2 May 1798: Attempts to retrieve arms held by the United Irishmen and from all those not enrolled in the yeomanry are stepped up as more and more proclamations threatening freequarters expire.
John Massey informs State Solicitor Thomas Kemmis on April 26th that the "cursed Defenders" (United Irishmen) are only sending in their old and broken firearms to the Limerick depots in an attempt to stave off the anticipated depredations of the military.
Such token submissions merely aggravate Massey who claims to be "out with my corps & detachment of the Longford [Militia] frequently, have been obliged to burn some houses of notorious vagabonds by which alone we get information". He confides in John Dwyer that "a power of whipping those fellows into confession is absolutely necessary to stop this evil".
Opponents of martial law who hold it is bad for army discipline are vindicated to a degree on May 1st by a report that three Fermanagh militiaman and Suffolk fencibles were killed in Drogheda in a clash over the use of commandeered carts.
Violence against the disaffected, however, is not to be shirked in the view of Faulkner's Dublin Journal which, once again, praises the "exemplary firmness" of the Ancient Britons and Durham fencibles. Trawling operations by them in and around Downpatrick, Newry and Dundalk have netted an estimated 2,000 guns as well as an "immense number" of pikes.
Roger O'Connor, a recently released United Irish suspect, petitions the Home Office for permission to visit his imprisoned brother, Arthur, in England. This is a somewhat im pertinent request from a man who is reliably believed to have secreted hundreds of weapons on his Cork property and to be deeply engaged in seditious affairs in Munster.
William Wickham seeks information on the troublesome O'Connors on May 1st and is apprised by Under-Secretary Ed ward Cooke that "two brothers [are] loyal & they are hostile in the highest degree to Arthur & Roger. None of them are to be depended upon for veracity or honour. The family trials have been frequent & disgraceful & I believe the brothers have sworn they would not believe each other on their oaths."
The period of grace allowed by a proclamation issued in Skull, west Cork, ends on May 2nd without the desired result even though five companies of light infantry and a party of dragoons patrolled the area to instil the inhabitants with a sense of danger.
Maj Gen John Moore is deflated by this, having expected "that upon the appearance of the troops the people would have given in their arms, but it had no effect. I spoke to the priests, and took every pains to represent the folly of holding out and of forcing me to resort to violent measures."
Maj Nugent is directed to withdraw troops from their Skibbereen barracks and send them into the "much disturbed" parish of Caheragh. Five additional companies are simultaneously billeted across the Ballydehob/Ballydevilin area.
The soldiers have orders to "forage the whole of the coun try from Crookhaven to within seven miles of Skibbereen . . . to treat the people with as much harshness as possible, as far as words and manner went, and to supply themselves with whatever provisions were necessary to enable them to live well". The object is to "excite terror, and by that means obtain our end speedily".