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wards Ireland, you cannot hope to do so as tranquilly as you have done towards America: for in the exasperated state to which you have roused the minds of the Irish people-a people whom you profess to have left in a state of barbarism and ignorance, with what confidence can you say to that people, While the advantage of cruelty lay upon our side, we slaughtered you without mercy, but the measure of your own blood is beginning to preponderate.' It is no longer our interest that this bloody system should continue, show us then that forbearance which we never taught you by precept or example, lay aside your resentment; give quarter to us, and let us mutually forget we never gave quarter to you. Cease then, we entreat you, uselessly to violate humanity, by resorting to a system inefficacious as a mode of defence; inefficacious as a mode of conviction; ruinous to the future relations of the two countries in case of our success; and destructive of those instruments of defence which you will then find it doubly necessary to have preserved unimpaired. But if your determination be otherwise, hear ours. We will not imitate you in cruelty ; we will put no man to death in cold blood; the prisoners which first fall into our hands shall be treated with the respect due to the unfortunate, but if the life of a single unfortunate Irish soldier is taken after the battle is over, the orders thenceforth to be delivered to the Irish army is, neither to give nor to take quarter. Countrymen, if a cruel necessity force us to retaliate, we will bury our resentment in the field of battle; if we fall, we will fall where we fight for our country. Fully impressed with this determination, of the necessity of adhering to which past experience has but too fatally convinced us; fully impressed with the justice of our cause, which we now put to issue, we make our last and solemn appeal to the sword, and to heaven; and, as the cause of Ireland deserves to prosper, may God give us the victory."

"Conformably to the above Proclamation, the Provisional Government of Ireland-decree that as follows:

1. "From the date, and promulgation hereof, tithes are forever abolished, and church lands are the property of the nation.

2. "From the same date, all transfers of landed property are prohibited, each person paying his rent until the National

Government is established; the national will declared, and the courts of justice be organized.

3. "From the same date, all transfer of bonds, debentures, and all public securities, are in like manner forbidden, and declared void for the same time, and for the same reason.

4. "The Irish Generals, commanding districts, shall seize such of the partisans of England as may serve as hostages, and shall apprise the English Commanders, opposed to them, that a strict retaliation shall take place, if any outrages contrary to the laws of war shall be committed by the troops under command of each; or by the partisans of England in the District which he occupies.

5. "That the Irish Generals are to treat, (except where retaliation makes it necessary), the English troops who may fall into their hands, or such Irish as serve in the Regular Forces of England, and who shall have acted conformably to the laws of war, shall be treated as Prisioners of War; but all Irish Militia, Yeomen, or Volunteer Corps, or bodies of Irish, or individuals, who fourteen days after the promulgation and date hereof shall be found in arms, shall be considered as Rebels, committed for trial, and their properties confiscated.

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6. The Generals are to assemble Court-Martials, who are to be sworn to administer Justice: who are not to condemn without sufficient evidence, and before whom all Military Offenders are to be sent instantly for trial.

7. "No man is to suffer death by their sentence but for mutiny; the sentence of such others as are judged worthy of death, shall not be put into execution until the Provisional Government declares its will; nor are Court-Martials on any pretence or sentence, nor is any officer to suffer the punishment of flogging, or any species of torture to be inflicted.

8.The Generals are to enforce the strictest discipline, and to send offenders immediately to the Court-Martial; and are enjoined to chase away from the Irish armies, all such as shall disgrace themselves by being drunk in the presence of the enemy.

9. "The Generals are to apprize their respective armies that all military stores and ammunition, belonging to the English Government, be the property of the captors, and the value equally divided, without respect of rank, between them, except that the widows, orphans, parents, or other heirs of those

who gloriously fall in the attack, shall be entitled to a double share.

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10. As the English nation has made war on Ireland, all English property in ships or otherwise, is subject to the same rule, and all transfer of them forbidden, and declared void in like manner as is expressed in No. 2, and 3.

11. "The Generals of the different districts are hereby empowered to confer rank up to Colonels inclusive, on such as they conceive merit it from the nation, but are not to make more Colonels than one for fifteen hundred men, nor more Lieutenant Colonels than one for every thousand men.

12. The General shall seize on all sums of public money in the Custom houses, in their districts, or in the hands of the different Collectors, County Treasurers, or other Revenue Officers, whom they shall render responsible for the sums in their hands The Generals shall pass receipts for the amount, and account to the Provisional Government for the same.

13. "When the people elect their officers up to the Colonels, the General is bound to confirm it, no officer can be broke but by sentence of a Court-Martial.

14. "The Generals shall correspond with the Provisional Government, to whom they shall give details of all their operations; they are to correspond with the neighbouring Generals, to whom they are to transmit all necessary intelligence and to co-operate with them.

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15. The General commanding in each county shall as soon as it is cleared of the enemy, assemble the County Committee, who shall be elected conformably to the constitution of United Irishmen. All the requisitions necessary for the army shall be made in writing, by the Generals, to the Committee, who are hereby empowered, and enjoined, to pass receipts for each article to the owners, to the end that they may receive their full value from the Nation.

16. "The County Committee is charged with the civil direction of the County, the care of the national property, and the preservation of order and justice in the county, for which purpose the County Committee are to appoint a High Sheriff, and one or more Sub-Sheriffs, to execute their orders; a sufficient number of Justices of the peace for the County; a high and a sufficient number of Petty Constables in each Barony, who are

respectively charged with the duties now performed by those magistrates.

17. "The county of Cork, on account of its extent is to be divided, conformably to the boundaries for raising Militia, into the counties of North and South Cork; for each of which a County Constable, High Sheriff, and all Magistrates above directed are to be appointed.

18. The County Committee are hereby empowered and enjoined to issue warrants to apprehend such persons as it shall appear, on sufficient evidence, perpetrated murder, torture, and other breaches of the acknowledged articles of war and morality on the people, to the end that they may be tried for these offences so soon as the competent courts of justice are established by the nation.

19. The County Committee shall cause the sheriff, or his officers, to seize on all the personal property of such, to put seals on their effects, to appoint proper persons to preserve all such property until the national courts of justice shall have decided on the fate of the proprietors.

20. The County Committee shall act in like manner with all state and church lands, parochial estates, and all public lands and edifices.

21. The County Committee shall, in the interim, receive all the rents and debts of such persons, and estates, and give receipts for the same; shall transmit to the government an exact account of their value, extent, and amount, and receive the directions of the provisional government thereon.

22. They shall appoint some proper house in the counties where the sheriff is permanently to reside, and where the County Committee shall assemble; they shall cause all the records and papers of the county to be there transmitted, arranged, and kept, and the orders of the government to be there transmitted and received.

23. The County Committee is hereby empowered to pay out of these effects, or by assessment, reasonable salaries for themselves, the sheriffs, justices, and other magistrates, whom they shall appoint.

"24. They shall keep a written journal of all their proceedings, signed each day by members of the committee, or a sufficient number of them, for the inspection of government.

"25. The County Committee shall correspond with govern

ment on all subjects with which they are charged, and transmit to the general of the district such information as they shall conceive useful to the public.

"26. The County Committee shall take care that all state prisoners, however great their offences, shall be treated with humanity, and allow them sufficient support, to the end that all the world may know that the Irish nation is not actuated by a spirit of revenge, but of justice.

"27. The provisional government wishing to commit, as soon as possible, the sovereign authority to the people, direct that each county and city shall elect, agreeably to the constitution of United Irishmen, representatives to meet in Dublin, to whom, the moment they assemble, the provisional government will resign its functions, and, without presuming to dictate to the people, they beg leave to suggest, that for the important purpose to which these electors are called, integrity of character should be the first object.

"28 The number of representatives being arbitrary, the provisional government have adopted that of the late House of Commons, 300, and, according to the best returns of the population of the cities and counties, the following number are to be returned from each :-Antrim, 13; Armagh, 9; Belfast Town, 1; Carlow, 3; Cavan, 7; Clare, 8; Cork County, north, 14; Cork county, south, 14; Cork city, 6; Donegal, 10; Down, 16; Drogheda, 1; Dublin county, 4; Dublin city, 14; Fermanagh, 5; Galway, 10; Kerry, 9; Kildare, 14; Kilkenny, 7; King's county, 6; Leitrim, 5; Limerick county, 10; Limerick city, 3; Londonderry, 9; Longford, 4; Louth, 4; Mayo, 12; Meath, 9; Monaghan, 9; Queen's county, 6; Roscommon, 8; Sligo, 6; Tipperary, 13; Tyrone, 14; Waterford county, 6; Waterford city, 2; Westmeath, 5; Wicklow, 5.

"29. In the cities the same regulations as in the counties shall be adopted; the city committees shall appoint one or more sheriffs, as they think proper, and shall take possession of all the public and corporation properties in their jurisdiction, in like manner as is directed in counties.

"30. The provisional government strictly exhort and enjoin all magistrates, officers, civil and military, and the whole of the nation, to cause the law of morality to be enforced and respected, and to execute, as far as in them lies, justice with

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