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                                                                                Office of Public Works,
                                                                                 7 Dec 1846.

Sir,
Ihave the honour to forward herewith a copy of a letter from Capn Wynne
Inspecting Officer W? Clare ? Capn Lascom? for the information of his
Excellency the Lord Lieutenant.

                                                                    I have the honour? to be ?
                                                                                        Sir
                                                                    Your obed? Servant
                                                                                T Hansorley?

J N Redcliffe?
      +      +
Dublin Castle

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(Copy)                                                                                                                         Ennis Dec 5 : 1846
of
Letter from Insptg
Officer West Clare

                            My dear Sir,
                                    I regret to say that matters are not improving with us in this District nor can I expect
them to improve so long as yesterdays scene continues to be enacted daily. The Extraordinary presentment
sessions at Ennis? timon? held yesterday were a second edition of those at Corofin - Major Macnamara
was in the chair supported by Mr Connr? OBrien MD. - Mr J OBrien MP &  The first two hours were
occupied in attack and defence without ever once touching upon the business of the day  It was obvious
that it was not to transact business they had come there and the result of course was that nothing was
done and nothing can be done till another Ex presentment session be called. this must lead to considerable
inconvenience, as? many of the works in the Barony the funds will be vewry soon exhausted and the Men
will be obliged to go 4 or 5 miles to others, for which there remain presentments. All this together with the
evil consequences of leading the people to expect to be turned into their own gardens to till, I explained,
all to no purpose, I therefore had but one course to pursue, that of protesting against the entire proceedings
in which I was followed by Mr Hill & Mr Gamble
      I and the other Officers of your Board have strong reasons to complain of the conduct of the two County
Members, who appeared to come there for the sole purpose of holding us up, one and all, to the Afsafin; and
hallowing on a Mob of a thousand of the worst description who were present. Can it be wondered at that the
Stewards and Overseers will not discharge their duties, and that the men on the Works are doing literally
nothing but what they please. When I give directions to any of them they resign rather than carry those
directions into effect, And I confess I can scarcely expect any other course from any of them not gifted with
strong nerves, in the present state of County Clare Society.
     I am bound to state that from Mr John OBrien MP and Archdeacon Whitty we recd? support and
protection and also from others present; but unfortunately such is the state of alarm in which they live that
they are not free agents and dare not utter their real sentiments. How are we to go on in this state of things?
I am endeavouring to keep the Machinery together and have succeeded in preventing several resignations;
but as long as any part of the Machinery is crippled by intimidation we can not expect it to work with
advantage. For my own part I entertain no fears for my personal safety, but with all the exertion I am
capable of, I fear the result will do me little Credit. I have made myself acquainted with Several
Circumstances which leave no doubt in my mind of the increasing difficulties before us. In the Barony of
Moyarta, Mr Marcus Keane a gentleman of high character has investigated and ascertained at my
instance the State of the Several townlands and parishes and it is truly deplorable; including the remnant?
of the Potatoe crop, there are not provisions for three weeks & these too in the hands of a few individuals;
now at the expiration of this period all the Money in the Treasury cannot meet the wants of the frightful
population in that District without importing provisions

            The Census of 1841 being pronounced Universally to be no fair Criterion of the present population +
consequent destitution, I tested the Matter in the Parish of Clondigad, Barony of Island where I found the
present population more than a third greater than that of 1841 - this I believe to be the case in all the
Districts along the Coast, and to be caused entirely by the Sea Weed traffic, which has done an infinity
of Mischief, Squatters from all the Southern Counties have settled down and converted the Country into
one Monster Cottier farm, I conceive emigration alone can remedy this state of things. The present
population + consequent Subdivision of the land must ever Act as a bar to Drainage and Reclaimation,
as even tho the work might be executed, Drainage Contd? never to be preserved in working order under
the present system of fencing, and the difficulty of Substituting any other mode? in this Country as at
present.
         It is a Country that invites the improver Still few have Accepted the invitation. I have just recd? while
writing an account of one of the Stewards being shot this evening about 5 OC between this town and
Clare Castle, about 1 1/2 mile from this and half a mile from the barracks at Clare Castle. He was walking
with two friends, one of them a Pay Clerk of ours, three soldiers were about 20 yards in advance, and two
about the same distance in the rear. A man stood in the ditch within two yards of Hennessy ( the Steward)
and fired at him lodging the contents of the Blunderbus in his hip; he then stopped to explain that he did not
intend to Shoot any body but Hennessy and walked off quickly without the slighest effort being made to
stop him.
        Hennessy I must add is one of our best Stewards or rather Overseers, and has been executing Some
orders he recd? from Mr Gamble + me last Saturday and for this he has been Shot. I dont think the wound
is Mortal; the Blunderbus could not have been well loaded; about 40 slugs and large shot have been
extracted. The works must be Stopped of course, for what length of time it is hard to say as there is no
chance of the offender being given up to justice in this instance.
        Several trifling riots have taken place on the Works, in all cases I have Stopped till the offenders were
given up to justice- which has been done. --
       The Outrage on Mr Stoddard at Clare was not directly traceable to his being a member of a Relief
Committee, so the works were not stopped. I think it is advisable where there is any doubt in this Subject
not to Stop the Works : as in the present State of general destitution it must lead to the Most lamentable
consequences to individuals not concerned in the outrage - I look forward to sad Consequences from
stopping the Works at Clare tomorrow: It is most likely to produce bad consequences: our Military force
is quite inadequate. Men in Womens Clothes and Black faces are appearing every day through the
Country threating the Officers and Stewards and insisting on their orders being obeyed, in this state of
things it is difficult to expect men to act with advantage to the cause, and the fact is they are not
Acting so
                                                                                                            Believe me
                                                                                                            My dear Sir Vc
                                                                                Signed                 E Wynne

NB Iwould not have you mistake me it is not my intention to abandon my post while there remains one
man to stand by me. --