THE SOCIAL MURDERS OF IRELAND. (From the Weekly Chornicle.)

New Zealander, Volume 3, Issue 193, 5 April 1848, Page 3

THE SOCIAL MURDERS OF IRELAND. (From the Weekly Chornicle.)

The c.\se of Mr. Roe, whoae murder we chronirle-l ]a|t weok, shocking »•> it was, did not seem as "he case wa, then known and understood, to stand out from the ordinary claas ot landlord murders in (hat unhappy rouritry ; but, now th.it the facts .ire better understood, we thmk it well to record them in detail ; nn-1 thnt our readers may foim their own unb a-sed opinion on the matter, we sh.ll ie fram from comment in this place, ali hough we may talc occasion to draw an initiation from U«e meilent and its assigned causes in another part of our paper. With regard to the character of Mr. Ro >, aid the causes which led to his muidti, we pie Mime tlmt the evidence of Mr, Scully, the nrw Kepe.il member for Tipperary, may betaken as sufficiently unbiassed, and at the meeting of Monday last, at Conciliation lUU, that geutleman said :— He had known tliatgentlftmn well, and lie declared solemnly that no mm in the country hud aI as right to be murdered. Last year lie exerted himself to alle Tiate the distress of the people in his locality, and with success Tub sole c-iu-e of his murder w<is the relation between humelf and hi" tenantry. He (Mr. Scully) had a pond deal of expuence ot the parties in the county of Tippe.ary, and he was in a condition to infoitn the association tlut not more than one teirmr out of every five hundred got a lease of his holding. Th- indisposition to grant leases was occasioned by a fear of lelU'i? Un people obtain pihtic.il strength through the elective franchise. Ih. people should hive long leases and low lent (cheeis) and until this was the enss the country could not be peaceable or hippy. (Hear.) A meeting had also been IHd upon the subject of the murder at Ca«hel. the High bhenff of the county* Lord Suirdale, presiding, and the meeting it«elf cons'suing of some tony five magistrates, including Louis Glensalland Hi warden, Mr. N. Maher, the oil r member for'he county, and others. Tb« chiirmaii tulogized also the character of the unfortunate gcntltmin. He descubedthe character of Mr. Roe as one of great huuianity —gave ttie current e.\|) sitioii of the causes of his murder—pointed out the object of suspicion even, — md concluded with a premium on absenteeism, which, from such anautho i y, cannot but have a most potent effect. Here are his vvord3.: — He had maintained during the late season of destitution a soup kitchen at Rockwell, whence the pea autry were suophed with food. The Mi&siß Roe, his sisters, attended at this, institution superintending its arrangements ; and the result of their labouis supeiinduced fever, by which disease both ladies were ieveiely at« tacked, though bith aie happily recovered. Mr. Roe* however asserted his rights as a landlord. He had a tenant who owsd him two year*' rent last May; his holding amounted to seven acres, and Mr. Hop offered him i£lO, to forgive the arrears due, and to allow htra. the tillage on one acre, which was all the man had cultivated this your, if ha gave up po?«essioii. These terms the tenant refused, and Mr Roe ejected him from the premises. '• II is believed/, said Lord Suirdale, "that Urn ram was Mr. Roe's murderer." The noble Lord contended that the landlords of Ireland had done their duty in the recent circumstances of the country; and isaid—" A great deal has been said about absenteeism. It is an evil. (Hear, hear.) The absentee but hears at a distance the voice of affliction—the havoc made by famine the desolation of peatilenc —he is removed from the sc^ne ot these raistsii s ; and the worst tlut may h ppen him is tint his agent may be bhot. (A. laugh.,/ Buthee the man who sops on the spot—se<s the position he is placed in. If he < ji-c's the tenant who pays no rent and who does not ouiiivatethe land—or if lie introduces a t,ystemof cultivation—he is murdered." The Lord G c 'gall was still more explicit, and hu statement of the influencing reasons for shooting Air. Roe io prefeience 10 his agent, are horrible beyond the worn conceptions of the modern murder school of fiction. His lordship after eulogising the murdered man, and expressing his regri-t at being compelled to adopt the conviction that he was murdsred by his own tenantry, went on to assign the cause : — Mr. Roe had been in communication with the board of works to effect drainage on his propel ty.and «o afford employment, and the day after his death «i letter came to Ms address from the board of works, agreeing to advance him the money. Lord Gl-ngill, in reference to the ciicunvtances preceding Mr. Roe'i murder, said, no person doubts that on this property of Boytonrath, a conspiracy existed to deprive Mr. Roe of his claiiis on his ten nts. It appears from stnnj proof nhcli we have, that seveial other tenants owed long amas ot rent; and a determination exiited among some < f the tenants not to pay, in consequence of which resolution some ot the parties met and considered what steps they should adopt to cany out their schemes. It formed a subject ot consideration whether Mr. Roe, or n genllcm-ui who acts as his agent should be shot. They admitted m their hellish committee, that Mr. Roe was a kind, and liberal man, *nd that it was better to shoot his agent; but when iliey came to consider the whole c»S3 in all its bearing-, they thought it better to shoot the landlord. (Sens ition.) The reason why they selected the lundlord was this—They were aware that Mr. Roe's children were very youug indeed : that the &\U is of the property would hi 'placed under the Court of C .ancery ; that a receiver wonld be appointed under that Court, that that receiver as 'is general in sucli cases, would have no interest in the well-being of the minors ; and that these scheming tenants would obtain j:reat reductions of rent, and that thus these fathciless rumors and the widow would be plundered of their dues. That, gentlemen we believe to be the cause th.it led to this melancholy event. (Hear.) I appielieud also, gentlemen, that thore is another meUtiflioly teatiue connected with this dreadful tvent. I feir there is toi much reaso 1 to believe that the ten.uts hid very bad advisers—very bad counsellor—Jut, aiJei and assisted by the advice of these scheming counsellors, they did all they could, instead of mealing Mr. Roe's claims by honest in lusfry, to avoid the payment of their just and legitimate obligations to their landlord, by chicane, quibble, and quirk ofKiw, in order to depiive Mr. Roe o: his rights.." (Hsar.) Some discussion took place at the meeting on the subject of currying arms, and it seewd to be the irapreas'on that arms should be permi ted to defend pioperty,but tint maay nowposessei them who ought not to do so. Of that opinion Mr. Maiier professed. l.i.mJf, and the following biicf but marked conversation ensued :—: — Mr. VV. lieibert: As I was coming up to my aoa-in-law's resi lenca a few weeks a o fiom Carrick on 6uir» 1 saw eighteen or twenty persons together m one group employed m "hooim j. This was on a S mday —in fact, nothing but shoes are heard every day in our neighbourhood. Mr. Quiou, Loghlohcr: They shoot men on Sundays, and birds on week day*. (Laughter.) Lord Suirdale : No ; they sli >ot birds on f u idays and men on week da/s. (II mewed Laughter.)