The Sun. — London, England, 1844-01-18 00:00:00

Ctirb Wbition SUN-OFFICE, Seven o'clock QUEEN'S BENCH.-(THIS DAY.) (Sittings in Banco.) The Court took the new trial paper to-day, but no case o: any interest came on during the morning. BAIL COURT.-(THIS DAY.) (Before Mr. Justice WILLIAMS.) /TTON lIA3IPDEN. Mr. KELLY moved for a rule to show cause why a criminal information should not issue against Mr. John Hampden, by reason of the publication of a letter, tending to provoke a breach of the peace on the part of a gentlemen of the name of Mr. Joseph Walter King Eyton. Mr. Eyton was a private gentleman of fortune, residing at Leamington, in the county of Warwick • and Mr. Hampden was also a gentleman of f o rtune residing in the same place. Some time before the transactions upon which the present application was grounded, these two gentlemen became slightly acquainted, and their acquaintance lasted until the plaintiff had reason to be lieve that attempts were being made, on the part of Mr. Hamp den, to alienate his wife's affections front him. It was then gradually discontinued. This effort, however, to break off all communication between the two families, failed of its intended effect. When Mr. and Mrs. Eyton walked about the streets of Leamington, and especially when the latter walked out alone, Mr. Hampden took every opportunity of dogging her steps from place to place ; Mr. Hampden also continually presented him self before the house, or in the immediate neghbourhood, endeavouring to attract Mrs. Eyton's attention. Mr. Eyton at length determined ,to take some steps for his own and his wife's protection, and he applied to a magistrate, with the in tention of exhibiting articles of the peace against the defendant. The matter was accordingly heard before a highly respectable magistrate, at whose suggestion Mr. Eyton withdrew all pro ceedings, upon Mr. Hampden's pledging his word and honour as a gentleman to abstain in future from every species of annoyance towards Mr. and Mrs. Eyton. So far from this, however having the effect which the plaintiff hoped it would have, Airs. Eyton was still followed in the streets by Mr. Hampden in the same way as before. On one occasion, when Mrs. Eyton was coming out of a shop, the defendant tried to induce her to enter into conversation, and spoke of Mr. Eyton in a mast unjustifiable manner; and on her telling him that she should certainly complain to her husband, he re plied that it should cost one of them his life, or in words to that effect. After this, Mr. Eyton, happening to walk into a street where Mr. Hampden was pursuing a similar course to wards Mrs. Eyton, he charged him with an intention to cor rupt his wife, and to alienate her affections. Some strong expressions passed, and he believed that these had led to some proceedings in the Ecclesi astical Court, in which Mr. Hampden was the com plainant. This was the state of things down to the transaction which had led to the present application. Mr. Eyton, it ap peared, had had his portrait:taken by a young artist, at Leaming ton, named Black, and, at the instance of the latter, he was in duced to request Mr. Reeve, the proprietor of a subscription library at Leamington, to allow it to hang up in his library ;_not an uncommon mode with artists of snaking their capabilities known to the public. Not long after the portrait was hung up in the library, an anonymous letter was written to Mr. Reeve; it was dated the 13th of December, 1843. The writer of it expressed his surprise that he should hang up in his library a portrait of a gentleman who had allowed himself to be called " liar " and " coward," without taking any notice of such an insult. The writer also assured Air. Reeve, that he expressed the sentiments of many members of his library, who felt a delicacy in making a more public avowal of their feelings. Now it appeared from the affidavits, that on the last occasion when Mr. Eyton and Mr. Hampden met, the latter did so far forget himself as to apply the term .6 liar and coward" to Mr. Eyton, and finding that he had failed to excite a breach of the peace by such means, this letter was written in the terms which he had stated. It was written in a highly disguised hand, but the affidavits would leave no doubt whatever that Mr. Hampden was the author of it. He was the person who applied the expression " liar and coward" to Mr. Eyton. He was a subscriber to the library. It was stated in the letter that a great many other gentlemen besides the writer himself participated in the feeling there expressed. The Learned Counsel then referred at length to Mr. Reeve's affi davit. It stated that Mr. Hampden, on seeing the picture, had expressed his disapprobation, but that ao other person had followed his example ; that Mr. Reeve showed the letter to the subscribers who were in the library, Mr. Hampden being present ; that before he placed it in Mr. Hampden's hand, the latter said, " That is it about the portrait of Eyton ;" and that, after reading it, Mr. Hampden said it must have been written by some blackguard who had come in and seen it. The deponent also detailed conversations between himself and Mr. Hampden on the same subject. On one occasion Mr. Hampden said to deponent, "If that fellow," meaning Mr. Eyton, " comes to your library, I shall withdraw my name as a subscriber," and he said that many others would do the same. The deponent concluded by stating that he had seen John Hampden write, and had seen a great deal of his writing, and that he verily believed that the letter before referred to was of the proper handwriting of the defendant. The Learned Counsel said there were several other affidavits of the same kind. Mr. Justice WILLIAMS—Take a rule to show cause. ?LANCHE V. HOOPES.. This was an action brought to recover damages against the plaintiff, who is the proprietor of a theatre at Bath, for repre senting a piece called The White Cat, of which the plaintiff was the author, without his permission, and in opposition to the statute. Mr. Platt, Queen's Counsel, and Mr. Charnock, appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Thesiger, Queen's Counsel, for the defendant. Mr. PLATT stated the case to the jury. He said he dared say many of those who were present at the exhibition of the piece in question, when it was first brought out at Covent-Garden, probably little expected at that time to be called upon to decide the present action. If, however, managers would not do justice t 3 authors they must expect to be assailed by the arm of thelaw. In the third year of the reign of William the Fourth an Act of Parliament was passed for the purpose of protecting dramatic authors against having their pieces per formed without their own consent. It was enacted that the author's right should continue in force during fourteen years, if he should live so long, and if longer, then for the whole of his life ; and that every person infringing it would be liable to the payment of 40s. for each offence, or to the full amount of benefit arising to others from such representation, or of in jury or loss arising to himself. The present suit . was limited to the 405., which was claimed for no less than ten perform ances. Mr. Planche, who was well-known as a dramatic author, had, amongst other pieces, produced an entertainment called The White Cat, which was performed at Covent-garden Theatre, while under the management of Madame Vestris, in the month of March, 1842. The piece was very popular, and there was an actress in it whose performance was particu larly admired; he meant Miss Marshall, who sustained the character of The White Cat herself. There was no white cat like Miss Marshall.—(Laughter.) Wherever she went there was no manager of a theatre who would not be glad to enlist her talents for his stage. In the course of a dramatic circuit, this lady appeared to have arrived at Bath, and Mr. Edward Hooper, the manager of the Bath Theatre, had the good for tune to engage her services. Having done this he took upon himself, without asking the permission of Mr. Planche, to announce the performance of The White Cat, and it was per formed for a considerable number of nights to the great delight of the audience, who applauded the performance from all parts of the house. There could be no objection to the performance of The White Cat, but then the plaintiff was entitled to a fair remuneration, and he came there that day for the purpose of recovering damages for the invasion of his right. He felt confident that the jury would feel satisfied, after they had heard the evidence, that the plaintiff was entitled to their verdict. Mary Ann Marshall examined by Mr. CHARNOCK—I per- formed in the year 1842 at Covent Garden Theatre, in a piece called The White Cat. The theatre was then under the management of Madame Vestris, Mr. Planche superintended the production of the piece, and I believe he was the author. He read it in the green-room, and also attended the rehearsal. Some alteration was suggested by Madame Vestris, which was adopted by Mr. Planche. Last year I was engaged to perform at the Royal Theatre, Bath. That is one of the bills of the performance (producing a bill). I was engaged for Easter Monday. We played in the Easter week. The White Cat was produced on the Saturday night following, it being Mrs. Hooper's benefit night. I performed in the piece in the same manner and the same words as at Covent-Garden. It was not quite so successful as it had been at Covent-garden. The piece was to have been played on the Monday, but was reserved for Mrs. Hooper's benefit. It was performed, I believe, seven nights running, omitting the intermediate Sun day. Besides this I should thinkait was afterwards performed on six separate nights. It was played on the night when Fanny Ellsler came down. Cross-examined by Mr. Tirstsioaa--It frequently happens that the author dues not read his own piece, but gets a friend to do so. I had a reat deal to do besides mewing. Mr. Hooper engaged me ' by the week. He was represented as the manager by all persons connected with the theatre. My engage ment with him was a verbal one. I played many other parts besides the White Cat whilst I remained at Bath. Re-examined by Mr. PLATT—I was paid by the treasurer. Mr. Hooper first spoke to me about an engagement in the shop of Mr. Kenneth, who is a theatrical agent in Bow-street, Lon don. My brother afterwards went there to settle it. I re ceived from the treasurer of the Bath Theatre the sum which Mr. Hooper agreed to pay. George Ross Braid, examined by Mr. PLATT—I am a comedian, and was engaged by Mr. Hooper in the latter end of 1842. He was the manager of the Bath Theatre, I performed in " The White Cat." It was acted about ten or eleven times, and was first produced on Saturday evening, in Easter week. There were not more than five performances in each week, and sometimes only four. I was referred by Mr. Hooper to Mr. Hollingsworth respecting salary. At Bath I received the salary which had been previously agreed upon. Cross-examined by Mr. TIIESIGER—I took the part of " The Minister of the Court of Never-mind," and performed that throughout. William Embden,* examined] by Mr.l PLATT, briefly de posed that he was the prompter of Covent Garden Theatre when the White Cat was performed there, and that he consi dered Mr. Planchj to be the author. Examined by Mr. THESIGER—I know a Society called "The Dramatic Anther? Society,' and I belivee Mr. Planche is a member of that society. [The Learned Counsel here handed a book to the witness.] I believe those are the rules of the So ciety. lam not aware that Mr. Crowther, the clerk of . the attorney for the plaintiff, is the secretary of that Society. I cannot tell whether or not Mr. Planche is aware of this action being brought. Mr. Shearman'a name is upon my subpoena. Mr. PLATT—That, my Lord, is the plaintiff's case. Mr. THESIOER said, his Learned Friend must distinctly prove the particular nights on which the piece was performed; at present he had not done so. His LORDSHIP said that must be left to the jury. Mr. THESIGER. then quoted the Act of Parliament t o s h ow that the acti on ought to have been brought in the county of Somerset, where the offence was alleged to have been com mitted. ills Isoansurr said that that point might be reserved, and the defendant should have the benefit of whatever objection he could make on that ground. Mr. TIIESIGE a then addressed the jury n F behalf of th e de ied, that it de fendant. lie said he agreed with his Learnedo was very desirable that dramati c authors shoulddrn be that protected against the infringement of thei r rights, an those who invaded them, being pirates, ought to receive a pirate's fate. It was singular, however, that the l as t offence in this case was committed as long ago as the 15th of Nay, last year, and that the present action was not commencel until the 24th of November. The jury had, probably, ob served," that he had asked whether Mr. Planche was aware of his name being used in this action. No answer was given. ,Now, ho believed, in fact, that it was the action of the Dramatic Authors' Society. The secretary of that Society was a Mr. Crowther, clerk to the plaintiff's attorney, and it seemed strange that the Society should choose for its secretary a gentleman who was interested in encouraging liti gation. He had very great doubt whether Mr. Planche was at all aware of this action. The Learned Counsel then re ferred to the rules of the Society, which stated that in order to obviate the difficulties to which managers would be subjected by the Act, this Society was established, which brought them into communication with one recognised agent, and saved them incalculable trouble and inconvenience; and also that by arrangement of that Society, managers who were willing to • M forward punctually to the Society a monthly fi'e of bills, re ceived a conditional permission, enabling them to perform any drama belonging to a member of the Society, without the delay of first obtaining that permission in writing, and in almost every instance with a knowledge of the exact expense to be in curred. The Learned Counsel then stated that the defendant had acted on the footing of that arrangement, and that having done se, he was astonished at the course which had been pur sued. He would call evidence to show that this arrangement had been considered binding. The Learned JUDGI said that no evidence which did not go to prove the author's handwriting consenting to the perform ance would satisfy his mind. Mr. TrIESIGES said he certainly could not prove a written consent, and must, therefore, after his Lordship's intimation, decline to call witnesses. Whatever might be the result, he was glad that an opportunity was afforded to authors and ma nagers of judging how far it was safe to trust their interests in the hands of the Dramatic Authors' Society. The Learned JUDGE having briefly summed up, The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff, damages 141., costs 40s. , EXCHEQUER-(THIS DAY). (Sittings in Banco.) The Learned Judges met this morning in Lord Denman's room, and arranged that the following Judges should take the circuits to which their names are attached : CIRCUITS OF THE JUDGES, SPRING, 1844. Home—Lord Denman; Baron Alderson. Midland—Lord Chief Justice Tindal ; Baron Gurney. Norfolk—Lord Abing,er ; Justice Patteson. Oxford—Baron Parke; Justice Coleridge. Northern—Justice Coltman ; Baron Rolfe. Western—Justice Wightman ; Justice Cresswell. North Wales—Justice Williams. South Wales—Justice Maule. Chamber Judge—Justice Erskine. The cases which came before the Court yesterday pre sented no features of interest. The arguments in the cases of " Mason v. Farnell," and " Vaughan v. Lloyd," occupied a considerable time, and related to technical points, wholly de void of public importance. THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EA ENING, JANUAR v 18, 1844. IRELAND. THE STATE TRIALS (THIRD DAY-BY EXPRESS.) (FROM OUR OWN REPORTERS.) DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 17 COLRT OF QUEEN'S BENCH. ITHE QUEEN V. DANIEL O'CONNELL AND OTHERS. The Court was again thronged this morning to hear the continuation of the Attorney-General's opening speech. At five minutes past their Lordships took their seats on the bench. Mr. O'Connell and his son, John O'Connell, attired in the bar costume, were in punctual attendance. The Clerk of the Crown called the Traversers, who se verally answered to their names. The Jury having been called over, Mr. Rigby (one of the Jurors) rose, and addressing the Court, said he felt it duo to himself to observe to their Lordships, when he was asked yesterday how many Chris tian names were inscribed upon the door-label of his house, he replied that the inscription was " J. J. Rigby." On re turning home, however, last night, he was greatly sur prised to find that there was only " John Rigby " on the door. When he made the assertion yesterday he was under the impression that the. fact was precisely as he had stated it ; but, having found it otherwise, he thought it necessary to make the present explanation; for he did not wish that any misconception concerning any thing which he had inadvertently stated should exist in the minds of his fellow-citizens.—(Loud laughter.) The ATTORNEY-GENERAL then rose to resume his ad dress to the Court and Grand Jury. He said that on the 6th of August, 1843, a Repeal meeting had been held in the town of Baltinglass, in the county of Wicklow. At that meeting three of the traversers were present— namely, Daniel O'Connell, Thomas Steele, and Dr. Gray. The meeting was attended by an enormous multitude, whose numbers were generally calculated at one hundred and fifty thousand ; Mr, O'Connell addressed the populace, and amongst other observations, used words to the following effect:— " And I am to be told that the Parliament which by force and fraud was extorted from us, is never to re vive again, and that Ireland alone is to be condemned to perpetual serfdom. I deny it. I call on you all to deny it with me, and to give me your universal promise that Ireland shall be a nation." yes, he called on them to give their universal pledge tb at Ireland should be a nation—and this addressed to the unthinking popu- lace—to a multitude of 150 thousand souls ! At a subsequent period of the same day Mr. O'Connell made a second harangue, in which, he used such expres sions as these—" If I want you again will you not be ready at my word ?—(Cries Yes, to be sure we will.') Let any man who is determined to meet me again on a future occasion, wilam I shall require his presence for a peaceable purpose, hold up his hands." And the report then went on to state that thousands of hands were upraised, amid loud demonstrations of ap plause ; and, therefore, Mr. O'Connell expressed a wish that that cheer might rend the ears of Bog-trotting Fenton,' that he might be taught to understand that was the true state of popular feeling in Ire- land." It was well now to inquire what was the effect which had been produced upon the minds of those who had listened to this exciting anh most inflammatory address, and eloquent evidence of this effect might be gathered from the various results; which fell from the lips of seueral of the peasantry after the conclu sion of the speech. One man was heard to declare "we are determined to get repeal, for we are all sober now, and we will not be pelt down as we were in '98." Another said, " let us wait with patience for a few months ; the time is nearer than you think. Ireland was trampled on, but she shall be no longer so." Others exclaimed that they would turn out and die for repeal ; but they were afraid the sea-side fellows would not stand to them, and that Father Lalor told them it was too far gone now, and that they would not get it without bloodshed. Some among the lower order were heard to say, " that unless repeal was granted there wouldn't be a blow of work done in Ireland, and that the people would rise to a man." Others contradicted it bo saying, that " the only way they wanted to get their rights was by peace, but that if they did not, foreign Powers would strike the blow." That was the way the people of this country were instructed by those agitators, who were destructive of its peace and prosperity—this was the effect of those instructions and exhortations to keep the peace—" The time is nearer than you think ;" that accounts for the manner in which the remarks were understood. " I I want you again, won't you be ready at my word." These were the expectations of a future day, of receiving that intimation for which they were prepared, when the organisation was completed in every portion of Ireland—when the Repeal Wardens had done their work, and every part of the country was, in the language of Mr. Duffy, ready for revolt. A dinner took place on the same day at Baltinglass, at which three of the Traversers, Mr. O'Connell, Mr. Steele, and Doctor Gray were present. Mr. O'Connell, on that occasion, said—" Re momber, my motto is, whoever commits a crime gives strength to the enemy;" that is the doctrine which I have preached everywhere, and I will soon have three millions of men to preach and practice it, and no statesman that ever lived could resist a popula- tion of that kind ; but we must persevere. I intend to go on with these meetings until such time as every part of tlreland shall have " pronounced," as they say in Spain, or shall have declared its adhesion to our cause. The revolution in Spain was brought about by the mili tary and the tyrant Espartero was turned from power by the spirit of the army cmd of the nation. The sergeants of the Spanish army are a fine set of mcn, but those of the British army are the finest, the bravest, the most intelli gent and trustworthy anywhere. In every other service the sergeants are made officers of, but in the :British service they have not yet learned to that act of justice. If our cause go on,' that means if we get Repeal, ' we will do them that act of justice. The Government will alter their plans, and appoint sergeants to commissions for fear they would pronounce, and I give them a truce to do so from this spot.' He makes use of thot language calculated to inflame the non commissioned officers of the British army against the Government ; to represent them as treated with injustice, and to persuade them that that injustice would be remedied and removed as the Repeal advanced, and they would find when he (the Attorney -Ge neral came to some publications just now con nected with the British army, that it was part of the object of these persons who are charged with this conspiracy, of having organised the popula tion, to create discontent among the army, and thereby render the Government powerless against that organisation. In another part of his (Mr. O'Connell's) address he stated—" I have thrown out more than once, and I now repeat, that a pre servative Associ a ti on s h ou ld b e f orme d to preserve every thing that is wor th preserv i ng, and to obliterate every thing that ought to be obliterated. Every member of that Association should find or produce 1001. ; and I will take to provide against their being committed to the meshes of the law, and that there shall be no opportunity of indicting or prosecuting them. I trust that before Christmas comes we will have that Association sitting in Dublin, and drawing up Bills which they will call on the British Parliament to approve of, and if they refuse to do so then re spectfully calling on her Majesty to summon her Parliament together in Ireland again." This was the dictation used to tho organised hundreds of thousands who assembled. To call on the British Parliament to pass these bills which had gone through the Preserva tive Society, and if they did not obey that dictation of the Preservative Society that they would call on her Majesty and hand her over the sceptre of this country on such terms as that Preservative Society thought fit. He thought it would not ; be necessary now to advert to anything that intervened between the date he had last mentioned, the 6th of August, and the 12th of August, and, as he stated yesterday, he had abstained a good deal from commenting on he general state of organisation through the country, and the effect of those multitudinous meetings, because it would be more closely pointed out in the language of one of the traversers. He should now beg to call their attention to a very important publication by Mr. Duffy in the Nation of the 12th of August, six days after the meetingl at: Baltinglass, and he thought they would find that publication of importance, as throwing light upon the objects of those engaged in the conspiracy for which they were now indicted. The article was headed, " The March of Nationality," and was as follows: — "How beautiful our country is ! How full of cautious energy. How sure a hope lies under her anxiety. How fiercely she springs upon what 'tis right to strike. How temperately she avoids all needless bye-battles. And 'tis beautiful—lovely, with that piercing beauty that pains the heart which worships—to see her calming down, and soothing, and repressing her hungry and bruised children, while she prepares for them retribution and relief. Her brow is pale—most pale ; and well that peaceful mien be comes her. Oh ! 'tis well to see her preparing for the strife without rude boasting or hot noise. It becomes the heiress of suffering centuries. It becomes a memory laden with a thousand transient glories and baffled hopes. It were unseemly in her, for whom an army of unrevenged martyrs garrisons her soil ; it were unseemly in her, whose children feel such pangs and woe ; and most un wise and unbecoming would it be for her, with so trying and so vast a contest before her, to wear one rude or reckless look. " Let us see what has been done, and what remains. What were we a year ago ? The squabbling and 1 impotent serfs of England. Hero a master mind, and there a heart prophetic with enthusiasm, foresaw the time when a people, owning all that gives the power to bo a nation, would scorn to serve. They foretold that eight millions—with all that enforces independence upon man, with the oldest and most varied history in . Europe, with the deepest wrongs, and having their old wronger for their present tyrant—a home marked apart by the ocean, with limitless misery and limitless resources, were destined to be admirable and strong among the nations of the earth. But now—oh ! joy and praise !—apathy and distrust have fled. The storm of nationality has rent tho cloudy pall which closed around us : even now it scatters the dark masses, and lends us glimpses of serene liberty. " We ask those who still hesitate, to remember what has been done in a year. " The Repeal rent was fifty or a hundred pounds a week—it is now, on an average, fifteen hundred. The enrolled Repealers were scarcely a couple of hundred thousand—they are now running towards two mil lions. It had then half-a-dozen Protestant mem bers—it has now thousands, from the wealthiest of the gentry to the most stern of the democ racy. The entire Catholic hierarchy and priesthood have given it open support of tacit assent. There is no one worth naming in Ireland actively hostile to it. Most of the :counties of Leinater and Munster, and some in Ulster and Connaught, have come in masses together to declare that they are ready to make any sacrifice— money, repose, or life—to achieve their independence. " There is Nothing recorded in history like this dis play. The numbers of these meetings were unequalled in any population. The time, and labour, and loss suf fered by the people, in their long marches to them— were never before voluntarily borne, save in the excite ment of war. But the order observed in coming and going —the organisation necessary to produce such order the serious good temper—the absence of riot or vice —madeeach of these meetings a strange and formidable event." That was not his (tho Attorney-General's) language—it was the language of one of the accused parties, " that the absence of riot, or vice, made those meetings a strange and formidable event." It was true, that at those meetings Mr. O'Connell preached peace ; it was true that he wished the meetings to obey his injunctions to disperse peaceably: every person must rejoice that his iujunctions were obeyed, that they had up to this time been saved the misery that would result if the active course was taken by the people; but the absence of riot, or the commission of actual violence, however they rejoiced at it, did not take away the illegality of those those meetings, because the intention was to organise the country throughout, that they should be peaceable until the organisation was complete ; but still at the time those meetings took place, that very absence from riot, in tho words of Mr. Duffy, made each of those meetings " strange and formidable event." SUMMARY of the STATE TRIALS. (THIRD DAY.) DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 17. The Court sat at ten o'clock this morning. The traversers and the jury having been called, all an swered their names, so that there was no delay. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL immediately commenced his address, at the point at which he broke off on the preceding evening. He first proceeded to state the details of the meeting at Baitinglass on the 15th of August. He read extracts at great length, from the speeches of Mr. O'Connell, at this meeting, and others, subsequently held in dif ferent places. The nature of these speeches are, of course, already known, having appeared in the public journals. He, throughout, endeavoured to show that Mr. O'Connell and the traversers had acted precisely in the satoe manner as the persons engaged ;in the insurrectionary movements in 1797 and 179841 e dwelt more particularly on this, in his elaborate endeavour to prove a systematic attempt to corrupt the alleigance of the arn sy ; he cited Mr. O'Connell's well-known allusion to the disparity of the condition of the non commissioned officers in the British army, and in the armies of other States, with respect to their prospects of promol it)n. He read a letter which appeared in the Pilot of the 28th of August, headed the " Duty of a Sold ie r," in connection with this charge ; he read other articles from the same paper, referring to the adva o 1 ages of the pike over the musket and bayonet, particularly when used by night. From this. he passed to the question of the establish ment of ;h e Arbitration Courts, and then entered on the speec'he s made at the great Mullaghmast meeting. He detailed the crowning of Mr. O'Connell with the cap made iin imitation of the old crown of Ireland, and pointed out the effects which such acts and speeches were to have on an ignorant multitude, though to some there might be something of the ridi culous ir I them. The far greater portion of his ad( irilss to-day consisted in the reading of do cuments, g athered from the reports, articles, and cor responde net 3 of the Repeal papers. Mr. O'Ci mnell sat with his Counsel as before, in legal coFsta me, and was busied throughout the day with books and papers. For some time he sat next to Mr. S hei 1, M.P., on the bench immediately under the Judwes. Mr. Sheil seemed to be watching the points of the 3 Attorney-General with great attention. It may bet considered certain that he lets nothing escape him— There .i 5 a general impression that the conviction of O'Coruaell by this jury is certain. Had all Dublin been pick.ed, it is said that twelve men so well dis posed to carry out the views of the Crown could hardly hove been found. It is remarked that the names of the: Jury are all English. The A ttor ney-General concluded at a few minutes after four .o't lock. The witnesses will be examined to-morrow. SPIRIT',' of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. FROM: '1 'HE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY. GLOBE . -The Irish State Prosecutions have at length ads ra•siced to that stage which commences their real intere at . to the public. The traversers have been given in el tar ge to the jury. The Attorney-General has delivered ri : part—only a part—of his opening speech : that part o cei Tying more than five hours ! Yet so little way did th o I earned functionary make in the narrative of facts ho • in idertook to establish, and in applying the law to the use facts, that a feeling of weariness imper ceptibly cre pt. over the Court and Jury. Utter hopelessness of a terrain atic ,n, within any imaginable period, of a trial, the opening; t he facts of which required so long and laboured a, sF eech from the prosecutor, was manifestly the sickenin g sensation of every person In Court. The prosiness o t the Attorney-General's exordium seems to have thi co wn a wet blanket over the ardour of the most sangu in, 3 for that result which can alone save the Govern cm, ent from discomfiture and disgrace. The Post— s journal which will not be suspected of any pr ed ilections in favour of O'Connell or his projects-^j :n au analysis of the opening proceed ings, and de.ses iptive of the impression produced on the auditory by tt e Attorney-General's speech, says : "We must col ffess that though we did not expect a very striking s peech from the Irish Attorney-General, we are rather disappointed at the five hours' oration of the day be ore yesterday. It was a heavy affair, and was felt tt ) be so by tho auditory. One passage, indeed, bad something in it which excited laughter ; but the Attorney-General appears to have been offended when his hearers were amused." The Attorney-General is manifestly encumbered by the vastness of the question with which he has to deal. Seeking to secure his object, he spreads his legal net so widely as to include every meeting of the Repeaters, and every speech delivered at those meet ings, together with newspaper reports of the proceed ings, and even doggrel ditties published in certain journals, the proprietors and conductors of which are included in the indictment. This variety and mass of matter, by which he proposes to connect the several parties with the alleged conspiracy, will be found too unwieldy for him to manage with effect. The multitude of facts with which the memories of the jury will be charged will clog their judgments. One juryman will deem this important ; another will reject the fact so important in the estimation of his fellow, as proving nothing, and will put forth that which he has marked as emphatic ; while a third will consider those facts as of no im portance when compared with others which he thinks pregnant with suspicion ; but, taken alone, as by no means amounting to legal proof of that which requires to be strengthened by concurring circumstances. The conspiracy charged by the indictment is to be made out by constructive acts performed by the traversers. Those acts--whether committed in concert, or apart — must be shown to have been done in furtherance of a common purpose ; and that purpose contrary to law. The part of the Attorney-General's opening speech (so far as we are in possession of it) which is most worthy of attention, was that in which he applied himself to the law as bearing upon the " conspiracy" charged in the indictment. We cannot agree with those of our Contemporaries who would restrict the proof, requisite for establishing conspiracy, to what is necessary to establish " a common design ;" and " a common design having been esta blished, that then the acts of one of the conspirators will affect the others who are engaged in the same con spiracy." We think " the common design," or purpose, must be first shown to have been an illegal purpose ab initio. The confederation called " the Loyal Repeal Association"—meetings of which were held at the several places alleged, and at which the parties indicted took active parts in various ways —was formed to obtain the repeal of an Act of the Legislature. The question is not, we presume, whether a dissolution of the legis lative union between the two countries would be bene ficial, or detrimental, to Ireland or to the empire ; but whether—the Union being effected by an Act of Par liament—to confederate, and meet, in whatever num bers, for the purpose of petitioning the Legislature to dissolve that Union by a repeal of the statute on which it rests, can be deemed, ipso facto, an illegal confede racy ; and those who constituted the council, or chief actors, of that confederacy, be—in the legal sense of the term—" conspirators." The language used by the speakers at those meetings, in their harangues delivered to the multitudes who attended them, may have been, and possibly was, violent and inflam matory. This would constitute sedition in the indivi duals using the language, but it would not implicate others. The same reasoning would apply to the other overt acts. If the evidence establish the overt acts, as charged, against one or more of the accused parties, they are doubtless within the law. Each must bear his own burden. But the offence will not amount to "conspiracy." Unless there be proved to have existed an agreement between the parties to commit those illegal acts, in concert, for the purpose of effecting a lawful (however inexpedient) object by such unlawful means, the charge of conspiracy must fail. The overt acts charged in the indictment are spread over a wide extent of time : they were committed openly, at sundry dates, and in divers manners : the Government was constantly invited to take special notice of what was said and done at the " monster meetings ;" and yet those whose special duty it was to guard the public safety, looked on with indifference, as though there were no danger ! Is it not rather late to turn round now, and say—" We allowed you to proceed during an entire year in a course which perilled the peace of the country, and the security of the Throne ; and when we saw that no breach of the public order resulted from those immense as semblages, we will now charge upon you every ima ginable mischief as the purpose for which you confe derated and convened 2" Is not the Government fairly chargeable with having encouraged proceedings of which it was fully aware, but took no step to suppress ? A proclamation such as was issued against the intended Clontarf meeting, would have prevented the meetings which preceded it. Was it not, then, a criminal neglect on the part of the Government to abstain from doing that in March which they did in October ? Were they not participators in the acts for which they now seek to visit the actors with punishment ? STANDARD.—The last shaft in Mr. O'Connell's quiver having been expended, the State trials are at length proceeding with little chance of further interrup tion. The number and frivolousness of the objec tions which have been urged by him and his ac complices show clearly how little dependence they can place on the merits of their respective cases. After an exhibition of audacity on the part of two of the Repeal conspirators such as has rarely been attempted under similar circumstances, the non-appearance in Court at the proper hour of Duffy and Barrett, and the reception of excuses from one or two members of the panel, on the ground of ill health, the Clerk of the Crown gave the traversers in charge, and the Attorney-General commenced his address, and e ,, ecinued speaking until half-past four, when the Court adjourned, and the jury were permitted, under certain restrictions, to return to their respective homes. At that hour the Attorney-General had not only not concluded his address, but had not, it was understood, arrived at the most important part of his revelations. It has been objected to the Learned Gentleman's speech by one of our Contemporaries, that itis "heavy" and uninteresting; but when we remember that the public of England and Ireland have been familiar, for the last three months, with nearly the whole of the facts it details, and that it is necessarily encumbered by numerous ex tracts from the seditious harangues and writings of the traversers, it is not singular that the Attorney-General should have been unable to render his address as inte resting to his auditory as he might have done under dif ferent circumstances. It displays, however, the more sub stantial recommendation of being a clear and lucid narra tive of the facts he proposes to give in evidence, preceded by an able exposition of the law as applicable to the offences charged against the traversers ; referring to numerous precedents in support of his opinion. Having explained that a confederacy becomes a criminal by conspiracyy unlawful n l vh w feu f nl u t act, more persons combine to d accomplish a lawful ob ject aid referred to the case of the , Cato-street conspirator s i n su pp or t o f hi s assertion that a party Joi n i ng i n t h e d es i gn an u two means, or or adopts and renders himself responsible for the acts of his accomplices, Loth before and after he has joined them, the Attorney -General alluded to the indictment against Frost and other Chartists on which he was not tried, because he had been previously con victed of treason ; Vincent End Edwards having been found proceeded to show that that occasion were en tirelylleged aga i nst t h e I r i s h traversers Judgehis argument by an im portant Bayley' s j u d gme nt in the on d o vge similarur guilty ty acts up ocn to h a i charged ; those e ods ande on a lie extract ; an action brought by Hunt against the Captain of the Manchester Yeomanry , in which his Lordship not only illustrating from defined all meetings of persons assembled to sow sedition, and bring into contempt the Constitution as unlawful, but also the extent to which the leaders or chairmen of such meetings are responsible. This opinion was af terwards confirmed by Lord Tenterden, whose judgment Mr. Smith has pressed into his service. He exposed with great ability the fallacy of the pretext, that because the various " monster meetings" called together by Mr. O'Connell dispersed peaceably at his bidding, they were not formidable, or dangerous to the public peace, their object being clearly to overawe the Executive, and hold out a menace of prospective mischief should their de mands not be complied with. The pacific demeanour of O'Connell's mobs has been simulated for the express purpose of enabling him to complete their organisation with impunity, and it is impossible not to recognise the correctness of Judge Bayley's con viction that " men with rebellion in their hearts will occasionally employ language recommending peace, order, tranquillity, and obedience to the laws." After a careful precis of public events in Ireland from the concession of the Reform Bill to the present time, the Attorney-General passed in review the various associations which had been organised for political purposes since that period, having for their object the repeal of the Union ; their denunciation by the Governments of Lord Grey and Lord Melbourne, as well as in the speech from the Throne, and the coercive measures which were finally adopted to repress them. He then laid bare the whole machinery of the Repeal Association, its pro vincial inspectors, wardens, collectors, and police, the cards which are circulated, the devices they bear, and the arrangements by which journals of the most inflammatory character were circulated throughout the body. Among the foremost of these incendiary publications he referred to the Nation and the Pilot, and selected articles in prose and verse from their columns, including extracts from various speeches of O'Connell, Steele, and others, at Repeal meetings, which had been reported in their columns. To in vest such details with novelty, in an address re stricted to the simplest and closest narrative of events, would exceed the powers of any Attorney- General, and we are accordingly not surprised that Mr. Smith should have failed to imbue them with that quality. But if a careful application of his facts, and an able exposition of the law in regard to them, may be considered as entitling him to the grati tude of his countrymen, he has, undoubtedly earned it. The continuation of the Attorney-General's ad dress was looked for with great interest, as it was expected that it would announce the acqui sition of evidence which, albeit new, is said to be of a description to surprise no one who has been a reader of Irish newspapers for the last few months. Meanwhile, it is pleasant to bo furnished with so com plete and practical an illustration of the absurdity of the predictions of our Whig-Radical Contemporaries, as the present tranquil state of Dublin may be con - sidered to supply; a repose which would suffer no interruption were Mr. O'Connell already convicted, and suffering the penalty which might be considered his due. Some curiosity attaches to the rumoured disclo sures which Wednesday was to bring forth, but with this exception, the Irish public appear wholly indifferent, as it regards the results of these trials ; and the only parties in this country who feel any anxiety on the subject aro the Whigs and their journalists, who rely upon such an issue as will enable them to nurse into activity their own little conspiracy against Sir Robert Peel's Go verment. FROM TEE MORNINC PAPERS OF TIIIB DAY. TIMES.—The French Legitimatists betray considerable signs of confusion under the attack which has been made npon them by the sago Government of Louis Philippe, as any party will do when skilfully pressed from with out, and unsupported by any definite object or clear and I understood principle of coherency within. The rents of the Duke de Bordeaux have at present neither the one nor the other. They have no definite object ;!for it is impossible that they can nourish any real expectation of replacing " Henry V." on the throne of France. They have no coherency of principle, else we should hear of no coquetting with Republicanism. The more able among them must repudiate the one—the more honest must abhor the other. With the influence of the nobility extinct, with the commercial and trading classes wholly given to the dynasty of Louis Philippe, with the students and artisans rank republicans, the army devoted to the power which pays it, and even the clergy, in whose cause the elder dynasty fell, and among whom, therefore, the spark of old-fashioned loyalty might be expected at least to linger—with even the clergy in its younger and more vigorous part, too deeply tinged with the wild doctrines of Lamennais to present any firm basis for Royalist principles—with all these things against them, it is, indeed, difficult to suppose that any man of ordinary forethought, who mixes with the world, or who even reads the daily papers, should cherish the hope of a second restoration. There are no visible materials for success—no locus standi—no point of con tact between Royalism and the French people—no body of ancient and familiar prejudice—no national want to which legitimacy is the necessary correlative—no still existing remains of a feudal interest—there is nothing, we will not say to encourage the expectation, but even to keep alive the most distant hope of the most modified triumph. The revolution of the last century, of which the present state of France is a development, was not the mere prostration of a party, it was the extermination of a whole mass of principles with every thing that ad hered to them. The entire soil which had been im pregnated with the traditionary feelings and ideas of Royalism was swept away in a torrent of blood, and the dry stone left bare below. We have now a fresh formation to deal with—a new people, held together (so long as it is held together), not by habitual regard for any form of authority, but by a ra tional dislike of anarchy—owning no allegiance and experiencing no reverence towards ancient associations regarding those who still cling to such romantic ideas as intruders into a century which does not belong to them—relics of a bygone age, whose uncongenial pre sence might perhaps be mischievous to modern institu tions, if it were not so palpably impotent. No mind has sprung from the ruins of the 18th century—no able enthusiast has survived the storm in which it passed away, capable of transmitting its feelings or of infusing its prejudices in the succeeding generation. The dynasty of the Restoration—representative as it was of the line of ancient monarchs—stood amidst young France, during its short existence of fifteen years, like an alien con queror, maintaining itself by the mere advantage of pos session against an unfriendly and unapproachable popula tion. No impregnation of principles—no amalgamation of interests, had taken place. The Bourbon race was torn up and thrown aside after a short trial, and almost without an effort, like a sapless slip which has not put out a single fibre to grasp the chilly and barren soil which surrounded it. Such as it was such it remained, ignorant of and unintelligible to its generation. Is it conceivable that it should regain the position of power which, when in possession, it was wholly unable to preserve := France, it is true, contains elements of confusion in plenty. Visionary aspirations—rude and dangerous theories—a rankling jealousy of restraint, not confined in its expres sion to the closet or the parlour, but avowed and acted on with a certain individual recklessness which marks a wild reality—these are, indeed, omens of change—omens which make us dread the moment when the vigilant eye and firm hand by which they are at present kept in check shall be removed. But amidst all these aspirations, and theories, and jealousies, what spot of firm ground can the Logitimatist place his foot upon ? There is none. Even wore the French Henriquiste, like the Spanish illodercalo, to purchase a m omen t ar y t r i um ph by a coali tion with his own bitterest enemies, nothing short of the genius of Napoleon or the sagacity of Louis Philippe could retain the dangerous supremacy. King Henry V. would not hold his ground a week, and this his wiser friends well know. It is this necessary hopelessness— this absence of any real and practicable purpose— which makes it, and must ever make it, impossible that the French Legitimatists should form a compact and united party ; and it is this necessary want of unity which has been exposed by the Ministerial attack, The Duke de Fitzjames declares, in the Quotidienne, his readiness to repeat before a French jury the bold expres sions uttered in Belgrave-square. M. de Larey tells the Chamber of Deputies that his oath of allegiance binds him to " obey the laws of the country and no more." Meanwhile the abler M. Berryer, representing, we should suspect, a more considerable portion of those who once composed the Royalist party, disclaims the notion of a plot against the existing Government, appeals to " the loyalty and sincerity which the Legitimatist party had evinced during the last thirteen years," and assures the Chamber that " the Legitimatist leaders who went to London told the Duke de Bordeaux salutary truths on the condition of the country, and the past faults of his family," and now only desired " to serve France, to ex ercise their political rights, to avoid everything tending to kindle civil war, and to unite with the rest of their fellow , countrymen in repelling foreign invasion, even were it undertaken in the interest of their own cause." Some at least of these leaders would scarcely thank M. Berryer for his disclaimer, Those who saluted the Duke of Bordeaux as the " King of the future," can scarcely be disposed to relish that able orator's protest against civil war, and his unthankful rejection of the Irish brigade, to whose possible services Mr. O'Con nell seems to ascribe so much present offers on the young Prince's fortunes. But whether M. Berryer refers to the liberal efforts of the Hibernian potentate (who might be supposed to have enough on his hands at home, without carrying his operations across the Chan nel), or to the less avowed, though perhaps more sub stantial friendship of the Courts of Eastern Europe, he is certainly right in supposing that neither by internal conflict nor external aid can " the heir of a long series of Kings" hope to occupy to any purpose the throne of his progenitors. If he will but thoroughly impress that conclusion upon his party, he will do France a service, save them from a most mischievous delusion, and earn forgiveness for many such silly expeditions as that to Belgrave-square. ADVERTISER—The State trials did not after all commence until Tuesday. Monday was spent in arguing for and against a motion made by the traversers' counsel, having for its object to set aside the jury, as illegally constituted. The motion was refused by the Court, Mr. Justice Perrin dissenting from his three brother Judges. But though the decision of tho Court was adverse to the parties arraigned, the discussion raised on the question has proved, in a moral sense, most damaging to the prosecution. Mr. Fitzgibbon demon strated to the satisfaction of every one, except the Court and the Attorney-General, that it was an act of manifest unfairness, if not decidedly illegal, to try the traversers with a jury constituted as is the jury empa nelled to try Mr. O'Connell and his alleged co-con spirators. This is the universal impression without the walls of the Court, and the impression is shared by one of the most enlightened Judges, either in the Dublin Queen's Bench, or in any other Court in the empire. Were there, therefore, no other damaging circumstance connected with these ill-advised prosecu tions, this fact alone would be sufficient to divest a conviction, supposing it to take place, of all moral in fluence. But when, in addition to the more than suspicious circumstances under which the sixty-three names were omitted from the list, we remember the various previous mishaps and ugly occurrences connected with these proceedings, we unhesitatingly say, that of all the ill-judged measures of the present Government, this will be found to be the most injudicious and most injurious. Even, as just remarked, assuming a convic tion to take place, we cannot conceive the possibility of Sir Robert Peel ever allowing the parties to be brought up for judgment. The public mind already revolts against these prosecutions ; should they be followed by the infliction of punishment (always assuming a convic tion to ensue), a feeling of indignation will be created in the public mind which will overwhelm and destroy the Government of Sir Robert Peel. If there be one thing more than another which the people of England hold to be essential to the integrity of the national character, it is, that no suspicions attach to the proceedings in our judicial courts. Englishmen of all classes, and of all shades of political feeling and opinion, abhor anything in our courts of law which could be construed into an act of harshness or unfairness. In the present case, should a conviction take place and punishment follow, public sympathy in favour of the traversers will become alarmingly strong and general—alarmingly so, we mean, for the Govern ment. Even those who are most opposed to Mr. O'Connell, would, in the supposed case, consider him a political martyr. Need we say what would be the pro bable effects in Ireland should O'Connell ever come to be so considered ? We will not attempt to describe these effects ; we leave our readers to exercise their own ima gination on the subject. Sir Robert Peel must by this time be convinced that, even supposing a conviction were ensured, no eclat whatever could accompany that result. Whatever moral weight might have attached to these trials, under other circumstances, none whatever can attach to them after what has occurred. Theirs has been a strange eventful history indeed. It seems as if Fate and the Irish Attorney-General were sworn enemies, and that Fate had resolved to punish the Learned Gentleman in every imaginable way. We do not know if Mr. Smith be given to cursing ; but if he be, he must have given many a hearty curse to the mis haps and mortifications which he has had to encounter in every successive stage of these proceedings. Next to the learned official, Sir Robert Peel is to be pitied. We are inclined to think that others, of whose names we have heard but little in connection with these trials, have had much more to do with them than the Premier. Be this as it may, the odium rests exclusively on him. The guilt and responsibility of the whole matter, so far as public opinion and public feeling are concerned, attach to Sir Robert. No one knows this better than himself. If there be one act of his ministerial life which he regrets more deeply than another, it is, we are sure, that of ever having sanctioned these prosecutions. His usual caution and worldly wisdom must have forsaken him, when he gave his consent to the in stitution of proceedings against Mr. O'Connell and the other parties associated with him in this in dictment. The difficulty with the Premier now is, how to get out of the predicament into which he has brought himself, without making his Government the laughing stock of the civilised world, and drawing on himself the contempt of friends as well as foes. He is indeed in a pretty pickle. He is afraid to retrace his steps ; he wants the moral courage to undo what he has done, by putting an end to the proceedings. And yet he cannot look forward to a conviction, even supposing he were certain to obtain it, without fear and trembling. His only hope, we take it, lies in the possible circumstance of some legal defect being yet discovered in the proceed ings, which will have the effect of stopping them, and consequently relieving him from the position of painful perplexity in which. he is placed. He will be a lucky man if he be suffered to escape in that way. If he has ; friends, this is the time for their prayers. He has much need that one and all of them earnestly pray that Heaven may send him a safe atliverance. POST.—Whatever may be the ultimate result of the State trials in Ireland (the result, for so far, has unques tionably been most salutary), the grand debateable point will still remain—namely, the cause of Ireland's back wardness in all that should distinguish civilised life. We shall still have to inquire how it happens that under the " liberal and enlightened" Government of Great Britain —with laws similar to those of England—with a soil generally superior, and a climate certainly not inferior, so large a portion of the population of Ireland continues, from year to year, in a state of beggary and barbarism. Our readers know that we have often glanced at this question, and that our opinion is, that it is mere delusion to suppose that the evils of Ireland are to be cured by such political changes as her agitators contend for. The schemes of Whig economists and Reformers are not less delusive. The very long article of the Edinburgh Review, however ingenious in its speculations, and bold in its recom mendations of sweeping political and ecclesiastical change, we regard as just so much trash, so far as re gards the practical amelioration of the state of the people. What signifies it to the tillers of the ground— the savage and half-destitute millions--whether the establishment of the Anglo-Catholic Church be territo rial or congregational ? How would the condition of the peasantry be affected, either for better or worse, by the endowment of Maynooth, or the mortgaging of the lands of the Established Church for behoof of the fund of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners ? That which the people want is a more comfortable way of living, and that (except in the north) is at present forbidden by the bad habits of the people—by the circum stances under which the land is overburdened by a pauper tenantry—circumstances which exist in de fiance of the law, and which nothing can cure but some system of close superintendence to compel an observance of the law. At present there is a close and watchful superintendence, but it is that of the Ro man Catholic clergy, who do not respect the law, and who very often have an interest in making arrange ments, or causing arrangements to be made, which are at variance with the dispositions which the law, if exe cuted, would have made. In short, without denying that, in many respects the Roman Catholic priest is often found to be the friendly adviser, and the comfort and stay of the poor people in their affliction, it must be admitted (by those who know and respect the truth) that as a superintendent and guide in civil and social affairs, he often leads the people into courses unfavour able to social advancement. Our own belief is that poli tical reforms on a large scale will do nothing for the re moval of Ireland's social grievances, and that this can only be brought about by the establishment of a superintendence as close as that of the Romig' priest, but devoted to very different objects, and carried on in strict conformity with the law. On a former occasion, when speaking of the circumstances under which land is held by the swarming population, we cited the evidence of the late Judge Forster, whose knowledge of the country, and whose integrity no one could doubt, whatever might be thought of his some what heavy and pedantic manner. He said that the oc cupiers of the soil were barbarised by a habit of gavel kind, and by tenancy in common and at will. This is what every one who has practical acquaintance with the subject must be convinced of. The con tinual subdisivion of the land is the monstrous evil. Not that we are advocates for the huge holdings of land which are common in England, We think there are evils in farms of three thousand acres, as well as in farms of ten, seven, and three acres, which may often be found in Ireland. The possession of any portion of land—a mere potato garden—seems to the Irish peasant a justification for taking to himself a wife, and producing a family. He knows there is a rent to be paid, but he trusts something to his pig, and much to Providence, for the means of paying the rent. In the meantime, the potato garden (provided the crop do not fail) will give him enough of the lowest kind of food to sustain life ; but if the crop should fail, then God help him and the children, for there is literally nothing between them and downright starvation. They know all this well enough, if they would but exercise their reason, and be guided by what they know. But they will not. It is not their habit. They are ready to encounter any risk, however dreadful, for the sake of setting up for themselves with a bit of land. They ought not to be allowed to do this. If the law were respected, they would find it impossible to ob tain the land ; but it is not respected. Men who have not any legal right to divide and distribute their holdings, nevertheless do divide and distribute them, and the hordes of peasant paupers increase. Twenty years ago all this was clearly explained to committees of both Houses of Parliament, but the public have forgot all about these Parliamentary inquiries, and now there are new inquiries into the very same thing. IRELAND. THE STATE TRIALS. FROM OUR OWN REPORTERS.) DUBLIN, TUESDAY, JAN. 16. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (in continuation from our Third Edition) said—The law they would take from the Court and not from him. Conspiracy was a crime created when persons combined or agreed to do some illegal act, or conspired to do a legal act by unlawful means. Such was the law laid down by Lord Denman, Mr. Justice Parke, and Mr. Justice Pattison in the 4th volume of Barnewall and Alder son, page 349. The same principle was laid down in this Court in the case of Forbes, reported by Mr. Greaves. The same doctrine was laid down in the case of the Queen v. Murphy, in the 9th volume of Carrington and Payne, page 310, by Mr. Justice Coleridge. If they believed that the several defendants had been engaged in a common design to obtain the objects they had in view by the means pointed out in the indictment, in that case the acts and words of any one became evidence against the others, though they had not committed those acts or spoken the words themselves. The Learned Counsel quoted 6th Term Reports, page 527, Watson's case, reported in the se cond volume of Howard's State Trials in support of this position. In the case reported in 9th Carrington and Payne, page 275, a case not unlike the present, two defendants were found guilty. The same view was held in the case of the King v. Redhead, otherwise Yorke, reported in the 25th volume of the State Trials, page 1,004. There was a very important case in the 3d volume of Starkie's Nisi Prius, page 76, namely the case of Redford v. Birley, to which he wished particularly to call the attention of the Court and Jury. It was an action of trespass brought against some persons who dispersed a meeting in Manchester. The trial took place before Mr. Justice Holroyd, and a verdict was given for the defendants, thereby esta blishing the illegality of the meeting. The case was then brought by motion before the full Court, consist ing of Lord Tenterden, Mr. Justice Bayley, Mr. Justice Holroyd, and the present Lord Wyn ford. They refused the motion, and established the law as laid down at the trial by Mr. Justice Holroyd. In the course of their judgment they gave their opinions with regard to unlawful assemblies. (The Learned Gentleman then read the opinions of Mr. Justice Holroyd and Mr. Justice Bayley relative to what was an unlawful assembly.) On a motion being made for a new trial in the same case, in banco, Lord Tenterden, in giving judgment, said the cir cumstance of the professed object of the meeting being peaceable, was not to be taken into account, for unless that was its professed object the meeting could not be held. The real object of the meeting was the matter to be regarded. Again, said his Lordship, others might go to the meeting intending mischief at some fu ture period, when those who had been drilled up to that time without arms had arrived at a further stage of military discipline. They would be told in the course of the defence that those meetings had ended peace ably. Why the intention was that they should dis perse peaceably. That was one of the most danger ous purposes of those meetings. If they had not done so, the conspiracy would have been broken up earlier. Besides, the hour of action had not yet arrived. As one of the traversers had said, the hour of England's infirmity was Ireland's opportunity. The time to call upon them had not yet come. The part of the con spiracy was to effect a complete organisation from north to south, from east to west, before the signal for action was given. Therefore it was that the meetings had dispersed peaceably. Others might go to these meetings, too, as Lord Tenterden had said, intending mischief at some future period, when those who had been up to that time drilled without arms had arrived at a further stage of military discipline. But he (the Attorney-General) denied that these meetings were peaceable, or any thing like peaceable, since they were assembled under the control of one man, who might give them one order or another order, as he chose. Such assemblies were, he would show by high legal authority from the Bench, inconsistent with the law of the land. Lord Wynford, in giving his judgment, said it ap peared to him that the meeting was not innocent, and if it were not, what, his Lordship said, was it ? They had, he said, the key to it in the evidence of one of the witnesses; their object was, by exhibiting their numbers, to induce others to join them, that they might thus be able to overcome the Government. Now, such he would prove was the course adopted with respect to the meetings now in question. There was another case, which he would cite, as applicable in the present instance; it was the case of the Queen v. Holland, Carrington and Payne p. 460, an indict ment for seditious libel. The subject of it was on a resolution to the effect that the people of Birmingham were the best judges of their own right to meet in the Bull-ring, and were the best judges of their own power and resources to obtain justice. Justice Little dale, in summing up, said it was no sedition to say that they were the best judges of their right to meet in the Bull-ring or anywhere else, but that the words " the best judges of their own power and resources to obtain justice," were seditious. There was one remaining authority which he would lay before the Court, it was that laid down in 4 Alderson, p. 178, in the case of the Queen v. Burdett, and it illustrated strongly the principle whieh he (the Attorney-General) had al ready laid down, viz., that the act of one conspirator was, in point of law, the act of all. The Right Hon. Gentleman having read the case went on to say that having called attention to the law applicable to the greater portion of that extraordinary case, h a won ld now proceed to open the facts of it. It might first, however, be convenient to advert to the position of the repeal question at the ti me o f th e constitution of the Repeal Association. The Right llon. Gentleman here gave a short history of the various societies/ their r.s.snes, objects, &c., which had been formed 11 Mr. O'Connell, from the period of Catholic Emanci pation in 1829 down to the formation of the presen: Repeal Association early in th e y ear 1840. Or" Association had changed its name twice, and in Juif i 1840, it received the nam e o f th e Loy a l Nations; Repeal Association of Ireland, which name it still retained. The general nature of the constitution was that it consisted of associates, members, and voltor teers. The bond of union between those various parties was with the view that some such as the assn• ciaties should be liable to a very small su bscription , in order that the organi sa ti on m i g ht be effected among the poorer classes. Accordingly the associa tes paid ls. on obtaining his ca rd o f admission. Th ose cards, one of which he now held in his hand, an' swered all the purposes, w ith ou t com i ng within th e express words of the Act against passports or signs. Parties holding them wo u ld by ex hibiti ng them sho ve f ; who were connected w ith th e A ssoc i a ti on , and what extent the organisation was effected. At the top of this card was a shamrock, with the words-' " Roman Catholic, Protestant, Dissenter." N ea r the bottom was the d a t e 1782, a l so a v i ew o f th e presen s Bonk of Ireland, with the words, " It was, it shall be t : The next class consi s t e d o f "members" who an/ scribed 20s. An " associate" also, who collected a t ,n paid in 205., was e n titl e d t o a member's card. VI one corner of this ca r d was th e wor d " Clontari; with the date 23d o f A pr il, 1014 ; on th e opposite t side the words " Be n b ur b, sth o f J une , 1645 ;' the bottom an Irish word, which, being transin te ,,,b signified " The mo u th o f th e Y e ll ow F o rd," l of April, 1598; also the word " Limerick," AuV ia ,„; , 162. These names and d a t es were th o se of pin% and times at which th e Iri s h we re successful 1.. battle either over the Danes or the English, or, they were now called, th e " S axo n foreigner." S ue d were the cards of an association which, in peace n i . n tranquillity, never, forsooth, meditated exciting c lls :i content and difference between different classes " d her Majesty's subjects. Those cards were foot and engraved thus w ith th e v i ew o f endeavouring to rake up transactions o f cen t ur i es p as t, and therel'i he exciting hatred against th e " S axon f ore i g ner." -s T bs battle of Clontarf was f oug ht aga i ns t th e Danes the Irish under Brian Boru.—(Laughter.) He Cn t O not see what it was that exc it e d l aug hter. Bel re o those trials were concluded it would be seen The there was anything but cause f o r l aug hter. to Learned Gentleman here went at great length O nt the history of the battles referred to, and then sv. e _., on to show that one of the chief means of spreadro; the doctrines of the Association was the transraiasithe of repeal newspapers to districts according t° amount of rent collected in each, and contended this the press was the most powerful means of disseinto nating the seditious doctrines which he attribute d the Association throughout the country, and refer; to the effects produced in France during the Rev ° 4l , tion by the newspaper L' Anti du Pe li r t he and in Ireland, about the year 1798, by well-known n ews p a p er ca ll e d th e P ress . He wt. next call attention t o an a dd ress t o the repealsw_, o , dens, whi c h h a d b een pu bli s h e d i n t h e N a ti o n ne" tbs paper. The Right Hon. Gentleman having read iso , address, pro cee d e d t o s h ow t h at t h e per f ec t o rgal l ss s tion of the rep ea l- war d ens h a d its origin in that ao—of tnent. They had all heard of the Jacobin Club France and its affiliated societies. No one ever o l bli t templated the consequences that flowed frost[ s t oe Society. Yet it overthrew the G overnm ent of time, and was succeeded by a despotism that aoll e ti the country for many years. Having further peoa out the evils of this organisation, he said he sn t) i o s now come to the first meeting of the Repeal As,al re s tion, which was held on the 4th of Feb., 1843. "-!•;; 0 , of the traversers were pr esen t, Mr. Ray, Mr. 0 u„,,, nen, and Mr. Duffy. A statement of accounts' ' o f was read by Mr. Ray, many of them consist/1 0 J the distribution of these v ery newspapers 1 1 °_,bilt alluded to. At that meeting was also produced ' nc is was now judiciously called a diploma. It was a somely engraved document, and by it it would aPr ea s that it was considered possible that the repeal.ssevar,,,,l' he i might have other duties than their o s t e nsible (Hies. would hear one of the traversers inquiring wil t 10 people could not follow a r e p ea l- war d e n as well as l ose , was called by the name of a sergeant. The Bight 00 Gentleman also quoted a very long extract fron i b ich speech of Mr. O'Connell a t th e same meeting, in ": e rs. he spoke of the relation of EL,-tand with foreigra roL o v of the internal distress of En i icard, of her aPP'" a ot strength and real weakness, and P;king if that vias t o t e the time for Ireland. He also alluded to the ous ioli cl made by Napoleon in not sending an army no 11 1,4 5 /1 instead of to Egypt, to the martial character of the ' - so d aeople, to the military advantages of the couTtry , concluding with e x p ress i ng .hi s c o nv iction that if R e ti T r r were to pour out her vas t s t reng th u p on th e so il 0 1 we * land, the people m i g ht, if t h ey were true to theelsener drive the invaders i n t o t h e sea . H e (th e .fittor" i$ General) contended that tho ug h R uss i a w as nani` - ,411 was England that was intend e d, s h e b e i ng fre(l oe ; (3 A ipoken of as the oppressor of Ireland. H e would 30. bring under their notice a publication, of sithiel l jefi Barrett, one of the traversers, was the editor, c ap, the Pilot, one of the papers which the lr peal Association so industriously circulated shro ab ot out the country. Mr. Barrett had taken s 0 in all these proceedings, and had endeavoure c ite tar as he could, by means of his newspaper, to e%,, / .0 dissatisfaction. The publication he should q uote ~ 0 0 dated the 10th of March, 1843, and contains's' a c , l . a r t ek, of a repeal meeting held at Washington, Unii;ed o _,"„ t At that meeting Mr. Tyler, the son of the Rresitt i e rbela the United States, was present, and he should rem` / 10:k an extract from his speech on that occasion. srb e , ; ,,,biy and Learned Gentleman then read the passage, 191. 7, - 0,1 the well-known one concluding with these woreti- - ;_ ioo d; libation of freedom must sometimes be quaffed is , ul sc ile% He further read the remarks contained in a 1 e ,,,0b article on the subject of the same meeting. The aros of Mr. Tyler was called " a bold and state onst; o os speech." These were the publications which LI te 'l l O - connected with this Association thought they wer e tified in circulating, so that they might be mad bp many persons as possible ; this was the poison. ! t oll was infused into the minds of the Irish people, a atw o D 9 obedient to the laws if they were permitted to 'be sarly these mischievous agitators, who, for the sake .of Y i o r ,ing ing out their own purposes, deluded an ur people. This was one of the means by which, wha t is of the late Ministers of the Crown called a rev olut l t ; tk i e the empire was to be established, which would..les,d,: o - 1 , forming of a republic in Ireland, of which Mr.. O'i'vftra would be the chief. He used the language oil' one Dye late Ministers of the Crown. The next step in 'tire C o in ee racy to which he should call their attention, we s t he ti e ing of large bodies of persons from great dist; ui se°' r ef, orders issued to them, that they might bec or ae. kh - o rO P t tomed to assemble in these great bodies, not • W"'", in their hands, because everythin g was t o b e 101: 1 " and tranquil till the organisation was con ts:Ple : t n e n . l 9 ;, { when that time arrived—wh en th a t organ i complete—when the hour of England's infit ftnitl ed tb have arrived, then would the people h ave ac quit t ota l habit of meeting and marching at the word of C 0 :Sii; in military arr a y. Th ere was nothi ng nevi r " n irae,i d would be found, that for every stage of thi co,t l6 4 e cir there was precedent. The same course was ; aCi ° rf bi g 1797, before the Rebellion. This was a m atterf n f tory. lie then quoted a passage from the R kper' f - COr : , Committee of Secresy, appointed by the Ho of , ef ro p„, mons to inquire into the causes of the r be l- 0 00 e i which the assembling of the people in this It tar int o ost, 4 e " various pretences, was described. The fill ' - ISr a meeting was held at Trim, on the 16th o F 31 , sr e W s rte e ; Three of the traversers, Mr. O'Connell, 'gr. . 1- gill and Mr. Steele, were present. A dinn ' W . , 59 the same day, at which Mr. Barrett ret, one to te" for the toast of " the people." He urged th a prof' re 0 0 tranquil, to be well organised, and when they W js.t tb a . Ireland had only to stamp its foot to be free. lO O ll same dinner Mr. O'Connell spoke. He quoted extract from the speech then made, whicl 2 en ntSilli declaration that nothing could be hoped ft )r ROO tlr an English Parliament. It was - a remarlt :able fact, during the whole of last session not a sin/ rlepeti tw le; presented from Ireland in favour of th Dwe ll , the;, repeal. This was not to be wondered at, when 9 „ - ; i isn, meetings the people were told that nothing r but 'l e tel was to be expected from it. But now th,s w e ig eel i s that, since these prosecutions, there had sPru l Tsois great demand for parchments. These me sting,' not well be held without some pretext, and it w `1 0 0 0 :1, pretended that they were held for d tutional purpose of petitioning. He tr' h tb o f hided to th e es t a bli s h me nt of th e p a p er wh' c i etore were aware was called the Nation, the pr or lr ' o f which was Mr. Duffy. This was also 0 10 ,, s lie/ s papers circulated by the Association. Now 1 5 43 Ic e I, ° o the saying had passed into a proverb, " I w 11.1 [bat the making of the laws of the country if y o - 00 1 me the making of its ballads." It was singult tr /j ot c o o writing of seditious poetry, as a principle, was to as n ib,„ o 3 tied out for the first time in this country. - 11 . tiv circumstance was mentioned in the Report of t a 'o 1 0 10 mittee of Secresy, already alluded to, and it vr p ea b s again thought advisable to poison the minds of t by such seditious songs. This poetry had 1 0 0( /* of t o, lished in a small volume, entitled the " Spirif o Nation," and from this work he should read one 'ye d o i, it being the song called the " Memory of the .0 f The Hon. and Learned Gontleman then read it lows : Who fears to speak of Ninety-Eight ? Who blushes at the name ? When cowards mock the patriots' fate, Who hangs his head for shame ? He's all a knave, or half a slave, Who slights his country thus; But a true man, like you, man, Will fill your glass with us. We drink the memory of the brave, The faithful and the few— Some lie far off beyond the wave, Some sleep in Ireland, too; All—all are gone—but still lives on The fame of those who died; All true men, like you, men, Remember them with pride. Some on the shores of distant lands Their weary hearts have laid, And by the stranger's heedless hands Their lonely graves were made; eszil •ki til vvh, to 1 re s va , Th tl, blii