The internet is sporadic to say the least where I am at present but I will try posting this John 30 January 1795. Letter from John Colclough, Dublin, to Caesar Colclough, Lausanne, Switzerland. He expresses relief that the reports that Caesar Colclough has been executed in France were unfounded, and goes on to discuss Enniscorthy borough. ‘...I am happy to find what was done at Enniscorthy pleases you, particularly the appointment of Rock. You may guess I did nothing without the approbation of my mother and all my uncles, though there was one of your burgesses who did not approve of filling up the vacancies at all, to whom I had written (in answer to a most extraordinary letter of his) my reasons, which were unanswerable; and I think, that his own judgment be what it was, he should have admitted to the united wish of my mother, my uncle and myself at a juncture when yours could not possibly be known. But this however he did not think proper and though he would not be at the trouble of attending himself, send his veto by Pat Colclough who, with the most consummate assurance and villainy, proposed the Councillor, who was rejected by a majority of seven. I have deferred mentioning the name of the burgess who sent his veto because I know it will hurt you to find the world so deceitful. It was no other than William Harvey in whom all your friends join me in opinion that you were deceived but I trust will be for no longer-at least it shan’t be my fault if you are. In addition to his extraordinary conduct as above, I must inform you that, though even Portrieve, he never attended but once (as well as I recollect) since you left this kingdom. ...’he adds that Harvey, as well as being a false friend, is an incapable lawyer. ‘... I have been thus elaborate on this subject, lest you might think it extraordinary my employing Waddy to dissolve the custodiums and do some other necessary law business for you, consequent to my father’s death. I had tried him before, and find him exceedingly clever, expeditious, cheap and successful. He is now esteemed one of the first attorneys in Dublin, and though not of the same political interest as us, he does not pretend to be so, and you will find him a much more moderate man than the other. Out of 38 custodiams, he got consents to dissolve 34... William Sutton... you may truely call a friend and you may thank for now having the borough of Enniscorthy, as will you find hereafter. I pay Waddy 50, which went but a little towards dissolving the custodiams, for each of which I should have told you there was 10 shillings a year King’s silver paid off of the estate, which is now done away, beside no rents could be received or anything done till they were all dissolved. I sent two bills, one to Copenhagen, the other to O’Reilly at Basle in Switzerland, for your use, that amounted to £65. The reason I sent so little was because I was certain they would never reach you, and I believe I conjectured right. I paid my mother £100. I sent last Sunday to Stuck(?) Scimon (?) for Morres’s £108. I paid for my father’s funeral (by his dying request I was obliged to bring him to Tintern) and for his debts contracted for the necessaries of life during the four last months of his life (for, having sold his employment, he must have starve) £240, and there are still some unpaid. This is only a rough sketch. The items are too many to be contained in a letter, But, however, when you come over, you can see this account along with all others since our last settlement before you left this, and then you will find that that unfortunate unpunctuality was not entirely owing to me, and I trust that for the past, present and to come and you will find me not an unfaithful steward. I do not recollect whether in a letter sent by Copenhagen I mention my father’s having made a will some short time before he died, which was kept a profound secret from me till afterwards. The worthy Counsellor was the person who had it drawn. I am left £8,000 on the particular condition that I should not hinder or prevent the other bequests, which were £1,500 to Mrs Harrington and to the boys, £500 to Parson Dudley. But this you know is all fudge. The rental of the estate at present is but £1,600. You see, you must therefore live with prudence and economy for only two years, then I will engage, if you will be guided by me, to increase it £1,200 per annum, and every tenant who lives on the estate have their land cheaper that what they now pay for it to those beasts, middlemen, who have always been the destruction of this country (perhaps you would hardly believe that Richards has set Ballyvoane at 20 shillings and 6 pence an acre all round-your rent is 4 shillings and 3 pence- and the man he has set it to has set the greater part of it for 30 and the remainder of it for what he pays himself, 2 shillings and 6 pence(sic). In what a state must these wretched under-tenants be, you can very well imagine. In such a case as this (and there are many such on your estate) it is a duty you owe your tenantry and yourself to break such leases. Dear Caesar, you must be landlord of your own estate, and suffer no one to intervene between you and your tenants. You can then serve them: at present you cannot. As these were always your sentiments, and I believe you have not changed them, I hope you will not be displeased at my having led off the dance with Mr Richards, having served him with ejectment prior to the receipt of your letters. I am sure he will bring it to a trial next Assizes, when there is not a shadow of doubt of your succeeding, and he is cast, I think all the rest will submit at discretion. So that if I had said one, instead two years, I don’t think I would have been much out. This one farm will rise your rent roll £200 per annum and abate the rent £60 per annum to the under - tenants by which means 15 or 20 poor families will be able to live in comfort. The other farms that are to increase £1,200 are circumstanced exactly similar, and you must allow it would be unreasonable not to punish those rascals whose carriages have been so long oiled with the sweat of your poor tenantry, and therefore, my dear Caesar, you must not prevent me from finishing the task I have began, and for God’s sake, don’t let a word of your dislike to law escape you. If it did, you would be involved in litigation all your life. Leave these matters to my management. You shall have no trouble, nothing to do but re-set your lands. I will attend terms and see everything done right. All I ask is for you not to hinder me, and that you leave the conducting of the business to me; and therefore when there are applications made to you (of which there will be millions) both for your lands and law business, you will refer them to me. I will take all on my back. You know you are unacquainted with the situations of your affairs, and let them apply to me, which is I think a much better answer than Uncle Corneys, ”I’ll consider of it”. Now as I have already engage in less that 2 years to increase your income to £1,200, so I will now engage the same conditions that you never shall be involve in any law suit in which you will not succeed. You may think I speak with too much confidence, but you will find I do not... There can be no rent received out of the estate till after next Easter term, when there will be an agent appointed by the Court of Chancery, to which my mother and I applied for that purpose last November. This is much better than an agent of your appointment to act, because your agent’s receiving would confirm leases, etc, etc. The Chancery you are in no way answerable for. The rents I can hand over to you... ‘ He urges Caesar Colclough to stay away and leave everything to him, and on no account to trust anything to Harvey. John Colclough is also to be watched carefully, for though a good fellow he now has nearly as good an income as Caesar Colclough himself. John Colclough (the writer of the letter) has given a small sum of money to Mrs Harrington, to keep the boys and her from want, and will continue to do so unless Caesar Colclough countermands the order.
