During this desperate struggle, force was employed on several occasions with fatal effect.  At Newtownbarry, in the county of Wexford, some cattle were impounded by a tithe-proctor.  The peasantry assembled in large numbers to rescue them, when they came into collision with the yeomanry, who fired, killing twelve persons.  It was a market day, and a placard was posted on the walls:  ’There will be an end of church plunder; your pot, blanket, and pig will not hereafter be sold by auction to support in luxury, idleness, and ease persons who endeavour to make it appear that it is essential to the peace and prosperity of the country and your eternal salvation, while the most of you are starving.  Attend to an auction of your neighbours’ cattle.’  At Carrickshock there was a fearful tragedy.  A number of writs against defaulters were issued by the court of exchequer, and entrusted to the care of process-servers, who, guarded by a strong body of police, proceeded on their mission with secrecy and dispatch.  Bonfires along the surrounding hills, however, and shrill whistles soon convinced them that the people were not unprepared for their visitors.  But the yeomanry pushed boldly on.  Suddenly an immense assemblage of peasantry, armed with scythes and pitchforks, poured down upon them.  A terrible hand-to-hand struggle ensued, and in the course of a few moments eighteen of the police, including the commanding officer, were slaughtered.  The remainder consulted safety and fled, marking the course of their retreat by the blood that trickled from their wounds.  A coroner’s jury pronounced this deed of death as ‘wilful murder’ against some persons unknown.  A large government reward was offered, but it failed to produce a single conviction.  At Castlepollard, in Westmeath, on the occasion of an attempted rescue, the chief constable was knocked down.  The police fired, and nine or ten persons were killed.  One of the most lamentable of these conflicts occurred at Gurtroe, near Rathcormac, in the county of Cork.  Archdeacon Ryder brought a number of the military to recover the tithes of a farm belonging to a widow named Ryan.  The assembled people resisted, the military were ordered to fire, eight persons were killed and thirteen wounded; and among the killed was the widow’s son.

These disorders appealed with irresistible force to the Government and the legislature, to put an end to a system fraught with so much evil, and threatening the utter disruption of society in Ireland.  In the first place, something must be done to meet the wants of the destitute clergy and their families.  Accordingly, Lord Stanley brought in a bill, in May 1832, authorising the lord lieutenant of Ireland to advance 60,000 l. as a fund for the payment of the clergy, who were unable to collect their tithes for the year 1831.  This measure was designed to meet the present necessity, and was only a preliminary to the promised settlement of the tithe question.  It was therefore passed quickly through both Houses, and became law on June 1.  But the money thus advanced was not placed on the consolidated fund.