CHAP. VII.

FROM THE YEAR 1691 TO THE PRESENT TIME.

After the surrender, the greater part of the old natives and Catholic inhabitants are obliged to quit the town—Measures taken to prevent their departure—Articles of Galway respected during the reign of William III.—Accession of Queen Anne—Commission of array issues—Town militia raised, and the fortifications repaired—Act to prevent the further growth of Popery—Roman Catholics prevented from purchasing houses or tenements in the town or suburbs—Those already residing give security pursuant to the act—On the rumour of an invasion by the Pretender, they are turned out of the town—Afterwards admitted—Again turned out during the rebellion in Scotland—Disputes between the members of the corporation—Galway act passes—Commerce of the town—Clandestine trade—Penal visitation in 1731—Town militia newly arrayed, and officers appointed—Arms delivered out, and state of the ordnance returned to government—Strict discipline observed in the town during the Scottish rebellion of 1745—Particular account of the fortifications, and their decayed state reported to government—They are suffered gradually to decay—Disputes between the governor, the corporation, and the merchants, about shutting the gates—Description of the town at the time—Trade declines—The merchants petition parliament against the corporation—Resolutions of the house—New schedule of duties and customs agreed upon—Corporation disputes—Volunteers—Non-importation resolutions—East India fleet arrives in the bay—Town yeomanry—Union—Population of the town and liberties—Disputes and proceedings concerning non-resident freemen, the independence and parliamentary representation of the town.

HAVING now passed over the turbulent transactions which distinguish the seventeenth century above all others in our national history, the tumults of war henceforth entirely cease; but the reader, though no longer doomed to dwell on a continued narrative of sieges and battles, or to hear of the constant streaming of human blood in the field, is destined to encounter the no less destructive evils of civil bigotry and persecution, which, for more than half a century after this period, waged legislative war against the population of Ireland, and particularly against that part of it whose actions are detailed in the following pages. Those impolitic laws, however, which exiled so many thousand of Ireland's bravest sons to fight in every clime, and to conquer for every king except their own; which compelled its clergy to seek foreign education, and, consequently, to return with foreign prejudices; and which left uncultivated the fields, and uneducated the

children, of one of the finest countries on earth, are now no more; the wiser councils of our present venerable sovereign at length prevailed, and those dismal times have long since passed by, never again to return. However desirable, therefore, it might be that the veil of oblivion were for ever drawn over these melancholy scenes, a faithful narrative of local transactions, free from any feelings of political or religious prejudice, (which are here totally disclaimed,) can have no other effect at the present day, than that of exciting the surprise and commiseration of every liberal and enlightened mind, at the excesses committed by one party, and the miseries endured by another, in those distressing times.

The treatment which the old natives and Catholic inhabitants of Galway experienced after the surrender, caused so many families to depart the town, that a general assembly of the corporation was convened on the third of April, 1693, for the purpose of devising means to prevent an evil of so serious a tendency, and particularly one which, if persevered in, would nearly depopulate the town. They accordingly resolved that the mayor and recorder should take the subject into their immediate consideration, and ordered that no passes should thenceforth be granted to any of the inhabitants; and, particularly, that coercive measures should be taken to repress the licentiousness of the soldiery, and prevent their outrageous conduct towards the town's-people. Whatever local injuries and inconveniences they might thus endure, their rights, however, under the articles of capitulation, were publicly allowed during the reign of William III. and in some instances acknowledged even by parliament. In the act, passed in the 7th year of that reign, for the better securing the government, by disarming Papists, it was provided, that any gentlemen of estate, belonging to the town and garrison on the day of their surrender, might carry the arms therein specified; and in a subsequent act, to hinder the reversal of attainders, all persons comprised in the articles were particularly excepted. In a little time, however, all restraint was laid aside; in the succeeding reign they were entirely infringed, and the rights of the inhabitants became totally disregarded.

The accession of Queen Anne to the throne was proclaimed in Galway, on the 24th of March, 1701. Her majesty's commission of array soon after issued, under which three companies of foot, consisting of two hundred and fifty men were raised in the town and liberties. Mutton-island was again fortified; the town gates were repaired, and the building of a new exchange was proceeded on.

While these and other improvements were going forward in the town, the fate of the inhabitants was determined upon in parliament. In the famous act to prevent the further growth of popery, after reciting that the peace and safety of the kingdom and the welfare of her majesty's Protestant subjects would much depend on the security of Limerick and Galway, and on their being in possession of Protestants, being considerable garrisons, it was enacted, that no person or persons that then were or should be Papists, or profess the popish religion, should or might, after the 24th day of March, 1703, take or purchase any house or tenement, or come to dwell or inhabit within the city of Limerick or the suburbs thereof, or within the town of Galway or the suburbs thereof; and that every person of the popish religion, then inhabiting within the said city and town and suburbs of the same, should, by that day, before the chief magistrate of the said respective city and town, become bound to her majesty, her heirs and successors, with two sufficient sureties, in a reasonable penal sum, to be ascertained by the chief magistrate, recorder and sheriffs of said city and town respectively, or any two of them, with condition for his or her faithfully bearing themselves towards her majesty, her heirs and successors, or, in default of giving such security, that such persons should depart out of the said city, and town and suburbs aforesaid, on or before the 25th day of March, 1705. The Catholic inhabitants of the town accordingly entered into security pursuant to this act of parliament; but even this had little effect towards preserving them from future trouble and persecution. In the year 1708, on the rumour of an intended invasion of Scotland by the Pretender, several gentlemen and merchants of the town were imprisoned by order of government, and the remainder of the Catholics turned out of the town. Richard Wall, the mayor, in his dispatch to the privy council, described his proceedings under this order as follows:—"I have, pursuant to order of last night's post, turned all the popish inhabitants out of the town and garrison, and have also committed the several popish priests to the gaol. I have also taken care to remove the market outside the walls, and have given orders to prevent mass being said in town." He also informed them, that the town militia consisted of about two hundred and fifty men fit for service, whom he represented as very inconsiderable, compared to the great number of popish

inhabitants; and entirely unprovided with arms, which he requested would be furnished as soon as possible. The town was then put into a state of defence, and a strong detachment was also sent to the islands of Arran; but on the 15th of April following, colonel John Eyre, the Governor, received directions from government "to admit the popish inhabitants of Galway to return to their dwellings, and to continue in the town, as formerly, and to suffer the markets to be kept and held there, as before the late directions were given to the contrary, all apprehensions of any invasion from the Pretender being quite over." From thence they remained undisturbed until the 22d of March, 1711, when the mayor, in a dispatch from the secretary of state, concerning some French prisoners then in his custody, was ordered "to cause the popish priests in Galway to be secured;" and in a subsequent dispatch to set those prisoners at liberty, he received their excellencies thanks for his good services in respect of the popish clergy, accompanied by an assurance that they were extremely well pleased with his zeal and management therein, and expressing their hopes that he would continue his "endeavours to banish the priests, those enemies to our constitution, out of that town, and cause those you have apprehended to be prosecuted at law with the utmost rigor." That these denunciations were not unattended to, may be safely concluded: each succeeding mayor, as his best recommendation to the notice of government, exerted himself to surpass his predecessors in persecuting these defenceless objects of political wrath. Obstacles, however, sometimes occurred to defeat or delay those relentless proceedings. An instance of this nature took place in the year 1714, when Robert Blakeney, who was then mayor, informed the secretary of state, "that one James French, a regular popish clergyman, had lain in gaol a long time, committed for high treason for returning from beyond seas after being transported, but that he could not be tried for want of a Protestant jury of freeholders." Obstructions of this nature, however, were soon after removed by the interference of the legislature, which appears to have constantly kept a vigilant eye upon this town, as containing the most considerable and respectable Catholic community of any other then in the kingdom.

Although the establishment of the illustrious house of Hanover on the throne of these realms, by the accession of King George I. may be considered as the dawn of toleration, after the dark and tedious night of religious persecution, which, until then, overspread this unhappy land, yet that event at first caused but little mitigation in the severity of the penal laws which afflicted the Catholics of Ireland. Their operation was for some time afterwards even more severe, in consequence of the Scottish rebellion of 1715, which was raised and carried on in favor of

the Pretender. On this occasion, a new commission of array for Galway was directed to lord St. George, governor of the town, and others. A muster of all the Protestants in the town and liberties, able to bear arms, was accordingly taken; and it appeared that they could furnish three hundred and seventeen effective men, divided into five companies, for which the undernamed persons were recommended, and consequently appointed as officers. This affair took place in October, 1715; and in January following, Robert Blakeney, the mayor, "turned all the Papists out of the town, except about twenty merchants, from whom I took security, and quartered the two companies of brigadier Harrison's regiment (which were stationed in the east and west suburbs,) in the two waste houses where the nuns formerly resided, belonging to Mr. Forster and Mr. Martin." The most particular attention was, at the same time, paid to the care of the walls, gates, and fortifications; and the vigilance and coercive measures of the military were so strictly exerted, that the town presented the appearance of an extensive prison in which the confined were permitted to walk during the day, but were closely locked up at the approach of night. Even these extraordinary precautions were deemed insufficient, without further penal enactments and regulations, to ensure the safety of the town.

About this period violent contentions arose between the principal members of the corporation, many of whom, commiserating the distressed condition of the Catholic inhabitants, became advocates for milder measures, and, for the purpose of counteracting the extreme severities of the existing laws, admitted several persons

not residing in the town, to the freedom and privileges of the corporation. These proceedings of the moderate party occasioned several disputes between them and those of the opposite feeling, which at length proceeded so far, that alderman Thomas Simcockes and Edward Barrett, "on behalf of themselves and divers of the Protestant aldermen, common council men, freemen, commonalty and Protestant inhabitants," on the 13th of September, 1717, petitioned parliament, complaining of the illegal and oppressive practices and arbitrary proceedings of John Staunton, esq. one of the representatives of the town, and of Robert Coates, the then mayor, stating that, for several years past, a design had been formed and carried on by the magistrates and governing part of the corporation, to support a popish and discourage the Protestant interest within the town; in pursuance of which design, nunneries, and other places of refuge and shelter for regular and secular priests, friars, and other offenders against the several laws in force in the kingdom, had been suffered, connived at, and encouraged within the town and county of the town of Galway, contrary to law: that, in further pursuance of the said evil design great numbers of Papists, by the notorious neglect of the magistrates, had been and were then permitted to inhabit in the town, contrary to law; whereby, and by reason of several other discouragements to the Protestant interest there, and of such Protestants as then did or would reside therein, a sufficient number of Protestant freeholders could not be found in the county of the town of Galway, to try offenders against the several acts then in force against Papists, whereby great numbers of popish priests, friars and dignitaries of the church of Rome, frequently landed from foreign parts, contrary to law, within the town and liberties, and, through the connivance of the justices of the peace, were sheltered from justice, and found protection therein, and from thence found opportunities to disperse themselves into all other parts of the kingdom: that, by the charters of Galway, the mayor and recorder for the time being, and, in their absence, their respective deputies, were the only justices of the peace within the county of the town, who had been principal instruments in obstructing the execution of the laws against popery, and had confederated with many persons popishly affected within the town, and with divers other enemies to the Protestant interest, who were foreigners to the town, to form a common council to carry on their evil designs, by illegally excluding certain common council men (who had been duly elected, admitted and sworn) from acting or voting therein; and, having thereby procured to themselves a majority, had, for several years past, arbitrarily and illegally admitted into the same divers persons disaffected to his majesty and the Protestant interest; by means whereof, and other evil practices, the security of the town and garrison was greatly endangered, the residence of Protestants therein discouraged, prevented, and rendered unsafe, justice obstructed, many criminals protected contrary to law, and great grievances and mischiefs occasioned to the Protestant interest thereof; for

all which they prayed relief. The house having ordered that the matter of this petition should be heard at their bar, council accordingly appeared, and witnesses were examined on the part of the accused; but it was unanimously resolved, "that the petitioners have fully proved the allegations of the petition." Robert Shaw, asq. the other member for the town, then brought in a bill "for the better regulating the town of Galway and for the strengthening the Protestant interest therein," which passed both houses on the 5th and 9th of December following, and enacted, that from and after the 25th of December, 1717, it should be lawful for the sheriffs of the town to issue their summons to any Protestant freeholder having forty shillings a year in the county of Galway, to attend and serve on any grand or petty jury, for the trial of issues depending in the said county of the town, in any plea of the crown, whether capital or not; and that such freeholders should be and were thereby required to serve upon any such jury, and such verdict as should be given should be as effectual and valid as if the issue had been tried by the freeholders of the town; and that it should be lawful for said sheriffs, on every venire facias, distringas, habeas corpora, writ or precept directed to them, to summon a competent number of the freeholders of the said county of Galway, being Protestants, to attend on every grand inquest and trial, in any plea of the crown, at the assizes, or any commission of Oyer and Terminer or gaol delivery there to be had, or at any trial at bar in his majesty's court of king's bench, Dublin, in any plea of the crown in such manner as they might have done to the freeholders of the county of the town, under such pains, penalties and forfeitures, and in the same manner and form, and with the like benefit of challenges, as if they were freeholders within the county of the town, and that all fines and issues imposed on them should be estreated into the exchequer: and further, after reciting that it would be a great encouragement to the then Protestant inhabitants to continue, and to other Protestants to come and inhabit in the town, if foreigners or persons living out of the county of the town and liberties were excluded from being magistrates, sheriffs or common councilmen within the town, it was enacted, that from and after the 25th of December, 1717, no person or persons should be elected mayor, or sheriffs, or common councilmen, who should not be an inhabitant or inhabitants within the town and liberties at the time of being elected, and resident for one year before such election. That it should and might be lawful for the lord chancellor, lords

commissioners, or other keeper or keepers of the great seal for the time being, by commission under the seal, to appoint such person and persons, not exceeding four in number, being inhabitants of the town or liberties thereof, to be justice or justices of the peace and quorum, during his majesty's pleasure, in and throughout the county of the town and liberties thereof, with the same power as any other justice of peace, by charter or otherwise. That all and every person and persons, professing him or themselves of any trade, mystery or handicraft, that should come to inhabit, dwell or reside in the town, in order to follow their respective trades, should and were thereby declared to be free of the town and corporation of Galway, and also of that company or corporation to which their respective trades belonged, without paying any thing for such freedom, and should continue freemen as long as he or they should inhabit or dwell in the town, and no longer, and should be exempted and freed from all corporation taxes and fines for not serving as beadle, for the space of seven years next after his or their coming to inhabit in the town; provided that no person or persons were to have the benefit of their freedoms, as aforesaid, unless he or they had been professed Protestants for seven years, or upwards, next before his or their demanding their freedoms pursuant to the act, and should also take the usual oaths of freeman, and the oath of allegiance, supremacy and abjuration, and make and subscribe the declaration, commonly called the declaration against transubstantiation, before the mayor of the town, who was thereby empowered and required to administer the same: and finally reciting, that since his majesty's happy accession to the crown, and particularly during the late rebellion in Great Britain, divers unqualified persons, and some of them of known or suspected disaffection to his majesty's government, had been elected sheriffs within the town of Galway, and, upon pretence of such their election, had all of them been admitted into and sworn of the common council, notwithstanding they had not been approved of by the chief governor and council of the kingdom to be sheriffs; and that all such elections, without such approbation, were utterly null and void; and that divers other unqualified and disaffected persons had been admitted into the common council since the 1st of August, 1714. It was, for the further security of the town, finally enacted, that the election and admission of all and every person and persons who had been so admitted and sworn since that day, except such as had been approved of, sworn and served as sheriffs of the town, should be, and were thereby declared null and void to all intents and purposes.1—Such were the provisions of this elaborate local enactment,

(now known by the name of the "Galway Act,") by which the town was for some time after regulated, but which the increasing liberality of succeeding times has rendered of little other use, at the present day, than to become a subject of historical narration, and to remain a lasting memorial of the illiberal feelings by which this and similar laws were enacted against the Catholics of Ireland.

Amidst the numberless restraints which were thus daily and hourly imposed upon the defenceless inhabitants of Galway and its vicinity, they still retained a portion of the commercial enterprise which formerly distinguished their ancestors; and trade, notwithstanding the many impediments under which it languished, was not altogether neglected. The severe scrutiny, however, to which the merchants were exposed, and the heavy duties imposed on their goods, induced many persons, in order to avoid the rigor of the officers and the exactions of the revenue, to enter into a contraband trade, which, notwithstanding the vigilance of the officers gradually increased, and the practice of "smuggling" for many years afterwards continued prevalent in the town. Its open and regular commerce increased or diminished, as the penal laws were suspended or put in execution against the inhabitants. In some years after this period, when the vehemence of persecution began to subside, trade seemed on the increase, but it lasted only for a while: the spirit of the inhabitants was broken down by repeated aggressions and angry visitations under the penal laws: whatever remnant of trade and commerce had remained in the town gradually declined. Though some partial efforts were from time to time made to restore them, all

were ineffectual; and the present reduced state of the commerce of Galway affords a melancholy proof of the destructive policy of those laws, which, during the greater part of the last century, cramped the energies and impeded the prosperity of the country.

On the rumour of an intended Spanish invasion of Ireland in the year 1718, lord St. George, the governor of the town, received dispatches from the secretary of state in Dublin, "that the king, having had advice that the Spaniards intended to make an attempt on some part of his dominions in Ireland, and that they were then transporting troops for the purpose, was pleased to signify that major-general Wynne should be sent to Galway to command the forces quartered there for the defence of the town in case of an invasion." The general accordingly took the command on the 27th of March, 1719; and, having reviewed the fortifications, and put the town into a state of defence, he transmitted a full account of the condition and state of the entire to government, by whom several other repairs and improvements were directed. No attempt having been made by the enemy, as was apprehended, the strict military regulations then established in the garrison were by degrees laid aside. In the year 1725, a new commission of array issued, and the deficiencies of officers and men in the town militia were filled up. The inhabitants from thence enjoyed an interval of peace until the year 1731, when they endured the most severe penal visitation which had taken place for many years before, but which was also the last of the kind ever since experienced. On the 6th of November, in that year, an order was made by the house of lords, that Walter Taylor, esq. then mayor of the town, should return an account of all the mass-houses in the town, and which of them had been built since 1st Geo. I. and what number of priests officiated in each, and also an account of all private mass-houses and popish chapels, and all commonly reputed nunneries and friaries, and what number of friars and nuns were in each, and what popish schools were within the town. The mayor accordingly issued his warrant to the sheriffs, requiring them to apprehend and commit all popish archbishops, bishops, jesuits, friars, and all other popish ecclesiastical persons whom they should find within the town and county thereof; and likewise to suppress all monasteries, friaries, nunneries, and other popish fraternities and societies. Upon return of their proceedings to the house, their lordships "could not omit observing, that the insolence of the Papists throughout the nation is very great." A particular detail of this visitation will be found in the accounts of the different religious foundations of the town, which are contained in another part

of this volume. From the proceedings and resolutions of the house of lords, it would appear as if all its fancied apprehensions of danger from the Catholics had arisen from this part of the kingdom, and particularly from Galway, to which its attention was principally directed. But these instances of persecution, which, for some time past, had been much more severe than frequent, henceforth ceased; and, since this last and most violent gasp of expiring bigotry, the Catholic population of Galway, with very few exceptions, have remained unmolested on account of their religion. In the year 1740, a return was made, pursuant to the directions of government, of the state of the town militia. It then consisted of "three hundred effective Protestant inhabitants," divided into five companies, the particulars of which were laid before the lords justices, and a list of the officers was also submitted for their approbation. There being no arms in the town, an order issued, in 1743, for one thousand muskets and bayonets for the town and county, of which two hundred and fifty were delivered to the militia by colonel Wynne, then governor of the town. A return of the ordnance in the garrison was soon after made, by which it appeared there were in the town ninety-three pieces of cannon, but that almost the entire were dismounted and unserviceable. During the Scottish

Orig. return, 27th May, 1740.

"The ordnance was then placed in the following

positions round the town.

Citadel gun-room, and under it in the street 2

William's-gate guard-house 2

All dismounted except five, and of these four of the

rebellion in 1745, the old prejudices against the Catholics were, for a while, revived; all persons entering or leaving the town underwent inspection; the gates (which formerly remained open until ten o'clock at night) were closed every day at four in the afternoon, and the strictest military discipline was established in the garrison. These precautions, however, were laid aside soon after the event which occasioned them was over; and, since that time, no occurrence which took place in the affairs of these countries, rendered a repetition of similar proceedings necessary in Galway.

In the year 1747, Stratford Eyre was appointed governor of the town and port, and vice-admiral of the province. This gentleman, soon after his appointment, made several returns to government of the state and condition of the town, together with the port, harbour, and surrounding fortifications. From these documents, which contain many local particulars long since forgotten, it appears, that the fortifications were then entirely out of repair, and in a ruinous condition. In one return he stated that the gates were all decayed, and particularly that the gate at the parade quay had entirely fallen to the ground. From the royal battery to the quay bastion, a distance of twelve hundred and eighty feet, there were several breaches in the parapets, which rendered it dangerous and unsafe to post sentinels on that part of the walls. Between the west gate and Lyons tower, a distance of twelve hundred and forty feet, several holes were broke through, and cross walls were raised as high as the parapets, to inclose and shut in several back yards, the better to conceal prohibited goods. From the Lyons tower to the royal nine-gun battery, at William's gate, there was a breach quite to the ground, in length one hundred and fifty-five feet; and there was no passage whatever for drawing artillery to the north bastion, or any communication or way for the relief, but by stepping across the embrasures over William's gate. The walls in many places were bulged and might be easily scaled; the platforms were broke up and sunk, and the embrasures filled up, and covered with dirt and weeds. The walls of the castle and citadel barracks were very much out of repair, and in some places it was not safe for a sentinel to stand on them, and the citadel bastion (which was the only part of the town the then small garrison could hope to maintain or defend, if attacked by an enemy without, or an insurrection within,) was quite unserviceable. In this state the smallest privateer might sail into the harbour and insult the garrison with impunity, and no assistance could be given from the town to any ship, if attacked in the bay. It was then recommended that the most effectual means to protect and secure the harbour would be to re-erect the battery formerly on Mutton-island, for which there were sufficient cannon to spare in the town, and to rebuild the small barrack which stood there for half a company of soldiers. By another return, dated the 23d of October, 1747, it appears that no part of the Lyons tower was then remaining but the walls, though, if repaired, it would be of

essential service in defending the town: that the nine-gun battery and the south bastion were in a defenceless state; and that it would be absolutely necessary for the defence of the town that they should be repaired, as they were the only works pointing to Fort-hill (where the fort had been formerly erected, of which nothing then remained but the ruins of a guard-house,) against which, if possessed by an enemy with artillery, the town would not be tenable. From the royal battery to the quay bastion, along the curtain, there were several breaches (wide enough to receive hogsheads,) made by smugglers who inhabited the adjacent houses; and on this curtain there were two projecting flankers which might be repaired at a small expense; and if three guns were mounted on that called "the Devil's Battery," they would be essentially serviceable in defending the curtain. The quay bastion (from whence alone an enemy in the port might be annoyed with ordnance, and which also covered the bridge, and was the only place for defending the town in case of an attack from the west,) was rendered useless by encroachments and buildings erected on it. Beyond this there was another bastion called "the Quay Canton," of which the platform was tolerable; and from the quay bastion to the end of the curtain, behind the county gaol, the wall was good. At the extremity of this there was room to erect a small battery, which might be of great service in covering the west gate, and defending the town if attacked from that quarter, this being the only entrance from Iar-Connaught, (the highlands of the country,) which was inhabited by a people whom it would be prudent to guard against, and to have a watchful eye over, and which was the most likely place in this part of Ireland for an enemy to make a descent on. From thence to the bridge the town wall broke off, and that space was closed by mills, tan-yards and dwelling-houses. The river ran by in a sharp current, and there were several windows and doors which opened to the water, through which people had admittance to town when the gates were locked; but the governor, on seeing some passing that way, had them stopped up. At the west there was formerly a drawbridge, and over the gateway a guard-room, which was repaired and fitted up for a corporal and six men. At the lower yard of the condemned barrack, adjoining the bridge, a battery might be erected, which would also secure the bridge. From thence to Abbey-gate, and along to Lyons tower, there was a very decayed and weak old wall, by which the river ran in a shallow channel as far as the Abbey-gate. There were no flankers or towers in all that space, but there were several holes open for the convenience of running goods, which the governor had closed up. From Sander's-lane to Lyons tower there was a rampart fourteen feet broad, in the memory of several persons then living, but no trace thereof remained; it had been thrown into gardens at the back of Lombard-street, and nothing was left but the walls, which were scarce broad enough for a single person to walk upon. There were two powder magazines, one in Lombard-street and one in the Citadel, both of which were very insecure, and unsafe places to keep powder in, being

the loftiest of all the surrounding houses, and so remarkably conspicuous that they might be distinguished from the other buildings at the distance of a mile from either side of the town, added to which they were not bomb-proof. The dilapidated state of the walls was attributed to "breaches made at different times by unregistered Papist merchants, (who, by express laws, had been prohibited from living within the town or liberties,) the more effectually to run goods and to carry on the smuggling trade;" but it was added, "that if the money arising from the tolls and customs were applied to their repair, they would be kept in a respectable and good state of defence." In order to prevent further encroachments on the walls or injury to the fortifications, as well as to provide for the better security of the town, it was recommended that the guards should be doubled, and several other alterations were zealously suggested, which, perhaps, as not being considered necessary by government, do not appear to have been attended to. The mouldering fortifications of Galway were, therefore, suffered gradually to decay; the enlightened rulers of the country, even then, wisely foreseeing that it was not upon the precarious tenure of a few uncertain garrisons, but upon the general conciliation of the people, that the English interest would be most beneficially advanced and strengthened in Ireland.

Governor Eyre, though, to all the knowledge and experience of the soldier, he appears to have united the accomplishments of the gentleman and the information

of the scholar, still, having been bred in the old military school, he, like many others, imbibed all the leading prejudices of the times against his fellow-subjects of the Catholic persuasion, from whom he was taught to apprehend every danger both to church and state. He, therefore, viewed all their actions with a watchful and jealous eye, and, during his continuance as governor, never failed to communicate his apprehensions to government." These feelings, having also influenced his management in the town, often involved him in unpleasant contentions with the inhabitants. Amongst other alterations which he made after his appointment, that of closing the gates at the early hour of four in the afternoon, leaving the wickets only open until evening, was considered particularly annoying. This practice the town's-people represented as a general inconvenience, never resorted to except in cases of public apprehension or danger, and that, when no such had existed, so strict a regulation became totally unnecessary. Accordingly the mayor, sheriffs, deputy recorder and other members of the corporation, waited on the governor, with a memorial, signed by themselves and several others of the Protestant and many of the Catholic inhabitants, requesting that he would permit the gates to remain open until eight o'clock in the evening, and the wickets until ten, according to ancient custom. Upon his declining to comply with this requisition, a memorial was presented to the lord lieutenant, in his answer to which, the governor adduced many reasons to justify his refusal. He assured his excellency, that this complaint against him had its rise, not from any real inconvenience or detriment, but from party prejudice; and stated that he was possessed of proofs to shew that the mayor and sheriffs had received presents from the Papists, to "nose" and insult him, and to represent him as distressing the inhabitants, and putting them under difficulties injurious to the trade and commerce of the town." As to closing the gates at an early hour, the greatest possible necessity

existed for such a measure. The town lay at an extreme point; there was no travelling by land beyond it, and it was not a thoroughfare. The entrance for all land traffic was at the east gate; and beyond the west gate lay Iar-Connaught, a country inaccessible to wheel carriages, and inhabited by Papists, who supplied the markets with such necessaries only as were brought in on back-loads: the wickets, therefore, (which were large enough for any horse or cow to pass through,) being open until nine at night in winter and ten in summer, trade could not be interrupted in that quarter. The two gates towards the west led to the quay; and as all custom-house business ceased in the evening, when the revenue officers retired, it could convenience none but smugglers, or recruits for foreign service, (and many of each frequented the town,) to keep these gates any longer open. The two other entrances were at the Abbey and William's gate. Through the first nothing but turf and water entered, and private brewers and distillers only would draw home either after night-fall. Fuel was brought down Loughcorrib and landed at the Wood-quay, where it was taken up in kishes, and wheeled into the town. Through William's gate, being the grand entrance, all carriages and inland merchants goods were brought for exportation or market; but the inns and stables being in the east suburbs, and no accommodation in the town, it could be no detriment to trade, that goods, which arrived after the gates were locked, (and which, according to a constant prudential practice, were always examined at the gate, lest ammunition or arms were concealed,) should remain for one night where the carriers and horses which brought them should unavoidably set up. Moreover, carriages could not so effectually be inspected in the dark; and as there were no other but popish merchants in the town, (though they were forbidden by express laws from inhabiting therein, and had been formerly every man turned out,) the caution of examining chests and casks consigned to them appeared evidently reasonable and prudent. As to conveniences for life destined for market, the same reason held good. Besides, in all well-regulated markets, till the bell rung at a certain hour, nothing was suffered to be sold; therefore market-folk had no business in town till the morning of the market day; for, should they be permitted to come in over night, they would be surrounded by forestallers and regrators, who would purchase their commodities, and retail them the next day at an extravagant price.—Having thus shewn how neither the trade, commerce, markets or fair-dealing inhabitants could be injured or inconvenienced by locking the town gates, the advantages which attended the measure were next to be considered. It was of service to his majesty's revenue, by preventing private brewing and distilling, and operated as a check upon smugglers, who would otherwise convey unentered goods into and out of the town. It was a great security to the garrison from surprise, for no man could pass through the wickets unquestioned by the sentinel, and, for that reason, would be a restraint on ill-designing men, and French recruiters, from coming into the town. All

strangers were examined at the gates, a caution which could not be observed so effectually in the night-time, when a crowd might rush in through a wide gateway; and these precautions were at the time absolutely necessary, as several French officers, of Irish birth and extraction, were then in the town with their relations." There was also every probability that the restless, active, subtle and industrious agents and emissaries of Rome, the popish ecclesiastics then in the town, might work on their devotees, (who were exceedingly numerous,) and precipitate them to attempt to seize upon the garrison. They might represent to them that the undertaking was feasible, as the possessors seemed to think themselves in perfect security: that the garrison, arms and ammunition they would thereby possess, would secure them from being dislodged for some months, in which time they would have succour from France: that the country being devoted to the same cause, they would be sufficiently supplied with provisions: that their friends would, at the same time, rise upon the several troops quartered at Headford, Loughrea and Gort, which would make them masters of the whole country: that their success would encourage other disaffected parts of the kingdom to rise; at least, that the government, mistrustful of their inclinations, would not venture to draw off troops from such parts, and could not, therefore, bring together a number sufficient to recover the town without a train of artillery, without which it would be impossible to drive them out: and that, supposing the worst, they might, in the end, make a safe retreat into the inaccessible highlands of Iar-Connaught and Joyce-Country, and there remain in perfect security, until an opportunity should offer to carry them off to France. Finally, to lay grounds for all these alarming conjectures, allusion was made to the insolent behaviour of the Papists and their clergy, at Galway, in September, 1745, upon the appearance, on the coast, of the homeward-bound East India fleet, consisting of fourteen sail, whilst they were supposed to be the Ferrol squadron; which proved how ripe they were to lay hold of every occasion to attempt the subversion of the government. All these representations, however, forcible as they were, and so well calculated to rouse the attention and to excite the alarm of government, proved ineffectual. The rulers of the country were well aware that the Catholics had neither the power, nor yet the inclination, to give any disturbance; and that, according to the declaration of a distinguished senator in the house of commons, soon after that period, "not a man of them moved tongue, pen or sword," upon that or any other occasion, to give the slightest uneasiness to the

government. They remained, therefore, unmolested in Galway, where they have ever since given continual proof of their steady loyalty and sincere affection, from principle, for the government of the country.

Notwithstanding the many impediments under which the Catholic inhabitants laboured, their numbers considerably increased, while the Protestant part of the population appears to have as rapidly diminished. Many animosities, however, still subsisted between them: the latter were supported by law, enjoyed the favor and protection of government, and, exclusively composing the members and officers of the corporation, possessed all the municipal power, which, in many cases, they exercised rather severely against their more numerous, though less favored, town's-men. Whatever portion of its former trade remained in the place was chiefly confined to the Catholic merchants; but they were so oppressed by excessive charter-duties and other unauthorized exactions of the corporation, that they, by degrees, abandoned the town, and this trifling remnant of its former commercial greatness gradually declined: thus affording another proof of the fatal tendency of those proscribing laws, which so long prevented, and whose surviving effects even still, in several instances, operate against the prosperity of Ireland.

Upon the happy accession of his present majesty to the throne of these realms, (a circumstance which will be ever gratefully remembered and commemorated with joy by the Catholics of Ireland, as the termination of their heavy political sufferings, and the cause of their now enjoying many of the privileges of our invaluable constitution,) the people of Galway, encouraged by that auspicious event, and also by the increasing liberality of the times, ventured to petition parliament against the partial and illegal proceedings (as they termed them) of the corporation. Their statement, which was entitled, "The petition of the merchants

and inhabitants of the town of Galway, and the gentlemen, freeholders and farmers of the county of Galway, in behalf of themselves and others, the inhabitants of the said town and county," was presented by Robert French, esq. of Monivea, an active senator, and one of the most opulent and respectable of the descendants of the ancient Galway families; and it informed the house, "That the corporation had charters to levy off all goods, imported and exported, certain duties, which were granted for the particular purpose of paving the streets, repairing the walls, and keeping the custom-house quay and other public buildings in good order and repair, but that these objects had ceased, for that government, for many years past, had been at the whole expense of repairing the walls; and the peti-

manufactured, and without serving any legal apprenticeship to any such art, craft or mystery, contrary to the real intent and meaning of the Galway act, and the royal charters granted to their ancient corporation. They then informed them, that they heard that Mr. Perry, one of the representatives for Limerick, had promised his constituents to employ his best endeavours in obtaining an act of parliament for redress of the aforesaid grievances, and therefore requested that they would coneur in promoting such an act, and also to add such clause or clauses in favor of the freemen of Galway as might effectually restrain such shopkeepers and dealers from the like practices for the future, to the furthering and promoting the Protestant interest among them in general, and encouraging the tradesmen and artificers of the town to make necessary and useful improvements in the manufactories of their several callings.

Signed,

It is a singular fact, that many of those persons and their descendants afterwards became members of the Catholic persuasion: the son of one of them is at present Catholic warden of Galway.

The petition against the corporation was supported by several witnesses, whose evidence contains many particulars concerning the town, before and at this period, from which, as not being elsewhere to be found, the following short abstract is taken. Andrew French, (who principally promoted the petition for the purpose of abolishing the charter duties, as they were not applied to the public use of paving the town and keeping the walls in repair, and whose father and grandfather were respectable merchants in the town, since the beginning of that century,) after stating, that in some years he and they paid 5 or 6000l. duties to the crown; in 1761, only 1,200l.; very little the year before; but in 1758 and 1759, about 4 or 5000l.; proved that since the year 1712 or 1714, they paid over and above, between 2 and 3000l. for charter duties and perquisites to the corporation: (whereout its witnesses could not prove that any had been expended for the purposes directed by the charters, except that a sum had been, about the year 1751, applied to repair part of the walls and build a guard-house: that 5l. a year were given for mending the locks of the town gates: that the main guard-house and officers room were kept in repair; that 14l. were expended in 1757, to repair the quays; and that the pavements between the two east gates, before William's gate guard, the main guard, the town gaol, and county court-house and gaol, the whole quay, the bridge, the tholsel, for half the breadth of the street, and the centre, of the square in the parade, had been and were then paved at the expense of the corporation.) He also proved that out of every one thousand deal boards imported, the mayor, without any authority, exacted ten as a perquisite, besides the charter duties, the water bailiffs ten, and the warden three, (which last originated, in Catholic times, to make coffins for the poor, but which he believed the then warden never applied to that use;) and that out of every cargo of salt, six bushels went to the mayor, six to the sheriffs, three to the recorder, six to the water-bailiffs and six to the warden, which were worth from 1s. to 1s. 6d. a bushel; and that 4d. a ton was taken for kelp, which was then the principal export of the town. It was also proved that every country butcher was obliged to give, yearly, two stone of tallow to the mayor, and two more to the sheriffs: that the 12d. household loaf weighed eleven pounds: that 7d. was exacted for every boat load of turf, containing from twenty to forty statute kish, then worth about 9d. each: that every fishing-boat (about one hundred and sixty) belonging to the town was compelled to pay 6d. yearly for entering; also two hundred herrings annually to the mayor, the same to the sheriffs, and a like number to the water-bailiffs, besides two hundred more for liberty to dry their nets on the shore, which were exacted by the owner of the soil. Several other instances of illegal exaction were also adduced, for which the reader is referred to the Commons Journals, Vol. VII. Appendix.

tioners were obliged to pave the streets at their own expense: that the custom-house quay was most shamefully neglected, and so far gone to ruin as to render it unsafe for any vessel above thirty tons burden to load or unload there: that the corporation had, notwithstanding, all along levied the charter duties, which, with an additional unwarranted charge upon every vessel coming to the town, enhanced the price of goods and merchandise, imported and exported, nearly three per cent. to the very great detriment of the merchants, who were thereby rendered incapable of selling their goods upon equal terms with the other trading towns in the kingdom: that, for many years past, great extortions were practised by the toll-gatherers at the gates and markets of the town: that the fishery of Galway was capable of being made the most considerable in the kingdom, and, if properly followed and encouraged, would bring wealth to the town, and be the means of rearing a great number of able seamen for his majesty's service; but being so burdened with corporation taxes and perquisites, it was going to ruin and decay, and a great number of able young fishermen were obliged to go to foreign countries to seek for bread, at a time when they might enrich themselves and their families at home, and be useful members of the community, had they met with reasonable encouragement: that the country butchers were prevented, by the exactions of the corporation from supplying the town with meat: that the applotment of the public taxes and vestry money, by the corporation, was partial and unequal, and had become grievous and burdensome: that the billeting of his majesty's troops had been partially, illegally and oppressively executed: that the members of the corporation converted its large revenue to their private benefit: that the only public edifice kept up by them was what they called the market-house, though it was no more than a small ground cellar under the military infirmary, from which infection was continually apprehended: that in consequence of these and many other vexatious measures, practised in the administration of the affairs of the town, many families had removed from it, others were prevented from settling, and the gentlemen and farmers of the adjacent counties were discouraged from supplying the markets; in consequence of which, a general complaint had prevailed for a series of years past in the town and country, and the necessaries of life were considerably enhanced, to the great destruction of trade, the diminution of the inhabitants, and impoverishment of the town.—Such were the measures pursued by the corporation of Galway, since the revolution, and such the pernicious consequences which attended their proceedings; all which, after minute investigation before a committee, were pronounced, by the unanimous voice of the legislature, to be true. On the 17th of February, 1762, the committee made their report, and submitted their resolutions, which were afterwards confirmed by the entire house, viz. "that the trade of the town, which was formerly very considerable, had greatly declined for some years past: that the several detailed exactions of the corporation were oppressive, unwarranted, inju-

rious to trade, and contrary to law and charter: that they greatly discouraged the fishery of the bay and harbour, which was one of the best in the kingdom: that they took several illegal tolls, and partially and oppressively quartered the military on the inhabitants. It was, however, also resolved and declared, that the corporation had expended the money arising from the tolls, duties and customs, in the repairs and paving those parts of the streets detailed in the report, and in paying salaries to the mayor and other officers of the corporation, which salaries were highly conducive to the preservation of the peace, order and good government of the town, and were necessary to maintain the authority of the magistracy: and they finally reported that the laws in force, if properly executed, were sufficient to redress the grievances committed in the markets, and that it was the duty of the magistrates to see them so executed. During the proceedings of the committee, the corporation proposed to relinquish the perquisites complained of, and to accommodate all matters in dispute, by adhering either to the schedule contained in the charters, or to the agreement entered into, in 1684, with the merchants of the town. These proposals, in the then stage of the business, being rejected, a "petition from the common council, freemen and freeholders of the town, on behalf of themselves and the other Protestant inhabitants of the town and liberties," was presented to the house; wherein, after setting forth their title by charter to the duties, and their offers of accommodation, and the refusal of them, they stated that there were, in the town and liberties, forty Popish inhabitants for one Protestant: that the few Protestant merchants were discouraged from following trade or business, the Papists in general declining to deal with them; and the wealth of the town, or by much the greater part of it, being in their hands, they thereby acquired considerable influence and power over the indigent Protestant tradesmen: that the corporation rents amounted to 150l. a year, and their whole revenue (which, exclusive of perquisites, did not exceed 725l. annually,) was then, and had been for several years before, scarcely sufficient to pay the salaries of the magistrates and officers, and other necessary expenses; and that, should they be deprived of any part of the tolls, duties and customs granted by the charters, they would not be able to support the honor and dignity of the magistracy, or maintain their independence against the wealth and power of the Popish inhabitants; which would necessarily, as they apprehended, subvert the Protestant interest in the town. This petition being received, and the committee not having recommended the abolition of the charter duties, which was the principal object of the merchants; the entire terminated in an agreement between them and the corporation. A new schedule of duties and customs was accordingly framed, agreed upon, and presented to the house on the 13th of April, by Mr. French: "upon which, it

was resolved, that it would tend to improve the trade of the town, and be of mutual advantage to the corporation and the inhabitants of the town and county. Thus ended a proceeding, which, though not attended with all the success originally expected, yet had the effect of reforming the corporation, and of putting an end to many practices which were theretofore prevalent, and which had proved so injurious to the interest of the town.

Circumstanced as, from the preceding accounts, it appears the corporation of Galway was at this period, its landed possessions alienated away, and its members composed of a few resident Protestants, principally tradesmen and shopkeepers, the greater part of whom, according to their own shewing, were without wealth, weight or consequence, (for although there were several respectable non-resident members, they do not appear to have interfered in the affairs of the corporation,) its sinking, as it soon afterwards did, beneath the influence of a single family, headed by an individual of high rank and talents, was inevitable. Since the revolution, the several leading families of Eyre, Shaw, Staunton and Fitzpatrick, successively commanded the representation, and directed the affairs of the town; but the interest of the first generally prevailed. The descendants of judge Daly (who was so conspicuous at that period) afterwards became members of the corporation; and, at the commencement of the present reign, James Daly, of Carrownekelly, his grandson, was the first on the list of the common council of the town. This gentleman, who was one of the earliest and firmest advocates of the Catholics of Ireland, had many friends in Galway, whose influence (uniting with

that of Rickard Fitzpatrick, one of its representatives in parliament, and who had invariably supported the Daly against the Eyre interest,) finally succeeded in establishing him and his family in all the rights and privileges of the corporation.

A new and unexpected corporate opponent, however, soon after appeared. Patrick Blake, esq. of Drum, who was descended from one of the ancient families of the town, and who appears, though ultimately worsted, to have been actuated by a wish for its general interest, gave considerable trouble. This gentleman was elected mayor in 1771, and the town soon after became a scene of tumult and confusion. One of his first acts of office was the admission of several resident inhabitants to the freedom of the corporation, by which his design to weaken the influence of the Daly family immediately became manifest. He next disfranchised several non-resident freemen, "because," as the act of council expresses it, "they were elected in violation of the statute for the better regulating the town of Galway, and strengthening the Protestant interest therein, and in order to perpetuate the government of the corporation in the power of several gentlemen and others of the county of Galway and elsewhere, who have no interest or concern in the town of Galway, or who pay any scot, lot, or other contribution therein."—These proceedings immediately gave the alarm. Denis Daly, esq. then member for the county, hastened to town, and appointed James (afterwards Sir James) Shee to act as deputy mayor, who, having done so in opposition to those in office, was instantly disfranchised. A memorial was then laid before the chancellor, stating that his lordship was, by stat. 4th Geo. I. empowered to appoint four justices of the peace, who should reside in the town, but that this act was frustrated by the persons who then held the commission not being resident, and praying redress. The following year, a double return of mayor and sheriffs was made, and the privy council approved of Denis Daly to be mayor, and Thomas Bodkin and John Thomas, sheriffs. In the mean time the preceding magistrate and his party held over, and for some years after elected their own mayor, sheriffs, and other corporate officers. Proceedings were instituted in the courts of law, and several disputes

and sanguinary duels were, from time to time, the consequences of these corporation feuds. In the year 1775, they burst forth with greater violence than ever. Mr. Daly, however, by his own personal labors, and the indefatigable exertions of his friends, preserved his ascendancy; and this distinguished, virtuous and patriotic individual, though often obliged to contest, at the point of the sword, with his determined and resolute rival, was ultimately triumphant, and completely succeeded in rendering his influence in the corporation in a manner hereditary in his family.

During the continuance of these disputes, the improvement of the town was forgotten; the walls, gates and fortifications, which were left without repair, presented a most ruinous appearance, and trade was entirely neglected. Though thus circumstanced, the inhabitants had, however, the solitary consolation of being no longer doomed to penal inflictions for their religious tenets. In the year 1778, the first great legislative interference took place in their favor. The flame of patriotism, which soon after spread over the kingdom, shone round this district with peculiar brightness. All that was great, good and respectable of its community, ranged themselves in the lists of the patriots, and the volunteers of Galway presented a military association, which, for respectability of rank, extent of property, or purity of intention, has seldom been equalled. The town soon became conspicuous in the national struggle for independence, and was the first in Ireland that entered into resolutions against the importation or consumption of English goods until the grievances of the nation should be redressed, an example which was generally followed throughout the kingdom. The town volunteers were embodied on the 31st of May, 1779, and amounted to about four hundred well disciplined troops, divided into six battalion and two flank companies. Richard Martin, esq. of Dangan, their first elected colonel, on a rumour of having supported the then administration, was deprived of the command; but that highly spirited descendant of the ancient natives of the town, having satisfactorily refuted the accusation, he was reinstated, and afterwards

continued in that honorable station during the existence of the corps. They were several times reviewed, with the volunteers of the county, in Galway, Tuam and Loughrea, by the earls of Clanricarde, and Altamont and the celebrated Henry Flood, successively reviewing generals; and, after preserving the public peace, obeying all the constitutional commands of government, and, at the same time, co-operating in the grand and successful objects of this immortal association, they peaceably laid down the arms which they had voluntarily taken up, and again resumed their station, with honor and applause, amongst their fellowcitizens in society.

For some years after this period, nothing worthy of observation occurred. No commercial exertions were made, nor were any improvements undertaken. A system of parliamentary electioneering seemed alone to have occupied the public mind; and, although the years 1783 and 1790 became memorable for contested elections both for the town and county, very little appears to have been done to benefit either. The forlorn situation of Galway about this time may be ascertained from a well known melancholy fact, that, until the Catholic bill of 1793, grass frequently grew in many of its most public streets! From that period, however, the inhabitants began to exert themselves: the limits of the town were soon extended beyond the walls, and several buildings were erected in the east and west suburbs. The year 1794 was rendered remarkable for the arrival of the homeward-bound East India fleet. This noble squadron riding at anchor in the bay, and combining with the surrounding scenery, presented a grand and most picturesque appearance, and reminded many old persons, then living, of what they had heard in their youth, concerning the former trade and concourse of shipping to the town. During the troubles which afterwards disturbed the kingdom, the inhabitants of Galway were conspicuous for their peaceable demeanor and unshaken loyalty; not an individual suffered for rebellious proceedings; and to their credit be it recorded, that, though their principles were devoted to the constitution of the country, they were free from the vile spirit of political and religious prejudice so prevalent in other parts of the kingdom. The readiness with which the ranks of the militia and the yeo-

manry corps or volunteers were filled up, afforded convincing proof of the principles of the Catholic inhabitants of Galway. On the landing of the French at Killala, in August, 1798, the gallant and humane general (afterwards lord) Hutchinson commanded in the town; and being, at the time, entirely destitute of resources to enable him to march against the enemy, the merchants, in the space of an hour, made up a sum of fifteen hundred guineas, with which they presented him, and by which he was enabled to join general Lake, with the troops under his command, to meet the enemy. The town yeomanry also joined their forces, and had their share of the disgraceful defeat at Castlebar. During their absence the town was left without military protection, and the Catholic clergy were indefatiable in their exertions to preserve the public peace. On this occasion, one of the regulars of St. Augustine presented a novel spectacle—a friar standing sentinel on the west bridge, to prevent the entrance of disaffected persons to a place where, within the memory of many then living, he would himself have been doomed to transportation or death for daring to appear or return: thus affording a striking example of the mutability of human opinion, and of the happy change which had taken place in the public mind during that period. The question of legislative union between the two countries soon after began to agitate the kingdom; and the promises made by Mr. Pitt and lord Cornwallis, to the Catholics of Ireland, secured many of the inhabitants of Galway in its favor. An address was accordingly voted by them in February, 1799, in which the necessity of that measure was maintained with remarkable energy of expression. "In the constitution of the empire, as it at present stands," say they, "we discover the seeds of party animosity and national jealousy: A Protestant parliament and Catholic people!—hence religious dissension and civil discord: Two legislatures in the same empire!—hence legal prejudices and commercial rivalry. By the settlement of 1782, the Irish parliament acquired the right of independent legislation—a right equally unsafe to exercise and not to exercise. To exercise it would have been to endanger the unanimity, and thereby to hazard the division, of the empire; while, by declining to exercise the right, the Irish parliament brought upon itself the imputation of abject submission to the British legislature. This imputation begot contempt, that contempt discontent, and that discontent rebellion. For this radical defect in

the polity of the empire we can see but one remedy, and that remedy is an union." Though the earliest and most successful efforts were made in its favor by the earl of Clanricarde, the archbishop of Tuam, and others in the county of Galway, it was, notwithstanding, the first part of Ireland that was proclaimed to be in a state of disturbance; and as several persons openly asserted that such a measure was totally unnecessary at the time, they consequently concluded that it was resorted to for no other purpose than that of carrying the question of union by military coercion. However that may be, it is certain that the good people of Galway have been disappointed in their reliance on ministerial promises, and that, were the question to be agitated again, many of them would think and act in a very different manner on the occasion.

Soon after the commencement of the present century the principal part of the town walls was prostrated, and several extensive stores and timber-yards were erected and laid out on their ruins. The buildings in the east and west suburbs, at Dominick-street, Newtown-Smith and Meyrick-square, were still carried on, and all within the walls got the name of the old town to distinguish it from these new improvements. The return of the inhabitants of the town and liberties, under the census act of 1812, amounted only to twenty-four thousand four hundred and eighty-four; but those to whom the enumeration was entrusted were, according to their own subsequent accusations of each other, guilty of gross neglect and omission in the execution of that duty. The general and most probable opinion is, that the population amounts at present to about forty thousand, which comprehends a vast number of daily increasing poor, without trade, manufactures, or adequate employment. The consideration of this growing evil, combined with other local wants and inconveniences, at length induced many of the inhabitants to attribute the entire to neglect and inattention to the interests of the town, by its parliamentary representatives; and it was finally concluded, that if it

had been represented by members acquainted with its situation or solicitous for its welfare, these increasing evils would have been prevented, and many measures might have been adopted for its benefit. While these feelings were yet alive in the minds of the principal inhabitants, it happened, rather opportunely, that a vacancy occurred in the representation of the town. The sheriffs, without anticipating any resistance, proceeded, according to the usual formality of election, to return the Hon. Frederick Ponsonby, the nominee of Mr. Daly, but they were warmly opposed by colonel Richard Martin, John French Madden and Richard Maunsell, esqrs. who formally protested against the illegality of the proceeding, as being held without due notice. Their objections, however, were over-ruled, and the member was declared duly returned. These gentlemen then took the opportunity of addressing the town's-people, who had assembled merely from curiosity: they informed them, that the repetition of what they had that day witnessed had occasioned all the wretchedness and poverty, all the immorality and vice, by which they were on every side surrounded; that, although they appeared unconscious of the fact, this was the real and sole cause of all their distresses: hence it was, that their prisons were crowded with debtors and malefactors, their quays left without shipping, their store-houses empty, their poor without employment; and, in fine, that the town itself had become almost proverbial for uncleanliness and inconvenience, without either trade, manufactories, or business of any description. They further stated, that all those evils were perpetuated to elevate an individual who was unacquainted with the town and its interests, and a stranger to the inhabitants, and that, consequently, they were virtually unrepresented in the great council of the empire; and they finally concluded by reminding their auditory of the necessity of adopting some speedy and effectual measures to prevent the future recurrence of similar proceedings. Although, from the preceding view of former events in Galway, it is manifest that the cause of its present decayed state was very different from that assigned by these gentlemen, yet their discourses had all, and perhaps the only effect which the speakers intended. The subject became, for the first time, a matter of discussion amongst all ranks; it was kept alive by occasional appeals from the press: public meetings were held, and speeches delivered, in which the right to nominate representatives without the concurrence of the people, to rule the corporation, appoint its officers, and dispose of all places of trust and emolument in the town, were freely canvassed. The source of this control was traced to the influence maintained by means of

non-resident freemen, (of whom the corporation had been for many years principally composed,) to counteract which, the inhabitants were called upon to register their freeholds. Subscriptions were then entered into, and every preparation was made to contest the approaching election after the then ensuing dissolution of parliament.

While these efforts were making to weaken the influence of Mr. James Daly in Galway, he and his numerous friends, both in the town and county, made every exertion to defeat the objects of his opponents. Of the exaggerated evils, before enumerated, they denied the existence; or even admitting that, in so large and unemployed a population as that of Galway, some of those grievances were to be found, they could not be attributed to the corporation, or to the parliamentary representatives of the town, but were occasioned by the decay of public spirit in the merchants and wealthy inhabitants, and by the habitual idleness and want of industry so prevalent and conspicuous amongst the lower orders. The town's people were reminded, that the right of Mr. Daly was sanctioned and strengthened by the legal exercise of the corporate privileges for more than half a century, with the continued approbation of government, which, it was not to be supposed, would countenance any measures contrary or injurious to the general interest of the country: they were also reminded of the many benefits conferred on them by his ancestors, who had not only originally succeeded in rescuing the town from the tyranny and bigotry of the former corporation, but had afterwards invariably exerted themselves in its favor; that these circumstances ought to have called forth the gratitude of the community for their descendant, who was himself pursuing the same line of honorable conduct, or at least have prevented a combination which was set on foot by a few ambitious or intermeddling individuals, for the purpose of depriving him of his legal rights, and of those advantages to which he was for so many years entitled. These and many other arguments urged against the "Independents," as they were now denominated, had considerable weight with numbers of the most respectable of the inhabitants, many of whom at length resolved to support Mr. Daly. Many others, including the more moderate of his opposers, admitted that the representation of the town and the enjoyment of the corporate privileges could never, as the place was then circumstanced, continue general or popular, but would, in process of time, inevitably fall into the hands of some more politic individual: they, therefore, unanimously declared, that if Mr. Daly had paid more attention to the common interests of the place, had resided amongst them even for a portion of his time, or applied some part of the revenues of the town to promote the public convenience, to pave and light the streets, and to establish some form of municipal police, or any regulation to preserve peace and order amongst the people, they would, from the hereditary attachment which they had all along borne to his family, cheerfully support him to the last extremity. If, at this juncture, advantage had been taken of those

feelings, there can be no doubt but that much, if not the entire, of the proceedings which afterwards followed would have been prevented; but Mr. Daly, irritated at the opposition, chose rather to rely on his legal rights, and the result proved that he was not entirely mistaken.

The long wished for dissolution of parliament having at length taken place in 1812, Mr. Valentine Blake, of Menlo, was prevailed upon to offer himself as the popular candidate for the town: Mr. Ponsonby, the late member, was again put in nomination, and, after a severe contest, was declared duly elected. A petition was then presented against his return, and, after several proceedings before a committee of the house of commons, his election was pronounced void, and Mr. Blake was declared duly elected. This success occasioned the greatest rejoicings in the town; but the committee having also determined the right of election to be in the freeholders and freemen, the great question of non-residence still remained undecided. To determine this important point, on which the entire business now depended, proceedings were instituted in the king's bench. In the mean time the exertions of Mr. Blake and the Independents were uninterrupted, and their endeavors were again crowned with success. On the election which took place after the dissolution of parliament in 1818, that gentleman (whose conduct in the senate and attention to the interests of the town met with the warmest approbation of his constituents,) was declared duly elected by a considerable majority over Mr. Prendergast, the friend and nominee of Mr. Daly. This second victory, by which the independent cause seemed to be finally and firmly established, caused universal joy. Public dinners were given to signalize the event, and the triumphal procession of the victorious and popular candidate through the town was the most splendid ever before witnessed in this part of Ireland.* These

feelings, however, were soon after considerably depressed by the decision of the judges in favor of the non-resident freemen of the corporation. This decision, so favorable to the rights of Mr. Daly, and so contrary to the expectation and wishes of the Independents, again renders it doubtful to which side victory may ultimately incline: the next vacancy or dissolution of parliament will, however, determine that point; and, in the mean time, Mr. Daly remains in the full exercise and enjoyment of all the rights and privileges of the corporation.

Having now fulfilled our intention of tracing, through a great variety of facts and documents, the history of this town, from its origin to the present time: having beheld it, as it were, in a state of infancy, protected by the fostering hand of the powerful family of De Burgo; then, arrived at full maturity, and impatiently rejecting the rule of its former protectors; again, in a more advanced period, increasing in power, flourishing in wealth, and crowned with honor and prosperity; and, finally, through fatal reverses of affairs, languishing, as at the present period, in a state of neglect and decay; our narrative shall here be closed; not however, without expressing a final hope, that whoever shall possess the confidence, may never forget the interest, of the town: that he or they may direct the attention of the rulers of the country to a place which, though now so reduced, had been formerly so considerable; and which, if its foreign trade and home manufactories were at all promoted or encouraged, would prove of incalculable benefit to this neglected, unimproved, and consequently unproductive, quarter of Ireland. The promoter of measures, such as these, by diffusing innumerable blessings amongst the community, and augmenting the resources and revenues of the country, would enjoy those exalted feelings which accumulated wealth or elevation of rank cannot always bestow: he would, moreover, command the grateful suffrages of the present, and secure the lasting praises of future generations, and be deservedly ranked amongst the benefactors of mankind.

P. Duvernay.

Reprinted for Hardcover History of Dairy

Narragh. Cusip. Dublin.

LYNCH'S CASTLE, GALWAY.

Residence of the Mayor in 1654.