Mr Carberry McCarthy | Strand Road, Cork | for John Tyndall | Leighlin Bridge | March 16th, 1842.
My dear John
I am sure you are worn out of patience, daily expecting something in the shape of a letter from me. The fact of the matter is I had nothing worth your notice to communicate, for the idea of the Corn, the Flour and the Provision Bills1 becoming the law of the land has turned every thing in this country in the shape of trade or business upside down. One portion of the people in extacy thinking that abundance are in store for them while another portion thinks that misery and want will be the consequence. In the midst of all this confusion it is useless for me to use any interest I may have to forward yours. But when the proper time comes and everything is settled I will do all in my power to forward your interest, but at present I can do nothing. But John about your coming home, when will such an event take place? I have at present a letter on the dresser from you to Mr Conwill. He will be here to-night at 8 o’clock – as he is teaching young Moran2 – when he will receive it. Mrs Murray complains much of William3 that he has not written to her these six months, and would be glad to know from you where he is, and how he is getting on. Your uncle Caleb has been appointed High Constable for the Barony of Idrone west and Mathew Griffith for east.4 I would not bother you with those lines but that I thought you might be uneasy. I will now conclude with letting you know we are all well
I am your affectionate father | John Tyndall
A rumour has come to town this moment that Patt Monahan has arrived in Carlow to abide his trial for the murder of Margaret Murphy. I think its truth, the Assizes is going on.5 This is the first day its sitting.
RI MS JT 1/10/3267
LT Transcript Only
the Corn, the Flour and the Provision Bills: Throughout February and March 1842 the House of Commons was debating Robert Peel’s Bill to Amend the Laws for the Importation of Corn, which proposed implementing a reduced sliding scale in the duty on imported corn, bringing it down to only 1s. when the price of domestic wheat fell to 73s. per quarter. The Bill was passed on 29 April 1842. Another Bill to prevent flour being substituted for foreign wheat secured in bonding warehouses, put forward by the MP William Hutt, was also debated in March.
young Moran: probably Patrick Francis Moran (1830–1911), son of Patrick Moran (d. 1841; see letters 0095 and 0104), who left Leighlin Bridge later in 1842 to study at the Pontifical Irish College in Rome, before emigrating to Australia where he became Roman Catholic Archbishop of Sydney and was proclaimed the first Australian Cardinal in 1885.
William: William Murray.
uncle Caleb has been appointed High Constable … and Mathew Griffith for east: Idrone in County Carlow was divided into two distinct Baronies in 1802 under the provisions of an act passed in 1799. Martin Nevin and Norman McMillan have suggested of Caleb Tyndall’s appointment, ‘This was his reward for services to the landlord Bruen’, (‘John Tyndall of Leighlin’, Carloviana, 2 (1978/9), pp. 22–7, on p. 24).
A rumour has come to town … the Assizes is going on: The rumour seems not to have been true, as this case was not heard at the Spring Assizes, nor at the Summer Assizes in July (see ‘Carlow Spring Assizes’, CS, 19 March 1842, pp. [2–3]; and ‘Carlow Assizes’, CS, 26 March 1842, pp. [2]).
Please cite as “Tyndall0130,” in Ɛpsilon: The John Tyndall Collection accessed on 29 April 2024, https://epsilon.ac.uk/view/tyndall/letters/Tyndall0130