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.
Those were all proved by witnesses, and although we must admit, that the great body of the evidence was true, in point of fact, yet there was not a word said, of the insolence, threatening language, falsehood, evasion, and defiance, which Purcel and his sons had in general experienced from the people, before they had been forced to have recourse, in matters of tithe, to such harsh proceedings against them.

When the case for Captain Right was about to close, there was a slight stir, and a low indistinct murmur ran through those who thronged the ruin.
"There is another charge still to come," said the young man who conducted the prosecution; "we pass by the three massacres, and all the blood that was shed in them; and all the sorrow and misery, and affliction that they occasioned--we pass them by, I say, and to show all here present that we are not like Purcel and his sons, resolved to avail ourselves of any advantage against those we prosecute, I will just confine myself to one case of murder, instead of many--because you all know, that if they are found guilty upon one count, it will be sufficient for our purpose.
Widow Flanagan, come up and prove your sorrowful case." A pale, emaciated woman, whose countenance was the very reflex of affliction and despair, now was assisted to make her way from the further part of the building.