Follow-up to the Matrimonial Ad.
"Matrimonial Advertisement" - In another part of the paper will be found an advertisement under this novel head - novel, at least so far as our columns are concerned. The advertisement has been in our office for some weeks, but we did not feel ourselves justified in giving it insertion until we consulted a couple of gentlemen whose peculiar office it is to watch over the morals of youth. Their opinion was in favour of its publication with one or two emendations, which have been made. Lest the foregoing remarks would be considered as injuriously reflecting on the party advertising, we conceive it due to him to state that he is respectable and trustworthy.
CAVAN CALIFORNIA - A number of poor persons, when searching for bones a few days ago, were led by chance to dig a little under the surface, on the Fallows-hill (the fair-green) which overhangs this town, and to their surprise and astonishment found a great number of bones and also some old coins, &c; this induced, a "digging" which has been followed up perseveringly by increasing numbers for the last few days, and a number of ancient relics discovered. More may yet be found as it is not improbable that there was a fortress near this locality at one period of our history; a bloody battle having been fought there at another period will account for the number of bones found.
THE FLAX CROP. - A great breadth of land is under flax this year in this county. Mr. Clarke of Bailleborough has sold upwards of £200 worth of seed to the farmers in the vicinity of that town and of Cootehill.
May 31, 1850
OLDCASTLE UNION - May 24
The board met at eleven o'clock. The following guardians were present: Anthony O'Reilly, Esq., J.P., D. L. (in the chair); W. Blaynet Wade, Esq., J.P.; Thos. Battersby, Esq., J.P.; Edward Plunket, Esq.; Robert H. Battersby, Esq.; Edward Rotheram, Esq., J.P.; John Muldoon, Esq.; S. A. Reynell, Esq., J.P.; J. W. Harman, Esq.; Michael Muldoon, and Michael Seery, Esqrs.; Messrs. Morrow, Brady, Fitzsimmons, John Love, and Peter Smith.
A conversation took place relative to the "sprigging" carried on in the workhouse. It seems that the sprigging was put up to competition some time ago. There were two candidates; one of whom got the contract. Since that, the unsuccessful candidate has been supplying the paupers with work, which was introduced clandestinely by them into the workhouse, and on being finished they were paid for their labour, which payment they retained to themselves. Some of the guardians suggested that all such work found in the house should be confiscated, while others insisted that the paupers doing it should be discharged and sent to earn their own subsistence out of doors. The latter opinion prevailed, and an order was made to that effect.
The officers' reports were then read. The master reported that the new milk supplied by the contractor was from 50 to 75 per cent. short of its proper quantity, and that the buttermilk was also very bad.
Samples were exhibited, which bore out the master's complaint.
The master stated that on bad milk being sent in, and rejected by him, he was then forced to send round the country to purchase other milk for the consumption of the house; a practice which caused great confusion and irregularity, beside additional expense.
A guardian suggested that the contract should be broken and another be entered into; which other guardians resisted, on the ground that that was all the contractor wanted, as he considered the contract was not a profitable one.
Mr. Plunket did not think the contractor wished to break his bargain; but it was sometimes difficult to procure a sufficient supply, and then he was obliged to purchase from others what made up the deficiency.
After some discussion, the master was desired, whenever the milk sent in was bad, to reject it and procure more in its place, charging the contractor with the difference in price.
The master suggested that the present dead-house, being inconveniently situated, should be transformed into a store for holding lime and tools, and that another dead-house should be erected in the "male yard," which could be done for a trifling outlay.
The suggestion was favourably received by the board.
A conversation ensued about the bread, from which it appeared there was a considerable saving on having it baked in the house.
COUNTY OF CAVAN MEDICAL CHARITIES
We beg to call the attention of our readers to the judicious and humane arrangement by which the county fever hospital is presented to the public in the shape of a self-supporting institution for the treatment of disease. We are certain that the industrious and respectable classes of small farmers, tradesmen, &c., will find, as they ought, most grateful to the gentlemen who have in such a disinterested manner retained an admirable institution for their benefit - an institution open to any member of their family afflicted with the epidemic, on compliance with resolution 8. - (See report of meeting.)
The twelfth resolution must be most grateful to the feelings of Doctor Halpin, as it was unanimously passed at a meeting presided over by a bishop eminent for charity, and attended by gentlemen and clergy who have had a full opportunity of forming an estimate of his professional and private worth, and official attention and integrity, during the greater part of twenty years. Such an expression of opinion is the highest reward which can be given to unostentatious charity, zealous devotion to the cause of suffering humanity, and an upright honest discharge of public duty.
To The Editor of the Anglo-Celt.-
Sir - I have just seen, in your paper of the 24th instant, a trial at the Cootehill petty sessions, reported by a correspondent - The Right Hon. Richard Williams, Earl of Annesley, v. Mathew Courken and Rose Courken, his wife - in which the defendants are described as "poverty-stricken looking creatures," and as the article proceeds, this very imperfectly informed correspondent endeavours to excite public sympathy by asserting that "the defendant not having any place of shelter for himself, his unfortunate wife and children, at that inclement season of the year, &c.," with further observations calculated to give a most extenuated view of the case, as regards the defendants, and also unjustly to imply harshness and severity on the part of Lord Annesley's agent. Excepting, perhaps, his father, Mr. James Armstrong, no person could be more fully competent than Mr. John Armstrong to state the facts of the case, those respectable solicitors having acted for the last ten years for the widow lady, who during that period held the intermediate position between Lord Annesley and the Courkens - three brothers of that name occupying under her the greater part of Doohassan; they were heavily in arrear when she first began to look into their recounts, and with the simplicity and generosity of a person wholly inexperienced in such matters she for some years permitted them to get still deeper in her debt - always herself paying the head-rent most punctually. The writer of this article kept her books for eight years, and is perfectly assured as to the accuracy of this statement. At length it became obvious that the Courkens would not pay rent, and after various vexations and expensive civil bills (the decrees on which never produced any good effect, so adroit were the defendants in conveying their property out of reach), as a last resource, ejectments were resorted to, and this greatly worried lady was obliged, so frequently as five or six times, to attend, personally, the sessions at Cootehill and Bailieborough for though she obtained ejectment decrees against John and Owen Courken they afterwards re-entered into possession. Matthew's attorney raised a point, that his client had not pulled the thatch off his house, or extinguished his fire, and so procured a dismiss. This, upon manifold subterfuges, occurred so often as at three successive trials. It would be a waste of your columns, and very uninteresting to the public, to detail how many subsequent trials have taken place; but after John and Owen Courken had been paid for giving up possession, and their houses taken down, Mathew retook possession of the entire farm (as originally occupied by the three brothers), cropped it season after season, and enjoyed the produce, still continuing to do so until again ejected by Lord Annesley - that ejectment having been brought at the express solicitation of the long-defrauded widow to whom the Courkens owe an arrear of £971, 10s. 9-1/2d. up to November 1847. Further than that date the gentlewoman never calculated a debt which she had no expectation of recovering; but instead of deriving a small profit she has been a loser, not only by litigation and paying head rent, but also county cess, poor and labour rates for those tenants who, though nominally ejected, were actually in possession. The lady holds receipts from Mr. Bowden, Mr. Topham, Mr. McCabe, Mr. Conaty, and other collections for taxes paid by her under the impression that those Courkens had given up possession several years ago; nevertheless, Matthew has been in full enjoyment of both house and land, up to the recent trial at Cootehill. In proof of the extreme lenity with which he has been treated it should be known that though the final ejectment decree was taken out at the summer sessions, 1849, he was permitted to remain in undisturbed possession for more than seven months subsequently, before any steps were taken to dislodge him. So you will perceive, sir, how very incorrect your correspondent's information is, and in justice to all parties concerned, I hope you will insert this accurate statement of the simple facts in your next publication.
MURDER OF A MAGISTRATE AND LAND-AGENT IN ARMAGH
A fearful murder was committed on the 23rd inst. in the county Armagh. The cause appears to have originated in a landlord and tenant dispute. The Monaghan Standard gives the following particulars:-
"A gentleman of the name of R. L. Mauleverer, Esq., agent to the Tipping estate, left McDonald's hotel, Crossmaglen, on one of his (McDonald's) cars, for the one o'clock train passing Culloville, and in the course of ten or fifteen minutes the driver returned with the awful intelligence that Mr. Mauleverer had been murdered. Some of the inhabitants, proceeding to the place of brutal outrage (about threequarters of a mile from Crossmaglen), found the unfortunate gentleman lying in his blood. His skull was completely torn open, and his head cut as if with a spade or chisel; lived for about twenty minutes, quite insensible, and then expired. He was a young man of gentlemanly appearance, and of a kind disposition, and had given no provocation whatever for such an awful deed, but on the contrary, had neither ejected nor sued tenantry for rent, but spent the last week in laying off free bog for their accommodation."
The Evening Mail has a letter from Crossmaglen which says:- "The driver states that Mr. Mauleverer was shot from behind a hedge, but that cannot be true, there being only a low stone fence at the place; and from the circumstance of his head being greatly fractured, it seems more probable that he was murdered with a spade, or some such instrument. The sole object of this great crime appears to have been the gratification of revenge."
The following appears in letter from Crossmaglen, in the Freeman's Journal:- "The place where this dreadful deed was committed seemed to have been well-selected by the assassin, being in a lonely village, behind a rock, and at a considerable distance from any dwelling-house. The deceased had been engaged of late in causing notices to quit to be served on the tenants of E. Tipping and ____ Hamilton, Esqrs., as also in seizing for rents and arrears. At the Crossmaglen petty sessions on Saturday last, several men and women were prosecuted, at his instance, for rescue of cattle. The parties were first required to give bail, but the case was subsequently dismissed, it having appeared that the notices to distrain was informal and illegal. Several hundred notices to quit were served within the last few days, and, as might be expected, great dissatisfaction has been felt at these proceedings."
An inquest was held on the following day, when a verdict of willful murder was returned against "some party or parties unknown." There are four persons at present in custody on suspicion, McNally, the person who drove the car; Bernard Hanratty and John Tavy, who were working in a bog near where the murder was committed, and a strange man, a native of the county Tyrone.
The deceased was a magistrate, and son of the late Rector of Tynan, county Armagh.
ODDS and ENDS
Fatal Accident. - A fire broke out in the shop of Mr. James Kelvin, main-street, Clonmel, early on Saturday morning, which resulted in the deaths of seven human beings. The victims were Mrs. Kelvin and her three children, the young woman who attended the shop, and two servants who were all asleep in the house when the fire was discovered. No assistance could be rendered to them, owing to the window being grated with iron bars.
Hibernian Bank. - At a meeting of the Directors of this Bank, held on Monday last, it was stated that the losses sustained by the Kells Branch amounted to between ten and twelve thousand pounds. - Meath Herald
Navan Academy. - During the past week we paid a visit to this institution, and were highly gratified at the manner in which new School-house is built. The building, which is now nearly finished, is oval, containing two stories, - the one on the ground forming a promenade for the students during their vacation hours - and the other consisting of a school-room, class-rooms, &c. The school-room, which is 60 feet long by 44 wide, is finished in a very neat and substantial manner. At one end are two pulpits built in the wall, for the accommodation of those hearing classes, or attending to the business of the day. The room is very lightsome, and ventilated on the newest principle. It will be ready for the reception of the students in a few days. - Ibid.
BIRTHS
On Tuesday, the 28th inst. the lady of Dr. ARMSTRONG of Kingscourt, co. Cavan, of a daughter.
On the 30th inst., in this town, the lady of Captain GOSSELIN, of a daughter.
May 23, at the College, Armagh, the lady of the Rev. Mr. GUILLEMARD, of a daughter.
May 20, at Grange, county Armagh, the lady of Jas. STANLEY, Esq., of a son.
MARRIAGES
May 21, in the parish church of Killeshandra, the Rev. Christopher ADAMSON, to Elizabeth M. A. MARTIN, daughter of the Rev. J. C. MARTIN, D.D., Rector of Killeshandra.
DEATHS
On Monday, the 27th inst. suddenly, at Castle-Hamilton, Joseph DICKSON, Esq., much and deservedly lamented by an extensive circle of friends, and also by the tenants on Mr. HAMILTON's estate, over which he was agent. In the decease of Mr. DICKSON, the poor have lost a tried and most benevolent friend.
On the 27th instant, at Lower Fitzwilliam-street, Dublin, staff-surgeon Copeland GRATTAN, late of her Majesty's 65th Regiment of Foot, and 2nd son of the late Wm. GRATTAN, Esq., of Sylvan Park, county Meath.
On the 25th instant, at Derrycarne, county of Leitrim, in her 87th year, Mary Eleanor, relict of Mathew NESBITT, Esq., deeply and deservedly regretted by all who knew her.
County Cavan Newspaper Transcription Project
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