Lucas, requesting that I should give a statement of the particulars
which occurred to me in Carrickmacross, on Monday last, I beg leave to
lay before you the facts, as follows:--

'Mr. Shirley has recently appointed me to the agency over his Monaghan
estate. We both arrived here on Thursday, the 30th of March, and on
the following morning we went together into the office; and having
remained there about an hour, we were much surprised, on our return,
to find an immense mass of people outside the door, who immediately
presented a petition to Mr. Shirley, requesting a reduction of rent.

'Mr. Shirley declined giving an immediate answer to such an unexpected
request; but having read the petition, he told them he would give an
answer to it on the Monday following. By Saturday, however, he had
arrived at a full conclusion upon the point, and, anxious to avoid any
unpleasant altercation with his tenants, he thought it advisable to
let his determination be known as soon as possible; and accordingly,
on Saturday, he issued and circulated a printed notice, stating the
determination at which he had arrived, and declining any further
communications upon the subject. I enclose a copy of the notice.

'Notwithstanding this notice, the people came in on Monday in immense
numbers; and at about 11 o'clock in the forenoon, the upper part of
the street opposite to Shirley House, where we were residing, was
filled with dense masses of men. I then thought it my duty to go out,
and repeat to them in my capacity as agent, the determination at which
their landlord had arrived. I did so in the mildest terms. I told them
I had been able to go over only a part of the estate; but that from
what I had seen, I was of opinion that a better system of farming
and of general management of their land, was in my judgment much more