County Cavan

“ Agriculture makes little progress; the extent of the farms being generally small. Oats and potatoes are the principal crops. Flax, once of some importance, is almost neglected. In the mountainous parts, however, where the land is chiefly under grazing, the farms are larger, and in stock-raising the county is progressing.
Cavan is not a manufacturing county. The bleaching of linen and the distillation of whisky are both carried on to a small extent, but the people are chiefly employed in agricultural pursuits and in the sale of home produce. ”

“ As an English undertaker in Ulster he obtained one thousand acres of arable land in the precinct of Clogher in co. Tyrone, called by him the Manor of Cecil, the exact position of which is accurately marked in Norden's map (Cott. MS. Aug. i. ii. 44) . As a servitor or Irish official, he was allotted one thousand acres in the precinct of Dungannon in the same county, and he subsequently acquired one thousand acres in the precinct of Tullagha in co. Cavan, which, as being concealed lands, were exempted from the usual conditions of plantation. ”

“ The same official divided Connaught into six counties—Galway, Mayo, Sligo, Roscommon, Leitrim, and Clare. The latter county, although situated on the Connaught bank of the river Shannon, was subsequently given to Munster, because it had formed a part of that province in ancient times. Antrim and Down were organized into counties early in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and Lord Deputy Perrott, about 1584, formed seven others out of Ulster; namely, Armagh, Monaghan, Tyrone, Coleraine (now Derry) , Donegal, Fermanagh, and Cavan. ”

“ The bonds recite that they were issued in conformity to law, and in pursuance of the election held on the 6th of April, 1869. It is true they refer to the wrong statute, but falsa demonstratio non nocet. The bad here does not hurt the good. The act of the commissioners was the act of the county, and the county is conclusively bound by what they have done. As between the county and a bona fide holder, no question involving the infirmity of the securities can be raised. ”

“ The whole county is excited over the new court-house. They act and talk like it was Solomon's temple, and will look on you two as divine agents of some sort. Folks are fools, as you no doubt know."
"A little bit—from experience," Cavanaugh joked. "The Ordinary tells me you are a Methodist. That's what I am, brother, and I'll love to live under a Methodist roof once more."
"Yes, thank God! that's what I am," Whaley said. "My wife is, too. I'll show you our meeting-house when we pass it. I've got a Bible-class. It is the biggest in the county—twenty-two members." ”

“ Area, 565 sq. m. There is, owing to the changed bed of the Conwy stream, a small detached part of the county on the north coast of Denbighshire, stretching inland for some 21⁄2 m. between Old Colwyn and Llandulas. About half the whole length of the county is a peninsula, Lleyn, running south-west into the Irish Sea, and forming Cardigan Bay on the south and Carnarvon Bay on the north. The county is rich in minerals, e.g. lead, copper, some gold. Its slate quarries are many and good. Its mountains include the highest in England and Wales, the summit of Snowdon (Wyddfa or Eryri) being 3560 ft. ”

“ In Kildare borough, the sovereign returned two, whom the Commission declared to be not elected, deciding that the Irish candidates were returned. In Wicklow 60there was a confusion between the reputed portriff and the deputy-constable about the proper date, and finally two English candidates were returned. In Cavan, the sovereign and inhabitants held an election, without waiting for the sheriff’s permission, and declared two natives elected. The Ulster men all resented the intrusion of the sheriffs upon them. ”

“ Admitting an irregularity to have occurred it certainly cannot affect the rights of a holder for value without notice.
It is insisted that the county judge was functus officio at the time he issued the bonds in question, and that they are for this reason void.
The statute of the State provides that, in case of the absence of that officer, the county clerk shall fill his place. The absence spoken of is doubtless absence from the county seat. In that event unlimited authority is given to the clerk to act as his substitute. ”

“ The principal river is the Shannon, which, issuing from Lough Allen, forms the south-western boundary of the county with Roscommon. The Bonnet rises in the north-west and flows to Lough Gill, and the streams of Drones and Duff separate Leitrim from Donegal and Sligo. Besides Lough Allen, which has an area of 8900 acres, the other principal lakes in the county are Lough Macnean, Lough Scur, Lough Garadice and Lough Melvin. The scenery of the north is wild and attractive, while in the neighbourhood of the Shannon it is of great beauty. ”

“ But for the lack of enterprise the coal and iron might aid in the development of a considerable manufacturing industry.
Administration and Population.—The county comprises 8 baronies, 46 parishes, and 2164 townlands. Formerly it returned two members to parliament, the borough of Dungannon also returning one; but in 1885 Dungannon was disfranchised and the county arranged in four divisions east, mid, north, and south each returning one member. It is in the north-western circuit, and as sizes are held at Omagh and quarter-sessions at Clogher, Dungan non, Omagh, and Strabane. ”

“ Young out of the Secretary's office, and that his wrath now burnt after him into the county of Saratoga, and what was passing strange—pitiful and wondrous pitiful was, that the Judge had thrust his hand so far into this dish of woes as to employ in his service the press and Editor of the Saratoga Journal.—Kasson's letter which appears in "the book," tho' now altered by striking out Stillwell's name, arrives by express from Albany, in season to make up for this dish, its last ingredient—But Alas! to no purpose; the people's delegates nominate Mr. Cowen. ”

“ Administration apart from fiscal supervision in other departments, such as charities, prisons and public health, has advanced much more slowly than reform in the fields which have been mentioned. But every indication for the future is toward greater control through accounting and supervision. The county acts locally in the enforcement of state obligations. The real trouble comes when one undertakes, arbitrarily, to place any given county activity in the local or state category. ”

“ At the close of the last century the relative proportions of the County Rate in the some townships were as follows: Cawthorne, Barnsley, Worsborough, Thurlstone, 1s.; Darton, Dodworth, Silkstone, Barugh, 6d.; High Hoyland, 4d.
In the historical Poll Tax of Richard II. (1379) , the "gross injustice of which exaction, making the poorest man contribute as much as the wealthiest, set England on fire from sea to sea," and gathered the men of Kent round Wat Tyler, we see that the township of Cawthorne produced xxvi s. x d., at 4d. for every person, male and female, above fifteen years of age. ”

“ The laws underlying the organization of the county government have not been changed; but there has grown up, quite outside the statute books and outside the court house itself, a second government that has supplied the great lack in the official, legal one, the lack of a definite head. The new factor in the county’s affairs has come to exercise the powers of an executive. Theoretically the people have elected his heads of departments; practically he has chosen them himself. The people have retained the forms while he has arrogated to himself the substance of political power. ”

“ Within the last ten or twelve years the whole country has been studded with good substantial stone or brick houses, or good white painted frame houses, even for thirty miles back, and the farms are well fenced and cultivated, showing undeniable signs of comfort and independence. Streams and water are abundant, and there are several thriving villages and hamlets scattered through the county,—the village of Canniff's Mills, three miles from Belleville, and soon destined to form a part of it, alone containing a population of about a thousand. ”

“ The sections of this act subsequent to the first section shall take effect and be in force from and after their passage.'At the next general election a majority of votes cast in the county was in favor of the removal.
Thereupon Newton, and a number of other citizens of the town of Canfield, filed their petition in the Court of Common Pleas for Mahoning County praying for an injunction restraining the board of county commissioners from removing the county seat to Youngstown. ”

“ If we could leave this Poor Farm, having seen so [Pg 267] much and no more, we could think of it again only with feelings of pleasure that the county’s unfortunates were provided for so comfortably; but standing alone is an old brick building in which the insane are kept and this must be visited too. It is a gloomy place, coming out of the bright October sun, but when your eyes become accustomed to the shadows, you see what this county has provided for the insane who are neglected by the great mother state. ”

“ But he differs in the fact that he is very industrious and independent, and always on the lookout to better himself. So that, though nearly all the population is composed of small farmers and their labourers, the county is said to produce more teachers, parsons, and preachers than any other in Wales.
We have heard something already of the tremendous battles that took place in this region—battles which we can easily account for, since the loneliness of the district made it a favourite refuge for all lost causes. ”

“ It is difficult to decide to what extent the smaller freeholders could take an active interest in the affairs of the county. As for the office of knight of the shire, there was no competition in the thirteenth or fourteenth century for the honour of going to Parliament, and it is likely enough that the sheriff, upon whom rested the responsibility for the elections, would in some counties be obliged to nominate and compel the attendance of an unwilling candidate. ”

“ At the risk of gratuitous insult to the intelligence of the county, we must subjoin that the honoured gentleman to whom we allude is Henry Valentine Vaughan, Esquire, of Vaughan Park. Is not such a man, the representative of time-honoured sentiments, and who to a distinguished degree adds the experience of continental travel, is not such a man, we ask, a thousand times fitter to express in the Senate the opinions and wishes of this great county, than the scion, we had almost said spawn, of the Manchester mushrooms, whom a Castle that shall be nameless is attempting to foist on the county? ”

“ The commissioners court, as found by the Texas Supreme Court, performs more functions in the area of the county outside Midland City than it does within the city limits. Therefore, each rural resident has a greater interest in its activities than each city dweller. Yet under the majority's formula the urban residents are to have a dominant voice in the county government, precisely proportional to their numbers, and little or no allowance may be made for the greater stake of the rural inhabitants in the county government. ”

“ Glamorgan is in the S. Wales circuit, and both assizes and quarter-sessions are held at Cardiff and Swansea alternately. All the municipal boroughs have separate commissions of the peace, and Cardiff and Swansea have also separate courts of quarter-sessions. The county has thirteen other petty sessional divisions, Cardiff, the Rhondda (with Pontypridd) and the Merthyr and Aberdare district have stipendiary magistrates. There are 165 civil parishes. Excepting the districts of Gower and Kilvey, which are in the diocese of St David’s, the whole county is in the diocese of Llandaff. ”

“ The act established a county board of review of assessments for counties having a population in excess of 500,000. The act was attacked as invalid under both the State and Federal Constitutions. Interlocutory and permanent injunctions were sought. ”

“ We have seen from the act organizing the county that the three commissioners named were empowered to name the county officers, to serve until the general election of 1884. In pursuance of their duties the commissioners, Messrs. Critchfield, Swain, and Weisenfels, at their first formal meeting on November 14, 1883, appointed the following county officials: J. L. Vinson, sheriff; H. Wamsley, assessor; S. S. Bennett, probate judge; Charles Goodwin, superintendent of schools; J. J. Kanawyer, treasurer; J. O'Keefe, surveyor; A. J. Allen, coroner; S. T. Jones, sheep commissioner ”

“ The original division of the coast section into three counties—Albemarle with six precincts, Bath with four precincts, and Clarendon with one (New Hanover) —was altered, and the precincts were denominated counties. The very names of the original counties disappeared. Soon other counties westward or inland were formed as the population increased, chiefly by overland immigration. To each county the governor appointed a sheriff, selected from three persons recommended by the county court. The judiciary system was modified to suit the new administration and augmentation of population. ”

“ The county seat was his destination and court was in session when he arrived and at the mid-day recess. This officer, upon dismounting, very warm and dusty, it being the latter part of June, found a large number of citizens assembled in front of the hotel, to whom he stated, that by order of General Canby, he was there to reconstruct the county and to inaugurate amicable relations between the government at Richmond and the good people of the county and thus prevent friction. ”