In those days the Court of Chancery seldom
abated rents, or remitted arrears, and was
slow to adopt any unusual steps in the
conduct of the affairs of an estate, unless with
the consent of the inheritor, or owner. In
this case, the inheritor would consent to
nothing; with a proper amount of vigour
and activity on the part of the receiver, all
arrears could easily be got in. After this
hint of what I was to expect if I should
betray a weak compassion for the poor
tenants, or any sickly distaste for the task
appointed me of grinding them to the dust,
I steeled my resolution and buckled on my
armour for the crusade against the rebellious
vassals of Riggballyrann.

Passive resistance was the order of the
day throughout the estate. Not only
those were recusants, who had reason to
think they had been cheated or oppressed;
but, the few who had no real grievance to
allege, taking advantage of the general
disorder, set up fictitious claims, and played to
admiration the obstreperous martyr to landlord
cruelty. For two years the contest
raged, maintained on one side by a whole
army of bailiffs and other minions of the
law, by perpetual seizures of crops and
cattle, public cants or sales by auction, by
civil bill-processes (actions in the County
Court), and by writs of attachment issuing
from Chancery, and obstinately encountered
on the other part by rescues, hiding from
the officers of justice, making away with
crops by night, by the occasional thrashing
of an unlucky bailiff after making him dine
on his own process, and by the exercise of
every species of evasion, in all the manifold
varieties of trickery, which the native
ingenuity of Tipperary-boys and the practised
craft of quarter-sessions attorneys could
suggest. A certain excitement was not wanting
to this chaos of embroilment; but after a
while, the inglorious strife began to weary
me, and I was disgusted by the loss of
time and the smallness of profit; for the
amount of rent received was small, and the
labour was considerable. Meanwhile, the
expenses to the estate were very great, for,
in addition to the forces kept on foot and
parallel with the movements in the field, a
series of proceedings was carried on in the
Master's Office in Dublin, by the machinery
of what are called statements of facts,
containing reports of our doings in the country,
and recommendations of new measures to be
adopted. These often provoked opposition
from the owner or the creditors; and
numerous attendances and much debates ensued,
to the huge pleasure and advantage of the
professional gentlemen engaged.

There were five brothers named Martin,
occupying, on a remote part of the property,
as many farms, which originally formed one
holding of about one hundred and forty
acres, and had been in possession of their
father under a lease from Mr. Rigg's
predecessor. This lease, Mr. Rigg cancelled,
alleging that the division amongst the five
sons had wrought a forfeiture. He considerably
increased the rents, and then promised
them separate leases, provided each paid him
in advance a sum equal to a year's rent,
which was to be allowed in the last year of
the term. Having received the money, he
evaded the execution of the leases, and
distrained regularly every half-year for the
rent. In his sworn rental, he entered them
as tenants from year to year, and made no
mention of the promised leases or of the
sums which they had advanced; and when
asked by me for an explanation, he repudiated
the transaction altogether, declaring, that
the money had been given for the goodwill
on their entering their farms. The receipts
were so vaguely worded as to throw no light
on the matter; the old lease had been given
up to the landlord, who destroyed it, and the
unfortunate Martins had no documentary
evidence of the agreement. They refused
to pay any rent, unless the leases were
granted, which the Court could not do; or
unless they were repaid their advances, which
Mr. Rigg neither would nor could do. And
so they were left to the mercy of the law,
and the extreme rigour of the Court, which
it was my duty to enforce.

These Martins were all tall and athletic
men, with dark eyes and a quick and lively
expression. They were above the order of
peasants, and two of them were the
handsomest specimens I had seen of that
physically noble race. The beauty of their children
was quite remarkable, and the occasional
gifts of pence and toys, which I bestowed on
them, quickly won their favour, which was
not without its influence on the parents,
with whom I was more popular than the
unpleasant nature of my business with them
led me to expect. On my first visit, I was
warmly received; they hoped now to have
justice; they told me their story, expressing
a wish to live at peace, for they had been
sorely harassed. Nevertheless, they would
pay no rent, as they had not got the leases,
nor been allowed the money they had
advanced. I distrained the corn in their
haggards ; but, in order to save the expense
of bailiffs and keepers, they were persuaded
to give security for its production on the day
of sale. The auction was attended only by
themselves and a few neighbours, who bought
at fair prices, of course, in trust for the
Martins; and all passed off quietly. They had
not yet abandoned all hopes of a settlement,
and were unwilling prematurely to provoke
a rupture.

Six months afterwards, having failed to
arrange their accounts, the land lord refusing
to yield, I paid the Martins another visit, and
found them civil, but on the subject of rent
intractable. They would never pay a penny,
nor give up their farms I might do as I
pleased. There was an ominous air of