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THE NORTHERN STAR, SATTTHDAY. .TTTNT 1 . 3 1R13
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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TO TTTR GBAXD TOBY OF tBB COUNTY OF ¦ WESTMEATH . GESTOEarES . —ThB page of hMory will Tecora -with indigestion a lats transaction of vonrs . At Midsummer As ^ ssyonTBted a sendee of plate to the oflicera of tfce "Wiek * ow "MSWHr , for ibeir exertions in preserving the peace of year county , Before I animadvert on your « maoct > I < frnTi take a short review of some of those "transactions "which recommended these gentlemen -to yonr ^ raiztnde sad fevonx . Thfrnmen of Hood , from the momeni they entered $ he ^ K- nce of the present Administration , { I cant say that of thsir connti 7 ) fcresa-ir that ihehigb road to preferment ires ix > wane ihrongh ¥ lood , to bmn houses ,
immolate Ticiims too matter ¦ whetliBi . gnilty orjncocent ) , to support tbe system « f terror , perhaps upon the tabs chnrgavl Hie basest of renreiTm 01 miscreants , caned sn informer , -or perhaps their own EnggesSon , plunge the dasser into the breast of hoary and helpless age , sad deprive , by fire and sword , ncmeroiis ¦ wretched families © T the means of existence , and like their prototypes , fee bloody Cromwell and Bobsspierre , hunt lite "sriH bsasiB Jot ihe maroona of Jamaica ) the objects of their Tengeance , "whose greatest crime is perhaps thar being Irishmen , and loving their country . Among the many creeltaes practised by the efficers sod prirates of this regiment , I shall ment ion some few , which for enoimityli&ve not been exceeded by the most sanguinary savages that erer disgraced human
nature . A Lieutenant "well-faiown'by thB name of the Walt-5 ng- £ allo"sra , si the head of a party of the regiment , Eiarcied to a plmce called 4 xanderstown , in yonr county ; they "went to ihe house of sn old man "< named Carroll , } of sweety years and npwards , and asked for arms , and Baviag promised protection and Indemnity , the old T *> -r . n delivered np to this " monster three guns , -winch he no socner received , than he Ttitb . W <» own hinds shot "tire old man through the heart , snd then had Us sons 4 two yenng men ? butchered ; bnrneS ^ destroyed their leuse , corn , hay , and in short every property they posseted . The -wife and child -of one of the sons were enclosed in the house Trhen set fire to , and ¦ would hs ? e l > een bnmeu had not
one of the soldiers begged their lives froni the eincer , hot on condition tkst if the Hich ( csrg his © "wn irords ) jnads the laast i > o 5 se'they should &hz » the same fate as ihe rest of the fasaly . This "bloody transaction happened abeni two- o ' clock en ilosdny morning , iha ISSi of Jnnelast . fie then pressed a cas , on -which the Ihrse dead bodies -were thrown ; and'from thence ¦ went to a Tillage csllefl 2 & 7 VCTe . took into-, custody three mSn , named Henry Smith , John Smith , and Michael Murray , nnder pretence of their being United Insfcnsaa ; and Issuing tied them to the car " on "which the mangled bodies of the Garrolls -were placed , they TPeie marched about three miles , passing in the blood of tbtir murdered neighbours , and at three o ' clock on
the same day -were shot on the fair green of BaDyaiore ; and so universal "was the panic that a man eonld not be procured to infer ihe sis dead bodies—the sad effice was obliged to be done by woiren . The Lieutenant , on the morning of this deliberate and sanguinary murder , in--fited several gsngemen to stay and see what he called partridge shooting . It may not be improper to remark , fb « t Lard Oxmantown remonstrated with the cfSeeia on the jnonEtrons crneltv of petting these men to death , ¦ who ndgfci , if tried by the Jaws of their Eonntry , appear innocent . He bezgeS snd intreated to have fhem sent to gEol , and prosecuted according to law ( if any proof conic be "brought against them" ) , but ids humane efforts proved &nitles 3—toe men were murdered .
On the fair-day oi Ballymore ( 7 th of June ) a poor yn % -n of irreproachable character , named Keeffan , after selling his cow , . iad Ms hand extended to receive the price oi hsr , ¦ when this valiant soldier struck him frith his sword on the shoulder , and almost severed the arm from Ms body . A young man named Hynes , a mason , passing through Its fair , on Ms "way home , iras attacked by this f erosions savage , snd in the act of begging his life upon his knees , was cat down by the Iaenienant ' s s > wn hands , and lift lying for dead . A clergyman , at iLe imminent 33 sk cf his life , lew to the victim to administer the last consolation of religion , "when three of the militia "were ordered leek , s ^ d to make use of a vulgar phrase , made a riddle of his body ; Sis clergyman , however , escaped nnhnrL Isb lagntenant , however , got somewhat aEhamed t > f this business ; and , by -way of apology for Ins conduct , alleged that boxob stones ^ "were thrown , though it is a notoriens fact that no such thing h 3 p-
The clerk of Mi . Billon , of BsHymahon , being m the fniy transacting Ms employer ' s business , was so maimed by this valiant soldier and Ms party that his life was despaired cf . Sixteen persons ( whose names I have carefnliy entered ) "were so cut , maimed , and abustd , that many of ihem are Tendered miserable otj&cts for the remainder of their Eves . So mnch far keeping the peace of . the country . To create Inhabitants for the hospital or the grave ssems to be the favourite measure of traaquiirzrag a nation . A vOiage called iley vore was almdsl at the dead hour cf i £ e night set on £ re , nnder the 'direction of Captain O and the humane lieutenant , and turned to file sround , except sis houses . Captain O— ,
possessing a Ettls more humanity , seemsd to feel fot the "unparalleled distress thereby occasioned ; ¦ sSiIIb this modern 3 Iero only laughed at the progress of the destructive element , and called his brother . omeer a cMckss-hearted fellow for Ma seeming compassion—for feeling a pang at the miseries he himself created , seelog numbers of Ms feQov-ereatnres petrified with feorlor at viewing thfcir little properties consumed , and afraid to wTr * the least complaint , seeing that military execution was their inevitable fate should they make the least murmur . Good God ! 1 b this thB vray ta make rite Constitution revered or the Government respected ? Sad Lord SorOi stiU lived and had Oi tspjideace 0 / his Majesty , he vxrnld sever recommend ihe pfactice of f&ose measures to sore Ireland xshich lost America .
Sew gentlemen or the jury , if these and snob like are ihe mentorions actaens , which have rendered the gentlesen td the Wicklow . Militia so amiable in your eyes—I blush for the country -which gave me birth ; and must dedaze that his Majesty t »»» not greater enEmies fo * '" the men wlio -would commit , or the men who abet and £ ncou-Tagesucb . srimes . 'Whatdo ^ oatescb . the grea t mass of ths people to believe by such conduct but that tfee coeicio ^ of a foriejn enesay "wonld "be mercy compared to " the gTafcrtms ^ ffioristbejondaiB iaw" lastheyvEM called ) of out own military .
But , gentlemen , let tub ask yon , -would it not have been more decent and even complimentary to the objects cf your esteem had you made a collection amongst yourselves forthis service-of plate , than to-attempt to saddle upon an injured county a tax for the remuneration oi murder , eorfbgration and calamity ? Shall the * Owners oi seai oOOhonses destroyed by fire , and tke relations o ! those victims sacrificed ty those sanguinary instruments of oppression , be obliged top 3 y for enonn ^ ties which ¦ will cast an indelible stain -upon a county which could produce a Grand Jury capable of becoming accessories to . such unheard o f fT " it ~ 'f 3 nt , gentleman , though ^ im have ToSed the tax , it is motyetTaised , but « Q ~ U I hope , bs ' tiaveiBed -with t&ct ¦^ yon may thereby have the satisfaction of purchasing out of yonr own pockets , and xfir-ri rg a motto suitable to the occasion , Written in blood and cemented by fire , tEhe " wratb . of heaven and Che scourge o ! men .
As yon dantseem to be -well acquainted with th « « aly character of the objects of your regard , I * >™ ii tak « leave to insert aa address rary different from yours U ttose sentlemen ^—Copied from the DubHn Evening P + $ and -dated 28 t 3 i May , 1 Z 95 : — To inch of the OFFICERS of his Ma jest ? * s WICK XOW BEGIKE 5 T of "MILITIA , as authorized thi insertion of the following chef D ' tKCVBEof tri and decency in the Strabcate Journal , of 20 th 0 April , 1795 : — " Wanted for Ihe service of the officers who compos
the mess of his Msjssty * * Wicklow Regiment of Mflitu TWEEVB BEAUTIFUL GIRLS , -who hare not inns 2 > iled the town of Sirabaae , since the 5 th of April , 1794 As wageisbynomeans the object , it is expected tbs Bone wDl apply Trho do not produce a certificate , signa by tight respeetable matrons , oi their "having thei " 9 TKTOE , 3 > tjke snd "CSSUiLrED . Ko-gtrl will anarwe above the age of 18 or nnder that of 14 . —Applicatio to be made to the -regimental matron , Mrs . Catherin Smyth , Bowling Gre ^ n , Saabane . —K . B . —Growinj girls of the age of 13 , if approved of , and highly recom mended may possibly be taken . "
Awsy 1 no "woman could descend so low I A skipping , dancing , ¦ worthless tribe you are ; Pit only for yomselves^—yoa herd together ; And when the circling glass "warms your Tain hearts , > : Ton talk of beantiEs that yon never saw , : ' And fancy raptures that yon never knew . j Toublast the fair -with lies , because they scorn you , j "Hate you " tike age , like "ugliness , and impotence ! j Rather than make you blest , they would die Yirgins , And siop the propagation of mankind . Polite and Gallant Gentlemen , —As a native of the town of Strabane , I shall make no apology for thus ; offering to your notice -a few strictures on the above \ "Wanton and unprecedented outage to the feelings of a j
xespectable community . And t > ii « 1 mean to do , with all the honest freedom . ' of a miad indignant at the brutality of men— -irho could ao ia forget the dignity of their nature , as to "wing a bastardly shift at that honour , -which It should be their chief pridt to defend —4 o aim a cowardly blow » t the happiness of that SBX , to protect "Whom from insult , they should , -were it accessary , form a rampart of their bodies . Pray , je trssty guardiani of oar -renerated eoastaation and sacred religion , wMsh of Ihe heroes of the Grecian < n Somah Gommonweal&s , do je propose to yourselves as models ? In = what page of the Mstory of those cele-JaatedTafiDnB , have you ^ sooTered thfttitds meritonous to blight the characteia of " God' s fairest
creation ? " J I -win efblaia to yon ihe motives of your conduct : 1 jaotivefi , 'rtoch eren yoniiaMnessirill b :-ush at , and j meannesB disevn . ItTfffl from a priDaple of sordid ] and Tinmanly ze . T « xtge , pi Dot beinginvited tothe tables ] © ttfcer itlxass of StrafeanB , that you endeavoured , by : scandalous insinuatioBS , to sully the virtae of tbeir ¦ wires sna ^ snghttas , "ririne , « verwhich , neither your - ¦ peteonal hot your intellaftnal charms , enabled yon to ^ umpli . IniBgine iiot fiat a red coat can metamorrf ^ V xlowa 3 nSo a Socsias , a Ther ^ ies onto * m » AdoBia-SKo ; like gorgeoBfl tetppjnfb bf »» » » 88 j « I '
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serves but to render elemental meanness still more contemptible . < Well indeed has it teen said , " that the age of chivalry is gone . " Scarcely does it admit of belief , that at the close of the eighteenth century , men bearing his Majesty ' s Commission , should have substituted the obscene manners of the stews for the gentlemanly conduct which ever characterises the true soldier . I here take my leave of yon—trusting that I hava infixed on yon such a fronUfit of infamy , as cannot fail to insure you a cordial reception from the inhabitant of the next town that shall experience the blessing of your protection . I have the honour to be , Gentlemen , Tour moat obedient , humble Bervant , Thomas Sinclair . 2 Sth May , 1795 , No . 8 , Trinity-place , DuBBn . __
I shall now lake leave of you for the present , trusting that you are or will become ashamed of yonr conduct . The avenging hand of God has struck one of the principal springs wMch heretofore set you in motion , he was called like the tyrant of Russia before that tribunal where no ascendancy will prevail , but ; that of virtue , truth , and justice . A Freeholder of Westmeath .
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REPEAL OF THE UNION . As the agitation npon this subject progresses every new feature as it presents itself opens fresh ground for conjecture . It ever has been , and bo it ev ^ r xrih be , that qnestions of philosophy , of policy , or of morality , Trill have their supporters and opponents ; the one urging on tp success , and the other breathing reactance and lostility . The larger and the more embracing the subject , the greater will be the variety of opinions
on the respective sides . The magnitude then of the question of Repeal -will naturally lead to the conclusion that amongsi its supporters are to be found classes , commnnities , and even individuals , who , though united in action , are by no means indnced to take part from the same causes , nor do they look for a similar result from the success of their undertaking . Before , then , we discos 3 the subject on its own merits , -we are bound to consider in how far the question now at issue between the two countries is relieved of that political embarrassment
in general bo fatal to the accomplishment of any great national object . The reader will Bee the great , the almost insurmountable difficulties by which we are surrounded in tens being called upon to caution and advise , to encourage and reason Hpon so large and all-important a subject almost in a hreath . The rolling murmurs of a nation's voice following in rapid succession after the flash of a nation ' s mind are pealing , and each new shock would be well calculated to shake the nerve , or tura from his pnrpose , the commentator who was unaccustomed to ,
or unacquainted with , the portions of which the jarring elements are composed . In the thunder we recognise the nation ' s voice , in the lightning which precedes it we recognise the nation ' s will ; and , from thi 3 idea , we may gather the nation ' s strength . Of what avail however is strength , if ill directed li is then to the direction of that strength , and to a consideratioa of what its united efforts , if virtuously used , may accomplish , that we shall direct the reader's ai'ention . Vteid we to allow ourselves to argue npon the problematical desires , motives , or
intentions by which the Repealers ( or the several sections comprising the main force ) are actuated , we should be doing the very thing which the disturbers , the political dissenters , the troublesome , the dissatisfied , and unquiet , desire , and such a course would be pre-eminently calculated to produce a result diametrically opposite to that which , by nnion , the real advocates of the measure earnestly 'desire to bring about . Y / hile , therefore , we shall contrast the condition of Ireland immediately antecedent to the act of Union with her present condition while
straggling for a Repeal of that measure , and although , ia the contrast , mnch cause for caution may be found , none for alarm need txisi . It will be seen thai at the former period the leaders in the cause of Irish liberty were strongly linked , and amicably bound with thB English opposition , or tho Fox party , and it may reasonably be inferred that that policy which wa 3 practised by ihe Whigs from 1796 to 1800 , with a view to their restoration to power , may he again resorted to by ithe same party for a similar pnrpose . Here , then , we have in a
sentence , boldly stated the one , the only , ghost which can haunt the mind of the timid , the only argument that can be used by the artful and : the wily . We have shown it bnt to destroy it . There are several reasons , therefore , which render the ; parallel as to the respective times incomplete . From 1756 to 1800 Ireland had a Parliament , and from 1782 to that period , when the French Revolution affrighted " the great statesman now no more , " Ireland had progressed in domestic improvements , and great national undertakings , as no country ever adv&aced
before ; hence all the capabilities : for achieving national greatness were developed , and Ireland gave a practical proof to the world in those days , as Belgium has in later times , that as a nation &he may be rich and powerful , while as a province she must be weak and impoverished . In those years preceding the Act of Union the English opposition were sincere in their advocacy ot Ireland ' s rights ; they sought no Union at the expense of Irish interests , and , above all , did they deprecate the means resoned to for the accomplishment
of the object . At that time also the Irish people were degraded serfs , tillers of their own estates under alien landlords , looked upon by the jaundiced eye of the State as unchristian dogs . ' They were unenfranchised , or rather tantalized with the poor privilege of voting for the choice of their enemies ; for though the slaveB had votes , yet those of their own religioHsand political creed were ineligible to sit in the Commons' House of Parliament . Under all these circumstances , then , it was not unlikely that a powerful Irish par ty , backed by the English
opposition , Bhoald have considered the difference between a Whig Ministry pledged to Catholic emancipation , and a Tory Ministry bent upon resisting it , a motive sufficiently strong to arouse a great national feeling in favour of the Fox and FnzwiLUAM party . At the period of which we write Ireland might be said to be wholly destitute of any national mind . Her councils were directed by those who sought objects whicb > were represented to the people as likely to be beneficial ; but behind
ibose great advantages , which were placed in the foreground , it was easy to recognise the real object of the promoters of dissatisfaction ;; and , although Catholics Emancipation may have been used as the rallying standard fer discontent , and although the fnll length portrait of Irish liberty was always placed foremost in the grouping , yet was it impossible to conceal from view the bust of a Fox or Chablevont representing some private interest , or party anticipation .
Now , how different the state of the respective parties ; Ireland had fell four years of torture , persecution , cruelty , and mnrder , before the Union while , since that event , she has had forty-three years of unremitting and unmitigated suffering and sorrow . She is now a nation of soberminded Irishmen , who can no logger be juggled by ihe fascinations or promises of the English oppositioM , who have registered their determination in vows as strong and deadly as are those of the Tories to preserve the contract even to the death . It is true that an antidote -was promised with the poison ,
and was administered in four years after in the shape of an " Arms Bill , " which , if sot as degrading to blacksmiths , was equally calculated and aa much intended to deprive the Irish people of the means of defence as the one now before Parliament ; and yet this Bill was brought in by the present opposition , and not complained of by the Irish people . We throw this oat , not as a taunt to the leaders of the Irish , but to exhibit it as one instance of the incapacity of sections , parties , or individuals , to make the Repeal question NOW a means of MEtcring ; tke Whigs to
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power . Indeed the English Chartists who have Buffered grievously at the hands of that annihilated faction have not been more lavish in their abuse of then * than Mr . O'Connell has recently been . How then , we asi , can any man give him credit ifor shrewdness , sagacity , and foresight , and , at the Bame time charge him with making the repeal agitation snbservientjfor Whig purposes ! But for a moment supposing such intention to be even possible , what
would be the result of the experiment 1 Why naturally the first step in that direction would be his last move on the political stage . The sober mind of Ireland can see more clearly than in her intoxication the was "wont to do . In her calm reflection she can ponder ; npon her wretchedness , ' while her sober mind imbibes those stinging truths so continuously instilled by her leaders and whereby she learns that to be free her sons must be united ; and to be . great she must be independent .
Englishmen , though often deceived , have so fond an affection for Ireland and their Irish brethren , that they have already spoken , without recollection of the past;—and are they to form no section in this great imperial movement ? Is any politician so blind as not to see , eo senseless as not to understand , that without the cooperation of the English working olasses the English Minister would be able to crush the Repeal agitation at will ; while , with their assilfanoe , no power at the disposil of the strong Government can successfully resist the onward march of freedom in
Ireland ! it is true that the mere Whigs of the present day would direct the Irish mind to those paltry pursuits to which , from 1796 to 1800 , the same party but too successfully directed it before . Upen the recall of Earl Fitzwilliam and the appointment of his successor Earl Camden , the Irish mind was roused to a Etate of frenzy not unjustified by the cruel and bloody deeds and exterminating policy of the latter : viceroy . But now how unfortunate , instead of being able to boast of a system of good national policy , the Whigs , while in opposition , can but point attention to the manner in which the
favoured few were promoted and aggrandized at the expense of the injured many . But upon the other hand if a Tory attempt is made to degrade the Irish people to the rank of slaves by depriving them of those arms whioh by the Bill of Rights they are entitled to possess , Whig opposition is silenced or rendered puerile and captious by being reminded of their own Bill of 1838 , framed with a similar intent . Must not then the Irish people have learned that lesson which the English Chartists have long since learned—that if their work is to be done , it must be done by themselves , for themselves .
We do not stop to answer , or even to comment upon , the hair-splitting philosophy of the Times upon the Repeal of the Union . We leave that immaculate print in full possession of all that consolation which it can derive from the registered determination of Archbishop Mubray to flounder on the top of the Saxon muddle , rather than join in the restoration jof his country ' s rights , by just remarking that " one swallow does not make a summer , " neither does one Archbishop make a nation . In answer to those who would urge even the possibility of a halt for Whig purposes , wo
would say look to the broad sheet of Irish mind , which we lay before you . Think of the wrongs that that gallant country has endured . Reflect upou the littJe hope which the leaders hold out from the restoration of Whiggery , and from the great advantages which are described as likely to follow the acquisition of : her independence . Look again to the monies subscribed , to the vows registered , to the planB propounded , to the feelings enlisted , to the different sections invited for the accomplishment of this great national object , and , then let any man ask himself where can it stop short , even by an inch ,
of the promised goal ? Will Ireland again relapse into stupor ! Will she again recognise her full measure of justice in tho religion of a placeman , a policeman , or a judge ? Will her people crawl in their sea-bound dungeon in manacles , that a chosen few may beard the oppressor with hard words * No ! the days of : Irish folly have passed away and the light of Irish reason tells the Irish oppressor that the days of his greatness are numbered . It is for these reasons that we look upon the progress as a more than mere Irish question , more than an imperial question , a universal question . What can so
humble thecfest of the haughty English Oligarchy as the fact of its "bridle arm" being cut off ? what can so humiliate the Protestant Church as the fact of its being deprived of its w whip hand V Will the querelous politician point out to us any one means by which the power of the people could be more clearly developed and more profitably brought into action , than by the accomplisment of the present object of the Repealers ? Will any man say , or for a moment suppose , that tho Irish people ( in the event of the Union being Repealed by the English Parliament ) would allow
an Irish Parliament to be called together upon any other principle than that of Universal Suffrage ! The man who thinks so must have but a poor opinion of what the present popular mind , in the hour of , triumph , would demand as a complete measure of justice , and as a means of preserving it . We arp aware —perfectly aware—of the great and mighty influences , both foreign and domestic , which will be forced into operation for the suppression of this national movement . The mind will be fretted and irritated by surmise , calculations , and reports . The union of all opposing influences to hope for even a suspension or delay , must be as complete as the union of the Irish people appears to be for the
accomplishment of the measure . Let us see then whether or no we have any right to expect that such a union can be formed out of the conflicting elements of opposition . The Queen being nothing , we naturally leave her out of the question . In the Lords is embodied the Oligarchy in its united character of Church and State , where the rents and privileges of the Lords Temporal are protected by the Lords Spiritual , npon the understanding tha *> the Lords Temporal shall protect the first fruits and the tenth fruits for their Spiritual brethren , so that at all times theymay epjoy them . In the Prime Minister we find the most perfect embodiment of administration apart from the Oligarchy , and to this point under ordinary circumstances we should look as the mirror in which
would be reflected the Tria juncta in Uno , the Oligarchy , the Church , and the State . In the present agitation , however , we discover much to cause dissension 1 and disunion amongst those heretofore united parties . We speak of men as machines , and without fear . And while we deprecate tho policy of a party , we shall enter without bias into an impartial consideration as to how far individual character would be likely to operate upon the general counoils of the body .
Upon Sir Robert Pbel , then , as Prime Minister , the issue of the present struggle must much depend ; we shall therefore consider what are likely to be those influences which would operate upon him to resist or concede . The motives which might lead to resistance , would be a dread of outraging the domestic faction in Ireland , who we verily believe look fer another blood-letting , to be followed by another extermination of the Catholics and another partition of the soil .
Upon th « other hand , the motives for concession will ba these . Firstly , the chances if not the certainty ef defeat , and , secondly , we do not consider Sir Robert Pbel to be a cruel man , far from it . He is ambitious of fame , and in his calculations for its achievement be would » ake the existing state of the human mind his denominator , and from that he woi $ d learn that the time haB arrived when the triumph of a 8 tate ? man must consist in the subjugation of his passions and in a timely yielding to the-public will of such changes as can only be resisted by brute foree . If ; the struggle is allowed to progress peaceably , who for a moment can doubt the result ! while upon the ; other hand , who but masi shudder at the effeet which an onslaught upou the Irish people vrould . bare upon lue English imnd , heightened aud
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exaggerated as those accounts would most probably be to the indignation of those hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic Irishmen now abiding amongst us , and whose every aspiration for the success of their countrymen at home would find a quick response from every English working man ' s breast . In truth it is time that Ireland should be a nation governed by Irish Laws , made by Irishmen , chosen by Irishmen , and for the benefit of the Irish people ; and in this holy struggle , God forbid that the country should be threatened with a recurrence of those scenes , an
account of which now lies before U 3 , and which make our English cheeks blush while we peruse them , and of which will be found a specimen in a letter published in our fourth page , from " A Freeholder of Westmeath , to the Grand Jury of that county . " We ask the English reader carefully to read and caltoly to reflect upon that letter . From that ho will learn the manner in which the Union was forced upou the Irish people , and from it he will gather the importance whioh the same faction attaches to a continuance of this unholy bond , by
which Irishmen are made slaves , and Foreigners thoir task-masters . From that he will learn the mauner in which a love for the English Constitution has been stamped by the English law upon the Irishman's back , and branded upon the Irishman ' s cheek ; and how their offspring , who witnessed the tender mercies of this protective system , must have imbibed in childhood that love and regard so manifest in their present demand to be relieved from its further operation . From that ho will learn , that in the dead of night the innocent , the unoffending , and unsuspecting peasant , being first disarmed , was
dragged from his bed , hung at his own door , without even the formality or semblance of a mock trial , while his cottage was sot in flames , lest the darkness of night should spare the widowed mother and her frenzied orphans the torture of witnessing tbe . sad spectacle . We ask , then , whether Irishmen can ever have forgotten these things ? and nature and reason answer never ; for , though there is no trace of the humble cot , aud though the victim has ceased to breathe" Yet the blackness of ashes still marks where it stood , While the wild mother" scream'd o'er her famishing 1 / brood . "
If , then , oar English mind , afteT such a perusal , forbids our English hand , under our present feelings , to etch the portrait farther , what must be the feelings of Irishmen , against whose fathers , whose mothers , and whose country such acts were committed ? When we pause , it is high time that they should refleot . Wo cannot trust ourselves to say more than that precisely tho same course which was pursued by Castlereagh and his myrmidoms , for the purpose of effecting the Union , appears to be that which his successors are determined to follow . Then , as UOW , A DISARMING BILL WAS THE FIRST BLOW .
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TRADES' UNIOJfS . THE STRIKE IN SCOTLAND . As democrats , we honour principle above » U things ; and next the devotees of principle . Even if we dissent from the principle , seeing it conscientiously held , we admire tho consistency aod firmj ness whioh adheres to it " through thick and thin . We wish to see every man in possession of his own rights ; and , which holden without prejudice to others' rights , we commend every man the morfli the more tenaciously he maintains and defends them ) whileBarelyas democrats , we rejoice ia erffj
, , struggle for the maintainence of popular rights and the repelling of tba power of aggression . So detf are these-principles to us , that nothing wii * appertains or relates to them ; no proceed 18 ^ carried on in their name can fail to eX&to our interest . Hence , though we have , &s T < ^ said not a word upon the subject , we have not been unobservant of tho struggle which has for a leng th of time agitate ,-ad has at last rent asunder , tbe National Church of Scotland ; ronding more than 400 of its Ministers and Dignitaries at once fiwB its communion . Such an evant is sure to eicite
great interest in the pnbiio mind ; the more especially when it appears , as in the present instance to bo induced and pervaded by the inflexible adherence of a large body of learned and iijflaflo * : 3 i men , not merely to the high standard of princip le but to the pure oue of democratic principle ; waen it sreras to be a bold withstanding of indivi ^« pvivilpge in defence of universal right . But W 3
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THE ARGUMENT . From Jtlje rajinga of the Times , we turn to the " pleading ^* ' of ] the Attohney and the Sqlicitor-General . And though there ia , certainly , less of virulence and mendacity , we discover little more of " argument" in the one than in the other . The Learned lawyers were very evidently " bother'd " with their case . We have seldom seen a more lame attempt atoeasoaing than that exhibited by the Crown
Lawyers ; and yet wo confess that we know not how it could have been mended ; ' tis not an easy business to prove black to be white , or to shew the connection of a non sequitur . The Attorney-General laboured long and hard ; but to our unsophisticated mind hia labour seemed vastly like that of a man who should run after a hare—the more he laboured and . the more clearly hejseemed to be in the wrong . ' He first set forth . the averment of the fourth count , that : — " OnMje lsji day of Aug ., in the year aforesaid , and off « tiiver . # ibther days and times between that day and the 1 st day of October , in the year
aforesaid , and at divers places , divers evil-disposed pertons unlawfully and tumultuoualy assembled together and by violence ! threats , and intimidations to divers other persons being then peaceable subjects of this realm , forced the said last-mentioned subjects to leave their occupations and employments , and thereby impeded and stepped the labour employed in the lawful and peaceable carrying on , by divers ^ arge numbers of the subjects of this realm , of cor tain trades , manufactures , and businesses , and thereby cau ' sld great confusion , terror , and alarm in the minds of the peaceable subjects Of this realm . "
Now this averment no one denies or disputes ; although for all that appears upon the face of it the matters talked of might have happened in Canada or in the East Indies . Bat the facts are undisputed . There is no question that divers parties did go about at divers times , $ o divers places , and stop themills , — the only question is , whether " Feargcs O'GoNNoa and his associates" had any hand iu this . The At-TOKHEY-General does not contend that thisy had any dire ^ -hanfi in it ; ho does not say that they were present : dt , or took any part in , any one : of these "unlawful and tumultuous assemblies "; he does not attempt to show that they took any active part in the " violence , thrcatB , and intimidations , " and in "the impeding and stopping of labour" spoken
of ; bat ho tries to make out that thoyweare concerned in it indirectly ; that they aided and abetted —assisted 0 m encouraged—those other parties . Weil , what did they aid , and abet , and assist , and encoura ^^ hsm to do 1 —the matters and things here chared against th > va . I Not a bit of it : there is no such thing charged oa U 5 iu the indictment . We are -jhargijd in the iadiofint-nt—aot "with haying _ ai cd and itbittr-4 thbe " evil disposed persons" in tho
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mischiefs which the indictment alleges to have been done ; but that , afterwards" Tho said Feargus O'Connor , &c , together with divers other evil disposed persons to the jurors afore said as yet unknown , did unlawfully , and j j . ? T county aforesaid , aid , abet , assist , comfort , support and encourage the said evil disposed persons in this count first mentioned , to continue aad persist in the said unlawful assemblings , threats , intimidations and violence . " while , at the same time the indictment does not shew that these proceedings were persisted in at all ' We are thns therefore clearly charged with aiding and abetting an offence which is not shewn to hare been committed .
Mr . Justice Patteson made the Attorney-General feet the "fix" that he was in , when be said : — " The count charges that the defendants aided and assisted the evil-disposed persons first mentioned to continue and persist in the said-unlawfu ] I assemblings threats , intimidations and violence , but it does not aver that they did continue and persist therein Could you say , in an indictment for murder , that ths prisoner aided and assisted A . B . in committing murder , without alleging that murder was com mitted P And the only answer the Attorney-General could give to this was that : —
" He apprehended that if one man were charged with aiding and assisting another to do a particular act , it must be presumed that the act itself had been done . " And with all deference to the Attorney-Genebai ;' s logic we must pronounce this " presumption" of hia to be a monstrous assumption . If , when oue man is charged with aiding and assisting another to do a particular act , it must ba always presumed that tha
act itself has been done , it must follow that it ig not necessary to enquire whether the act itself has beea done or not ; and , then , it is quite clear that circumstantial evidence without any perjury or intentional injustice nrtght very easily lead to the conviction and punishment of parties for a supposed aiding and abetting of that which had never been done at all ; and even against the authority of the Attornet-Geneeal we venture to •* presume" that the law does not contemplate any such monstrosity .
The Solicitor-Genebal was a little more dexteroua and disingenuous , but not a whit more successful , ia bis dealing with the same subject . Ha said : — " Tbe indictment did not , it was true , allege that these parties did persist and continue to do what they had done , but it was unnecessary to make such an averment . The offence committed by the defendants would have been the same whether tho 3 e parties persisted or not . "
Now , no one knew better than the Solicitob-General that " the offence committed by the defendants" had nothing to do with the matter . The question before the Court was not " the offence committed by the defendants" , but the validity of the indictment ; and the matter to be talked of , therefore was , not ** the offence committed by the defendants" , but the offence charged in the indictment . The offence charged in the indictment was that of aiding and assisting these other parties to continue
aud persist in the conduct described . Now , if these parties did not " continue and persist" in this conduct , it is clear that no one could aid and assist them in doing so ; and it is clear , therefore , that the indictment onght to shew that they did "continue aad persist" when it charges others with aiding and assisting them to do so . The indictment does not show this ; aud we think it will require better logU than any the Crown has yet exhibited to satisfy the Judges that that objection has been answered .
Iu the matter of the fifth count , which is destitute of venue , the Attorney-General tried to make out that the venue in the margin was sufficient . But there was a stunner in the precedent of Mintbr Hart , cited by Mr ^ Dundas for the defendants iu moving for the rule , and in which case : — " The indictment had the words ' London to wit ' in the margin , and the offence was charged to have been committed in the parish of St . Marylebow , without at all stating that , the offence was committed in London . It was held that this indictment was bad , and that the omission was not cured by the statute 7 th George IV . cap . 64 , eeo . 20 . "
This the Attorney-General met by saying that : — " There , however , the objection was taken before verdict , and while the trial was going on . It was clear , therefore , that the facts did not apply to the present case . " A piece of " law" which is effectually " settled" by Mr . Jastice Pvtteson ' s reply : — " The objection was taken after plea , and how can a prisoner take an objection to the indictment after pleading over , unless he moves in arrest of judgment \ When issue has once been joined , the trial must go on to verdict . "
And , as a streugtheuer of this rejoinder of tbe Learned Judge , we find , in the Times ot Monday , a report of the proceedings of the Queen ' s Bench in the matter of the Queen v . Nott , a Devonshire magistrate , who had been convicted at Exeter of administering an illegal oath , and whose objection to the indictment came , not only after verdict , but after sentence , and was yet admitted , and the judgment set aside on the objection that the indictment did not suflietently set forth the offence charged .
The argument of the Solicttor-Genebai . upon this point was a mere repetition of that of fcbe Attorney-Genebal . We apprehend that the Counsel for defence , when they come to reply , will have little difficulty ia showing that for all purposes of this count , a venae in the margin is no venne at all . When the argument will ba resumed we know not , as we have not , at the time of writing this , received any further intelligence than that which our readers will find in the report . But we think it probable
that , if the Counsjl for defence do their work as well as we expect from them , both counts will be broken down . Meantime the people must remember that this further postponement will be a new drag on the funds . Counsel will have to be feed orer again , and all expencea begun de novo . They most not suffer the thing to be lost . They must " V & up . " We truly hope that this ia the last disgraceful " mess" of this kind they will suffer themselves to be dragged into ; but this they are " in for , " and they must drag through it . Send up the money t » John Cleave .
Since writing the above , we have learnt that Saturday ( this day ) is fixed by the Judges to hear the " reply" to the Crown ' s " argument . "
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RAVINGS OF DISAPPOINTMENT . THE TIMES v . " FEABt fUJS O'CONNOR AND HIS ASSOCIATES . " Faction is ever impatient of authority , and reckless of legal trammels , when they impede the fulfilment of its purposes . Its contempt of justice rises , tho moment H ? will is thwarted , and is manifested , moro or less plainly or covertly , as circumstances dictate . Sometimes , indeed , it shews
itself but slightly ;—good policy obtaining the advance of disappointment and impatience , and shewing the necessity of at least a shew of decent respect for the laws of its own creation—while , sometimes , on the other hand , fretfulness overcomes prudence , —the flimsy garment of adherence to the constituted order ot things is rent , and the " cloven foot" dashed through , with a vehemence suited to its origin and consanguinity .
The factious and scandalously unfair , as well as wretchedly contemptible , proceedings now pending in the Court of Queen's Bench , —by which we , personally , and the Chartist public generally , have been robbed of a largo amount of money , and subjected to much indignity and inconvenience—have afforded opportunity for a most impudent display of its impatience under the restraints of law , and its anxiety for unbridled license , to the most profligate of all the organs and representatives of faction , The Tunes newspaper , which is absolutely furiousfoaming at-the mouth—with rage , because the Judges of Queen ' s Bench pay less attention to the anticipation of its wishes than to their oaths . In his last Monday ' s " explosion" the " Thunderer " Cf J thus fulminates : —
" That Feargus O'Connor and his associates in Lancashire did , between the 1 st of August and the 1 st of Octjbber , last year , encourage ' divers evil disposed persona' to assemble and commit various acts of violence for the immediate purpose of putting a stop to work in the manufacturing districts , and with the ulterior object of carrying their Charter;—that their encouragement had considerable effect , so far . as that immediate purpose was concerned ;—that Government found it necessary to employ troops for putting down the disturbances , and to send a special commission in order that the offenders might be brought to justice ;—that many scores of the poor dupes are now expiating their offences by undergoing the penalties of tbe law for their cr imes . —are , we presume , facts so notorious , that no
one can entertain the remotest shadow of a doubt upon them , unless he happens to be one of the Justices ot her Majesty ' s Court of Queen's Bancb . Those Learned Judges , who , according to a aolenin legal decision , are ' bound to take judicial notice that a rump and dczen means a good dinner and plenty of port / ore it seems puazting their brains to ascertain "whether , er not they are obliged { Judicially that is , and in accordance with their oaths of office , not individually as sensible mef j to be in such a state of interminable doubt whether the riots took place in Lancashire or in France , or some other country quite out of their jurisdiction , as that , after the minor fry have been convicted , and imprisoned or transported under sentences delivered by themselves , they must let the principal offenders off scat free . " 1
'' Afterall the loss of property and life which has been sustained through the villany of tbe Chartist leaders ; after the months of suffering entailed on the turnouts through having followed their advice ; after the parade of a special commission , with its thousands of pounds lavished on the law officers of the Crown , ia order to insure the conviction of the offenders , the melancholy spectacle is presented of a law as powerlesa to punish the rich guilty , as it was severe upon the inferior tools who could not purchase legal assistance—of | the course of justice being stopped where it was most of alt important that it should have free way ; and ( his merely through some trumpery alip of the pen which would have disgraced an attorney ' s clerk . "
'" Technical niceties' is the gentle phrase applied to these outrages on common sense by a recent Act of Parliament . For our own parts , we are at a loss for an expression sufficiently strong to characterize their wickedness . " : Hun , Betty , run ! and bring water , and an easy chair ; that your Mistress may faint comfortably ! If Sany one can bring ns a finer sample of a city termagant raving herself hoarse , because the husband wont " stand treat" to Whitecbapel , or" stump the Bpwns" for Greenwich fair , we promise to endow him with all the honours of " the Thunderer " . '
But Goody " Thunderer" stops not here . With true woman-like comprehensiveness of anger , her explosion reaches all parties who can hear ' * the splash . " The understrappers of the Government law offioes , the Judges , the Government , and the Legislature are all as bad as we are , to permit this contumacy ; andthoy are enjoined most noisily forthwith to make such arrangements as may oblige Donald to " Come up and be hanged , and no anger the laird" . She thus continues her hodge-podge objurgation of remonstrance , threatening and command : —
" Surely no pains ought to have been spared—no expense was—to insure the duo execution of the taw upon FearguB O'Connor and his associates ; and yet , to judge frorawbat toek place in the Queen ' s Bench on Friday , the indictment against them is about to be placed id the same category with those which were preferred against the Monmouth Chartists , Lord Cardigan , the Sti Alban ' bribera , and many others who have within the last few years eujoyed an immunity which nothing
but official supineness , ot worse , could have procured ttotm With the rembinbrance of the Immense bills of costs which were paid on the last special commission , it ia bard for those out ot m hose pockets the money caimi touuderstandhow flivTs could be introduced into , or suffered to remain iu tb ~ - indictments . W'hat do tlit law , officers of the ( Jrjv . n , and those who ta * trn . 't them , consider « o be iteir duly ? Plain people , unenaiUOUrud of tecluiic . il lnseties , and reinem ^ iiuj ; le tkjeir cost bucilry treats of tbe last few years , can
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scarcely avoid the conclusion , either that the Government is , in every respect , worse served than private persons are , or that there is some complicity . If these blunders are as the law now stands inevitable , — -if it is a stark impossibility to state , in the form of an indictment , with' sufficient precision to satisfy the judicial understandings of the judges , any accusation against a political " offender ' , by all means , in mercy to the community , let them ] be freed at once from the legal cob-W 6 ba in which they are enveloped : Jet a lawat-Onco be enacted so simple that blunders will be impassible ; or , if that is hopeless , give the Judges , under sufficient checksthe power of correcting mere technical ettota .
, If the fault restaj hs we presume to bo the case , with some of the mine * officials , let the blunderers be trusted no longer . But Whatever ba done , let the Government and their legal advisers , in case the present indictment should be quashed for informality , take care to place themselves beyond the reach of suspicion as to their Snotives , by having fresh an-1 ( for © nee ) correctly drawn indictments preferred the instant that the decision of the Judges shall ( be made known . By this alone will they be able to atone to the country for the defaults of these whom they have trusted , and to prove that those defaults were neither directly nor indirectly sanctioned by themselves . " -
Who will dare , after this , to hazard the displeasure of Goody Graadam Tempust by not imprisoning Chartists where > he wishes it ?! Seriously , if it was worth any body ' s while to be serious wiih the Times , we hare never seen a . more impudent attempt to bully the judges than is here made 1 nor have ! we often seen an attack in which mendacity ,, or what " plain people" call lying , is more boldly brazened out . Nobody knows batter
than this hired hack of the real instigators of the strike , that " Feargus O'Connor and his associates '' did no sach thing aa " encourage * divers evil disposed persons' to assemble together and commit various acts of violence , for the immediate purpose of putting a stop to work in tho manufacturing districts , and with the ulterior object of carrying their Charter . " We presumefthat the Times would in all probability class us with "theassociates of Feahgus O'Connor' *; we havn reason to know that a copy of this paper is received by the Times every week ; the -Times is
therefore perfectly aware of the part taken in the matter of the strike both by Feargus O'Connor and " . bis associates "); the Times knew therefore that in writing ; 'this paragraph , he wrote a deliberate and wilful lie . He knew perfectly that the facts were directly in the teeth of his statement ; that bo far from " encouraging" those " evil-disposed persons" to " asseirMe' 4 ud commit various acts of violence , " we discouraged , openly and boldly , not only the " various acts of violence , " but also , under the circumstances , the " assemblies" in question , irrespective of all referencH to violenee ; that so far from connecting with the strike " the ulterior object of
carrying the Charter , we from first to last denounced the strike as a treacherous display of impotence , got up by ; the enemies of the Charter . The Times knows perfectly that from the beginning "FEAnGUS O'Connor and his associates" told the Chartists that the strike was a trap for them , and that none but fools or knaves would lead them into it ; he knows that we have throughout maintained the same doctrine ; that we maintain it still , and , if we needed confirmation of it , we have that confirmation , sufficient and abundant , in the ravings of the Times at the probability of our escaping from the trap after having been not led into it , but flung into it , by the combined power of folly , treachery , and ^ c ^ trdifie . To get the "law upon Feargus O'Connor "ahd his associates" was a matter
of some moment to the vile money-faction of which the 1 Times is an organ aud representative ; it was an object they had long , vainly but earnestly sought to compass ; and , to compass that object , THEY planned the strike ; THEY carried out the strike ; THEY hired myrmidons aud emissaries to entrap the people , ia the hope of so coming at " Feargus O'Connor and his associates , " and their emissaries—their mouthing myrmidons —did so far succeed in dragging the suffering people into their meshes , ag " that Government found it necessary to employ troops for putting down the
distui bances , and to send a special commission in order that the offenders might be brought to justice , " and " that many scores of the poor dupes are now expiating liieir jeffences by undergoing the penalties of the iaw . ' ^ These are all " facts so notorious that no one canjeutertain the remotest shadow of a doubt- upon them ; " and the unblushing Times , knowffig these facts to be so , ia most virtuously indignant Hirtth the judges , the lawyers , and the Government , ttat they do not at once , like the Corn Law Repealing magistrates , who first " had them in tow , " handle the pretext impudently , and without further ) regard to law or ceremony , stick " Fearsu 3 O'Connor and his associates" into gaol !
Tho "free -booting scamps , for whom the Times aots as " Drab" and " Squaller , " are absolutely wild at seeing iheir precious project likely , after all , to fail , because lawyers have some regard for the law , aud judges some deference for justiee . Let the Times " bide a wee" : we are not to be dragged into any premajture developements : likelier customers than the Times have tried to bring us there and
failed : we furnish no handle for enemies , whether the Times , the Times' masters , or the rimaj'toolt : the argument it not ye % ver ; when it is , we may , perhaps , havej . our say upon that same " stopping of work in the manufacturing districts , " and on the " villany" by which the Times and his masters have been enabled tojeonnect with it the names of Tear * qus Q ^ o ||| j ) R and his associates . "
The Northern Star, Sattthday. .Tttnt 1 . 3 1r13
THE NORTHERN STAR , SATTTHDAY . . TTTNT . 3 1 R 13
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4 ^ THE NORTHERN STAR . j
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Northern Star (1837-1852), June 3, 1843, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1215/page/4/
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