The county returns three members to the Imperial Parliament, two for the county and one for the borough of Sligo. The assizes are held at Sligo, where are the county jail, the county infirmary, and a fever hospital. Quarter sessions are held there, and at Easky and Bally mote. Petty sessions are held in 14 places. The lnnatic asylum for Connanght, to which this county is entitled to send 46 patients, is at Ballinasloe. In the county are 12 dispensaries. A savings bank is established in Sligo town. In September 1852 there were 93 National schools in the county, attended by 5428 male end 5783 female children.
History and Antiquities.—This part of Connaught was made the scene of warfare between the descendants and family of Roderic O'Connor, the last monarch of Ireland, in their struggle for the prin cipality of Connaught Hugh O'Nial, chieftain of Tyrone, was defeated near Ballysadere, in 1200, when attempting to reinstate Cnthal of the Bloody Hand, dethroned by his kinsman Carrach, who was supported by the Anglo-Norinans under De Burge. Some of the Anglo-Norman settlers were engaged on the side of CathaL In 1245 the castle of Sligo was built, and, having been destroyed by the natives, was restored about the beginning of the next century. In
the general rebellion near the close of Elizabeth's reign, the royal forces under Sir Conyers Clifford, president of Connaught, were sur prised in this county by the natives under O'Rourke, chieftain of Breffney or Leitrim, and suffered considerable lose In the rebellion of 1641 tho county was occupied by the insurgents, and held by them till nearly the close of the war. In the war of the Revolution the county was held by the Jacobites.
The relics of antiquity are numerous. There are many cromlechs and other primeval monuments, such es tbo Giant's Cairn near Sligo, which consists of part of a circle of great stones. Remarkable caverns, the origin and purpose of which are unknown, occur in various parts of the county. 'lathe, or bill forte, are numerous; and at Drumcliffe there is the stump of a round tower with two ancient crosses. In every district monastic and other ecclesiastical remains are met with, and in some places the ancient structures have been converted into parish churches. There are ruined castles at Lough Gera, Bnllinafad, Ardnaglae, Castle Connor, and several other places. The island of Innismorray contains some striking remains of the ecclesiastical architecture of different ages.