After a short silence, the judge asked, in an audible voice, if there was any business to be brought before “The Court of Right,” on that occasion.  He was immediately answered, in a solemn and almost melancholy tone of voice, that there was a great deal of business before the court, but that only one case, that of Captain Right against Purcel Senior and sons, was for hearing and adjudication on that occasion.

On hearing the name of Purcel, the judge took from his pocket a broad, blood-red ribbon, as did also each of the twelve farmers who constituted the jury, and having tied it about his left arm, in which they imitated him, he composed himself for the resumption of business.  The ribbons were a twofold symbol, signifying, in the first place, that the Purcels had shed the blood of the people, and were to be tried for murder; and in the second, that if found guilty, the sentence of Captain Right would exact from them the fearful penalty of blood for blood.  A compact, well knit, and intelligent young man, about twenty-six years of age, now rose up, and unrolling a long scroll of paper, read in a low but distinct voice, a long and dark series of charges preferred by the aforesaid Captain Right against the said Matthew Purcel and his sons.  That person, on this occasion, was the representative of Captain Right.

The judge then observed, that the charges must be proved to the satisfaction of the jury, and called upon Captain Right’s advocate to substantiate them.  It would spin out our description to a fatiguing length, were we to go through all the cases of oppression, fraud, and cruelty, that were brought home to the unfortunate proctor; against whom, if we are to take him as the exponent of his heartless class, every one of them was strictly true.

He was found guilty, for instance, of taking—­often beforehand, or in reversion—­several small farms over the heads of poor but solvent tenants; turning them adrift on the world, and consolidating their holdings into one large stock farm for grazing; there by adding to the number of the destitute, and diminishing the supply of food for the people.

He was found guilty of paying to his laborers the wretched sum of only eightpence a day; which he paid by the vile truck system—­that is to say by forcing them to take potatoes, milk, meal, &c, at nearly twice what the same commodities brought in the open market.

His sons were found guilty of insolence and cruelty, against such poor and distressed persons as had occasion to go to the proctor’s office, for the purpose of asking indulgence, or time to meet their engagements.  Their insolence and cruelty consisted in giving abusive language to, and horsewhipping them as if they were not men, or possessed of the same rights, privileges, and feelings, as themselves.  These were only a few of the charges, involving petty tyranny, oppression, and rapacity, against Purcel and his sons; but the last, and greatest, and most odious of them all, was the ruin he had brought, upon so many, by his tithe exactions, and the expenses he had heaped on them by processes of law, in recovering that blood-stained impost, as it was not improperly called.