IRISH HISTORY OF THE CENTURY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LXVII, Issue 8062, 8 January 1887, Page 2

IRISH HISTORY OF THE CENTURY.

[W. J. O’Neill Daunt.] Whilst the Government practised corruption on the largest scale, there were social vices peculiar to the period which extensively prevailed among the upper ranks. Of these practices the principal were duelling and drinking, which were carried to an excess happily now almost incredible. Take, for a specimen, Mr Bagenal, of Dunleckny, in the County Carlow—King Bagenal, as he was called throughout his extensive territories; and within their bounds no monarch was ever more absolute. Of high Norman lineage, of manners elegant, fascinating, polished by extensive intercourse with the great world, of princely income and of boundless hospitality, Mr Bagenal possessed all the qualities and attributes calculated to procure for him popularity with every class. A terrestrial paradise was Dunleckny for all lovers of good wine, good horses, good dogs, and good society. His stud was magnificent, and he had a large number of capital hunters at the service of visitors who were not provided with steeds of- their own. He derived great delight from encouraging the young men who frequented his house to hunt, drink, and solve points of honour at twelve paces. His politics were popular j he was mover of the grant of .£50,000 to Grattan in 1782. He was at that time member for the County Carlow. ! Enthroned at Dunleckny, he gathered round him a host of spirits congenial to his own. Ho had a tender affection for pistols j a brace of which implements, loaded, were often laid before him. on the dinner table. After dinner the claret was

produced in an nhbroaohed caskVßagenal’a practice was to tap the cask with, a bullet' from one of his pistols, whilst he kept the i other pistol in terrorem for any of the f convives who should fail in doing ample I justice to the wine. Nothing could be more impressive than l the bland, fatherly, affectionate air with which the old gentleman used to impart to his junior guests the results of his own experience, and the moral lessons which should regulate their conduct through, life. THE CREED OF A MAN OF HONOUR. " In truth, my young friends, it behoves a youth entering the world to make a character for himself. Bespect will only be accorded to character. A young man must show his proofs. Xam not .a quarrelsome person—l never was—l hate your mere duellist; but experience of the world tells me there are knotty points of which the only solution is the saw-handle. Best upon your pistols, my boys. Occasions will arise in which the use of them is absolutely indispensable to character. A man, I repeat, must show his proofs—in this world courage will never be taken upon trust. I protest to heaven, my dear young friends, that I advise you exactly as I should advise my own son.” And having thus discharged his conscience, he would look blandly round upon his guests with the most patriarchal air imaginable. THE DUEL OF THE PIGS, His practice accorded with his precept. Some pigs, the property of a gentleman who had recently settled near Dunleckny, strayed into an enclosure of King Bagenal’s aud rooted up a flower-knot. The incensed monarch ordered that the porcine trespassers should be shorn of tbeir ears and tails; and he transmitted the severed appendages to the owner of the swiae with an intimation that he, too, deserved to have his ears docked; and that only that he had not got a tail, he (King Bagenal) would sever the caudal member from bis dorsal extremity. "Now,” quoth Bagenal, " if he's a gentleman he must hurn powder after such a message as that.” Nor was he disappointed. A challenge was 'given by the owner of the pigs. Bagenal accepted it with alacrity, only stipulating that as he was old and feeble, being then in his seventy-ninth year, he should fight sitting in his arm-chair; and that as his infirmities prevented'early rising, the meeting should take place in the afternoon. " Time was,” said the old man with a sigh, " that I would have risen before daylight to fight at sunrise, but we cannot do these things at seventy-eight. Well, heaven’s will be done.” They fought at twelve paces. Bagenal wounded his antagonist severely; the arm of the chair in which he sat was shattered, but he escaped nnhurt; and he ended the day with a , glorious carouse, tapping the claret, we may presume, as usual, by firing a pistol at the cask. The traditions of Dunleckny allege that when Bagenal, in the course of his tour through Europe, visited the petty Court of Mecklenburg Strelitz, the Grand Duke, charmed with his magnificence and the reputation of his wealth, made him an offer of the hand of the fair Charlotte, who, being politely rejected by King Bagenal, was afterwards accepted by King George A MISCARRIAGE OF JUSTICE. As to the administration of., the law, it was not very easy for the people* to repose confidence in its justice when such an incident as the following could occur. In the spring of 1797, Solicitor-General Toler, afterwards Lord Norbury, presided during the illness of one of the Judges in the Criminal Court at the assizes for County of Kildare. Captain Frazer, aE Scotchman, was prosecuted for the mnrdalS| of a peasant named Christopher Dixrftpvi under the following circumstances : —Banal of the County of Kildare, near Carberry, was at that time proclaimed. Other parts were exempt from proclamation.’' 1 * There was a flying camp in the proclaimed- part, consisting of the Frazer Pencibles, under the command of Captain Frazer. One night, on his return through Cioncurry to the camp from a jovial dinner-party at Maynooth, Frazer saw Dixon repairing & cart by the roadside. Thinking that be was in his own proclaimed district, he seized Dixon for being out after sunset, and made him mount behind the orderly dragoon in attendance, with the purpose of taking him to the camp to flog. Passing a tufnpike - gate, Dixon asserted that the proclamation did not extend to the district in which he had been found, at the same time appealing to the gatekeeper to confirm his assertion. The gatekeeper said that the district in question had not been proclaimed; upon which Dixon descended from the crupper of the orderly’s horse and went towards home. Frazer and the dragoon soon furiously pursued him, and gave him sixteen wounds,- of which seven or eight were mortal. A coroner’s jury returned a verdict of “ Wilful Murder ” against the homicides. A neighbouring Magistrate, Mr Thomas Ryan, endeavoured to take Frazer, but the soldiers resisted. Mr Byan reported the facts to Lord Cioncurry, who was then in Dublin, and who directed his son, the Hon Valentine Lawless, to visit the Commander of the Forces, Lord Carhamptcn, in order to demand the body of Frazer in pursuance of tbe provisions of the Mutiny Act. Mr Lawless made the demand in presence of Mr Byan, and of Colonel (afterwards General Sir George) Cockbum. Lord Carhampton refused to give up Frazer. Mr Lawless thereupon told his Lordship that Frazer was ipso facto cashiered. At the assizes Frazer went voluntarily to be tried. His approach to the Courthouse was a sort of ovation, for he was attended by a military band playing " Croppies, lie down.” Mr Toler presided. On the Bench beside him sat the Duke of Leinster and the unfortunate Lord Edward Fitzgerald. The facts of the case were directly proved by unexceptional witnesses. There were many persons examined who deposed to the good and peaceful character of the deceased, his exemption from all “treasonable” machinations, ana his general habits of morality and industry. There were also witnesses on the other side who testified to the admirable character of Captain Frazer and the orderly dragoon, investing them especially with the military virtues. Mr Toler charged home for an acquittal. He regretted the homicide—it was ver unfortunate good, respectable man worthy character, and so forth—witnesses of unimpeachable credit had said go. There had, however, been witnesses who gave a most admirable character to the gallant captain in the dock, which the jury could by no means overlook—he was a brave and faithful soldier to his King—loyal, devoted —in a word, a sort of person needed in this unhappy country at thepresent time. The occurrence for which he was tried was most deeply to be deplored ; he would not disparage the deceased ; he would only say that if he had been as good as the witnesses for the prosecution had represented him, he was well out of a wicked world.