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THE TRIAL. ELEVENTH DAY.
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" ~ REPEAL ASSOCIATION SIosdat . The weekly meetiag of the association took place this day , and the bou » e fu denselycrowded Caleb Powell , 3 d . P ., vu called to the Chair . After the transaction of « ome business , Mr . Smith O'Brien proposed & series of resolutions to the tff = ct that e&eh parish ahonld defray the expences of its own repreaenlatrrsa . They -were carried by acclamation . Mr . O'Connell addressed a few observations to the ineelinc .
The Rev . Mr . O'MaUey deprecated any language which might gire cffanee to the Federalist * , whom he termed the Corps db Baerve of the Repealers . Mr . Wallace , a gentleaan from America , -was here introduced to the meeting . He wore Tery lon # hair and a suptrjflaoM quantity of whisker—was Tery rhetorical , md < jfaU largely in metaphor—spoke of " coronets of agriculture ind the billowing wares of commerce , and he -was piling the agony Tery high , " when he was interrupted by Mr . O ' ConnelL The rent was announced to be £ 372 Us . lid .
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Srm > G ofthbCockt , Fkipat , Ja ^ ast 26 ih . The Conrt sat this morning at ten p ' closk , and we are happy to say thai Mr . Jnstiee Barton was so far recovered from b : 3 recent attack of illness as to be ibkd 10 lake his seat on the bench with the other members of the Court / Before the business of the day commenced , as far as the State TriaJ was concerned , 3 ir . M'Donough , with the permission of the Attorney-General , moved for a Criminal Information against John J . Heslop and Edward O'Brien for havin * written & letter to a Air . Olclougb , an Officer of Police , to provoke him to fight & dueL The Court granted a conditional order .
The trial then proceeded . The Irst bnsiness in connection with it was , to contmne the numerous readings from the various copies of the Nation ^ Pi ! oty and Freeman * put in by the Attorney-General . This occupied the Court % Tery long time ; bat , as ihe matter of the several articles , Bpeeches , and gongs has before been given , in the " opening" of the Attorney-General , and in the evidence , it is not necessary to repeat it . When these readings were ended , The Attorney ^ General said there were some docu-Bents read before , and he would enter them as read , lest there might be any mistake aboat the matter . Let the officer read the names of the document , and he would enter them as read . Mr . Bourne said the first document was a ? etter from T ^ am , dated 22 th Sept ., 1843 .
Jndee Crampton—It is published in the paper of the 29 ; h Sept . Mr . M'Donough said he would enter a short article or rather a passage of a speech from Mi . O'Connell od Ribbonism , as read by him . Mi . Bourne— "Very well ; the first document is a letter from Taam , dated 29 th of August , and signed John , Archbishop of Tuam . Attorney-General— We will not read that ; hand it back to Mr . Kemmis . Mr . Bourne then read the heads of letters from the following places : oae from Longhrea , dated 2 d of October , 1843 , signed Patrick Skerrett ; from Mountrarh , wish the names of Arbitrators . Letter from Collinstown to Mr . Ray , signed Edward Kearney ; another letter signed H . Daly , from Wicklow .
A letter from Mnllingar of the 21 st September , 3843 , signed John Camwell , a certificate of the appointment of an Arbitrator , and a copy of the form of an award and deed of submission to Arbitration , if ere handed in and read . Also the new form of a member ' s card , a Jester from the author of the Green Book , and the dreadful slaughter at Mullaghmast . Charles Hovendon was then sworn and examined by _ Mr . Brewster—I am an inspector of the Dublin police ; knows Dr . Gray and Mr . John O'Connell ;
saw . Mr . John O'ConnelJ in Court ; saw both acting ; an arbitrator saw Dr . Gray act but once as arbitrator ; has seen Mr . John O'Connell several times in Conrt ; Baw him first on the 17 th of October ; saw him snhseqnentJy several times ; 1 took no notes of what oeenrred when I was there , as I never thought it would be necessary ; I had no instructions to do so ; the first time I attended , there was one case gone into ; there was no ease subsequently . Cross-examined by Mr . Hatcbell . — "Were you there » t the commencement on the first day ? No , not eraetly .
What hour were you there ! On the first day , about a qnarter before eleven . "Was there any obstruction given to you ! Quite the reverse . What do yon mean by the reverse 1 " There was the greatest kindness shown to me . Who were present upon that occasion ? Mr . John O'Connell , Dr . Gray , and several other genltexacn . Was it not a public reading room ? Yea . Those gentlemen then were titting in * public reading-room ! Yes , but I never saw them there before .
Before anytning was said or done did they not state that they had no power to make any decision except the parties consented ! Yea , they did . Did yon see any fees paid J 1 did not . ?» o fees ? No . No professional dress worn ! No . Those p » rson 3 who wanted to haTe their difference settled < 3 id they consent ! They did . What was done in the case 1 There was nothing done—the case was adjourned to Kingstown . Then you did not see any case decided 1 I did sou How did you go there . How were you dressed 1 In my uniform . Did you go there by the direction of the Arbitrators ! No .
Did you go there , ften , as a tipstaff , a crier , or inspector of police 1 I went in my own uniform as a police officer . Jlad you previously said yon would attend ! Ho . Did you say what brought you there ! No , 1 merely walked in and sat down . Did you see any oaths administered ! 1 did not . The case was adjourned to Kingstown ! It was . Did you go ther * ? 1 did not . Tne witness then withdrew . The Attorney-General immediately rose and said that the case for the Crown bad closed . It was cow exactly half-past three o ' clock .
Mr . Moore , ^ fJer a short pause , rose and Faid , that Mr . Shell , who was to open lae case on the pan of the Traversers , had been unwell for the last two or ihree days . He had been sent for to-day , aad he slated that he had a ^ ight attack which confined him to his bed , but he wonld be able to attend to morrow . Under thr-= e circon ;?" -ane » -s , % ni considering that c h now approached four o ' clock , Md sIk > considering the magnitude < jf ihe ci =-e . he tripled ihe Court would wait and not press ihe case . It haa been arranged amon «> i the couusel for the Tr&Ttrxrs that Mr . Shell - * ould open thf ca > e on the pin of Mr . John OXonneli , and ii would disturb the arrsDKemf ins if Mr . Sbiel was not waited for . 1 i > t Cbitf Justice said he thought the application was a TeTj _ rea « onable one . The trial was accordingly postponed and a general rush was made out of the Court .
TWELFTH DAT . SlIIlMi OF TIJE COtET , SaICHDAT , JJlS . £ 7 . The interest manifested on Saturday , on the p * rt of Ihe B j and tne public , to be present at the preceding * , Kcetdrd tbat exhibited or any occasion since the eon :-SJtDCfeBjfcnt of tfcis trial The gallery was complete y filled by a fashionable saditory—a moiety of whom were tleeanUy-attired ladies . The spaces at either eml of the B inch were occupied by ladies , the friends of the JbOj ^ s . The building , tfcns filled presented a nup < £ o » 7 rarely witntssed In -our Con r la of Justice . At five minu'es iefore ten o ' clock , Mr . O ~ Cunnell , Mr . John O'Connell . and the other traversers , took tbeir usual teats , amd , at ten precisely , the Lvrd Chitf Justice , -with Justices Bnrtou , Crampton , and Perrin , appeared on Use Bench . Judge Burton looked in his tttusl good health .
TBE DEFEXCE- —3 IR . SHIEL'S SPEECH . After the names of tbe TraTersera and Jury were oiled over , and all answered to their names , Mju Sheil . M . P ., rose to address the Jcry , on tbe part of Mr . John O ConnelL The Bight Hon . GenU < r-» an said—May it please your Lordships aud gentl * - m * n of the Jury , I am Counsel for Mr . John O'Connell . Tie importance of this case is not susceptible of txaggeratiw , and I do not . speai in the language jof byr-eibole , when I say , that tne atteatioB of the empire is directed to the spot on -which ire are assembled . How great is the trust reposed in yc«—how great is the task I hav » undertaken to - periorm , Conscious of its magiitude , I have risen to address you—E&t
tmmoved , but undismayed— n » % unmoved , indeed ; lor , at this moment , boir many of tbe ircsdtnis of my own political life come back upon me , "wbea 13 oek upon my great political benefactor , ids deliverer , and my friend ; bat of the Temotion by which 1 acknowledge myself to be profoundly . stirred , although 1 wii ] not permit myself to be subdued by it , » lieitode forms no part . I bare great reliance _ upon yon—upon tbe ascendancy of principle over prejudice in joht miads ; and I am not -without some reliance upon myself . I do not speak in the language of Tain-glorious Belf-complacency -when I say this . I know that I am surrounded by men infinitely my
"Periors in every forensic , and in almost every in- I kUectual qualification , ily confidence ia derived , ? fco' from any overweening estimate of my own faculties , , - feit from a thcrtngh conviction of the innocence of my ^ *** £ *• I txo-w , and I appear in some part not only as ' a MTocaie , but as a witness before you ; 1 know him j » be innocent of the misdeeds laid to Mb charge . Tbe } I ? ffi e tihoa flows through their Teins—the same feelings ' Crc pl 2 te through their hearts t ; b . e son and the falter , ^ in tl ] political regards the ssme ; eu < S with tbe father j 1 ia-rg tailed in DodishoEour&fcle « ompaiiioni > hip for i *« s then half my life in that great work -which it is } 138 ^ fef Fwse tliBt it was wnet-Ted in the > p : rii of j
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peace— iothe spirit of peace it was carried out—and in that spirit It was brought by him to its glorious cn-Bnmmatdon . I am acfuftioted with erery feature of bis character , -mi \ h . hia thought * , hopes . fears , aspirations . 1 have—if 1 may venture to say—a full cognisance o ( every pulsation of hit heart . I knew—I am as sure as tbat I am a living man—that from the sanguinary misdeeds imputed to him , be skrinks with abhorrence . It ii this persuasion—profound , impassioned—and I trust that it will prove contagious—which will sustain me fn tbe midst of the exhaustion Incidental to this lengthened trial—will enable me to overcome the illness under which I am at this moment labouring—will raise me to the height of this great argument , and lift me to a level with the lofty topics which 1 shall have occasion
to treat in resisting a prosecution to which , in the annals of criminal jurisprudence in this country , no parallel can be found . Gentlemen , the Attorney-General , in a statement of eleven or twelve hours' duration , read a long series of extracts from speeches and publications , extending over a period of nearly nine months . At tbe termination of every passage which was cited by him , he gave utterance to expressions of strong resentment against tbe men hy whom sentiments bo noxious were circulated in language « o envenomed . If , gentlemen of the j * ry , his anger was sot simulated ; if his Indignation was not merely official ; if he spoke as he felt , how does it come to pass that no single step was ever taken by him for the purpose of arresting the progress of an evil represented
by him to be so calamitous ? He told you that tke country was traversed by incendiaries -who aet fire to the passions of the people ; the -whole fabrio of society , according to the Attorney-G-neral , has been in a bhza for ibe last nine months ; wherefore then did he stand with folded arms to gate at the conflagration ? Where ¦ were the Castle fire-engines—where was the indictmtsnt—and of ex cjkio informations -what bad become ? la there not too moon reason to think that a project was formed , or rather tbat a plot was concocted , to decoy and ensnare the traversers , and that a connivaaee amounting almost to sanction , was deliberately adopted as a part of the policy of the Government , in order to betray the traversers into indiscretions of which advantage was , in due time , to be take * ? I have heard it
said that it was criminal to tell the people to " bide their time ; " but is the Government to " bide its time" in order to turn political excitement to a useful official account ? The public prosecutor who gives an indirect encouragement to agitation , in order that he may afterwards more effectually fall upon it , bears some xner&l affinity to th « informer , ¦ who provokes the crime from whose denunciation hia ignominous livelihood Is derived . Has tbe Attorney-General adopted a course worthy of his great office—worthy of the ostensible head of tbe Irish bar , and the representative of its interests in the House of Commons ? Is it bffitting that the successor of Saurin , and of Plunket , who ahonld keep " watch and ward "' from bis high station over the public B&fety , should
descend to the performance o ? functions worthy only of a commissary of the French police ; and in place of being the sentinel , should become the " artful dodger * of the state ? Bat what , you may ask , could b « the motive of tbe Right Honourable Gentleman for pursuing the course he has adopted , and for which no explanation his "been attempted by him ? He will have obtained no advantage signally serviceable to his party by prose * cuting Mr . Barrett , or Mr . Duffy , er Dr . Gray , for strong articles in their newspapers ; or by prosecuting Mr . S ^ eele , or Mr . Tieroey , for attending unlawful assemblies . He did sot fish with lines—if I may avail myself of an illustration derived from the habits of my constituents at Dungarvan—but cast a wide and flrmlyconstrncted trommel-net , in order tbat by a kind of
miraculous catch be might take the great agitatoriSviatban himself , a Member of Parliament , Tom Steele , three editors of newspapers , and a pair of priests , in one stupendous h&ol together . But , Gentlemen , there was another object still more important to be gained . Had the Attorney-General prosecuted Individuals for the use of violent lasgaage , or for the attending unlawful meetings , each individual would be held responsible for his own acts ,- but Is a prosecution for a conspiracy , which is open to every one of the objections applicable to constructive treason , the acts and the speeches of one man are given in evidence against another , although tbe latter may have been at tbe distance of a hundred miles when tbe circumstance used against him as evidence , and of which be had
no sort of cogniswee , took place . By prosecuting Mr . O'Connell for a conspiracy , the Attorney-General treats him exactly as if be were the editor of the Freeman , tbe editor of the Xaliom , and the editor of the Pilot newspapers . Bow large a portion of the case of tbe Crown depends upon this implication of Mr . O'Connell with three Dublin newspapers 7 He is accused of conspiring with men who , certainly , never conspired with each other . For those who know anything of newspapers are aware that they are mercantile speculations — the property In them is bald by share *—and tbat the y » ry circumstance of their being engaged in the tune politics alienates tbe proprietors from each other . They pay their addresses to the same mistress , and cordiallv detent each other . I remember to have beard
Mr . Baroes , the celebrated editor of tbe Times newspaper , once asked by Mr . Rogers what manner of man was a Mr . Tomkios ; to which he replied , "he was a dull dog , who read tbe Morning Herald . ' * Let us turn for s moment from the Repeal to the anti-Repeal party . Yon would smile , 1 think , at tbe snf / twtion tbat Mr . Murrey Mansfield ( proprietor of tbe Dubtin Packet ' , and Mr . Kewroy Sheetn ( proprietor of the Dublin Mail ) , should enter into a conspiracy together 1 Tnoae gentleni . n would themselves be astonished at the imputation . Suppose them to b « both members of the Conservative Association—would that circumstance be sufficient to au » tain , in the judgment of men of plain sense , tbe charge of conspiracy op « n them f Gentlemen , tbe relation in which Mt . Daffy , Mr . Bsmtt , and Dr .
Gray stood to the Repeal Association Is exactly tbe umr »» ib&t in wtricb Mt . SU-QnVtn , tbe proprietor of tbe Weekly Rtgiiter . ktood towards tbe Catholic Association . He was paid for bis » dvenisens » tut * , and bis newspaper contained Emancipation news , and was sent to those -who detired to receive it . Mr . Staunton is now a member of tbe Repeal Association ; be will tell you tbat hi * connection with tbat body is precisely of the same character m that -which txutod with lbs etltbraUd body to which 1 have referred ; be will prove to jon , that i > ver bis paper Mr . O'Council exercisas no sort of control , and that all that is dune by him in reference to bis paper , is tbe remit of Ma own free and unbiassed wilL The vpetcbea made at the Association and public nueiings were reported by him in tbe same manner as
in the other public journals . He is not a conspirator ; the Government have not treated bim as soeb . Wby ? Because there weie no poems in hia paper like ' The Mtmory of the Dead , " which , although in direct oppoaitiau to the feelings of Mr . O'Conndi , acd wbicb be has freqaently ixpressed , is now nsed in evidence against bun . Gentlemen , I have said enough to yon to « how . bow formidable is this doctrine of compiracy —of legal conspiracy—wbieb is so far removed from all Dof . on of actual conspiracy , to show yon further bow cautious you ongbt to be in finding ei ^ bt of your feUow-ciiitens guilty of that charge . The defendants are indicted for conspiracy , and for notbine else . > f « counts are inserted for attending un-I . wful assemblies . Tbe Attormy G-neral -wants a
conviction for conspiracy , and nothing else . He has deviat ' d in thews particulars from English okjr In indictments f . ir a conspiracy , counts for attending un la-sfnl aweaihlies are in England uniformly introduced-Ea $ li » h juries have almost uniformly manifested an aversion to find men guilt / of a conspiracy . Take Henry Hunt ' s case as an example . When tbat case was trieil England was in a perilous condition . It bad been proved btfore a secret committee of the He use of Commons , of whieh tho preBent Earl of Derby , tbe father i-f Lord S ; anley , was tbe chairman , that large bodies of Bi « n were disciplined at night in tbe neighbourb :. K > d of Manchester , and made , familiar with the u « e of arms . An extensive orgaB ' ution existed . Vast public Bweuiblies were held , accompanied with * V * Ty
revolutionary incident in furtherance of a revolutionary or ject—jet , an E . glisb jury wonld not flud Henry Hunt gniHj of a concpiracy ; bat found him guilty , on tbe fourth cs » unt of tbe indictment , for attending an nalawful a » spn > biy . S'jme of tne ChaitUts were not found guilt ; of a conspiracy , I ut were found guilty upon counts from wbicb tbe word " coDtptracJ" is left o « t . GentlemeD , tbe promises of Mt . Pitt , when the Union was cameii , have not been fulfilled . Tho proBpectB presented uy bim in his magnificent declaration have not been realised ; bat , if in so many other regards vre have sustained a most grievous disappointment—if Bagl » b capitil baa not adventured here—if Englishmen have preferred sinking tbeir fortunes in the ro « ka of Mexico -ratbti than embark them in speculations connected with
this fine bat Hnfortunate country—yet , from tbe Union , let one advantage be at all eventB derived . Let Englith f .-e . ioj-s—let English principles—let Engliib love of justice—let En . ili .--h b > rror of oppression—let English detestation of Aul play—let English loathing of conitrncuve crime find it * tray amongst us . Bat , thank God . it is not to Eoeland tbat I ara driven exclusively to reftr for a solitary example of the aversion of twelve honest men to vrorecuuons for conspiracy . Yoa remenibt-r tbt- prosecution of Forbes , and of Hanbridge , and c > tter Orapceintn of an inferior class , ttadtr Lord Well' -el-y ' s Administration . Thty were guilty of aiiet in the theatre , but they were chaigefi with having entered ii to b great political confederacy to upset Lord Welltalej s Government , and to associate him with tbe " export- of Ireland . " Tbe Protestant feeling of Irelaud Tost—addrtsies -were poured in from almott every district in tha country , remonstrating against
a- proceeding wbicb -was represented as hostile to tbe liberties of the country , and a great stretch of ) the prerogative of tbe ctowd . The jury did rheir doty , and refused to onvict the traversera . I recollect that ifce Irish Catholics at tbat time , heated by fetlin . 28 of partisanship , were rash enongh to wish lot a conviction . F * tal mistake ! A precedent would have been created , which would soon bave been converted inu > practice against tbtmselves . Gentlemen , we are living in ihs uiidst o' strong political vicissitndes , God forbid that I Bbould ever live to see the time—( for 1 bate ar-endaniT of eT « 7 kind ) -God forbid that I should « er live to see tbe time , or that our children should ever live to see the time , when there shall be found Ctafcolie jnd * w at a trial at bar upon flat bench , and the enure of the- G * Y « M > mint tar who thanI be engsged in a public prevention , dull be Boman Catholicf-wbeu acatboiic Crown Solicitor shall strike eleven P .-ot « tante from tie jury liet , and leave twelve Raman Cat ! olics in ft at > ox . I reusui it , »» u WHfota
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again , in all the sinc ! .-rny of my heart , ihat I pmy that such a speet-cle never may be exhibited in this the first criminal coarc in the land . I know full well the tendency of power to abuse . We bave witnessed strange things , and strange things -we may jet behold . It is the duty ~ the solemn duty—it is the interest—tho paramount interest—of every one of us , before and above everything else , to secure the great principles of liberty—in which we all have an equal concern—from invasion , and to guard against tha creation of a precedent which may enable some future Attorney-General to convert the Queen's Bench into a starchmber , and to commit a further Inroad upon the principles of the constitution . Gentlemen of the jury , it Is my intention to * how you that my client is not ¦¦
guilty of any of tbe conspiracies charged in the indictment ; and in doing so I shall have occasion to advert to the several proceedings tbat have been adopted by the Government , and to the evidence tbat has been laid before you . But before I proceed to that head of the divislon which 1 hava traced out for myself , I shall show tbe jury what the object of my client really was . " [ Tbe Right Hon . Gentleman tben read In a moat emphatio manner from Scott ' s Life of Swift an extract of considerable length ou tbe prosecution of a man for printing a seditious pamphlet written by Dean Swift on ihe English Government of Ireland . The Judges tben possessed no fixity of tenure : the Chief Justice had it intimated to him by a person high in office that the pamphlet was to set the two kingdoms at variance ;
bot tae jury , although Bent back nine times to reconsider their verdict , acquitted the defendant . Was Swift deterred by any fear of Government ? His celebrated Drapier ' s Letters appeared soon afterwards , containing language aa strong as any used by Mr . O'Connell . An indictment of tbs printer was carried in before the rand Jury . Swift addressed to them a pamplet , called Seasonable Advice ; the bill was rejected ; ' and , said Scott , " thus victoriously terminated tb « first great struggle for tbe independence of Ireland . " Why were not Flood and Grattan indicted for conspiracy in 1785 ? Tbe English Minister bad learnt a lesson from adversity . The colonies were lost , but Ireland waa saved by the tirualy recognition of the great principle on which her independence was founded . After describing the results
produced by the efforts of the Irish Volunteers under Ctarlemont , the Hon . and Learned Gant exclaimed ]—" Irishmen , tben , felt that they bad a country ; they acted under tbe ir . flutnce of that instinct ef nationality , -which , for his providential purposes , the author of nature has implanted in us . We were then a nationwe Wire not broken into fragments by those dissensions by which we ate at once enfeebled and degraded . If we were eight millions of Protestants—( and , Heaven forgive me , there are moments when , looking at the wrongs done to my country , I have bean betrayed into tke guilty desire that we all ¦ were)—but if we were eight millions of Protestants , should we bs used aa we are ? Should we see every office of dignity and emolument in this country filled by tba natives of the sister island ?
Should -we see tbe just expenditure requisite for the improvement of our country denied ? Should we see tbe quit and crown rents of Ireland applied to tbe improvement of Charing CroBB , or of Windsor Castle ? Should we submit to the odious distinctions between Englishmen and Iri&hmeu introduced into almost every act of legislation ? Should we bear with an Arms ' Bill , by which tbe Bill , of Rights Is set at nought ? Should wa brook the misapplication of a Poor Law ? Should we allow the Parliament to proceed as if we had not a voice in the legislature ? Should we submit to our present inadequate representation ? Should we allow a new tariff t » be introduced without giving us the slightest equivalent for the manifest loss we have sustained ? And should we not peremptorily
require that the Imperial Parliament should held a periodical sessions for ¦ the transaction of Irish business in the metropolis of a powerful , and , as it then would be , an undivided country 7 But we are prevented by our wretched religious distinctions from co-operating for a single object , by which the honour and the substantial interests of our country can be promoted . Fatal , disastrous , detestable distinctions . '—Detestable , because they were not only repugnant to the genuine spirit of Christianity , and substitute for the charities of religion tbe rancorous antipathies of sect ; but , because they practically reduce us to a colonial dependency—make the Union a name , convert a nation into as appurtenance , make us the footstool of the minister , tbe icon of England , and the commi&seration of the world . Ireland is tbe only country in Europe in which abominable distinctions between Protestant and Catholic are permitted to continua In
Germany , where Luther translated tbe Scripture ; in France , where Calvin wrote the Institutes ; aye , in tbe land of tbe Dragonades and tbe St . Bartholomew ' s ; In the land from whence the forefathers of one of the judicial functionaries of this court , and the first ministerial officer of this court were barbarously diiventhe mutual wrongs done by tbe Catholic and Proteistant are forgives and forgotten ; while we , madmen that we are , arryed by tbat fell fanaticism whiob , driven from every other country in Europe , has found a refuge here , precipitate ourselves upon each other in those encounters of sectarian ferocity in which our country , bleeding and lacerated , is trodden under foot . We convert the Island tbat ought to be one of tbe most fortunate in the sea into a receptacle of degradation and of suffering ; counteract the desigas of Providence , and enter into a conspiracy for the frustration of the beneficent designs of God . "
At the conclusion of this sentence , which was delivered with great emphasis and energy , a burst if up plause rang through the court and gallery , several of tbe young barristers clapping tbeir hands most lustily . Tbe Chief Jir » TiCB—If public feeling be exhibited in this manner again—if in any way tbe proceedings of the court be again Interrupted , I must order the gallery to be cleared . I am sure , Mr . Sheil , you do not wish it yourself . Mr . Bueil—There Is nothing I deprecate more , my Lord . It is not by such means that the minds of the jury are to be convinced . ThedHEV Justice—Certainly not . Mr . Siiei L—I am much obliged to your Lordship for interrupting me ; it b&s given me a moment ' s rest . The CH JEK Ji stick—Whenever you feel exhausted , sit down » Dd rest .
[ After this Incident , the Right Hon . Gentleman gave a sketch of tbe struggles of Grattan , and other Irish patriots against the system of tyranny and corropvioD by which tbe Act ef Union was established , and tben proceeded as follows : —] " Tbe Attorney-General has stated that the opinions of thtse eminent perrons , delivered at the time of tbe Union , oufiht to held in no account . I am surprised that tbat observation should be applied by bim to Lord Plunket , wbtn I recollect be so recently quoted one of bis Lordship ' s aphorisms , when he vu endeavouring to induce tbe court to break through all its rules , in order to assist bim in tbe eagernens of his pursuit . All tbe fiitssc of form were to be thrown flo » n in order to accelerate tbe career of her Majesty ' s
Attorney-General . But what reason will he give for not attachiig any value to the authority of Mr . Saurin . He said Mr . Sanrin txprttsi-d bis opinions in mere debate . So tb . it the meet important principles solemnly laid down in Parliamentary debate are to be regarded as little better than mere forensic atserveration . I can now account for some speeches which I beard ; n tbe House of Colbnjona regarding tho education question . I think , how . ever , tl at if such doctrines were propounded in the House of Commons itself , they would be listened to with surprise . You have ht-ard , Gentlemen , in the course of this trial , something of the morali y of war , and also something of the morality of rebellion , which the Right Hon G-ntleman was pleased to suhxtitute as a synonjme for war ; but of tbe morality of Parliament I trust you
will not t < iim an estimate from the specimen presented to yon by h ; r Majesty ' s Attorney-General . But these opinions were expressed before the Act of Parliament was passed . SuTely the truth of great principles dot s not depend upon an Act of Parliament . They ate not for an a « e , but for all time . Thi y are immutable and imperishable . They are immortal aa the mind of man , incapable of decomposition or decay . Tbe question before you is not whether these principles are well or ii ) founded , but you must take the fact of tbeir having been expressed Into your consideration , where you tr . iTe to determine tbe intent of the men upon wbese motives you are to adjudicate . The great authority to wbicb tbe traversers appeal gives them a right to a political toleration upon your part ,
aud should induce yom to think tbat even if they were led astray they were led astray by the authority of men with whom It was certainly no discredit to coincide . Bat whatever we may think ot tbe abstract validity of the Union , yon must bear in mind , that Mr . O'Connell has again aud again stated , that the Union being law , must , as long as it remains law , be submitted to ; aod ail positions regarding tbe validity of tbe Union have no other object thau the constitutional incitement of the people to adopt the most effectual means through which tbe law itself may be repealed or modified . The Union was a bargain and sale—as a sale , it waa profligate , and the bargain -was B bad one—for better terms might have been obtained , and may be still obtained , if you do not becometheauxiliaries of tbe Attorney-General .
Three-fourths of the Irish boroBgha were suppressed . Not a single EBglish member was abstracted , and there can be no dostt we stood in such a relation towards the English members , that we were completely nullified in the House of Commons . But , gentlemen , one could pernapa be reconciled to the terms of tbe Union , bnd as they wure , if the results of the Union had been beneficial to this country . We are told by Borne that our manufactures and our agricultural produce has greatly augmented ; but what is the condition of the great bulk of the people of the country ?—¦ whicb is , after all , the consideration which with Christian statesmen , ought to weigh the most . The greatest happiness of the greatest number is a Benthamite
antithesis ; but theie ia a great deal of Christianity condensed in it . When travellers from France , from Germany , from America , arrive in this country , and contemplate tbe frightful spectacle presented by the mi 3 ery of the people , although previously prepared t » y descriptions of tbe national misery ., they stand aghast at what they see , but what they could not have imagined . Wby is this ? How does this Bt&te of vhlnge wise in & country -which Bacon and -which Spenser , notwithstanding their masterdom over tfce English language , seem to be at a loss for phrases Buffisiently glowing to describe ? If we loofe at other countries , and find tbe people in a miserable condition , we attribute the fault to the Government Are we in Ireland to attribute it to the boQ , to the elimaie , or to some evil
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Kenius wnu exercbes a ammer influence ovar out destinies ? Tbe fault , M it appears to me , is entirely mL « H ! Tt » , ? P ° » cy which has been piqued by S « T ? , 5 p f ?* ent . for which , on this account , 't tTl tQ r be coad «^ ed . Let me see , gentle ! £ !? ' w £ ? Can make ° « t mv C 88 ft I «* a » go through the leading fata with great celerity ; but in r \« * ' " •* M » . I should not apprehend the imputatfon of being wantonl y prolix . Your time is , indeed , most-valuable , but the interests at stake are Inestimably precious ; and time will be scarce neted by you when you bear in mind that the effects of your verdict will be felt when generations have passed away—when every heart that now throbs in this great assembly shall have ceased to palpitate—when the
contentions by which we once agitated shall touch ua no further ; and all of us-Catholic and Protestant , Whig and Tory , Radical and Bepealer , and Causervauve , shall have been gathered where all at last go down in peace together . The first measures adopted in tbe Imperial Parliament were a continuation of martial law , an extended suspension of the habeas corpus act . Mr . Pitt was honestly ; anxious to carry Catholic emancipation , and to make , at the same time , a provision for the Roman Catholic clergy j you may—Boma of you may—perhaps think that Catholic Emancipation ought never to hare been carried ; but if it was to be carried , how much wiser it would have been to have settled U forty-four years ago , and without putting the country through that ordeal of excitement thiough
which the Imperial Parliament , by the procrastination of justice , forced it to pass . Mt . Pitt , by . transferring the Catholio question from the Irish to the Imperial Parliament , destroyed hia own administration , and furnished a proof that , in place of being able to place Ireland under the protection of his own genius , he placed her under tbe control of the strong religious prejudices of the English people . Mr . Pitt returned to the first place in the ministry , without , htwever , being ofcle to niiike any stipulations for : the fulfilment of bin own engagements , or the realization of the policy which ha felt to be indispensable for the peace of Ireland . The
Roman Cathtlic question was brought forward in 1805 , and was lost in an Imperial House of Commons . Mr . Pitt died at the battle of Austerlltz , and was succeeded by the Whigs . They proposed a measure , which the Tories , who drove them out on tbe "No Popery" cry , carried in 1818 , and then introduced the new doctrine , that the usefulness of public measures is to be tried far best upon the principles on which they were founded , than by the parties by whom they were accomplished . The expulsion of the Whigs from office ia 1806 , may , in your judgment , have been a fortunate proceeding : but , fortunate or unfortunate , it furnishes another proof that the Government of Ireland had been made
over , not so much to the Parliament , as to the great mass of tbe people by whom that Parliament is held under control . The Tories found in the portfolio of tbe Whigs tW 9 measures—a draft-bill for Catholic Emancipation , which the Duke of Wellington , then Sir Arthur Wellealey , the Secretary for Ireland flung into the fire ; and an arms bill , to which clauses have been recently added , which even Mr . Shaw declared were " wantonly severe . ? You may conceive that an aims bill , with all its molestation , may be required ; but it is beyond question that , in the year 1819 , when England was on tho verge of a rebellion , no such bill was ever propounded by the British ministry ; and granting , for a moment , for the sake of argument , that some such Mil is requisite , how scandalously must
a country nave been governed , for almost half a century , if this outrage upon the bill of rights be required I Having passed the armB bill and the insurrection act , its appropriate adjunct , the Imperial Parliament proceeded to reduce the allowance to Maynooth . There is but one opinion regarding Muynooth—that it should be totally suppressed , or largely and munlfiolently endowed : aad that an education should be given to the Roman Catholic clergy such as a body exercising such vast influence ought to receive . There are some who think that It were better that the Roman Catholic clergy were educated in France . I do not wish to see a Gallo-Hibernlan church in Ireland . Parisian manners may be acquired at the cost of Irish morality ; and I
own that I am too much attached to my sovereign , and to the connection of my country with England , to dehire tbat these conductors of French ambition , that these instruments of French enterprise , that thesQ agents of French ln » rlgue , should bo located ia every parochial sub-division of the country . State to an English Conservative—point out to him the importance of opening a career of intellectual exertion , by holding out prise * to genius at Maynooth , and he will Bay , it ia all true : but the English Government are unable to carry the measure . Why ? Bncause the religions objections of tha people of England are in the way . Another of the results of the Legislative Union . " , .
£ Xbe Hon . and Learned Gentleman then proceeded to give a sketch of the efforts made both by Protestants and Catholics to . obtain a Repeal ef the Union in the year 1810 , and read and eloquent speech against the Union , delivered tbat year by Mr . O'Copnell , at a meeting called by the principal cit ' zens « f Dublin , and prosided over by Sir James Riddle , the high sheriff of the city , for the purpose of petitioning Parliament for the Repeal of tho Union : —] " At that meetiDg , including so large a portion of the Protestant inhabitants of this town , with the high sheriff of the Dublin Corporation
In tbe chair , a series of resolutions waa passed against the Union . It was determined tbat petitions should be presented to Parliament , and that they should be entrusted to Sir Robert Shaw and to Mr . Grattan . Sir Robert Shaw , in hia answer , stated that be bad supported tbe Union in Parliament , and that bis oplnlona upon the subject were unaltered . The following is tbe answer of Mr . Grattan : and that answer ' affords a proof of the falsehood of an allegation of ten made , that a great change of opinion had taken place in the mind of that illustrious man with respect to the legislative union : —
" Gentlemen—I bave the honour to receive an address presented by your committee , and an expression of their wishes that I should present certain petitions and support tbe repeal of an act entitled the Act of Union ; and your committee adds , tbat it speaks with the authority of my constituency , the freemen and freeholders of tbe eity of Dublin I beg to assure your committee , and through them my much beloved and much respected constituents , tbat I shall accede to their proposition . I shall present tbeir petition and shall support the Repeal of the Act of Union , with
decided attachment to our connection with Great Britain , and to tbat harmony between the two countries , without which the connection cannot last . I do not impair either , as I apprehend , when I assure you I shall support the Repeal of the Act of Union . You will please to observe , that a proposition of that sort , in Parliament , to : be either prudent or possible , must wait till it is called for and b tcked by the nation . When proposed , I shall then—as at all times I hope I shall—prove myself an Irishman , and that Irishman whose first and last passion was bis native country .
" Henry Grattan . " " Backed by the nation . " Mark th » t phrase . It occurs nzain asd again in tho speeches of Mr . 0 Connell . Mr . O Connell again and again declares that unless backed by the nation nothing can be accomplished by him . And if it be a crime to apply M tbe resources of hia intellect , with au indefatigable energy and indomitable perseverance , to the attainment of the just means described by Mr . Grattan in tbe phrase " bucked by tlie nation . " then is the eon of Daniel O Connell guilty . But it will bo stronger , indeed , if , in the opinion of twelve men of plain sense and of sound feeling it should be deemed a crima to seek the attainment of R peal by the only instrumentality by which Mr . Grattan said it could be tffecled . What ia the meaning of " backed by the
natiou ? " What is the nation ? We say , the Irish Cathalics . The enormous majority of the people are the nation . You say the Irish Protestants , who have the property of the country at large , being in the exclusive enjoyment of great intellectual advantages , and who are united , organised , and determined , are the Irish nation . Tbe Irish Catholics and the Irinh Protestants are both in tbe wrong , Neither constitute tbe Irish nation . Both do . And it w&b tbe austaimnent of both that M r . Grattan considered to be indispensable , to make the proposition in Parliament , either prudent or possible . That just object the combination of all classes uod of all parties in this country—Mr . O'Connell baa laboured to attain . You may think tbat be has labonred , and will labour in vain , to attain it ; but you cannot consider it criminal t « toil for its accomplishment ; and if you
conceive tbat was his object , and tbe olject of hia son—or if yoa have tv reasonable doubt upon tba subject , you are bouad to ; acquit bim . [ The Hun . and Learned Gentleman then contended that if tbe acts brought home to tbe traversers constituted the offence for which tht-y were indicted , no party was safe . The Catholic Association was created by Mr . O'Connell , and Catholic Emancipation waa accomplished ; but di <> they think tbut up to that period the Government had been so wise and salutary that tbe Union ought to be regarded us a great legislative blesuiDg to the country ? or tbat if the present indictment could be sustained , an indictment for a conspiracy might not have been prcfemd against those who bad associated themselves to obtain Catholic Emancipation ? How . too / was the Reform Bill carried ? Who were
the conspirators wao embarked in that fearful enterprise ? Should he answer—Lord Grey , Lord J . liussell , Lord Althorp , and to crown the list , Sir J . Graham , now Home Secretary ? Let gamblers dtnounce vice , di uukards denounce debauch , when Graham complained of agitation . It hod been recommended that the Imperial P . irltaraeut should ait at certain intervals in Dublin . To that proposition be saw no sound objection ; and he then painted a glowing picture of the advantages that would accrue from the real'zitiou of that project . He would not deny that strong speeches bad been mode by his client and the other travelers , but he denied that they were more exciting or inflammatory than those which were spoken in almost all popular
assemblies , Whiff , Radical , or Conservative } " Gsmfclemen , an enormous mass of speeches delivered by Mr . O'Connell within the last nine niouuis , has been laid before you . I think , however , that you Trill come to the conclusion thai they are nothing more tbau a repetition of the opinions which be trxpressed in 1810 , and when yo » come to consider them in ¦ ' . ail , you will , I am sure , be convinced that these Bp < . ^ aes ware not merely interspersed with references io peace and order , with a view to escapo from tbe law , bufc tfcafc there was thiough the entire mass of thought that cam a , ' rem the mind of Mr . O'Connell , a pervading lovu of ordor , and an unaffected sentiment of abhorrence for the employment of any other than loyal , constitutional , aud pacific means for the attainment ! of bis object . He attaches fully as
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inucii important to Uit > auuns a * to tte ourl . He iKclarts tbut he trojld not purchase the Repeal of the Union at tbe cost of one drop of blood . He announces that the moment the Government calls upon him to disperse his meetings , these meetings shall be dispersed . He does but ask f' the Irish nation to back him ; " for from that backing be anticipates tbe only success to which , as a good subject , as a good citizan , and aa a good Christian , he could aspire . But if , gentlemen , it be suggested that in popular harangues obedience to the laws and submission to authority are easily simulated , I think I may fearlessly assert that of the charges preferred against him , bis life affords the refutation . A man cannojt wear the mask of loyalty for forty-four years ; however skilfully constructed , the
vizard will sometimes drop off , and tbe natural trucultnce , tbe genuine features , of the conspirator must be disclosed . You may have heard many references made to the year 1798 , and several staozis of a long poem bave been read to you , in order to fasten them on Mr . O Connell . It was in 17981 that the celebrated man was called to tbe bar , who is destined to play a part so conspicuous on the theatre of the world . Hi was in tbe bioom of youth—ia the full flesh of life—the blood bounded ia hia veins , aud in a frame fall of vigour was embodied an equally elastic and athletic mind . He was iu that season of life , when men are most disposed to high and daring adventure . He had come from those locks and mountains , of which a description so striking has appeared in the reports of tbe speeches
which have been read to you . He had listenened as he says , to the great Atlantic , whose surge rolls unbroken from the coast of Labrador . He carried enthusiasm te romance ; and of the impressions which great events are calculated to make upon minds like his , he was peculiarly susceptible . He wao unwedded . He had given no hostages to the state . The domestic affections had not tied their ligaments , tender , but indissoluble about his heart . There waa at that time an enterprise on foot ; guilty , indeed , but aot wholly hopeless . The peaks that overhang the Bay of Bautry were visible from Nenagh-hill . What part waa taken in that dark adventure by this conspirator of sixty-nine ? Did he play Pierre at two-and-twenty , who is ready to play Renault at sixty-nine ! ? Curran was suspected
—Grattan Waa suspected Both were designated as traitors unimpeacbed ; bat on the name ot D-iniel O'Connell a coDjeoture never lighted . And can you bring yourselves to believe that tbe man who turned with abhorrence from the conjuration of 1798 , would now , in old age , which be himself baa called not premature , engage in an insane undertaking , in which his own life , and tbe lives of those who are dearer to him than himself , and the lives of huadreds of thousands of bis countrymen , would , beyond all doubt , be sacrificed ? CiQ you bring yourselves to believe that be would blast ell the laurels , which it is his boost tbat he baa won without the effusion ef a single drop of blood—that be would drench the lead of bis birth , of hie affections , and of his redemption / in a deluge of
profitless blood , and that he wonld prostrate that great moral movement , which he bad raised so high tbat it is visible from the remotest region of the world ? What he was in 1798 be is in 1814 . Do you believe tbat tbe man who aimed at a revolution would repuditite French assistance , and denounce the present dynasty of France f Do you think that the man who aimed at revolution , would hold forth to the detestation of the world the infamous slavery by wbicb the great Transatlantic Republic , to ber everlasting shame , permits herself te be degraded ? or , to come nearer home , do you think that the man who aimed at revolution would have indignantly repudiated the proffered junction with the English Chartists ? Had a combination been effected between the Chartists and
the Repealers , itwould bave been more than formidable . At the bead of that combination in England , waa Mr . Feargus O ' Connor , once the associate and the friend of Daniel O'Connell . The entire of the lower orders in the north of England were enrolled in a powerful organization . _ A league between the Repealers aod the Chartists might have been at once effected . Chartism uses its utmost aud its most clandestine efforts to find fU way into this country . O Connell detects and crushes it . Of the charges preferred against him , am I net tight when I exclaim , that his life contains the refutation . To tbe charge tbat ; Mr . O'Connell aud his Bon Conspired to excite animosity amongst her Majesty ' s subjects , the last observation that I have made to you is more peculiarly applicable . Gentlemen ,
Mr . O'Connell and bis oo-reUgioniats bave been made the objects of the . fiercest and the coarsest vituperation ; and yet I defy the moat acute and diligent scrutiny of the entire of the speeches put before you , to detect a single expression—one solitary phrase—which reflects ia the remotest degree upon the Protestant religion . He has left all the contumely heaped upon the form of Christianity which he professes utterly unheeded , and the ProtoBiant Operative Society baa not provoked a retort ; and every angry disputant has , without any Interposition on b . part , been permitted to rush in " where-ang . '•> few to tread . " You may deprive such a man of his liberty—yoa may shut him out from tbe light of nature—you may inter him in a dungeon to which a ray of sun never yet
descended ; but you never will take away from him the consciousness of having done a good and noble action , and of being entitled to kneel down every night before be sleeps , and to address to hia Creator tbe divineat portion of our Redeemer's prayer . Th » man to whom Bradley King's letter was addressed , and tbe son of tbat man are not guilty of the sanguinary intents which have been ascribed to them ; and of this they put themselves upon their country . — Rescue tbat phrase from its technicalities—let it no longer be a fictitious one : if wa bave lost our representation In the Parliament , let us behold it in the jury , box : and that you participate in feelings of millions of your countrymen—let your verdict afford a proof . But It ia not to Ireland that the ; aching solicitude with
wbicb tbe result of this trial is intently watched will be confided .. There is not a great city in Europe in which , upoa the day when * the great intelligence shall be expected to arrive , men will stop each other in the public way , and ioquire whether twelvo men upon their oaths bave doomed to incarceration the man who gave liberty to Ireland ? jWhatever may be your adjudication , he is prepared to meet it . He knows that the eyes of the world are upon him , and that posterity —whether in gaol or out of it—will look back to him with admiration . He is almost Indifferent to what may befal him , and is far more solicitous for others at this
moment than for himself . But I—at the commence ' ment of what I have said to you—I told you that I was not unmoved , and that many incidents of my political life , the strange alternations of fortune through which I have passed , came back upon me . But now the bare possibility at which I have glanced has , I acknowledge , almost unmanned me . Shall I who stretch out to you in behalf of the son tbe hand whose fetters the father bad struck off , live to cast my eyes upon that domicile of sorrow , in the vicinity of this great metropolis , and tay " 'T | s there they bave lmmured the Liberator of Ireland with his fondest and best-beloved child ? " No ! it shall never be ! You will
not consign him to the spot to which the Attorney-General invites you to surrender him . No . When the spring shall have come again , and tbe winter shall have passed—when the spring shall havo come again , it ia not through , the windows of this mansion that the father of such a son , and th » son of such a father , shall look upon those green hills on which the eyea of many a captive have g ; z < l so wistfully in vain ; but in their own mountain homo again , they shall listen to tbe murmurs of tbe great Atlantic ; they shall go fotth and inhale tbe freshueaa of the morning air together ; " they shall be free of mountain solitude ; " they will be encompassed with the loftiest iruageB of liberty upon every Bide ; and if time shall have stolen its suppleness from tbe father's knee , or impaired the firmness of hia tread , he shall lean on the child of her that watches over him from heaven , aud shall look out from some higb place far and wide into the island , whose
greatness aad whose plory shall be for ever associated with his name . In your love of justice—in your love of Ireland—in your love of honesty and fair play , I place my confidence . I ask you for an acqaiftal , not only for tbe sake of your country , but for your own . Upon tbe day when this trial shall have been brought to a termination—when , amid the burst of public expectancy , in answer to the solemn interrogatory which shall be put to you by the officer of the Court , you shall answer , " Not Gailty , " with what a transport will that glorious negative be welcomed ! How | will yon be blessed , adored , worshipped ; aad when retiring from this scene of excitement and of passion , you shall return to your own tranquil homes , how plensurely will you lock upon your children , in the consciousness that you will have left them a patrimony of peace , by impressing upon the British Cabinet , tbat some other mear . ure besides a State prosecution is necessary for the pacification of our country . '
For some time before Mr . Shiel concluded , the effect upon tbe uaditory , the visitors , and the bar , was most remarkable—few , i ndeed , were i unmoved—many wept —while tears were visible in the eyes of the great majority . At the close of the address , there was an unanimous bimt of applause , expressed by the dapping of hands , which the Judges permitted to pass without observation . ! At the concUsion of tbe address , Mr . O'Connell appeared to be much affected , and ! on Mr . Shell ' s resuruhis se » t , Mr . O'Coniwll shook the Hon . and Learned Gentleman warmly by tbe hand . ; Mr . Moore then rose , and was : proceeding to requeat that the court might adjourn thefurther kearing of the case until Monday , when ¦ The Chief Justice said that the court was not disposed to press the Learned Gentleman to proceed on that evening . ¦
Mr . Moore Baid that he should certainly feel very grateful for being allowed to have the farther hearing of the case adjourned until Monday , He should certainly feel great difficulty In then rising to address thejury after the speech of Mr . Shell ; and if it would not * be trespassing too much on the public time , he would request that he might not ; be called upon to proceed with the traversers' caae on ihat evening . The Lord Chief Justice said it was then after three o ' clock , < ind he thought that , without unnecessarily infringing on the public time , Iht case might be adjourned until Monday , if the Attorney-General had no objection . The Attorney-General said that rafter what had fallen from the Lord Chief Justice , ^ wou ld be very improper
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n iiia p . irs ta . fR . r ar , j t . pp n :. ou io ttie adjournment of th- / Court until Moaiay . The Chief Justice—Then the case will stand over until Monday . The Ci > urt then adjourned at a few minutes after Ihre © o'clock until ten o ' clock on Monday .
THIRTEENTH DAY . Sitting of the Cocrt , Monday , Jan . 29 The full Court sat at a few minutes after ten o ' elock this morning . Tbe Jurors and Traversers having answered to their names , Mr . John O'Connell rose , and , addressing the Court , said—My Lord Chief Justice—I wish to make a few observations to the Jury , if your Lordship pleases . Something dtopped from Mr . Shiel ia h \ B admirable speech on my behalf last Saturday , which , I fear , is calculated to create serious apprehensions with regard to ' ' <¦ ¦ If
your Lordships will permit me , I shall not detain the Court many moments . Gentlemen of the Jury , I wish to sjy to you that , humble as I am , I have alway- advocated the full and perfect right of the people of Irelaud to an independent Legislature ; and , whatever my counsel may have said on the subject , I am n < . ? . one of those who would accept even an occasional of annual visit ; of tbe Imperial Parliament to Dahlia . I do not know whether this expression of mine may or may not prejudice me in your minds ; but I would infinitely prefer that it should prejudice me , rather thaa allow it to be supposed that I would for a momen' s ; We up the inalienable right of ear country to an independent Legislature .
These observations produced a slight sensation in tbe gallery , but the Court not having taken notice of it , Mr . Moore , as counsel for Mr . Tiernet , proceeded to address the jury . ~~ The Attorney-Gener . il had told them tWs was a momentous case—be might have added that it came before them under momentous circumstances and in momentous times . But never waa anything less calculated to allay the animosity that existed throughout the land than this prosecution . From the beginning the conduct ef the Government had only tended to increase that animosity . The charge against the traverBerB wob confined to conspiracy ; there was no count for attending au unlawful meeting or making •> seditious speech ; it waa for
conspiracy alone . Yet how waa it made out ? By an allegation that seditious meetings were attended , and seditious speeches mode , by the travelers . If they bad offended against the law at all , each of the meetings must have been unlawful at the time it W 3 S held ; and yet nine months had elapsed without any prosecution . How did tha Attorney-General , if he really considered tbe meetings to be illegal * reconcile it to his mind that he had so long deferred taking any step to prevent tbemf Did he faope to amass a greater number ot conspirators f If the Government designedly lay by , and allowed crimes to be committed by tbe people under a delusien as they were , he must brand it as an act of the greatest and most
unparade-led baseness . Bat he would not believe thn the Attorney-General or tke Government could be guilty of conduct so nefarious . His conviction was that the Attorney-General never had felt himself strong enough , to prosecute ou any single meeting . And if that were so , was be now to come forward , and taking serer . i ) together , to charge those who attended them with conspiracy ? Never was be more surprised than when , he heard the Attorney-General say tbat the intended meeting at Ciontarf was abandoned from a conscloupnesa of its illegality . Did the Attorney-General forget the circumstances that occurred about thai time—the haste of the Lord-Lieutenant ia proceeding to Ireland , the proclamations , the pou . ing
forth of the garrison on the morning of the intended meeting ? The abandonment was swing to the e ^ nse and good feeling of Mr . O'ConneiL He saw tne awful consequences that might have resulted from it ; be abandoned it , and none owed him a deeper debt of gratitude than the Atterney-Gaueral . A conspiracy was aa agreement between two or more persons to do an illegal act , or a legal act by illegal means . The moment tbe agreement was made , the crime was committed . Before the jury , tben , could convict hia clien % they must believe tbat such an agreement waa entered into , by him . Then was not a tittle of evidence to prove that any conspiracy at all existed . But evea if they thought otherwise , still there was no ground
for saying that his client was implicated in it His client considered tbe Union a measure injurious to his country . Was there any privilege attached to that measure to prevent a person entertaining a free opinion upon ii—to prevent htm from expressing that opinion ? If they believed his opinion to be sincere , they had a motive to which to refer tbe acts charged against him . Bat they were enly two—an attendance at tbe Ciontlbret meeting on the 15 th of August , and another at tbe association on the 3 rd of October . One witness , M'Cann , had given evidence of a certain conversation with Mr . Tieraey on tho 16 ch of June , two months previous to the Clontieret meeting , in whicb , said the witness , Mr . Tierney spoke of what the army in Spain
had done , and said that Repeal was making its way in the army here . He bad the most solemn assurance of Mr . Tierney that no such statement was made by him . Moreover , no intelligence of the declaration of the array in Spain had been received in this country until the 19 . hot June , three days after the alleged conversation . What weight would the jury attach to such evidence ? Well , then , waa there a single thing done at Ciontibret that proved the illegality of the meeting , or was a man who attended a single meeting for Repeal a conspirator ? The resolutions agreed to were pres 3 ed in
evidencewere they illegal ? Similar language had been used even by Lord Grey . Up to tbe 3 d of October , then , there was no evidence that Mr . Tierney had attended any other meeting , or been cognizant of any of tke proceedings . It was true be attended s meeting of tbe association on the 1 st of October , but that association was not illegal , nor did anything said or done by his client at that meeting amount to a conspiracy . There was no evidence against bis client , and if the jury came to that conclusion , and acquitted him , they would be able to justify their verdict in the eyes of their fellow , men . and to tbeir God .
Mr . Hatchell next proceeded to address the Jury for Mr . Ray . There were circumstances peculiar to each ef tbe Traversera which it was right should be laid before the Jury , that they might , as fair and impartial men , see whether the Traversers were united in a preconceived plan for overturning the Governmenf , Mr . Ray was peculiarly situated iu regard to tbe charge in the indictment—he was the Secretary to tbe Repeal Association . They were not to try him for baviug attended any unlawful assembly—he a . tende > l meetings , but he denied their illegality . They were not to try him for published libels , or uttering seditious expressionshe never had done so inhia life . They were not to try him as a R ' .-pealer—to thathe would have pleaded guilty—but they were to try whether he had entered intvj a criminal plot for the purpose charged in tbe indictment . The
learned counsel referred to the charge of Chief Justice Eyre , in the case of " the K ' ng v . Harfiy , Tooke , and others , " to shew that crimiuai intent must be clearly proved to support an indictment for conspiracy . Mr . Ray performed his duties as paid secretary to the Association ; that he did so with a criminal intent was ih& question they were sworn to try . It was not fiir to include him in the indictment , for it disqualified him from proving aa a witness the honesty and integrity of the motives of tke other traversers . The learned gentleman then commented upon the evidence , and contended that neither were the meetings Mr . Ray had attended illegal , uor was there any criminality whatever in anything his client bad dene . All that had been done by him waa in hia character us secretary of the Association ; and they could not , he thought , reconcile it to their minds to convict him of conspiracy .
Mr . Filzgibbon said that he appeared for Doctor Gray , and as it was then two o ' clock , perhaps their Lordships would not press him to go on . He was labouring under the effects' of a very severe cold ; but of course if their Lordships wished be Bbould go on , he was perfectly ready to do so . He , however , thought it right to observe that in a case of such great magnitude aa that was , it was not perhaps a very desirable thing for ths ends of justice that counsel should ba called on , in quick succession , to address a jury , or they to hear the views of so many persons in the same day .
The Chief Justice said , he had a , very great unwillingness to press Mr . Fitzyibbon , the more particularly aa he saw him for some days previously labouring under a very severe cold . Besides , tho court felt that no undue time bad been hitherto taken up by the several counsel engaged for tbe traverses . They could not complain of their conduct since the commencement of the trial , and that certainly was one reason wby Mr . Fitzgibbon ' s application should be acceded to .
The Attorney-General said » , thit if Mr . Frtztfbbon were the -only counsel to address the jury , be should not say a word , but he understood that Mr . Wbifcaide , Mr . M'Donough , and one of the traversers ¦ wonid do so ; and although he would aot expect the traveraer to go on , he thought one of the other counsel might do ao , as they might probably eccapy a day each . If Mr . FiVs ^ ibbOH saya he is labouring under indisposition , he Bbould not Bay a word ; but all he meant to say was , that one counsel might go on .
Mr . FHzglbbon observed that he was ready to go on as he had no wish to put the court to any inconveniance If no other reason existed for the adjournment of the court but what the Chief Justice was ao kiad as to say of bim , he begged bo rule would be made in his favour * Judge Burton—The counsel for the trarersere , of course , ' arranged among themselves as to the order of addressing tbe jury . Mr . O'Connell—Exactly bo , my Lords . ^ Arfangements were made , and another cannot be substituted now . The Attorney-General said he would be the last man to press Mr . Fitagibbon on , under the circumstances he stated ,
Mr . Fit zgibDon—Don't pat it on that ground , Mt . Attorney . The Chief Justice said the / ^ ere all n [ iJLJilf tt 1 tl the Court ought to adjjura . v -if flZsff ^ sS ! TheConrfcaccor ^ ngfyVose , and ^] JEJ ^ m ^ morrow morning at tea o ' clock . J 0 Mm ***? Mg § i ( Continued in our E * sW& < ^? L $ ^ fi&SP
The Trial. Eleventh Day.
THE TRIAL . ELEVENTH DAY .
Untitled Article
J 7 ebbtjar ^ 3 , 1844 . THE NORTHERN STAR-\ i - * ¦ . ..-.. . . . . . _ t
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Feb. 3, 1844, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1250/page/7/
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