The Reverend Mr. M'Dermott, parish-priest of Strokestown, has written a
letter to the Freeman's Journal, solemnly assuring the public, "that the late Major Mahon was never denounced, nor even his name mentioned, from any chapel-altar in Strokestown, or within twenty miles of Strokestown, in any direc- tion, on any Sunday before his death" ; also declaring, that no single sentence was spoken, " which, by misconstruction or otherwise, could tend to stimulate the peasantry to the atrocious murder." Mr. M.Darmott follows up this dis claimer with remarks on "the infamous and inhuman cruelties which were wan- tonly and unnecessarily exercised against a tenantry whose feelings were already wound up to wofal and vengeful exasperation by the loss of their exiled relatives, as well as by hunger and pestilence "; and that, in his opinion, " may be as- signed as the sole exciting cause of the disastrous event which has occurred." The King's County Chronicle states that since the murder of Mr. Lucas, "the tenants whom he had dispossessed at Scorduff have reentered into posses- sion of the lands, and refuse either to surrender or pay rent; and Mrs. Lucas. who has been threatened, is afraid to institute any proceedings against them, Three persons are still detained in custody charged with being concerned in the murder."
Among gentlemen that have received notice of death is Sir Robert Gore Beth; whose enlightened benevolence at the time of the famine was so emphatically proclaimed an Parliament.
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