-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 that we never gave quarter to you."

Cease then, we intreat you, uselessly to violate humanity, by resorting to a system inefficacious as an instrument of terror; 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

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 Irish soldier is taken after the battle is over, the orders thenceforth to be issued to the Irish army are, neither to give nor take quarter. Countrymen, if a cruel necessity forces us to retaliate, we will bury our resentment in the field of battle; if we are to 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 it victory!

Conformably to the above proclamation, the provisional govern

ment of Ireland decree as fol lows:

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

2. From the same date, all transfers of landed property are prohibited, each person holding what he now possesses, on paying his rent until the national government is established, the national will declared, and the courts of justice organised.

3. From the same date, all transfer of bonds, debentures, and all public securities, are, in like manner and form, forbidden, and declared void, for the same times and for the same reasons.

4. The Irish generals commanding districts shall seize such of the partisans of England as may serve for hostages, and shall apprise the English commander 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 his command, 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, as prisoners of war; but all Irish militia, yeomen, or volunteer corps, or bodies of Irish, or individuals, who, 14 days from the promulgation and date hereof, shall be found in arms, shall be considered as rebels, committed for trial, and their properties confiscated.

6. The generals are to assemble court-martials, who are to be sworn

to

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, except for mutiny; the sentences of such others as are judged worthy of death shall not be put in execution until the provisional government declares its will; nor are court-martials, on any pretence, to 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 before courtmartials; and are enjoined to chase away from the Irish armies all such as shall disgrace themselves by being drunk in presence of the enemy.

9. The generals are to apprise their respective armies that all military stores, arms, or ammunition, belonging to the English government, be the property of the captors, and the value is to be divided equally, without respect of rank, between them; except that the widows, orphans, parents, or other heirs of such as gloriously. fall in the attack, shall be entitled to a double share.

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 is forbidden, and declared void, in the like manner as is expressed in Nos. 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 to 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 generals 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 expenditure.

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."

All

15. The generals 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. 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 their 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 subsheriffs, to execute their orders; a

sufficient

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 How performed by these magis

trates.

17. The county of Cork, on account of its extent, is to be divided, conformably to the boundaries for raising the 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, or other breaches of the acknowledged laws of war and morality, on the people, to the end that they may be tried for those 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 and real property of such persons, 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 proprie

tors.

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 shall give receipts for the same; shall transmit to the provisional 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 county, 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 transferred, arranged, and kept, and the orders of government are there to be transmitted and received.

23. The county committee is hereby empowered to pay, out of these effects, or by assessment, reasonable salaries for themselves, the sheriff, justices, and other magistrates, whom they shall ap point.

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

25. The county committee shall correspond with government on all the subjects with which they are charged, and transmit to the general of the district such information as they may conceive useful to the public.

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

27. The provisional government, wishing to commit, as soon possible, the sovereign authority to the people, direct that each county and city shall elect, agree ably to the constitution of United Irishmen, representatives to meet in Dublin; to whom, the moment

they

will carry with it your inevitable destruction; return from the paths of delusion, return to the arins of your countrymen, who will receive and hail your repentance.

Countrymen of all descriptions! let us act with union and concert; all sects-catholic, protestant, presbyterian—are equally and in discriminately embraced in the benevolence of our object; repress, prevent, and discourage excesses, pillage, and intoxication; let each man do his duty, and remember that, during public agitation, inaction becomes a crime: be no other competition known than that of doing good; remember against whom you fight-your oppressors for six hundred years; remember their massacres, their tortures; remember your murdered friends, your burned houses, your violated females; keep in mind your coun try, to whom we are now giving her high rank among nations, and in the honest terror of feeling, let us all exclaim, that as in the hour of her trial we serve this country, so may God serve us in that which will be last of all!

VOLUNTEER CAVALRY.

Regulations during War, for the Clothing, Appointments, and the Allowances for contingent Expenses, of Corps of Yeomanry and Volunteer Cavalry.

1. Every officer, non-commissioned officer, and private man, to take the oath of allegiance and fidelity to his majesty.

2. Every troop to consist of not less than forty rank and file, which comprehends corporals and pris vates only.

3. Three pounds per man for effectives will be allowed annually

for clothing and appointments, and issued for three years at once, if required; and the sum of 1201. per troop per annum, at the disposal of the commandant, to be in lieu of the pay of serjeants and trumpeters, and of every charge of whatever description, heretofore defrayed by government.

4. Constant pay, at the rate of 6s. per diem, to be allowed for an adjutant to corps of three troops and upwards.

5. Serjeants receiving constant pay, and all trumpeters (or bugle men) receiving pay either at a daily or weekly rate, to be attested and made subject to military law, until they shall be regularly discharged by the commandants.

6. If a corps, or any part thereof, shall be called upon in cases of riot or disturbance, the charge of constant pay to be made for such services must be at the rate following, being the pay of the regu lar cavalry, and be supported by a certificate from his majesty's lieutenant or the sheriff of the county.