Page:Memoirs of a Huguenot Family.djvu/195

 Rh will find in the sequel it was not thrown away. The good providence of God made it the human means of procuring for me great advantages hereafter.

My Irish neighbors were in the habit of pillaging and cheating me in a thousand indirect ways. I had brought thirteen destitute Frenchmen into the neighborhood, who had served in the army under King William, and had been discharged, the war being over, and they knew not where to lay their heads.

I gave them land to cultivate, but whether it was owing to their ignorance of agriculture, their habits of indolence engendered by a military life, or the perpetual injuries they received at the hands of the Irish, I know not; but certain it is, they became discouraged, and most of them left me before the end of the three years. I lost £80 by them, having advanced so much for their use.

When God vouchsafes his blessing, every thing prospers, but let him withdraw the light of his countenance, and the best laid plans and most energetic labors result in nothing but failure. Every thing now went wrong with us. There was a Court held for the Barony at Bear Haven which was competent to decide in all causes under forty shillings. I do not believe that there were more than a half a dozen Protestants in the adjacent country besides my own family, and those I had brought with me, so that when I or any of my Protestants demanded what was due to .us, the matter was referred to a jury of Papists, who invariably decided against us. Protestants were never by any chance summoned to sit as jurors, and the consequences were most vexatious, for we not only lost our lawful dues, but were condemned to pay costs likewise. On the other hand, if the Irish took it into their heads