COUNTY LOUTH
 1818
The first incident, Judge Fletcher refers to, was
possibly the Battle of the Diamond, County Armagh, 21
September 1795 and its aftermath. Some of those who fled,
the emigrants mentioned, came southward to County Louth
and settled in the Dundalk area.
The second incident is best known as The Burning of
Wildgoose Lodge in Reaghstown, County Louth, on 30 October
1816.
JUDGE FLETCHTER'S CHARGE AT ARMAGH.
The observations which follow were made by Mr.
Justice Fletcher (after the business at the Louth Assizes
was finished) in his address to the Grand Jury of Armagh. As
certain prints have taken lately to praising this
unquestionably honest and able Judge, and publishing his
speeches, we hope they will not overlook what they are now
furnished with an opportunity of promulgating. If his
Lordship's speech at Dundalk was "very important," and
worthy of being "widely disseminated," his Lordship's speech
at Armagh cannot be undeserving of attention:-
"Gentlemen, I find, with great pleasure, that the
Calendar laid before me exhibits but that kind of catalogue
of accusation which, perhaps, no state of society can be
expected to be free from. I do not find in it any evidence
of the existence of p[--]ty feuds. From personal inspection,
I know nothing of your County, this being the first time I
have borne his Majesty's Commission in it; but I cannot be
supposed ignorant of the unhappy state of society which it
presented at a period not remote. You, Gentlemen, must know,
much better than I possibly can, the extent of the mischief
locally: --
You must have witnessed the misery inflicted upon
thousands of the King's unoffending subjects, by the
ruthless persecution which drove a large portion of the
population of this County from all the dear (however humble;
still dear) delights, sympathies, and associations of home,
to wander where they could; or, in the language of the
Ruffian Faction, to wander 'to Hell or Connaught!'
But, Gentlemen, if you have had better opportunities of
viewing the deserted, or destroyed habitation --the
melancholy and desponding family bereft of its little all,
and flying, with hasty and disordered steps from the
spoiler, you have not had better opportunities than I have
had, of tracing the fearful consequences of this
persecution. The emigrants from this County carried into
every district of the island, a fearful tale of the
persecution they had fled from --they bore testimony of
their sufferings, and of the cruel infliction of your
Orangemen, or Break-of-day-men!. And artful persons
availed themselves of a melancholy and frightful truth, to
originate and spread an Association, which sought
afterwards, in its maturity, to overthrow our Government,
and destroy our Constitution. Thus, may the late rebellion,
the atrocities, which marked its progress, the shocking tale
of Scullabogue --all, all, be traced to the Armagh
persecutions --wanton, as they were unprovoked. The cruel
and pitiless, warfare of an infuriated populace waged
against a defenceless people, while the Magistrates, who
ought to have been their protectors, looked on, it is said,
(you can best judge if truly) quiescent, if not approving.
It may not be mal-apropos that I should
mention a circumstance related to me by a Gentleman, with
whom I had the honor to have a considerable degree of
intimacy --a Gentleman of great worth and intelligence, Mr.
Hume, the Member for Wicklow. In the County of Wicklow, at
least in two Baronies of that County, where he had great and
well deserved influence, and in which his estates lay, he
learned that for many nights the Roman Catholic Inhabitants
had deserted their dwellings, and had lain in the fields,
under the apprehension of being massacred by their
Protestant neighbours. He found an artful Emissary of
Rebellion had used the too true and too cruel story of
Armagh persecutions, to work upon the fears of an
industrious and simple Peasantry, with a view to bind them,
while under the panic of expected suffering, in illegal
associations. My friend was fortunate (thus we understood
the Learned Judge, who spoke throughout in rather an under
tone) to discover and trace this incendiary, and to bring
him to justice and deserved punishment.
But you see, Gentlemen, in this anecdote, the
train of mischief which flows from an encouragement of any
faction Association naturally begets counter association.
There is no knowing where the evil will end --no tracing its
malignant ramifications --no saying to it in the language of
Omnipotence, 'thus far shall thou go, and no farther.'
Gentlemen, I am happy to find Faction sleeps in
your County --smother the Monster, I entreat you! Let
him never resuscitate. I trust the people of this
industrious and populous County will never again be deceived
either by their own inflamed prejudices, or the artful
instigators of any sordid and short-sighted politician, to
conceive that any good can accrue to them from the
persecution of their neighbours, who may believe a little
more, or a little less, or who may worship God in a
different temple, or with different observances. Let them
never again be so deceived, as to their happiness, or their
duties. For myself, I think it right to say to you,
Gentlemen, that I regard all those associations as illegal.
I care not what the badge, whether Green or Orange, nor what
the pretence, nor what the profession --all are illegal; and
when any indictment against either comes before me, so shall
I charge the Jury. The law knows no difference, regards no
distinction of colour or pretension, and it is the Judge's
duty to administer the law.
Gentlemen --I have come from a county, of whose
politics I know as little personally as of yours. There, a
most atrocious and abominable crime was perpetrated, for
which a number of unhappy wretches have paid the forfeit of
their lives. There, however, no Religious feud existed, the
Sufferers and the Perpetrators were all of the same religion
---all were Roman Catholics. A brave man had defended his
House successfully against the Assault of midnight ruffians,
and he afterwards appealed to the laws of his country for
their deserved punishment. Hence he became the object of a
wide extended combination for vengeance, which was wreaked
upon him, and upon all his family, under circumstances of
horrible atrocity. There is no effect without a cause, and
it were much to be wished, that we could trace the source of
so foul a conspiracy against the peace and security of
social order."
(Source:
The Freeman's Journal, dated 18 March 1818, p.3),
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