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Northern Star (1837-1852), 6th June 1840, Edition 1 of 1, Page 6, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      «/ iw *? d 8 mooth en , K ' were ! t not fo * Ae dirt ttd obstacles we ourselves throw into it . Little JoHJfxr Russs-ll had a narrow escaDe * aS ? 2 ? £ ? toowledge-box the S ? d ^ feW .. ^ p 5 eoe of *» ipP « y peeL ¦ tlS *^ P ^ l swd he } "he will BerVVme out a * last—there a a fatality in the very name . " ? Wi " * . **? 1 * ™? TffiY ™ fmary appearance of the female head , for it is a libel to call it a resemblance « the < iaeen , on the postage carers , thai induces ttft Club WlU tft designate them penny pieces . To distinguish the sticking-plaster postage stamps from Court-plai 3 teT , the shops vending both articles make a distinguish by calling the former w pennyroyal , or Queen ' s plaster . "

      Pmsce Albert has expressed a wish to see the play of The Jealous Wife , followed by The Taming the Shrtw . We understand his wish will be complied with shortly . Whe > - Loku Brougham entered the House of Lord 3 : he other night , Lord Melbourne was observed to give much the same shrug of horror as he might have beea expected to have done had a tiger , or any other wild beast , entered the same assembly unmaizled . The Noble Viscount evidently expected to be torn to pieces .

      Maidop Obxsaks . —Yesterday was the anniversary of the cruel execution of the Maid of Orleans , ia 1431 . It iniY be noted that '' an edict of Louis XIII . 3 dated in June 1614 , ordains that females descended from the brothers of Joan of Arc , shall no longer ennoble their husbands . " From this it appears th \ t the nieces of this heroic female had been honoured with the singular privilege of transmitting nobiliiy . Court Pbessntatioss . —Viscount

      Palmerston—On his discovery of his inability to humbug the Chinese . —Lord Glenek—On his having kept awake two nigots running during a debate of importance in the House of Lords . —The Archbishop of Canterbury—On his offering to resign all his preferments , aad to go at his own expense as a missionary to New Z ^ iliuvi : —The Bishop of Exeter—On ' his haviug talked of the Roman Catholics , without" expressing a , wish to see them all burnt in Smithfleld . —Earl Durham—On his having spoken mUdiy tothemembers Of his family .

      Irish Eloquence . —A poor widow having , in the extremuy oi ber dic-troes , received some unexpected relief from her sou , then in America , replied to a eonip-ajulatiou , by remarking , that me hour next before sunrise she had alwavs found to be the coldest ; so , she added , " was my hoars cold and desolate before tais came to me . " A Person passing through South-Street , and Beeing a butcher ' s tray going down Lord Melbourne ' s area steps , assuming the character of Paul Pry npon the subject , ascertained to his surprise that his Lordship actually dined at home twice last week .

      The Monmouth Merlin has the following : —A moral Welsh gentleman of Newport , non-married , recently received a parcel , charged 3 s . 4 d ., for which he paid with alacrity , as he supposed h a present from some kind country friend . An inspection , howerer , unfolded anything but value for his money . He had an infant ' s old cap , a piece of junk , and other * ach valuable enclosures , a rude plaster cast of a * little responsibility , " with a note , containing the following beautiful and expressive sentence : — "Take an iat from that ere precious hinnocent babby . " " THS TORIES BE HANGED . "—Fie . in a pel . The Tories hate the Queen , and well they may , For she hates them most corrf-iaily they say . Ykrt Thi 5 . —The Ohio Xeics is acquainted with a man who is so emaciated , that he muat be fattened in order to make a good skeleton .

      Thks Marst Me !—A gentleman in a neighbouring state , not long since , gave a knowing nod to a lady across ihe church—; he lady returned i ; . They met at the door . " Here ' s the church , " said the gentleman . "There ' s the priest , "' replied , the lady . ** How lovely these ebiliiren look , " eaid the gentleman . The lady began to couiit her fingers . " I ' m not married , are you ! ' said we gentleman . " No , ' replied the lady . u I wish , " said she , looking at the parson— " that you were married , " interrupted the gentleman . " Then marry me . " ** Just as you please , " said the lady . And , suiting the action to the word , their marriage closed the exercise of the day . —Aw York paper .

      The jatigujs of the drawing-room on Monday proved too much for her Majesty in her present delicate condition , and the ceremony , from the numbers that attended , occupying more time than was expected , the signal was given to " cut it Bhort , " which was done accordingly , to the great disappointment of the late comers , lutnre drawing-rooms for the same reason may be expected to be still farther curtailed , until , growing ** fine by degrees , and beautifully less , " there is none at all , at least for a time .

      A Scotch Agricultural Association has offered a premium " for the best two-year old donksy" in the hope , doubtless , of improving the breed of asses . The competition is , we presume , open to Scotland only , though we were not aware that that country had not its full compliment of fine asses . The Scotch are unquestionably a shrewd and discerning race , and yet , we doubt not , they have among them as great donkeys as can be found elsewhere , even without offering a premium on the improvement of the breed .

      His Dutch Majestt , we perceive , has made a proposition to hi 3 " noble and mighty lords , " for ** a change in the fundamental lav , " and with that view sundry fresh articles were notified at the last meeiing of the Chambers . The change referred to is thought to allude to something in the shape of oostnme , and we all know what a " fundamental " view Dutchmen take of certain garments . The King of the Netherlands is , we believe , not less Dutcbnilt than any of his predecessors . ~ u Who are those fellows in green and silver , seated behind the Queen ' s carriage ' asked a respectable-looking man of a police-officer , in the last Drawing-room day . " Cousin Germans to the Prince , " rejoined the policeman . „

      Although the new Tory M . P . for Cambridge had not the high honour , as was asserted , of being plucked at the University , many years ago , yet it is believed that no goose oner merited the " compliment better . He was certainly " plucked" however in another sense , hy the Cambr : dge electors , who generally contrive , as in the case of Manners Sutton , to leave the respective candidates with scarcely a " feather" to fly with . The Edition of " Lamb ' s Poetical Works" is not .

      as some may think , by our present Premier . Whatever he may have been in his youthful days , the Noble Lord is now entirely z-verse to everything but plain prose ; there has been nothing poetical about him since he became a politician . At one time he was accustomed to * -muse himself by looking over the " loose sheets" of Mrs . Norton ' s poetical effusions , but evea that he has done with now , and contents himself with mere matter-of-fact pleasure ? . Eren then it is more than suspected that the poetess waa preferred to her creations .

      The Earl op Wikchilsra is one j > f the crazy "Church-in-danger ^ gentry , and never fails , on ail suitable opportunities , to depict the Church as tottering , threugh the assaults of her relentless enemies . The Earl delights in metaphor , but he should attend to facte . His Lordship , it appears , is the lay impropriaior of the parish of Braintree , where the church is actually iu a falling condition , the roof partly gone , and iha steeple dropping to pieces . In the character of lay impropriator , the Earl pockets some thousaad pounds per annum fromthis source-, and yet the decaying condition of the sacred edifice moves him not to advance a farthing for its repair .

      . Two kek were caught robbing Palmerston ' s larder on Tuesday morning . The canning rogues knew that Melbourne ' s was " no go , " and as Cupid had recently come out in the grub line , he was the best pick of the lot- They w * re caught in- the fact of prigging a ham and veal—an act we cannot but deajgoate most patriotic , aa it evinced a determination on their part not to allow the Noble Lord " to go the ahoie hog" ** tne same time tb-ey were doingthat which be did not , id est , look after the veal of the land . Thx MPELL 15 G kotttk of the Meteorological Society In presenting an address of congratulation to Prince Albert on his marriage , no doubt because his Royal Highness is the most "luminous body " that

      leu of late crossed the political horaon , and , oonse-< aently , a fit subjest tor the observation of the society . The Prince , however , is not likely to be quite so ^ transitory" aa meteors in / general . Turkish Titls of Effdtdi . —EffendL in the Turkish language , signifies " ' master , " and , accordingly , it is a tide very extensively applied—as to the xaoftiB and emirs , to the priests of mosques , to men flearning and the law . The Grand Chancellor of the empire is called Reis EffendL A Sharp Lab . —On Wednesday last , as a boy was riding a horse to the fair at Barnsley to sell , he was mgpQBtod on entering the town by a , sprig of a dealer ,

      who called oat in a consequential tone , Why , Jack , that horse jou * r » riding is badly , look what a white face hee ' s gettaru" " Hey , " said the lad , breaking ff whistling , " and Tod hev awhitefkee too , if yod leok ' t through a belter ax long as it hex . " Solitvbs . —Vehement love of solitariness is but a glorious title to idleaess . In action , a man does not alybeaefit himself , but be benefits others . God would cot have delivered the soul into a body which had arms and legs , the instruments of doing , bat that it were intended the mind should employ them ; a * d tkat the mind should best know its good or evil , kj prartiee ; which knowledge is the . tnly way to ¦ raw the one , and correct the other . —&r Philip ^ 9 ™^ 4 L * *

      Untitled Article

      TREATMENT OP FEARGUS O'CONNOR . There are one or two points in connexion with this subject deserving ofpublio attention , and the Legislature will neglect its duty if a remedy for the evils to which we refer be not immediately supplied . At present the various gaols in the kingdom are under the regulation of the county magistrates ; but all the regulations , before they are enforced , receive the sanction of the Secretary of State for the Home Department . By this approving act the Government becomes responsible for the superintendence of prisonsj and in tlU ea . se of Mr . O'Connor , knowing what the regulations of York Castle are , it has justly exposed itself to the severe censure and reproof of the public , for allowing & defendant ,

      convicted of a misdemeanour only , to be tortured hy punishment as severe as that inflicted on the most depraved and brutal felon . As a moraing paper well remarks , " Feargus O'Connor i 3 , for a political libel , sentenced to eighteen months' privation of personal liberty . He is not sentenced to the companionship of felons , or to solitary confinement as an alternative ; he is not sentenced to menial offices of a filthy and degrading description ; he is not sentenced to the suspension of all communication with , or knowledge of , the world ' s doings or sufferings ; he is not sentenced to such diet and accommodation as shall necessarily impair health , aggravate disease , and shorten life . If these horrible additions to mare imprisonment were intended in the sentence , they ought to have been expressed . If not intended , they ought not to be inflicted . The local magistrates may say such are the regulations of York Castle ; the Home Secretary may say the

      sentence was eighteen months' imprisonment in York Castle ; and we can only subjoin that , between the two , there is a pitiful evasion . " We may add , that to the hardened felon tho loss of liberty is comparatively nothing ; his sources of disoomibrt are tho cutting off of his daily rations and the keeping of him down to constant labour . O . i tho contrary , tho deprivation of liberty to a man hk « Mr . O'Connor is the severest punishment that can be i :: fl ; cted on him . Why , then , multiply his tortures !> y placing him iu the rank of thieves and murderers' The convicted felon feels the justice of his punishu . out , and submits ; the other party feels the iujusii ^ o imposed upon him , _ and revenge rauklea in his breast . The political firebrand would have passed his days uuremembered had he been treated justly ' ; the moment that wrongs are inflicted on him he become .-a martyr , and all men sympathise ivith him in his suff-riLgs .

      The Government , in this case , is chargeable either with partiality or culpable negligence in ths discharge of the important duty reserved to it iu its control over the county gaots of the kingdom . In Chester county gaol Mr . J . R . Stephens , imprisoned there for a political offence , quite as aggravated as that of Mr . O'Connor , is enjoying the privilege of a private room , the society of his wife and child , and the comforts of good eating and drinking , with room and ample verge enough for daily exercise in walking ; while Mr . O'Connor , merely because he is sent to the gaol of another county , is doomed to herd with felons , to perform disgusting menial offices , to be deprived of any but the coarsest food , and is shut up , during the night , in a damp cell , with his pallet on

      iron or on the stone floor . Here is different treatment , for similar offences , and what is the cause I We answer , neglect of duty on the part of the Government . Is it any excuse to say that the msgistraies are particularly entrusted with the prison regulations , and that they are responsible" to Government lor an improper discharge of their 1 unctions ! It Mr . O'Connor were to die from the ill-treatment he has received in g&ol , would the Government or the magistrates be the more blameable—they who framed ana delegated the power , or they who merely executed it ! The county magistrates are not the men to whom should be asigued the punishment of political offenders , or of any persons found guilty of libel . They are invented with authority to torture , but , as in the present instance , they escape from the consequences , by oividing responsibility with the Government . They can wreak their vengeance on men opposed to them in politics , and no tribunal can call

      them to account , because they only carry out what the Government hao approved . Our opinion is that the prison treatment , as well as tho term of imprisonment , should be defined at the posing of the sentence , 111 cases of political offence , that no opportunity be given to county magistrates to exorcise cruelty or to indulge in personal enmity against a prisoner ; and the legislature are bound as profe .- > oing to regard justice and mercy , to press such an alteration in our criminal jurisprudence on the attention of the Government , and never te relax in their object till it be fully accomplislie-J . Discretionary power in an irresponsible magi = irrcy is h : i : My dangerous , and Bhould be destroyed a : once . If political offenders against the well-being of tho Sraxe arc to be prosecuted and punished by imprisonment , let the sole responsibility rest upon the Government , who manage the affairs of the State , and who are amenable to public opinion for all their acts . —Manchester Times .

      Untitled Article

      The man must have more stoicism than falls to the lot of ordinary mortals , who could have touched this famine diet . No doubt many of the felons thought it good enough ; but , unfortunately for Foargus O ' Connor , his stomach was not brought up to a gaol allowance , and what was no punishment to them is starvation to him . Cold stones , no fire , and bread and water ! Think of this , for eighteen months . What man , whose frame has been acenstomed to be guarded from inclemency , can possibly endure " this and survive it . To ourselves , we know that it would be a sentence of death , and that the sentence would be consummated within the two first weeks .

      " Now for my nealth . I never was so debilitated . I have rheumatism in both legs and in my back j I have a pain in my chest and loins , and a cough . And now , what say you to a good man struggling against adversity ? Perhaps you are not aware that very strong affidavits were made by Dr . Thomson , one of the ablest of the London faculty , and another by Surgeon Jaque , who has attended me for five years , iu which they both deposed that confinement in York Castle would lay the foundation of disease , which would cortainly shorten my life ; to which Lord Normanby replied

      that he saw nothing in them te cause any alteration in my place of imprisonment I am five years older than when you saw me on Monday week ; but am still the same man . I thought it wholly out of the nature of things that such punishments ever could be intended for , or inflicted upon , perrons for apolitical misdemeanor : eighteen months mow is more than ten years under the usual treatment for similar offence * . The man from Hudderefield ( for the murder of Sake ) and myself arcs precisely under the same miles . Need I say more ^ or have you not yet heard enough ?"

      All we can say to this is , that if this usage should kill O'Connor , as appears probable , the Marquis of Normanby , in our opinion , will be as morally guilty of this man ' s murder as if he had shot him through the hoad . " Ho sees nothing" in the certainty of a disease that must shorten life , and so he does nothing to prevent it , and the disease is being formed—unless O'Connor is a man of very Btroug constitution , it has been formed already . We must do all the people concerned in this transaction the justice to admit , that they ail a ^ reewith our view , that it ought not to bo . Lord Normauby thinks that it ought not to be , the Attorney General thinks that it ought not to be , the magistrates think that it ought not to be , Lord John Russell thinks that it ou ^ ht not to bo—but , yet it is . While these men are lolling upon the benches of the House of Commons with a toothpick between their fingers , and admitting that it certainly is very atrocious that

      men should be tortured in this manner for political misdemeanours , O'Connor is lying with his rheumatic ahouidcr against the stone wall , is watting from inanition , and is dying by inches from want of nourishment . This was never intended by the Judges who passed the sentence , it was never intended by tho law . It is all the doings of these bungling Whig law tinkers , who * go on hammering in the dark , at nobody knows what ; until they hear a noise , and find that the result of all their labours has been some enormous case of individual hardship and iujury . In the present instance it is no one ' s fault at all . Lord Normauby says , it is the visiting magistrates who have done it ; the magistrates say , that only the Secretary of State has the power ; both of them agree that the Act of Parliament is at the bottom of it ; aud while these authorities are shifting the remedy about under each other ' s legs , O'Connor is Buffering uuder the disease .

      We shall certainly be very sorry to see the King of Hanover upon the throue of England ; but should such an event ever occur , we do most fervently hope that the chalice which the Whigs have brewed for the people , may be held up to their own lips . We do in that case most fervently hope to see both Lord John Russflll and Lord Normanby convicted of seditious libels ; and they have spoken hundreds in their time , for no man can speak upon a political subject without doing so . We do hope to see these men subjected to' their own gaol discipline , and to see them convinced as to how stringently their owu Act of Parliament can be used for the purposes of despotism , by a good sharp Hanoverian Tory Government .

      This is a retaliation which is well deserved , and we confess we should like to see Lord Johnny folding up his truckle bed , and stuck up at a narrow slu-lf with a bowl of oatmeal and water before him . —Satirist .

      Untitled Article

      Mr . O'Connor is made the companion of convicted felont in his cell , compelled to take his meals with / Uoti s , and in all respect * identified , as far as the prison arrangements go , with that utterly degraded class . This is illegal Our proof of its illegality is at hand . The Under Secretary for the Home Department , Mr . Fox Maule , admittiag the truth of the description of Mr . O'Connor * sufferings , apologised for their cruelty in the following words . We quote the Morning Chronicle ' s report : — 11 If there was now a greater degree of severity in the punishment of persona convicted of political libels than formerly was exercised , it was solely to be attributed to the alterations made in the law with regard to prison discipline . "

      We do not admit the truth of all that Mr . Fox Maule says , for we are convinced that the great severity which he admits to be practised towards the opponents of Ministers through the press—is at all times the real description of those who are called political libellersproceeds from the malignity of the Government , else why do they employ their law officers to make long speeches in aggravation of punishment ? But let that pass , it is enough for us to have the confession that a " greater severity" is practiced in the punishment of a certain class of offenders than was formerly practiced . Punishments of •? greater severity" are clearly unusual punishments ; and in the degree of their greater severity cruel punishments . And what says the law upon this point ? The Bill of Bights—the great charier of British liberty—worth fifty of the charters of John , declares in its second chapter that " cruel and unusual punishments

      simll not be inflicted . " Much a » the Bill of Right * haa been mangled by Liberals in our day , this clause remains still untouched by any direct enactment , and scarcely any one will dare to say that this fundamental law can bo repealed by a side-wind interpretation of a statute for the regulation of prison discipline . If smch interpretations are permitted to avail to this extent , the whole constitution may be put in danger by every turnpike bill . We hold that the cruelties practised upon Mr . O'Connor are illegal , as a violation of the Bill of Rights , and we regret that he has appealed against them to tke Hqnse of Commons , and not to the Court of Queeu ' s Bench , aud failing , if he should fail in that court , to the House of Lords , where he certainly would obtain justice . Our readers will see that so far we treat the question as strictly a question of law , and as such it is most important to consider it .

      Under Tory administrations prosecutions for libels of every kind were by far too frequent . The late Right Honourable Spenser Peruival was the only Attorney General of those , or of any other times , who , holding office for years , never filed au en qfficio information—the only Prime Minister who never persecuted the press . This is an acknowledgment due to his memory from our class . He was called a bigot , to be aure—but he never justly incurred the scandal of being either a persecutor or a professing Liberal , or the fouler scandal of being both . With thu exception of the time when this admirable gentleman directed the criminal justice of the country , there have always been a great deal too many libel prosecutions . It is confessed , however , that if the Tories did frequently resort to the law in the contest with their opponents , they confined themselves to the use of such punishments as are warranted by the law ;

      they did net employ shaving the head , and ducking in dirty warier , and ignominious dresses , and the society of the most odious criminal * aa auxiliaries to a simple imprisonment , the legal punishment Their practice niight be captious and stem—and we are far from denying that it was so , to an impolitic extent—but it had nothing in it of insulting cruelty . It was reserved for Liberals—for men who have climbed to office , and clung to office by the use of greater crimes than they can ever punish—to torture and to taunt their dupes and their accomplices . VThat , however , can they do ? They have already inflicted imprisonment , with a separation of the members of families , as the penalty of poverty . They must aggravate imprisonment , to render , it a penalty suitable for actual offences , and this they haye done pretty effectually by their Prisons Bill—a Procrustean contrivance for reducing all punishments to one degree .

      And who are the men practising this wholesale barbarity ?— "The men , " forsooth , " of the people , " the men who nine years ago carried sedition to the very limit of open rebellion in order to fix themselves in office ; and now bold office by the sufferance of a treasonable conspiracy—a conspiracy that calls itself "Repeaters" by day , "Ribbonmen" by night—Standard .

      Untitled Article

      to render him too formidable an opponent hereafter , — that we , bis old antagonists , denounce at once the injustice , and the impolicy of the unworthy treatment , that he has received . —Weekly Chronicle .

      The style and manner of imprisonment , together with every circumstance by which it has been attended , are such as reflect the deepest disgrace both on the Government and tho local magistrates . It ia a system of unmitigated tyranny and oppression . Mr . O'Connor ' s plain , straightforward , and manly account , of his reception and treatment in York Castle , of the regulations to which he is subjected , tne companions among whom he is placed , the food doled out to him , and the rigid exclusion of friends—this account , we say , considered in connection with other documents revealing

      the state of political imprisonment in England at this moment , renders it probable that our Government and magistrates design , in this respect , to imitate in future the Venttian inquisitors—to imprison few , but to cut off by ill treatment all such as by their intemperate characters are carried into a transgression of the law . This , for aught we know , may be a very salutary resolution . It may be perfectly right , according to the eternal fitness of things , about which Lord Howick is fond of dissertating in the House of Commons , that the days of political offenders shonld bo short in the land . It may be desirable , and charitable , and benevolent , that every contrivance shonld be resorted to for destroying the health and undermining the constitution , and tainting and poisoning the character of all persons guilty

      of political libel . These things , we say , may in themselves be very excellent , but , If so , then it is equally right that Englishmen should be made acquainted with the fact , tbat they may understand all the privileges , and comprehend the full extent of the protection which they have boasted the constitution secures to , them . It must be matter of extreme congratulation to the country that it possesses magistrates who will gratuitously superintend their cool system of taking off political offenders , who can calculate to a nicety the precise extent of rigour which may be sufficient to sap the constitution of each particular individual , and who will apply it with unflinching intrepidity . While such persons are to be found among our country gentlemen

      we can be in no danger of lapsing universally into effeminacy , nor need we ever resort to the coarse practice of employing poniards and poison , while our gaol regulations and the mild and amiable magistrates ' who overlook their execution , will do the business in a much more genteel and unobjectionable manner . Tbat this is no rough pleasantry our readers may convince themselves , by examining the cases of Lovett and Collins , of O'Brien and Mr . O'Connor . The housebreakers , highwaymen , and murderers of the metropolis meet with far milder usage than these political libellers of the provinces . In illustration of this truth we may adduce one simple fads—and this not an act of rude corporeal severity , not anything in whieh tho food , or clothing , or accommodation of the individual : is

      concerned . We put a circumstance connected with the intellectual condition of tho prisoner . Mr . O'Brien , now confined in Lancaster gaol , requested , but requested in vain , it appears , to be permitted , during his incarceration , the use of certain works of classical literature , th « effect of which , as far azthey could have produced any , would have been to soften and enlarge his mind , and prevent hia repeating such offences as that for which he is now visited by the vengeance of the law . We say vengeance , because that is the proper term to apply to the punishment inflicted for political misdemeanours under our present system , as administered by provincial magistrates . Such being the case , however , the press must take the whole matter in band , and if it does , and perform its duty with that vigour and

      perseverance which generally characterise it , we much doubt whether both Ministers and Magistrates will not , ere long , sincerely regret their inquisitorial policy . At present both parties seem to imagine that they may be able to escape public obloquy and odium by a sort of diplomatic hocus pocus , each , when assailed , < shifting the blame upon the other . But tritks of this description , as they might long ago have discovered , will not serve their pnrpose . It is in vain for the Marquis of Normanby to endeavour to shuffle out of the affair by placing the York and Lancaster magistrates and the stringent character of the gaol regulations , between him and public indignation ; it will speedily be ascertained who are the genuine culprits , or whether all are not guilty alike . In fact , if the Marquis of Normanby have it in his power to modify the gaol regulations , or to interpose his authority between them and any class of offenders who ought at least never to be incarcerated in the same prison with felons and murderers , and refuse

      to make use of this piwor , then his Lordship , he may depend upon it , will not be able to elude tho stiiisj of public hatred by any paltry manoeuvres or efforts at criminating the county magistrates , from whom , being generally Tories , enemies alike of the Governmeut and the people , nothing but tyranny and oppression ia to be expected . Nor , in bestirring themselves on this occasion , ought the writers for the press to be influenced in the least by the colour of their political opinions , since every man who writes or speaks on public affairs , whatever be his party or his creed , is equally interested in seeing that a mere infraction of the libel law is not visited by punishment which ought to be reserved for thieves and assassins . Political misdemeanours are such as any man may be betrayed into through ignorance of the lawSj or the ungovernable sway of temperament , and therefore a wide distinction should be drawn between them and those base and immoral actions , the commission of which is accompanied by disgrace . —Sunday Times .

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      or permitted men to goto Jail and to tot there teu . offenees-we say , 1 . a maa of this st « dtog and e £ racterin society to be driven to herd wiao « K l £ cause he has been found giillty of speakW ' femflZ for less culpable than the language ^ W ^ hSwa ^ S present Ministry into pewer , and incalculably ! 2 finitely less seditious than is the ferairtto * the man that keeps them there . The Attomey-GeneiJ whom we pity more than we bHune , for he la la t £ falsest position ever occupied by any lawyer who nJ filled the office , told the House of Commons that iS could not avoid prosecuting Mr . O"Connor , In conS quence of the mischievous tendency of his spfechM We repeat that we are neither defendants or apologisti ef agitation , far less of sedition or treason . But if 8 b j

      onn uunpoeu could not avoid prosecuting Mr . Feargtu O'Connor for his comparatively tame orations , how doel it come to pass that the Irish Attorney-General look , over the speeches of Mr . Daniel O'Connell ? Why i » not another member of the Irish bar , one Rooney , wh » lately , at some treason-shop , boasted that French asik tance was at hand to aid the traitor Irish in makta their island a province of France , and a point ofcoj stant hostility to England-why does this Rooto escape unscathed by the vengeance of the law , walk O'Connor is locked up in a penal cell , and condenuS to perform loathsome offices , for nothing more th * . having recommended popular exertion to procn Universal Suffrage , Annual Parliaments , and Vote bl Ballot?—measures more or less advocated , and somerf them warmly espoused , by members of the ww .

      Oaatler was right when he said that Peargns 6 'Gm . nor is sacrificed te the spite of O'ConnelL f « Z was one of the few Irish agitators who agitated into ! own spirit , and refused to tack himself oa aa an an . pendage to the Tail . Thia was a grave crime , bnt » was rendered unpardonable when he took np the En * lish Factory question , and proved that O'Connell hS destrtedit in consequence of a direct bribefrpm tie mSS . owners . Froni that moment he was doomed ; hewn denounced in ferocious speeches at the Corn Exchanm ^ as a man of sedition and blood , by fellows who tradd in Loth ; and at the command of the master ^> f tin Ministry , the standing army of the police were ordered to watch bis every motion , to note hia every word , ft is no wonder that he was trapped at last , and « m

      some of hia repetitions of the very language of tin members of the Grey and Melbourne administration however softened in its transmission , should have ea ! meshed him in the toils of the law . Tbat done , thi same Normanby , who , at the command of O'ConnelL had let loose upon Ireland felons by the hundred jS the same command committed him , who had dared to rebel against the awful authority to which Normanlr owes . his offiee , to the utmost rigour of our ruffian prisoa code . Had it comprehended the peine forte et dun . Feargus , beyond a doubt , would be now under a dw accumulation of halfhundred wei

      - ghts , and supplied with the filthiest water from the vicinage . This cannu last ; it haa outraged every body . The Cbartista are no doubt indignant at the fate of their chief , but theii indignation may be merely factious . Our indignation la , we trust , derived from a higher and a purer source . It haa been well observed , that when in the atrocious Tor * times , a return to the horrors of which alarms so mam disinterested place-men and place-hunters , Montgomery Leigh Hunt , Cobbett , Henry Hunt , and many othm were locked up , as most of them very richly deserved to be , the Tory tyrants were contented with platiaf eir victimsin

      xn " simple detention ; and fortoit loud was the clamour of complaint Now the " vk tima" of th « Wbiga are puniahed by the infliction tf the most degrading infamies and the most gallta restraints ; they are , in fact , treated worse than d ^ J and the Whigs and their organs all the time keep mi shout of laudation upon . the excellence of thdt measures . Had Lord Castlereagh done to any of the pen sons whom it waa his duty to coerce the tenth part tf what the Marquis of Normanby haa inflicted Upon Mr . Feargua O'Connor , what force of language would tfai Whigs-have deemed sufficient to expose the atrocity of his tyrannical conduct ? He was held up by Ton Moore as Tiberius ; we wish that gentleman would pick out some pattern abomination aa prototype of Nor . manby ; but Tom will not , because he has got > pension .

      Thia vile and filthy affair will do good after iD . Lord Normanby haa nothing to do with the regnlatia of prisons—Mr . Fox Manle has nothing to do with the regulation of prisons—the Judges know nothing tf tb regulation of pmons—the jailors and turnkeys han nothing to do with the regulation of prisons , except ti put them rigidly and unsparingly into force—the viating magistrates have nothing to do with the regulation of prisons , except to see that the jailor complies wits the rules . Who thea has control ? Every one bach out of the responsibility . Surely it is time that thii infamous code , which imposes upon a gentleman , mi * taken , or say mischievous in politics , the necessity of emptying and washing his own Jordan , of sleeping « an iron bed too short and narrow for hia size , withoti sheets ; of washing himself at a pump , of feeding «

      water-gruel among a row of pickpockets , thieves , a wretches of the basest die , out of an earthen pipkin , with an iron spoon ; of being driven and chased abnt all day at the bidding of one blackguard turnkey ate another ; and of being locked up in solitude , withod fire or candle , at six o ' clock in the evening , to spend the night as best he can , ' until the hoarse voice of tbi paltry official summons , when ho pleases , the prisons from that wretched bed , which he is compelled to re-adjust , the far-superior gentleman of the key set deigning to stoop to such nominal drudgery—is it not time that this mass of infamy be broken into ? Who compiled it ? Much indeed should we wish to knre Of course it was a Liberal . The Tory tyrants can * claim such a proficiency in " the art of ineenio * tormenting . "

      The sentence of the Judge is , by this system , » dered a matter of secondary importance . The Exe » tive haa in its power to make eighteen montha' * priaonment nothing more than a sojourn in the Queen Bench , among men ( many of them accomplished g » tlemen ) who have committed no more grievous cria than having got into debt ; where the only inconveniaa is detention ; where every comfort or luxury that a means of the prisoner can afford is without diffleait / attainable , and where there is no restriction as to til society of your friends or the choice of your boots , ft ; on the other hand , they can make the imprisomnaiti thing of horror and disgrace ; in which the prisoner * deprived almost of the light of heaven ; compelled & associate with the basest outcast *; fed upon a dun *

      ing and starveling dietary ; subjected to the most fr grading discipline ; denied the company of boob ( some wise justices , a Bhort time ago , refused tiett mission of the classics into a prison , lest it nufti h turned into a library and reading-ro « in—we straft suspect that if the classics were the only votoa placed in any lib « ary frequented by such justieei a would not be for tkein a reading-room ); interdictedttn slightest companionship of friends ; aad , if correspondence be attempted , obliged to submit to tie most j * lous surveiltante . Surely the eighteen months senteaM of imprisonment are not the same . If this injwto be once examined into , it cannot last a moment ; •»• the treatment of Mr . Feargua O'Connor maj ¦«* a general good in the end . We sincerely hope » - Argus . . : —

      The framers of the laws for the punishment ofpolitiol offenders never contem plated any other punisbiiBii than simple imprisonment , which has always W deemed equivalent J » . the offence committed , with ** subjecting the offender to the greatest indignities , »• treating him worse than the most hardened felon , ft an active mind , accustomed to intellectual puisft attention in custody , and the impossibility of cultii * Ing his favourite indulgences , is sufficient punish * * to the possessor , without subjecting him to- all * indignities and cruelties practised among felons , vte generally speakings are perfectly callous and indite " as to what may be inflicted upon them . Not onlj * Mr . Feargus O'Connor made to undergo the most *

      gusting and loathsome occupations among hia fe «* jail birds , who" cared nothing about such mitteaM he was removed to York at the positive risk of P ^ as attested by two respectable medical men . and e «* i » in a close cell , where , even to the most robust , tb ««* , sequence 8 migkt have been serious , but in W » _** suffering -from rheumatism , and scarcely we" * * from a aevere attack of disease in the chest , " ? only wonder is that ft was not immediate !?** We quite agree with Mr . Wakley had Mr . vO ©** died , an inquest would have been held , and ^ murder or manslaughter returned against wo ** The Government , when the subject was brought *•* the notice of the House of Commons on Weds *"

      evening by Mr . T . Duocombe , shifted t&e &s *^ their own shoulders to the Visiting Magistral , <* they exonerate thenwelvea by referring to thefr to * tions , which empower them to ' act as they ' ll * " ** It appears that no one ia to blame , and but J * * J manner ia which-3 ns ease has beea tafetf ""M O'Connor might have lain and rotted in his oel ] , «* r the public knowing anything about the , fi » rshn *! j inequality of English law in case of poUtiff l ^ Boast of the liberty of the press , indeed , wli eoJ 2 the truth , which the law eonatrue * Intotneffj UbeLaubjecta the writer , the printer , t |» jol *** J

      most , degraded felons , the perfonnane $ , of *• £ disgusting duties , and close conflnemenfin » JTj unwholesome cell I In the punisbmeut Jr ? A flietea upon political offenders , the mosV W * 1 unjfl-tifiable severity has beat pMtWd-W ^ tims seem to have been , punned by " ^ Zi with a sort of revengeful y ^ niiictiveneii . jaifrji to their Whig persecutora fir mercy bai Jj ^ gSi Tain . Ndth&fc" iii tfie worst days of tne 8 r *«* K * r Out supremacy of Gaatlereagls whei * " ™ V 2 £ waa tie profession of the Governnjent , awiit « o * 5 i fnlly carried d ^ i in every , depwttnart of MR can be compared to the peraecutiona of to * ww 1 the last twelve months . ' x > . r *' u .:.. ~ y # - WtBiw Dfltfrkennn this caiettom &JrzZ

      sympathy With Mr . O'Connor , or f «* "T *^^ 2 i have era entertained for him . rhe ftrw , w » ^ portant grounda of jnstieo ™* £ * S& which hate , we contend , been outraged »* , •»**"» The conductors of the Pj ^ arebduad , no »^ pohtto grMrads , but to their todlvi * l » l eV ^ express their utmost reprobation •*^* ^ S- * proceedinga , aa there ia aeamly ** jgftfK- ' u Ing perhaps some milk and , water W ^^ z ^ ia sycophant ^ wtio uoes not sooner or >»^ S ^( M anawerabfc tothe same lawmmder wHefr **¦ v ^ now suffering . —ShmfieUi lrU *

      Vavittic*.

      Vavittic * .

      ^^==^== Spirit Of T$E Ffitfw.

      ^^ == ^ == Spirit of t $ e ffitfW .

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      We once heard a Javryer undertake to prove , that torture had never been known to ihc laws of England . He quoted a great nsaiiy sage authorities ; and we dare say he waa right , although the thumb screws still in ihe Tower , and ; he racking of Guy Fawkes , might be supposed to be something to the contrary . However that may be , or may have been in olden time , there can be no doubt that the omission has been amply remedied in modern times ; that the charge of eccentricity is now altogether removed from our law ; that we are no longer the only people

      in Europe where torture was never legalised . On the contrary , we are now the only nation in Europe where it is legalised , and where it is conducted in a systematic manaer . The Whigs have taken compassion upon us , and have rescued us from the degradation of being the only untortured nation in Europe . They have shown , also , a cunning of device in instituting tormi-nts , which does great credit to their ingenuity ; and , as some one says in Lady Bulwer ' s novel , " docs credit to their head and heart , " credit to the softness of their heads , and the hardness of their hearts .

      Without any exception or equivocation , we do most devoutly believe that , of all the damnable act 3 of oppression that ever was forced upon the country , of all the virulent assaults npon liberty , of all the cruel inventions of tortures , of all the demoniac and wanton wastes of human life that ever was known in this country , the Whig New Prisons'Regulation Act is the worst . Talk of acts of oppression tbat have produced revolutions : Talk of ship money and head money ! Talk of the oppression that produced Wat Tylers and Hampdena ! What are all these things to the gloriously great achievement of tha Whigs , by which , after oue effort , and that a very slight one , they have now and for evermore placed the press at once under the foot of every administration that may ever rule in Downini ? -street . Oh , what a happy man Pitt would have been if he had only had a Police Regulations Act , to enable him to crush and murder his victims

      without blood ! \ Y hat an absolute man Castlereagh would have been , if he had only studied prison ui ? - cipline under a Whig philanthropist . He would neTer have been at the trouble and odium of dragooning the people , he never would have committed the blunder of a public massacre . Kor would Pitt have undertaken public trials for high treason , where ihere waa a great chance of getting beaten . Not they . They would , with a properly arranged Prisons'RegulationBill , haveselected their victnn . und jjji him sentenced to some short imprisonment , upon some diaiDportint charge , and then the prison diseipiine , vviih its starvation , its cold stones , its damp , K'Ouless , dungeon horrors , would have done the rest almost as quickly as the execution , and much more cheaply . A few successions of prisons full of victims , and all trouble would have been over . It would soon have been generally known , that the motto of the Venetian dungeons ,

      " Leave hope behind you whan you pass this porch , " was applicable equally to an English dungeon . No man would then be such a fool as to write anything that the Government disproved . Feargus O'Connor for a political libel—that is , for taking a view of a political question which the Government disapproved—was sentenced to eighteen months of imprisonment in York Castle . Instead of imprisonment , he is suffering eighteen months of torture , which , if persisted in , must infallibly kill him long before the sentence is completed . It seems that he has been allowed to write an account of his adventures since he has reached his place of confinement , and we must make an extract or two from this statement .

      " I waa abut up , " he aaya , "in » dark atone cell , with a very narrow iron door and a small iron-grated window . In the dark I knelt down , and prayed to God that I might sleep aoundiy for ever . I then stripped and laid me down , but my prayars were not granted , aa I never closed aa eye . When I placed my rheumatic shoulder against the wall , the cold stones repulsed me ; and when I moved , I waa almost out of bed , for its width ia not aa broad aa my shoulders . " This is the condition in which a human being is to rest for eighteen weary months , and this for an error in opinion—for a political offense . In the morning he had to get up , fold up Mb own bed , and ...

      " Then , " he says , " I followed the turnkey , carrying in my hand a black chamber-pot , which I was to empty in the sink in tbayard , and then wash the utensil at the pomp . I -was then placed in » yard with two other prisoners , who have been tried and aenUneed . At eight o ' clock I waa summoned to breakfast , when I paaaed under many . a felons' anxtaia gaae to a long narrow atone , where every man stood up in the priaon inline , all ia prison dresses but myself , and all on-©• vered . We were then placed standing at a narrow shelf , where before each maa waa placed a black earthen pot , and a wooden spoon , with a roll of very good bread ; in the pot was water and oatmeal , which wai supped with the bread , I looked on , but did not , not ould sot , toaa& it .

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      We profess no sympathy with the political opinions of Mr . O'Connor , and are far from being approvers of the moans to which he resorts of making them known ; but we chanced to be a hearer of the manly and eloquent address in mitigation of punishment , recently delivered by him in the Court of Queen ' s Bench , and we confess that we were in hopes that he wsuld have escaped with a lighter punishment than a year and a half s imprisonment To dare to arraign the . conduct of a Government , whose Attorney-General is employed to prosecute you , is , however , a high crime and misdemeanour , and to aiduee proofs of its baseness of course still more reprehensible . Mr . O'Connor did both . He showed that an a * offido information had been filed against him in the most savage and

      vindictive spirit by the Government My Lord John Russell and hia respectable coadjutor , Mr . O'Connell , the " safe monitor of the Irish nation , " had indulged in language infinitely more deserving of punishment Even the great gaol-deliverer who has consigned Mr . O'Connor to the tender mercies of the Whig-visiting magistrates of the West Riding of York—with no doubt their cue , as to the course they were to pursue has indulged in language , while engaged in the viceregal duties of Ireland , far more calculated to encourage sedition and bloodshed than any of the passages in Mr . O'Cennors newspaper , which have afforded the pretext for his recent prosecution . But although this fribble Ex-Lord Lieutenant , with no more worthy object than that of swelling the triumph of one of his progresses , could open all the Irish gaols in hia way and let loose upon society the murderers , ravishe ' rsand

      , robbers they contained , he could , of course , have no sympathy with anti-Ministerial libellers like Mr . O'Connor . When , therefore , the testimony of two eminent medical men , that the treatment to which he was subjected was calculated to generate disease that would shorten his life , was laid before his Lordship , hia humanity exuded in the declaration that he saw nothing in their opinions to justify any alteration in that treatment . His Lordship knew that Mr . O'Connor bad done much to expose the crafty selfishness of his intimate friend and accomplice , Mr . O'Connell , and appears to have rejoiced in th » opportunity which thus presented itself of satiating , at second hand , the vengeance of that mercenary incendiary . This , and not the sedition of which he stands convicted , " has been the cause of the savage persecution he has experienced .

      Although they did not scruple to reaort to such means of punishing a political opponent , however , the shabby Government of Lord Melbourne could only ^ xt-nuate their conduct by a subterfuge . In reply to a question as to the treatment of Mr . Feargus O'Connor , asked by Mr . Thomas Duncombe , in the House ©! Common ? , on WedjaeBday , Mr . Fox Maule declared , that "if there was now a greaUr degree of severity in the punishment of persons convicted of political libela than formerly was exercised , it was solely to be attributed to the alterations in the law with regard to priaon discipline . " The Standard has ahown clearly that these unusual puniahmenta" are as illegal as they are Inhuman and that the savage treatment of Mr . O'Connor by the Whixs la a direct violation of the Bill Of JUgbti But what cared the fribble president . of the Garrick Club , when he let loose

      hia felons by : hundreds upon Ireland , for priaon discipline of fhia or any other d » y . Our contemporary has been at the pains of citing aome of the recently spouted and written seditioaof thearchmehdicant , for the purpose of showing how much more criminal a libeller he is than Mr . Feargua O'Connor , and the proof of the fact cannot be gainsaid . Meanwhile Mr . O Connor remains in the felon ' s side of York Caatie ' without any mitigation of the torture to which he haa been subjected , and with a chance of adding another to the number of murders of which his sanguinary -persecutor has already been the instigator . Tha visiting magistrates of York are ^ unch Whi gs , and : will not remit him a single agony , by the infliction of which they may earn a title to the gratitude of their dirty and dastardly employers . —UniM iernce Gazette .

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      In answer to Mr . T . Duncombe ' s complaint of the indignities to which Mr . Feargua O'Connor has been subjected in York Castle , Mr . Fox Maule observed : — " If there was now a greater degree of severity in

      the treatment of persons convicted of political libels than formerly was exercised , it was solely to be attributed to the alterations made in the law with regard to prison discipline . " And who were the authors of the alteration in the law which allows of the revolting severities in question 1 Why Ministers . They frame aud carry a law giving the magistrates the management of prison discipline , and then they pretend that thoy are not to blame for the consequences of having entrusted the authority to a body so ill fitted to

      exercise it . If the Government choose to truckle to the unpaid magistracy , it mut-t take , together with the case , whatever it is which it obtains by its submissions , the odium of all the practical consequences . It cannot serve the public and subserve to the pleasure of the rural justices . If Government had proposed & measure for an uniform system of prison discipline under its own regulation and inspection , there is no doubt that the bill would have been flung out by the magistrates in possession of both Houses of Parliament . But the attempt would have exonerated it from future blame , and its reply to complaints , like that of Mr . O'Connor ' s treatment , would have been , w The system is not of our choice , nor approved by us , we proposed a better , aud our plan was rejected . We are not to be blamed for faults which we foresaw

      and endeavoured to obviate by tha adoption of a system lesa liable to error . " Sir George Strickland states that the York justices have spent £ 200 , 000 in the improvement of the gaol ; aud the men who have spent £ 200 , 000 in the improvement of a gaol have not learnt to distinguish misdemeanour from felony in the classification of prisoners 1 We have not a doubt tbat these sapient worthies pique themselves on having shaped their regulations for equal justice in subjecting to the same indignities persons whose offences are separated by the broadest moral demarcations . " The general sense of mankind tells us , " says Burke , " that those offences which may possibly arise from mistaken virtue , are not iu the class of infamous actions . Lord Coke , the oracle of English law , conforms to that geueral sense when he says that * those things which are of the highest criminality may be of the least disgrace . '"

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      This principle is sufficiently obvious , but it is unknown to men ignorant of the first rudiments of j urisprudence . —Examiner .

      One of the most animated conversations of the whole week waa on the subject of the treatment of Mr . Feargus O'Connor , a state prisoner in York Castle . It appears that O'Connor is imprisoned on the felons' side of the gaol , and compelled to associate with thieves and others convicted of disgraceful crimes . Medical certificates , exhibited to the Home Secretary before the removal from London to York , represented that the discipline of York Castle would seriously injure the prisoner ' s health : but no notice was taken of these representations . That the sentence of O'Connor was intended to be carried into effect in such a cruel and degrading manner , nobody protends ; and the only excuse is that York Castle is under the control of magistrates , who enforce the New Prisons' Act . It is all tho

      dome of the kw , forsooth . Well , who ' made the aw ! and by whom is it upheld , enforced , or attempered in the execution 1 Many months ago , the attention of Government , and afterwards of Parliament , was called to . the subject , in the case of Lovett and Collins . Then , as now , the Home Secretary blamed the law and the magistrates ; but nothing was done . The Home . Secretary can direct any mitigation of the sentence , any change in the place of confinement . He may remove O'Connor to Lancaster , where Mr . Joseph Stephens lives very comfortably , and sees his family . The blame—the disgrace—which in part belongs to the law and those who made it , and in part to the magistrates , is thus shared in the last and highest degree by the head of the Home Department , the dispenser of the Crown ' s prerogative . Lord Normanby makes the amende tor the irregular lenities of his Irish administration by unjust rigour is England . —Spectator

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      We put Mr . O'Connor out out of sight , and beg to ask the Ministers—Is it wise to teach the Tories , who may before long have tho roiiis of power in their hands , such a lesson ? One of these Ministers—Sir John

      Hobhousa—was once an iuinute of Newgate , and we should like to know how he would have felt if subjected to such discipline ? What has occurred before may happen again , and , who knows but we will live to see " the iron Duke" and Feel caging half-a-dozen « f our present venerated Ministers in the Tower or Newgate ? Then what a sight it would be to see Lord Melbourne sipping weak gruel , instead of feasting upon a sumptueus Palace dinner—Lord John Russell cleaning up hia cell , and Lord Normanby doing the ' graceful in a prison suit . ' ¦

      We pride ourselves upon being tolerable prophets , and we pronounce it a bad precedent—The World .

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      Well , Feargus O'Connor is at length safely caged in York Castle . He has been enduring the most poignant Bufferings , the magistrates , sanctioned by the Whig Government , having ordered a most degrading and debasing punishment to be inflicted upon him . Yes , the Liberal Whigs , who once hallooed on the people to hunt down the exercrable Tory faction , who encouraged them to assemble im large masses , iu order to obtain a redress of grievances , when the country was miserably burthened with abuses , are the self-same men—to their infamy bu it spoken—who but recently winked at a species of unparalleled torture on a dafenceless man . This is the conduct of the honest

      Reforming Whigs , and nothing more degrading to their character haa occurred for some time . The veriest Tory , if he bad had the power , would not have compelled Mr . O'Connor to perform the insulting offices U which he has been compelled to submit , and it is a foul blot upon the character of tho present Whig Government , that , having encouraged public meetings , they should now turn round on those who acted the principal characters , and expose them to every indignity . This is ingratitude of the blackest die , and we hope Lord Lord Normanby will at once take it out of the power of the magistrates to mortify and wound the feelings of an individual , who might have acted from mistaken motives , and with ne view of plunging the country into the gulph of inextricable ruin . There should be a

      denned law ; the regulations of a prison ought not to be subjected to the dictation of an aristocratic faction , who possess no sympathy for any class of persons , if they imagine them to be opposed to their doctrines . Mr . O'Connor has been guilty of a misdemeanour only , and the treatment that he has experienced is a thorough disgrace to the magistrates of York , and to the Whigs for sanctioning their infamous regulations . Mr . Fox Maule , it will be seen , by referring to the debate in the House « f Commons on Wednesday night , attempted to shift the odium from the shoulders of Government and clap it on tho 3 e of the visiting justices ; and , in doing so , clearly showed that the regulations for the gaol had been sanctioned by Lord Normanby . It ia

      quite clear to us , that had Mr . O'Connor been a man of less coBsequence ; had he remained quiet under accumulating horrors , he would have suffered evary species of insult during the whole term of his incarceration . The stringency of the rules , now that exposure has taken place , will , no doubt , be removed , and Mr . O'Connor may thank the press foran amelioration of hia punishment . He owes it to no one else . With regard to Vincent and the other prisoners , their situation is horrible in the extreme ; even the last victim of Government prosecution , Mr . Cleave , is fed upon skilly in the Compter , and is treated in every respect aa a felon ! The Whigs charge the magistrates with these outrages We shall now see whether any alteration takes place ;—Weekly Dispatch .

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      Wemust , in the cause of truth and morality , protest against such indiscriminate punishments , which tend to confound in the mind of the people the most innocent with the most guilty actions . It may even be supposed , by Sir John Hobhouae being now a Cabinet Minister , and Sir Francis Burdett in high favour with the Tories , that there ia something meritorious in political libels , for both these gentlemen were imprisoned for a similar offence to that committed by Messrs . Lovett , Collins , and O'Connor . At any rate , however

      much there may be of mistake or error in political libels , there is nothing immoral or degrading in the authorship of them . Why , then , should society inflict an irreparable injury ; and , if not nobly eelfauatained , a permanent degradation on men in no sense degraded by their own conduct ? To condemn such men to a similar punishment to that inflicted for petty larcency or burglary , is to inflict a great injury on society , by making no difference between those who have never forfeited our respect and those who are aelfdegraded . — £ un of Monday .

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      Although we admit the soundness of the principle which has abolished the distinctions formerly made between rich ajid poor offenders , we deplore the bung * ling legislation that haa ranged under one ' head offences of the most opposite chancier ; and , because the law designates libel as a misdemeanor , and certain acts of felony as a misdemeanor also , has left all miademeanants , without classification of any kind , to the tender mercies of the visiting magistrates . No better proof can be adduced of the way in which

      these gentlemen use , or abuse , their power , than the treatment which Mr . O'Connor has experienced at their hands , in a prison , where , as Six George Strickland stated , there is absolutely a superfluity of accommoda tion . It may be a mistake , ( as he very leniently termed it , ) on the part of the individuals concerned , but It ia a mistake that will have grievous consequences in exasperating , and embittering , the minds of the people , who will , and do , think , ( not unnaturally or unjustly , ) that Mr . O'Connor has been treated with peculiar in . dignity as their champion .

      Now the best mode . of increasing a man ' s influence is to make him a martyr . Mr . O'Connor ' s Bufferings' will render his arguments irresistible .. Hia very blunders will be sanctified by the sympathy , which persecution will spread around him ; and it is from a feeling « f selflahaass aa aiuch as « f generosity , —from a wish aot

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      The slightest approach to despotic cruelty in the executive powers—no matter now extensive and merited their popularity—should be exposed by the press of the people , and ooudemned by the marked and undisguised opinion of the public . Should the case of an individual victim be disregarded , in the , general applause won by leniency to many , the habit may grow upon the men in offioe , until those who were in the beginning , apparently secure from its evil effects may feel that what one offender was compelled t » suffer will be made the precedent for the treatment of all . Had Feargua O'Connor committed an atrocious . murder , his life should have

      been the forfeit ; but we think the sentence would have been lenient compared with that which condemns him for eighteen montha to endure the society and participate in the sufferings—the debasing , brutalizing , spirit-crashing Bufferings—of the wretches into whose society ne has . been thrust . Mr . O'Connor is subject to painful illness , and his life is likely to be sacrificed to the principles—such as they were—which he has advocated . His case will do more to advance his cause than all his writing and speeohing could ; aad not only that , but to heap more infamy on the Whiga than if he and his fellowlabourers were to occupy every moment of their lives is abusing them . —DublinF reewwn ' s Journal .

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      ^ We axe axe liappy teflndthattteeoie trf Feargua O'Connor is exciting aa ualvenal spirit of iidi « iMitien in all quarters , ft ia trtly abominable that aWwfao * i ^ at € m ; lito ^ lttiU'iUi 'i ^^ '' Mul we havTno notum of ex ^ a ^ WpalUatinrthem , is a genOeman of burth , connected with some of theflntlaranies ofW ^ T * ^" » l r 4 * ion » ft »« ag passed through HAr ^ S'SHSv «*^ i N » l , S * S £ ** tt MX . and returned aa * county member to the Houee of Oommoas # & £ * & # ** & tfee largwt . « f . iuw Irish <» nntiea-i * k ^ that cirownataiie ^ a ^ of the Reform JBfcl , conat itutea any cWm to S racter of a _ gentleman-a man , wh 0 , i * oweTe * violent may haye been hia language , wmtynm mixed up in ^^ o ^ tofc ^ od r iihedd }^ , exhortation which in another case were soon fcllowed up by their execution —who never waa denounced in , a speech from the throne asapublic enemy ,, orreprimauded * om tbi Chair of the House j > f Commons as a public hUckguard-who has never sheltered himself under Uw acroea of ethers ,

      Untitled Article

      — —— ' 6 THE NORTHERN STAR . ¦ ^

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), June 6, 1840, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/king-y1kbzq92ze2687/page/6/