The Sun. — London, England, 1844-01-17 00:00:00

IRELAND. THE STATE TRIALS. (BY EXPRESS.) DUBLIN, MONDAY, JAN. 15. It was evident, at an early hour this morning, that s omething of importance was to be enacted in Dublin. Few persons awoke whose first thought WaS not " the State Trials commence to-day." Long before the hour appointed for their commencement, namely, 10 o'clock, groups of persons were to be se en standing along the line from Mr. O'Con -11:11's house in Merrion-square, to the Four Courts, those places being the two centres ef attraction. It was reported that Mr. O'Con nell would proceed " in state," to the Four Courts, in the Corporation carriage ; but if such an idea was ever entertained, it was, we think, wisely abandoned. The Hcn. Gentleman was, however, ac eftpanied by the Lord Mayor (M r. O'Brien), dressed in his official robes, and by several other members of the Corporation. Mr. O'Connell rode in the Lord Il layor's private carriage. The moment the Hon. Gentleman made his appearance outside his own door. 'mere was a general and hearty outburst of Pnioular feeling manifested in his favour by the multitudes assembled, which was kept up, with ut any intermission, till he arrived in the Fo ur Courts. The enthusiasm of the people was 111° q ardent and warm, and good wishes and Prayers f or hi s t r i ump h were ex p ress ed from many a , i evnted heart. When the !lon. Gentleman arrived at the place of trial the cheering was very great in dpueed• He seemed in excellent health and spirits, and P a ssed with a lighter anl more hurried step than ' 411 4 through the hall of the Court. COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH. MONDAY, JAN. 15. TIIE QUEEN 17. D O'CONNELL AND OTHERS. lad this Court been of ten times the size it is, it co uld h ave b een fill e d to overflowing. When its very „ "iited dimensions are considered, and the important t rial whi c h was a b ou t to commence in it, the anxiety to obtain a place to witness the opening of the case the traversers may he imagined. The nu mber o f hirristers in attendance was extra °ll:clinarY ; they a!one occupied the body of t Court. Th e g all e ry fronti n g the Bench was filled with sp ee t s tors admitted by tickets. There Were some, but not many, ladies among them. The entr ance of the jury some time before the Judges' to ok their s ea ts, exc it e d some a tt en ti on , and the mem te I 's of it appeared to be regarded with considerable th ilri e*ity, in which possibly some speculations as to e Probable duration of their labour largely mingled. T heir box was to the right of the Bench. The box m ro ediately opposite, that of the County Grand Jury, s appropri a t e d t o the reporters of the London and Dub lin journals ; the large number of these gentle 14ea requiring accommodation in the very limited t i fe e available, might have caused consi t th et able difficulty and embarrassment, but for 4 admirable arrangements made by the High et iff, Latouche, Esq., to whom the whole of the pr are deeply indebted. The Juzlges took their seat at 10 o'clock, and the er was ordered to call the traversers. On the t ame of the Rev. Mr. Tyrell being called, to;kr• CANTWELL, his solicitor, rose, and with a leg of considerable emotion, said, — " My Lords , th,, " reverend defendant has been summoned before bother judgment w seat,The beyond the power of this Court." th,`" e Counsel for the Crown took their seats first; ql were the Attorney-General, the Solicitor krierel, Mr. Brewster, Q. C., Mr. Martley, Q. C., lir• Freeman, Q. C., Sir Thomas Staples, Q. C., Mr. Itl e p t ,l t, Q. C., Sergeant Warren, Mr. Tombe, Q. C. t ri ' L etiolmes, Mr. Smyley, and Mr. Napier. The i ttl eil of these gentlemen were printed ones, and of :I,ense bulk. air. Counsel for the traversers were Mr. Moore, Q.C., k r. Fitzgibbon, Q.C., Mr. Whiteside, Q.C., Mr. 14°tnaahan, Q.C., Mr. Macionough, Q.C., Mr. an d e11,Q.0 , Mr. Henn, Q C., Mr. Shell, M.P. ` 4 C., Mr:Pigott, Q.C., Mr. Close, Sir Colman Loughlin, Mr. Perrin, and Sir. O'Hea. 4: the interval before calling the jury, some little I,:Rhter was excited by Mr. Ford, the solicitor for which traversers, causing the chair for the witnesses, had been fixed on the table on a revolving stal, to be removed. He. •.aid the counsel for the de fendant s must see the feces of the witnesses, and the fur ther off they sioo , i the louder they would speak. pi T he CHIEF JUSTICE asked if the chair had not been t e d as a kind of fixture ? (Laughter.) tl l l4 ja Lord s hip was assured by the officer of the Court ' 4t A could be easily removed. 1 le LORD Cumr JUSTICE—Oh, no motion need 1 111 ede abo u t it ye t.—(L aug ht er .) th e 3 4 „ e of the jur or s, M r . B en . E a t on , then appli e d t o kro. `•: 1 0 ,1 t art to be excus=ed from attendance, on the o: ill-health ; he said he had not strength to ~sta'n him through the attendance should the trial al on . tei, e4 g one, in consequence of an Inj ury he had re from a fall from a scaffolding in front of his , th 'iouse. e CH IEF JUSTICE told him he had better wait till traversers4 came into Court. s ob " . _ I nterval o f ti me passe d, d ur i n g which there was Tlesiness, the traversers not having appeared. tha t e te T hee JUSTICE at last reminded ,, Mr. Ford Public time was being consumed. 4 1s, ,rl:raversers were again called, and Mr. Steele, b ara ek ler ne3', and Mr. Duffy, answered to their 1) 1 , P ROCLAMATION OF THE JURY. kts: e ci l aniation of the Jury was thea made, which e tli e ,, the commencement of a series of appli lvorths for exempt ion. A Mr. James Pa s ~aaq stated that he was misdescribed, not being James. A Mr. James Hamilton Jaffe e the same plea, his name being Joseph, not elts t ' ---- (Laughter.) he For several names sick certs - T we re put in from their med ical ants. qatliii AT TORNEYGENERAL applied atten to d have Mr. 11 44 8 4111 mA Mr. Papworth called to answer to their °t eo un der a penalty of 501., if such persons existed iirse if 141 1 t there were any misdirection that could be I,4with hereafter. t int t he Were called, and answered, but still stated names were wrongly given. Mr. Pap- N es :e'd that his name was Collins Papworth, not , A a `% ;l l ft l ' 4t its and certificates, put in on behalf of those 4 4,. it Y l linable to attend, were put in and read, and the T h exemptions granted. N. e , e t raversers were called a third time, and all 4 ,ti s i e e :. They sat at the aide bar immediately -`" the Reporter' box, with the exception of Mr. le ° NMI • • la , who wore hie wig and gown, and sat with I , Cosel i n t h e Q ueen ' s counsel seat. vN. 4 e Clerk o f t h e C rown t h en i n f ormed t h e tra -1 tbs that • 44,, at the jury were about to be sworn on the end directed the book to be handed to Mr. J. ll r 4 00au rose, and on behalf of the traversers th to have p roo f' o f th e serv i ce o f th e summonses sot a ti se wh ose names h a d b een ca l le d , b ut who had T . Peared. 'e Loan C urer J u , Tte r sa id—M r . A ttorney- Tv, , You he ar the septicasion of Mr. M oore ? l ily, I:3 AT TORNEY- IiENLAAL — I have no objection. b 4v . 41 , 44 ' 4 Irel an d was t h eo calved and sworn. H e t4siil ro;lthe sus unionees o the gentlemen on the list of t ) ll th lie served the summons on Mr. Papworth st reet s th of January, at ea office, 106, Marlborough air aI \I 4: °°al,l-I)id you know his person ? Witness not. tas th e directi on o f the Court the w i tness l oo k e d a t Relin e • Inen in th e jurysbox, and identified Mr. t q orth the gentleman standing " with his back e k : l e c! . (Laughter.) He also steed that he h et , „ . _w c. ins residence from the summons itself. A b. " . e:ghed it the gentleman told him he was IC e he J a mes ?apw orth. That was the only ser aTr ll 'ade He also proved serving a summons on lino allliltonas 15, Chainber-street ;h' did not 04s at person. In both cases he served the sum t the residence of the parties. ttlf.:rcitub:stons were put to the witness by the Coun- T y„ .. Crown. t; CHALLENGE OF THE ARRAY. 140 The Cler 1, to b kof the C rown th en ca ll e d Mr. J. Hamil- Ls!P v orn as a juror ; but before th e book could vt to hi ll , • • - • TWE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY MORNING, JANUARY r„ 1844. Sir CoLmAx O'LouGuLIN rose, and on the part of peace, and that the Recorder neglected to do so. The Mr. Daniel O'Connell put in a challenge of the array Learned Gentletnan then wanton to read from thechal of the whole panel. He did not make any address, but lenge to show that the averments had been made as dis at once proceeded to read the challenge, which was , tinctly as possible, and in fact in the very words of of considerable length, and in the usual legal form. ; the statute. He did not think the Crown ought to It set forth that the defendant, Mr. Daniel O'Con- press the trial under such circumstances. It was no nell, put in this challenge of the array of the jury, on his own behalf, because that a list of the persons qualified to serve as jurors was prepared and presented to the Recorder at the special sessions for the county and city of Dublin, and duly signed by him; but that the itecorder did not, according to the enactment in that case made and provided, deliver in a general list of such jurors, in the order the statute directs, but that on the contrary, he omitted so to do ; and that the said Daniel O'Connell asserts that the paper puporting to contain the names of such jurors was illegally and fraudulently made by some person or persons unknown ; and that the said paper did not contain the names of ALL the persons quali fied to serve on the jury, and whose qualification had been allowed by the Recorder, but from it had been omitted the names of fifty-nine persons whose qualifications had been so allowed. (The names were given : twenty-seven of them are understood to be Catholics.) The challenge also stated, that at the time the fraudulent writing was returned the persons so omitted were, and still are, resident in the city of t)ablin, and duly qualified to be placed on the ; it also asserted that from the said writing, purporting to he a list of the jurors, a bo, It was prepared, and from the said book was made up the list of the special jury for the year 1844, and that the persons so omitted in the writing were also passed over in the jury book. Thechallenge then stated Mr. O'Connell's protest against and chal lenge of the legality of the jury panel, for these rea sons—it being falsified by the omissions above stated. Sir COLMAN O'LotronLlN said that similar chal lenges were being prepared for each of the other tra versers, but that they were not yet ready. The document was handed to the Attorney-Gene ral, who for some time appeared to scrutinise it very earnestly. Sir C. O'LOUGHLIN said the other challenges would be identically the same in form, and stated that they might all be considered then, pro forma, though they were not yet completely drawn up. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said that he had not seen the challenge till then—he had not heard of it, and was not aware that it was about to be made. He therefore asked the Court to allow the Counsel for the Crown a short time to consider it. He should expect, if all the challenges were to be considered to gether, that they should also all be disposed of at the same time. The CHIEF JUSTICE—Have you a copy of the Act of Parliament, Sir Colman ? Sir COLMAN O'LouGRLIN replied in the affirma tive. The Crown lawyers then quitted the Court for the purpose of consulting together, and the proceedings of the Court were for a considerable time suspended. The Counsel for the Crown and traversers having returned to the Court, after an absence of two hours, The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said—l wish the other challenges to be handed in. Mr. MooRE, on the part of the traversers, put it to the Court whether the other traversers were hound to put in their challenges at the present moment. The traversers were there perfectly separate and distinct, appearing by separate and distinct solicitors, separate and distinct counsel. The counsel for one of the traversers, Sir C. O'Loughlin, had put in a challenge to the array on the part of his client, and he (Mr. Moore) submitted that the Attorney-General had no right to ask that other challenges should be put in before that already put in was disposed of by the Court. CHIEF JUSTICE—That would be shifting your ground considerably, Mr. Moore. It was mentioned for the other traversers that they only wanted time tc, prepare similar challenges. Mr. MoottE—lf that was done I do not think that I ought to proceed any further in the matter. CHIEF JUSTICE—That was done in open Court. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL-It may be proper to enter a suggestion on the record respecting the death of the Rev. Mr. Tyrrell. His name having been included in the indictment, the'proper course would be to enter a suggestion on the record, to say that he is dead. CHIEF JUSTICE—That has been stated by the gentleman ..vho was his solicitor. - A pause of considerable length having here talten place in the proceedings, in consequence of several challenges not being yet ready. The CHIEF JUSTICE observed that there was much time consumed in the preparation of them. Sir C. O'LOUGuLIN—They are all engrossed, my Lord, and will be ready in a few minutes. They are now being compared. objection to ' say that the guilty person could be punished for omitting the names ; for what satis faction was that to a person found guilty, it may be, of a capital offence ? Mr. FITZGIBBON argued on the same side with Sir Colman O'Loughlin. He said, the real question in the case was, whether the list was a good one, and he would undertake to show it was not. The Legis lature was most precise in the language it used with regard to there being a proper list. But for this list what had been substituted? The traversers had not shrunk from placing on their challenge an averment that they were no parties to the frau4 which had occasioned the omission. The whole argument of the At torney-General amounted to this—that some in dividual had been dexterous enough to filch from the desk of the Recorder the list of the jurors, and to decimate the whole of them, for the omission of 59 names amounted to about a tithe of the number ; and that if any person had done this he ought to be punished, and that he (the Attorney-General) would assist in doing so. He would assume that it was the Recor der's footman who had done this; but did that make the Recorder's conduct more legal or proper ? The law said that the Recorder should make out, or caus to be made out, a list comprehending all the names qual lied to be placed upon it. Had he caused this to be done ? The answer was plain and evident that he had not. The traversers, therefore, objected to be tried by a jury so fraudulently constructed. If he could suppose—what, perhaps, it was difficult to sup pose—a Crown prosecutor desirous of doing justice, and justice only, he would have been careful that not one of his steps towards hunting a fellow- subject into a prison should be tainted by illegality and fraud ? Would he not gladly have embraced the opportunity now offered of correcting CHIEF JUSTICE—You ought to have come into Court prepared with them all. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—I cannot understand the course adopted. In all those cases there might as well have been joint challenges as separate ones. this error ? It was not too late ; it might be easily accomplished. They had only to have adjourned the Court till to-morrow, and in the mean time to have made inquiries of the Recorder if the .59 persons were duly qualified; and if they were shown to be so, they might have said let the 59 names be put into the box again, and the jury drawn with them. The omission would thus have been supplied. He knew that every public officer must be presumed to have done his duty till the contrary was proved. AV as the contrary proved in this instance ? He contended that the grossest negligence had been proved against him, and yet they were asked to presume that he had done his duty ? It was one of the first prin- ciples of law, that fraud vitiated everything. It would vitiate a judgment of their Lordships ---it Mr. PIERCE MAIIONY, one of the traversers' solici :ors, observed, they Ns ould be ready and in Court in would vitiate a judgment of the House of Lords. But in nothing ought fraud to be more guarded against than in the preparation of the list of those who were to pronounce on the guilt or innocence of a fellow-man. They had heard a great deal of the mischief of delaying justice. He agreed as to the mischief of delaying justice but there was a very great advantage in delaying injustice. He denied what had been asserted, that the list of jurors for 1844 was to be taken from the previous list. The Attorney-General had not ess than five minutes.—(Laughter.) pointed out one defect or failure in the averments of the challenge. He asserted that there was no aver ment that the Recorder did not hand in a list; cer tainly there was not; but there was an averment that he handed in an illegal list. Had the chal lenge denied that a list was handed in at all, they would have immediately been met by a question of fact, and full proof would have been given that a list was furnished. He contended also that the Legislature gave full powers to rectify the list if any errors had been committed in drawing it up. And were they to have no remedy ? Why, then, were they given the power to challenge the array at all ? He did not cast one single imputation on the integrity of any one of the twenty-four gentlemen who had been selected. He was against the whole principle on which the panel had been constructed, and the legality of it as constructed. The SOLICITOR-GENERAL then rose. In com mencing his address, he regretted that his Learned young Friend had, from inadvertence, used the ex pression of a " packed jury." Such expressions went abroad, and produced an imputation most injurious, although they were groundless and unwarrantable. He then proceeded to the question of the challenge, the legality of which he supported, on the ground that there was a difference between the challenge of a jury on the ground of a want of impartiality on the part of the Sheriff, and the challenge of a jury where no such partiality was alleged against him. He quoted several cases and reports, to prove the inconveniences of The different challenges on the part of the other .raversers were th>rf handed in after some time. allowing the challenge in such cases. He also strongly condemned the harsh terms w hich had been applied to the conduct of the Recorder, who was not before the Court, was unrepresented by counsel, and could not reply to the aspersions. He then proceeded to notice the legal consequences of that alleged misconduct, Mr. O'Connell—They are signed by counsel, I suppose. and restated the argument of the Attorney-General, that certain averments which ought to have been made in the challenge, in orier to support it, were not inserted. He argued also that, even allowing that the Recorder had been guilty of negligence, Mr. Ford, solicitor for the traversers—They are. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL—I wish to see them. The challenges were then handed to the Learned Gentleman. he consequences of that negligence amounted only to :his, that the list was not so perfect as it might have been. But it wis not denied that some list was made. With regard to the observations made by his Learned Friend, Mr. Fitzgibbon, that the fifty-n►ne persons whose names were left out ought to be inserted, he begged to remark that it would not be competent for them to do so. They could not make any alteration in the jury list after it had been once struck, but persons seemed to imagine that things could be done in this case which could not be done in any other. The Learned Gentleman proceeded at great length to controvert the arguments of the counsel for the traversers, and concluded a very able argument by calling on the Court to allow the demurrer of the Crown. Mr. MOORE said, on the part of Mr. O'Connell, and after the able statement of the Solicitor-General, that he would propose the matter should now be re ferred back to the Recorder, and that a new list should be struck. The ATTORNEY-GENERAL objected altogether to such a proposition, and he was astonished that such a one could have been made by Mr. Moore, who, as a lawyer, must know it would be perfectly illegal ; and he, holding the office of Attorney-General, would be unworthy to hold that situation for a single moment if he assented to such a proposition. Mr. MOORE said the Attorney-General had grossly misconceived the nature of his proposition. He (Mr. Moore) made it only with respect to this single case. The Attorney-General seemed to attribute to him an improper motive, and monstrous ignorance in making it. lie would not reply to the observations of the At torney-General. The proposition he made in good faith, and in consequence of instructions he had re ceived from his clients. He did not think he could he charged with having exhibited any improper feel ing, or could be charg►ed with monstrous ignorance as to his duties as a lawyer in making it.—(Applause throughout the Court.) The ATTORNEY• GENERAL said that if such feel ings were manifested in Court, he should be obliged to take measures to have no persons admitted to the gallery. He thought that his Learned Friend had meant his proposition generally, and he must have known, if he did so, it could not be legally done. The Learned Judges having consulted for a short time, The CHIEF JUSTICE said the majority of the Court were of opinion in this case that the demurrer should be allowed, and, consequently, that the challenge should be overruled. The subject-matter was not now under the consideration of the Court, inasmuch as the arguments used on both sides had embraced, in substance, the greater part of what the Court had been occupied with on Friday last. The Court had then given judgment, and upon every consideration he had been able to give the subject since, he found no reason to alter the decision the Court had then pronounced, through him. On the contrary, during the progress of the argument, and applying his best judgment to the matter, the opinion he entertained then was confirmed. The - application then under the consideration of the Court was, that, for certain rea sons alleged, the panel should he quashed, and he con fessed he could not see the principles upon which he could now be called upon to give a different judgment from that which be had given on a former occasion; and in which all his brethren concurred. The present application came before the Court in the shape of a challenge to the array. The objection was that a number of names which should have been upon the jury list were not there, and that the Recorder of I Dublin had neglected, cr omitted, to make a proper , list. In considering. this subject, it would be neces -1 sary to look to the Jury Law to see what its object was. The Learned Judge then proceeded to point The ATTORN E Y-GENERAL then rose to support the demurrer which had been put in on behalf of the Crown. The argument adopted by the Learned Gentleman was that the challenges put in contained no averment. There was no averment that the Recorder had not made out a list from the general list accord ing to the respective qualifications of the parties, and there was no allegation that the Recorder, or any persons connected with him, had been guilty of fraud with regard to the omission of the names from the list. There was no averment that he did not hand over the list so made out to the Clerk of the Peace- There was no averment that the Clerk of the Peace did not make out a proper list from the general list. There was no averment that the High Sheriff did not receive the jury list, and that he did not make out the special jury list from the 717 names. There was no averment that the jury was not properly struck and balloted !lir from the special jury list. There was no allegation of fraud, contrivance, or design on the part of the Crown, or the Sheriff, or the Recorder, or the Clerk or the Peace, or with regard to any person con nected with them. Under those circumstances, he trusted the Court would not allow the challenges put in on the part of the traversers. It was to be presumed prima facie that the public officers had performed their duty, and as there was no dis tinct averment in them, the Court, he hoped, would not allow them to retard this cause, which was now ripe for trial. It was absurd to suppose that the entire proceedings should be rendered null because a name might be omitted fro:n the list by some person who was not known. The Crown was as anxious as the traver! , .ers possibly could be to make out the guilty person. He contended on the authority of a case in 4th Barnes.. all and Alderson, that a challenge to the array would not lie in such a case. Under these circumstances he trusted the Court would be of opinion that the demurrer they took to the several challenges ought to be allowed, and that the trial ought he permitted to proceed. Sir C. O'LOUGHLIN replied on the part of the traversers, and quoted Hayes and Dickenson's Text book, Bacon's Abridgment, the case of the King v. Johnson, and the case of the King and Nolan in Hudson at.d Brooke, 164, to show that a challenge to the array would lie in a special jury case. With regard to what the Learned Attorney-General prin cipally relied on, namely, that there was no aver ment, the fact was, that there was as distinct an averment, as it was possible to make. They dis tinctly attributed fraud with regard to the jury list, and the omission of certain names from it to some person, hut who was the precise person on whom to fix that fraud, it was impossible for them to say. This fraud must have been committed before the list came into the hands of the Sheriff. Tl:e Attorney-General did not dare to deny that tLel special list was illegally and fraudulently made ou t . They distinctly avowed that no general list was made Lout ; that no general list was handed to theglerk ofthe out at considerable length how the provisions of the Act applied to the present case, and how no violation of them had been committed so as to invalidate the proceedings of the Recorder or the Clerk of the Peace in the matter. The Clerk of the Peace, with a view to his preparing the jury list for the ensuing year, was directed by the Act to issue his precepts to the several collectors of taxes, whence might be dated the origin of the persons who were to be called on to be placed on the jury lists or not. The Act defined who were the persons that were to be admitted upon the jury list, and precautions were taken by those officers that none were admitted but those qualified to dis charge the duties of a juror. Those lists having been returned to the Clerk of the Peace, were to be subse quently laid by him before the Recorder of the City of Dublin for his revision and adjudication. The Recorder was the last who had any control on the subject, and there must have been very good reasons why his decision was made final and not open to col lateral investigation. In the present case, the provi sions of the Act had been complied with—the precepts made—the lists returned from the parish officer— the investigation and the Recorder's decision made, which decision none but the Recorder himself could review for the purpose of disputing it. All that was required by the Act had been complied with, and if the course contended for by Counsel for the traversers had been pursued, it would be unsettling rather than settling the duties - of the officers—a thing that cer• tainly could never have been intended by the Act. Where fraud had not been proved it was out of the power of the Queen's Bench to investigate the deci sion of the Recorder, even if he had come to a wrong conclusion. The Learned Judge detailed at consider able length various reasons in support of his view of the case, and concluded by saying that he was of opinion the demurrer must be allowed. Mr. Justice BURTON next stated his reasons for concurring with the Lord Chief Justice in the opinion that the demurrer should be allowed. If the demurrer were not allowed, it would form a precedent which, in future cases, would cause delay, that might, per haps, ruin parties engaged in law proceedings; and it would, besides, render the present proceedings a nullity. It was his opinion the demurrer must be allowed. He had considerable doubt whether any challenge at all existed to the panel of a special jury. Supposing it did apply here, no imputation whatever rests upon the Sheriff; again, there was no linputa• tion on the Clerk of the Crown. The Sheriff's duty was indeed a mere formal matter; as to making any judicial decision on the list, it was quite out of his function, which was merely to strike a panel. What was the challenge here founded on ? On the supposed want of impartiality of some unknown person who had access to the Recorder's-office, before the list was arranged. That was an unheard of challenge. It was not founded on the want of impartiality on the part of any public officer ; it gave a new range en tirely to the right of challenge, and impugned the whole list because there was some fraud or mis management on the part of some unknown person, during the process of preparing the list. Admitting that the Recorder had not been as diligent and atten tive as he might have been under the circumstances, still there was no fraud alleged against him. The Learned Judge then read extracts from the statute defining the duties of the Recorder, which he con tended were judicial, and against his decision there was no appeal to any Court. The other officers had merely a plain, defined duty to perform. As to the omission of the sixty names from the list, what was the duty of the Sheriff with regard to them ? The list must be taken from the jurors' book, and could be taken from no other source; if the jurors' book for 1844 were as nullity, then they were directly driven to the jury book of 1843. The admission of the challenge would cause many difficulties. Suppos ing that a knave or an idiot obtained access to the papers while in course of preparation, and were to purloin part of the papers ; or even if a rat were to eat them, the whole community was to be deprived of a special jury list. Even the omission of one name might on this principle be considered sufficient. It was always necessary that a private injury must give way to a general inconvenience. No par ticular injury had been stated here ; but was there ever a case in which a more monstrous general inconvenience had been pointed out ? They could not go behind the jurors' book, and there was no imputation upon that; the imputa tion was on the general list. They could not enter here into any considerations as to the mode of preparing the jurors' book, through the medium of a challenge. If they had been right in refusing the motion made on this subject, they should be right, ex superabun dante, in refusing the challenge. He was, therefore, of opinion, that it must be refused. Mr. Justice PERRIN, in giving his opinion, said he had given careful consideration to the Act of Parlia ment, and applying its provisions to the matters as they appeared on the challenge, he was under the dis advantage of not coming to the same conclusion as that to which the Chief Justice and his brethren had arrived. He thought, subject to considerable doubt, that the challenge ought to be allowed. By the Act of Parliament, the collectors of taxes were to make out two lists of all qualified persons to act on the jury within their districts, and to give them to the Clerk of the Peace. These lists were afterwards re vised by the Recorder, and, with respect to that officer, he fully concurred in the distinction which had been drawn between his ministerial and judicial functions. With the revision cf the list he considered that the • Recorder's judicial duty ended. This ap peared to be the case, from the mode in which the jury lists were prepared in the counties. There they were revised by the Justices, and delivered to the Sheriff. In the present case, the Recorder should not have written out a general list with his own hand ; he ought to have caused a general list to be made out from the list he had revised ; but it did not appear that the least degree of fraud had been imputed to the Recorder ; he had never heard it imputed, nor could it be believed. But it seemed that he had been imposed upon by the person whom he had employed to make out the list. Now every one must employ clerks, and if con trivances of that kind, on the part of persons so em ployed, ed, were not inquired into, and were not to vitiate the acts which purported to be the acts of their superior officers, he was really at a loss to understand what was the security of the public for the purity of the jurors' book. In such a case one list might be muti lated, and another list substituted. He had heard some difficulties stated, as to whether the Recorder could amend his list, having discovered any mutilation or omission, after having delivered it to the Sheriff. But it seemed to him that he could do so, and would do his duty i n so amen di ng i t . I t h a d been stated also that there was likely to be some inconvenience experienced should the challenge be allowed. It ap peared to him that the inconvenience had been appre hended to be much more extensive than it would really be found to be. It appeared to him that there was a power of at once correcting the errors which might exist in the list of jurors. He could not see any objection to amending the book according to the true and real general list, vouched and supported by comparison with the authentic parochial lists. On these grounds he had felt himself compelled to come to that conclusion. He certainly did entertain an im pression that the challenge ought to be allowed, though certainly not without considerable doubt as to the correctness of his opinion. The Court was then adjourned till ten o'clock the following morning. REPEAL ASSOCIATION. The Association held its usual weekly meeting in the Conciliation Hall this day. The chair was taken at two o'clock by Martin Henan, Esq., of Limerick. The hall was thronged in every part, and the gal leries were filed with fashionably dressed females. In the course of the transaction of the ordinary routine business, Mr. O'Connell entered the hall, and was greeted by the most enthusiastic and prolonged cheers. Several subscriptions having been handed in, the thanks of the meeting, on the motion of Mr. O'Con. nell, were voted to the inhabitants of Placentia, New foundland, for a subscription of 16/. transmitted by them to the Association. While several subscriptions were being handed in, Mr. O'CoNNELL observed that the expenses of the trials would be enormous. He would say no more for Ireland. He would be ashamed to say more. The Hon. Gentleman then handed in 541. 2s. 6d. from the grocer's assistants of Dublin; an address from whom to the Liberator was also read. The following sums from America were . handed in by Mr. O'Connell :—St. John's, Newfoundland, 51. 10s. Bd. ; Pittsfield, 101; Richmond County, 10/. ; Norfolk, GOT.; Baltimore, 1201. These sums were announced amidst the most rap turous applause. Mr. O'CONNELL observed that as the hour at which the Association had met that day was rather late, he would reserve the reading of the correspondence that accompanied those remittances, for Monday next, when he would ask leave of the Attorney-General to come down from the Courts.—(Laughter.) On the motion of Mr. O'CONNELL, the thanks of the Association were passed to the parties whose names were connected with those subscriptions. In the course of one of the various short addresses which Mr. O'Connell made to the assembly, he ob served that he did not care one pinch of snuff for the result of the trials. lle inculcated the neces sity of peaceable conduct on the present occasion throughout Ireland, and in Dublin particularly, where he trusted, the people who assembled in the streets to witness hia progress to _the Court, would not hoot or groan at any individuals. He also guarded them against the spread of ribbonism. Among the subscriptions handed in was 11. sent from the Queen's Bench by Dr. Gray, the proprietor of the Freeman's Journal and one of the traversers. The whole amount for the week was 9041. 19s. sd. The announcement of that sum was received with loud and enthusiastic applause. MURDER AND ROBBERY. In addition to the excitement caused in Dublin by the State trials, a general feeling of horror was created by the report that a barbarous murder had been com mitted during the prievous evening, in the priest's house attached to the Catholic chapel at Rathmines: The Rev. Mr. Roche, the curate, and other clergymen, reside in the house. At seven o'clock last evening (Sunday) the house was broken open, awl money stolen to the amount of 401., and the maid-servant barbarously mur dered. She was found with her throat cut. It is not known whether there is any clue to the discovery of the perpetrators of this horrid outrage. NEAPOLITAN TRADE with INDIA. East India-house, Jan. 11. Sir,----In reply to your note of the 9th inst., inquiring If Neapolitan merchant vessels under the Neapolitan flag can take cargoes in the port of Singapore fur the kingdom of the Two Sicities, ' I am commanded by the Court of Directors of the East India Company to trans mit to you a copy of " a regulation relating to the trade of foreign ships with India," which was promulgated by the Government of India on the 2d December, 1839. I am, Sir, your most obedient humble servant, JAMES MELVILL. To Mr. W. Dobson, Secretary at Lloyd's. Extract from the Calcutta Gazette, Dec. 11, 1839. "Legislative Department, Dec. 2, 1839. " The following regulation made and passed by the lion. Court of Directors of the. East India Company, under the authority given to them by the Act of the 37th George 111., cap. 117, is published for general in. formation by order of the Hon. the President of the Council of India in Council " A REGULATION RELATING TO THE TRADE OF FOREIGN SHIPS WITH INDIA. " Preamble.—Whereas a regulation was made and passed by the Court of Directors of the East India Company, and transmitted to India by a dispatch dated the 28th day of July, 1837, and promulgated by the Su preme Government on the 29th day of December, 1837, for rescinding and re enacting, with modification, cer tain provisions contained in a regulation made and passed by the said Court of Directors on the 12th of August, 1829, for regulating the trade of foreign nations with the ports and settlements of the British nation in the East Indies ; and whereas doubts have arisen as to the true intent and meaning of certain parts of such regula tions, and it is expedient that such doubts should be re moved, the Court of Directors of the said Company, by virtue of the powers granted to them by the Act passed in the 37th year of the reign of his late Majesty King George 111., entitled An Act for regulating the trade to be carried on with the British possessions in India by the ships of nations in amity with his Majesty," have rescinded the whole of the said regulations, and in lieu thereof have framed the following regulations : " ' Foreign ships belonging to any State or country in Europe, or in America, so long as such States or coun tries respectively remain in amity with her Majesty, may freely enter the British sea-ports and harbours in the East Indies, whether they come directly from their own country, or from any other places, and shall be there hospitably received, and shall have liberty to trade there in imports and exports, conformably to the regulations established, or to be established, in such sea-ports ; pro vided that it shall not be lawful for the said ships to re ceive goods on board at one British port of India, to be conveyed to another British port of India, on freight or otherwise, but nevertheless the inward cargoes of such ships may be discharged at different British ports, and the outward cargoes of such ships may be laden at dif ferent British ports for their foreign destinations; and pro vided further, that it shall not be lawful for the said ships in time of war between the British Government and any State or Power whatsoever, to export from the said British territories, without the special permission of the British Government, any military or naval stores, salt petre, or grain. " J. P. GRANT, Officiating Secretary of the Government of India.' " FINE ARTS. We have just seen a portrait of Mr. Charles Phillips, one of the newly-appointed Commis sioners of the Court of Bankruptcy. This por trait is a half-length, and represents the Learned Gentleman, with his right arm stretched forward, and his left resting on a law book, in the act, we presume, of addressing one of the Judges in Bankruptcy. The likeness is a very striking one ; and as a work of art, it deserves great praise for the neatness and skill with which it is finished off. The artist is a gentleman named O'Driscoll, who has painted it from life, and drawn it on stone. NAVAL AND MILITARY INTEL LIGENCE. COURT-MARTIAL.—The Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, at the request of Colonel Parker, C. 8., commandant of the Woolwich division of Royal Marines, have ordered a court-martial to assemble this day at Woolwich, for the trial of a private marine, named Knowles, for striking a non-commissioned officer. The Hon. R. Pakenham, Envoy Extraordinary to the United States, and W. Bankhead, Esq., the newly appointed Minister to Mexico, have arrived at De vonport, the former to embark in the Vestal, 26, Capt. Talbot, for New York, and the latter in the Helena,l6, Commander Sir C. Rick e tt s , f or J ama i ca . SURVEYING EXPEDITIONS BY THE AMERICANS.-- The Phoenix, American sloop-of-war, Lieutenant Sinclair, is ordered by the American Government to proceed to Cuba, for the purpose of ascertaining and laying down the accurate position of an island called Bax del Combo, said to be situated in a channel through which all the American West India vessels cruise, on the south side of Cuba, and near the noto rious Isle of Pines. This island of Combo was thrown up a few years since many feet above the level of the sea, by one of those mighty and violent convulsions of nature which so often agitate and disrupt that de lightful portion of the globe. A Dutch man-of-war steamer, called the Laucies, was towed into Plymouth Sound, on Sunday morn ing, by a revenue cutter. She was from Texel, for the coast of Africa, and was totally dismasted on Wednesday last, in a squall, between the Isle of Wight and Cherbourg. She had jury rigging, but availed herself of the assistance of the cutter. The Resistance troop-ship, Commander Patey, ar rived at Devonport on Saturday, from Cork, to be refitted and paid wages. In Devonport Sound.—The Vestal, the Helena, the Larne, and the Resistance, and a Dutch man-of-war schooner. PROMOTlON.—Lieutenant—P. W. Horton (1819), for his gallant conduct in the boats of the Dido, against the pirates at Borneo, to the rank of Com mander. Ar 01NTMENTS.—Lieutenants—Robt. R. B. Mac leod, to the Resistance; Alexander Anderson, John Wilson (b), and John S. Robinson (additionals), to the Madagascar. OBlTUARY.—Lieutenant-Colonel Raymond White died at Wargrave Hall, Berks, on the 14th instant. He became Lieutenant-Colonel of the 7th (Innis killin) Dragoons on the 17th of July, 1840, and was nineteen years in the army—all the time on full pay. —Commander John Bernhard Smith, R.N. (1812), died on the 11th inst., aged 60; was midshipman of the Hercule, and distinguished himself when in com mand of her tender by driving on shore and destroy ing a schooner of five guns and 96 men.—Lieutenant J. H. Peel, R.N. (1820), died at the Isle of Wight, on the 13th inst.; was wounded when midshipman of the Albion, in America. DEATH OF SIR ROBERT ANDREWS DOUGLAS, BART. —We have to record the death of Sir Robert An drews Douglas, Bart., of Glenbervie, which took place at the Mauritius on the Ist November last, where he was in command of the reserve battalion 12th Regi ment. Lady. Douglas, with her three infant chil dren, arrived from England only two days before the sad event. The deceased Baronet was eldest son of the late General Sir Kenneth Mackenzie, who as sumed the name and arms of Douglas by sign manual, and married the daughter of the late Joshua Rouse, Eq., of Southampton, by whom he has a son, Robert, born 1837, and two other childern. FALMOUTH, JAN. 14.—A public meeting was held on Friday evening, at Wesley Chapel, in this town, for the purpose of affording an introduction to the deputa tion of the Free Church of Scotland—the Rev. Patrick Fairbairn and the Rev. James M'Kenzie. A large body of Dissenters assembled on the occasion, but the chapel was not so full as the subject might from its novelty have occasioned, and the exertions which were adopted to get up the meeting. The deputation intend visiting every town in the country ; and, from the large number of Dissenters therein, the contributions are likely to be considerable. ImPROVEMEN'TS OF THE MINT IN THE BOROUGH. —The long contemplated improvements in that densely populated locale—the Mint in Southwark, are now it would seem at once to take place. The same plan for s new street, which was approved of at a meeting held at the Town Hall, on September 17, 1840, designed by Mr. Attiscocks, the surveyor, is to undergo little or no mo dification or alteration. It runs in a slightly curved line from Blackman-street, St. George the Martyr, and joins Charlotte-street, Christchurch, thus cutting through the very heart of the miserable dens and those hotbeds of crime in the Borough Mint. The line Will intersect Harrow-street, Red-cross-street, Duke-street and King-street, embracing Mint-square, and widening Queen-street, Southwark Bridge-road, to upwards of three times its present width. After crossing the South wark Bridge-road it leaves a portion on the north of Norfolk-street standing, and quitting it at PaTiour's alley, intersects Prince's-street and crosses Gravel:line . into Charlotte-street, only a corner of which will have to come down. The whole extent is a little more than 6,600 yards. A question naturally suggests itself— beneficial as the vast improvements at present proceed ing must be allowed to be,—what is to become of the poor who have so long inhabited St. Giles's, the Mint, and other localities which are now daily being raEpti to the giound ? THE BIRMINGHAM BLACK-HOLE. At the close of the Borough sessions, at Birming ham' on Saturday, two men, name d J ames Smith and John Taylor, were placed in the dock to answer a charge of assault upon police-constable Buckertield. Mr. Mellor appeared for the prosecution, and stated the case. The Learned Gentleman said he had to request the attention of the Court and jury to that case, which was instituted by the superintendent of police for the protection of his officers, one of whom, the complainant, Buckerfield, had been grossly as saulted on the 25th of December, whilst in the execu tion of his duty, under the following circumstances : It appeared t hat on that day Buckerfield was sent to quell some disturbance in a place in this town, which, from all he could hear, was a disgrace, not only to the town of Birmingham, but would be a disgrace to any country or to any age. It was called a prison, con nected with what was termed a Court of 1 - tquests. It was a prison, indeed, but the like of which he had never heard of since he read of the celebrated Black hole at Calcutta, or those dark and l oa th some dun .. geons which had disgraced bygone days. Itw;a prison under ground, in a cellar of the house ; and in this place twenty-three persons were confined for debt. He was told that the situation of these unfor tunate persons was truly intolerable, and that it was really impossible for language to describe the wretched condition in which these beings were detained. He was told its common name in the town was the Louse Hole; by that it was known, by that it was called ; and he could not refrain from saying, that it was really a disgrace to think that such a prison, such a sink of filth and cruelty, could be permitted to exist in a town like this. Having thus noticed the place of as sault, which he had no doubt would soon undergo a change, he should state the facts of the case he had to prosecute against the prisoners. It appeared that some disturbance arose in this place, in which the assist ance of the police was required. On the 25th Dec. (being Christmas-day), the governor permitted a number of persons, friends of the unfortunate debtors who were confined in this hole, to go into the place, for the purpose of seeing their friends and spending some time with them. A certain time was allowed for them to remain in ; but it appeared that they re mained longer than the time allowed, and under the influence of drink they began to quarrel. In fact, a regular fight ensued, and the governor was in a state of terror and alarm. He was afraid to go near the place, and he in consequence applied for the assistance of the police. The complainant, Buckerfield, was sent to the place, and he entered this cell, where he was immediately seized hold of, the cape of his coat was torn off, his staff was taken from him, he was beaten with a stick upon the head, and grossly used by the persons in the room. Mr. Boot was then called, and on being examined by Mr. Mellor, stated that he was keeper of the prison called the Court of Requests. Cross•examined by Mr. Millar—lle had been twenty-six years altogether in his present situation, and the cell of which he had been speaking had been used all that time as a prison. It had been called the Louse Hole from time immemorial. Men women, and children,' were altogether in one room. He could not refuse to let their wives in, if they came at proper hours. He could not tell the size of the room. It was something larger than the area around that table. Respectable persons were placed in an inner room. Mr. Millar—And what sort of persons, pray, do you put in this glorious pandemonium ? Witness— I put all those there who do not go out under the Insolvent Act. They did not sleep in that room at night; they slept in a room up stairs. Sometimes they requested to be allowed to sleep down in the room already described. The parties up stairs had straw beds if they paid for them.—(Sensation in Court.) They had no beds when they slept below stairs. He could not tell the size of the place they slept in above stairs. It was snore than five yards square. He would not swear it was twenty yards. There were twenty-seven persons sleeping in the room at the time. Mr. Mellor—And dow do they lie ? Mr. Spooner, barrister—They lie down beads and points like a parcel of dogs. The Recorder—Has any person in authority visited the place during your time ? Witness—A person from London visited it two years ago, and since then one came down. The Recorder—What was his name ? Witness— Ido not know. He came and said he was an in spector of prisons, and I showed him all the rooms, and told him the number of prisoners they contained. The Recorder—ls not this Court of Requests pre sided over by Commissioners ? Witness—Yes. The Recorder—Do they ever look over the pri soners ? Witness—They are there every Friday. The Recorder—Do any of them ever go down to look at this place ? Witness—Yes ; they have seen it. Evidence was then given of the assault, and the Recorder addressed the jury. Twenty-seven fellow beings—fellow-men, endowed with all the sensibilities of nature, had, it appeared, from time to time, been subject to bodily torture and mental degradation, to the manifest injury of body and soul, in this miser able dungeon—a dungeon existing below the sur face of the earth, although no person ought to be confined below the earth—in a dun geon that recalled to the mind those horrible places which he had hoped had passed away for ever. In his opinion, unless they saw good reason to doubt the evidence they had heard, the two prisoners were clearly guilty of the assault ; and they stood then in a position which he hoped would be long peculiar to themselves in the administration of English laws. They stood in a position in which a verdict of guilty would draw upon them, not, in point of fact, a punish ment, but a reward; for one could readily believe that it would be, after the description they had heard of the place of their confinement, a blessing to them to be removed under almost any circumstances. The jury returned a verdict of Guilty. After which The Recorder, addressing the prisoners, said he was not giving them any pain by pronouncing the sentence upon them, that they be imprisoned in the county gaol, and kept to hard labour for three months. In that gaol they would find cleanliness and humanity, and attention would be paid to their spiritual as well as temporal wants. The prisoners were then removed. BRITISH ORPHAN ASYLUM.—On Monday, the 33d Annual General Meeting of the subscribers to this Society took place at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate street, Mr. S. B. Brook in the chair. The Report, after congratulating the subscribers on the continued pros perity of the charity, stated that the Society's asylum had lately been enlarged at a cost of 1,786/, about 4881. of which still remained to be paid oft: During the past year 13 orphans had been received into the asylum, and 17, of whom 13 had completed their education, had left and obtained situations. The number received since the commencement of the year had been 78, of whom 53 were boys and 21 girls. The Committee had to announce that his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge had become Vice-Patron of the institution, and that the amount subscribed at the last anniversary dinner, at which his Royal Highness presided, was 545 L During the day an election of seven children out of a list of 23 took place. THE WRECKED FISHERMEN.—We are glad to observe that the appeal to the sympathies of the public in behalf of the poor fishermen who have lost their bread-winners, is not likely to have been made in vain. The subscriptions advertised to-day amount to upwards of one hundred and sixty pounds, and we know that more is forthcoming. Nor will it be unrequired. The sum necessary to replace the wrecked boats is much larger than was at first supposed ; and, as the people can do little or nothing themselves, there will be the greater claim on the generosity of the public.— Aberdeen Herat'. CORONER'S INQUEST.-DREADFUL DESTITUTION. —Mr. Payne held an inquest on Monday evening at the workhouse of the West London Union, West -street, Smithfield, on view of the body of Dominic Cousins, aged 58. Police-constable Joseph Dunney, No. 258, stated that about three o'clock on Thursday afternoon last, de ceased came to the station-house in Smithfield, just at the time witness was taking in a prisoner. He asked leave to come into the station-house and lie down. Witness told him that could not be allowed, and directed deceased to go the workhouse in West Smithfield. Witness subsequently took deceased to the work house. That was only a few minutes afterwards. He told witness that he had a wife in a madhouse. He said also that he was a cabinet maker and a foreigner. George Henry Davies, a porter at the 'West London union workhouse, said that he saw deceased on his being brought in, and was with him up to the hour of his death, which took place about seven o'clock the following (Friday) morning. Deceased had some tea and bread and butter, and was put to bed almost as soon as he was brought to the work house. He appeared to be dreadfully ill, and in a very emaciated state. Ile could hardly speak, and gasped for breath. By Mr. Ray's order, the parish surgeon, he had several' glasses of port wine, and also some medicine given him. Mr. R a y attended him several times in the cotfrse of Thursday night. At first he ap peared to rally, but he gradually sunk, and every effort to save him proved ineffectual. Deceased evidently died from exhaustion. From a paper found in his hat at the time he was brought to the workhouse, it appeared that ho had been a patient of the Royal Free Hospital not long before. After some deliberation, the jury returned a verdict that deceased died a natural death, brought on . by want and exhaustion. FIRE.—On Monday morning, shortly before three o'clock, a fire broke out in a private dwelling-house in the occupation of Captain John Shepheard, situate at No. 7, Mansfield-street, Portland-place. The fire origi ,nuted in the upper floor, from, it is supposed, a spark flying nut of a lighted candle amongst the bed and bedding. The Brigade, County, and West of England engines were remarkably quick in reaching the spot, but fortunately the fire was extinguished without calling the engine.; into requisition. One of the domestics, in assisting to get the fire out was burnt about the itinds and wrists. Captain Shepheard is understood to be 'mired in the Imperial. . _ ANIMAL IN'STINCT.—A dog going along the High street, in Sunderland, flew at a coil of sawagts, and began tearing them furiously to pi e c e s : — an d - why ? Because, it seems, they were made of a dog that he had had a fight with the day be(eALI SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS. FS)M THE DAILY PAPERS OF YESTERDAY. TINIES.—The repealing tactics are apparently not of the most creditable kind to those who have to carry them out. Bullying, obstruction, intimidation, misre peeentation are, of course, the recognised order of the day. At any sacrifice of personal character, by any :leans, however dangerous or ridiculous, one object is furiously pursued—to impede justice. The Freon(' n's Jou natbegs for the names and addresses of all persons residing near Dublin, " who attended the repeal meet ngs held io Beltinglass, Mullaglonest. Denuybrook Tara, Drogheda, and on the Carragh of Kildare, so that they may be classified es witnesses to be examined on the forthcoming trial." Tin eatening uotices, it is said, have been sent to members of the jury, and every efitrt is made to concentrate popular indignation upon the heads of thejury, who, it seems apprehended, may find accord ing to the evidence. We are not going to remark on this audacious, though not wholly original attempt to overawe the Judges by a monster-meeting of witnesses. Whatever extravagant amount of intimidation and perjury may be intended by thie apparatus, it is for the Lord Lieutenant and the jury to provide against. With these recognised instruments of agitation we do not at present meddle, though the time may come when we may be bound to do so. Our yesterday's paper re corded a more discreditable though much lees dangerous style of mannitivre. A Mr. Moore, a kind of dirty work counsel for the traverser:, appears charged, at whatever expense of honesty and common sense, to keep on saying something which shall at least delay the trial, and furnish a cue to those who are anxious to be abusive, but don't know how. Let us hear this gentleman set forth his grievance— " If ever there war a ease," he tells us, "in which it was ne cessary that the administration of justice should be kept as free from suspicion as possible, the present was the case. Their Lordships were aware, he presumed, that many of the traversers were Roman Catholics ; and it appeared that 27 persons professing that religion, whose qualifications were de cided upon by the Recorder, did not appear upon the jurors' lists. It was in evidence before them that Mr. Kemmis struck 12 names, 11 of whom were Roman Catholics, out of the list of 48." The list of persons eligible to serve on this Dublin jury should, it appears, have consisted of 782 individuals. But a blundering registrar, wholly unconnected with the prosecution, appears to have lost one of the papers from which that list, ought to have been compiled, containing the names of—whom ?—of all the Roman Catholics eligible ? of half the Roman Catholics ? of a set of men of whom the Roman Catholics formed the majority ? Nothing of the kind. Of 6. persons, of whom nearly 40 —considerably more than half of the whole number— were Protestant. And, knowing this state of facts—fully aware, not only of the trumpery nature of the blunder, hut, also, that for every three Roman Catholics four Protestants had been affected by it, this Mr. Moore has the folly and dishonesty to detain the Court by reite rating his parrot-like insinuations of partiality, at the exclusion of 27 Roman Catholics from the panel'. And now for the Crown solicitor's part of the matter, which has been honoured by the notice not only of Mr. Moore, but of an aggregate "meeting of the Roman Catholics of Ireland ;" a meeting signalised by more than usual emptiness of declamation. It is not pretended to impeach his legal right of challenge. His misdeed is merely introduced into the court of law to in tereret and aggravate the delinquency of the registrar, on which Mr. Moore's rhetoric and logic are mainly ex pended. But in this or any character this interference with the unquestionable and most necessary right of the prosecutor requires to be promptly denounced. Let it be remembered what the peculiarity of a jury is. A jury-box on such an occasion as the present is no scene of compensation or compromise. The folly, prejudice. or dishonesty of one man cannot be corrected or over borne by the sense or integrity of his deceit colleagues:, One single individual of ordinary strength and perseve ranee, if only sufficiently regardless of the obligation of an oath, or sufficiently impenetrable to the force of evi dence, suffices to defeat justice. Nothing but that oath prevents any one juror from triumphing com pletely and irresponsibly over the plainest evidence, and absolving the most undoubted criminal. What sort of protection that oath is we unfortunately know too well. English juries are bad enough, but Irish ones, even under circumstances of ordinary excitement, are intole rable. Above all, would any man of sense, quietly sil ting down by his own fireside to consider the probabili ties of the case, allow himself for a moment to expect that twelve Irishmen, of whom but three were Repeaters, would, under any contingency, convict O'Connell? Would not the very nomination of such a jury be at once hailed as an acquittal ? Timid men, and courteous men, and all who like soft words better than truth, may be anxious to gloss over these things—but this is not an oc casion on which it will do to shut our eyes. Beat round the bush as we may, the truth of the matter comes to this - -that the chaeces are incalculable against a Repealer's proving an honest juryman. None of us dream of such an event. Mr. O'Connell knows that he would himself be the first to soots t and denounce such a man as traitor to his come. try. If is myrmidons are already preparing to stone such scrupulous politicians. We will venture to say, that if there is a position on which the ultra-Orangeman and the ultraebemoerat of Ireland, if it were but conve nient to speak their minds, are wholly agreed, it is this —that there exists not in the ranks of repeal a man whom any amount of evidence would induce to convict the " Liberator." And Repeaters, or something tan to • mount thereto, every one of tire Romanists challenged by Mr. Kemmis were understood to be. We wish it could have been otherwise ; and so, we doubt not, do the Government. No more valuable juryman could have been found than a trustworthy Roman Catholic. But none such appeared on the panel ; and this being the case, Mr. Kemmis, or whoever is responsible for the challenges, would have been mad if he had hesitated fora moment to accept the full weight of obloquy which was involved in removing from the list every single person who could be fairly presumed to be under repealing influence. Th e other party had the sane power and they used it in the same way. They did not challenge their own friends ; they struck off Protestants, and as ninny as they could. We find no fault with them, Mr. Mahony might fairly view a known Orangeman with the same suspicion which attaches in Mr. Kennis's eyes to a declared Repealer. Let each protect themselves. It is for such a purpose that the right of challenge is given. It is to remove those from the judgment seat who may fairly be suspected by one or the other party as biassed judges ; and it is only by such means that a fair and unanimous verdict can be, we do not say secured, but even hoped fur. Let us, then, hear no more of these drivelling complaints. What has been done is no more than is necessary—absolutely ne cessary, to secure fair play ; and everybody knows it to be so. ADVERTISER.—The aggregate meeting of Roman Catholics held in Dublin on Saturday, and to which we had only space to make a passing allusion yesterday, is, in many respects, the most important demonstration which has yet taken place since the commencement of the Repeal agitation. The assembled thousands were drawn together by a burning sense of the gross outrage which had been offie.ed to their religion by the exclusion of all Roman Catholics from the jury list. They re garded that exclusion, as tie predicted they would, as a virtual repeal of the Emancipation Act, and as, in fact, proclaiming to the world that Roman Catholics were not to be believed on their oath. The result of the fla grant insult thus offered, not only to Catholicism as a system of faith, but to the Roman Catholics personally, has been to enlist in the ranks of Repeal thousands who were formerly opposed to it. Sir Robert Peel will, ere long, discover that in the meeting of Saturday there was something more ominous—something much more calculated to inspire alarm, than in the Cht tarf meeting which the Irish Government put down by proclamation. It is a remarkable circumstance, and one which is pregnant with fearful import, that the leading speakers at the aggregate meeting were chiefly men who had hitherto kept aloof from the Repeal agitation. They will keep aloof from it no longer. Ministers are literally compelling all such persons to identify them selves with that agitation. And not those only who attended the meeting, but the Roman Catholics in all parts of Ireland, will feel that they must now make common cause with the Repeaters. Not only is a stigma cast on their religion, but every individual entertaining the Catholic faith must henceforth feel that the Irish Government regard him as a man who is not to be believed on his oath. Where is the man that could endure this ? Not among the Catholics of Ireland — not, we hope, in the dominions of her Majesty. The Catholics of Dublin hayo done what all ex pected they would do. Ifail they remained passive under the gross and gratuitous insult, offered alike to their faith and themselves, they would have incurred the contempt of the civilised world, covered their mea sures in all time coming with obloquy, and compromised tho rights of their descendants. 'They have acted with becoming manliness : they have told the Orange faction whose inspirations are perceptible in every successive stage of these prosecutions : they have told that faction in language not to be mistaken, that seven millions, in a country whose entire population does not exceed eight • millions, are not to be thus insulted with impunity. If Sir Robert Peel does not perceive an awful significance in the proceedings of the Dublin meeting, ho must be labouring under an infatuation to which there are but few parallels in the history of the world. But the nsult offered to the Catholics of Ireland, and to their religion, is not the only light in which the striking off the names of Roman Catho lics from the jury list is to be viewed. The question is one in which the ends of justice are deeply involved. The result of the exclusion of all those professing the Resnais faith, is to render the jury, who are to try individuals on it eharge affecting their liberties, and iudirectly their lives, of an exclusively - Orange complexion ; for in Ireland, there is scarcely such a thing to be met with as an impartial, unprejudiced. Tory Trots stunt. The traversers, so far as the verdict. of the jiffy is concerned, may already, and we believe do already, consider themselves convicted. Their only hopes of escape rest on the discovery of seine fatal flaw in the mode of procedure, or on the chapter of acci- - dents. Can any- man, entertaining any sense of what is right, and just, and proper, contemplate this state of things with any other feelings than those of horror ? Can we wonder when we hear of such transactioes that. Ireland should be convulsed ? Ought it nut, on the contrary, rather to excite our surprise that the Irish people should have so long and so patiently endured the manifold insults heaped on them, and the acts of flagrant injustice of which they have been made the victe - tis ? In this last and crowning act of outrage end injust ice, it will speedily be discovered by Sir . Robert Peel that he has iived his underlings in 1 Castle to curry their system of ifisult and oppreeeiV e a , little too far. The exeigisien of el/ the Rog - ean Csa r t: v f n i Wilts) from the jury - -list Kill be found to have t et! the expeingent Catholic Palienf tl7; . .T ,',* ; in l ea,„ 6 r„ bearable bounds. That bol d at . i d ffi t, i ) it, and against the wilt rebound against those Government t hat sanet.onee it. ight up—•it is al ready Eakin eup —a Ilan; ! ' " :l . ti l l 2, lt i tliti rl (aria and blaze with en intensity, of whites those who lindled it had little anticipation. They will, tutireoTer, find that it WaS a much cuter matter to li g ht up than • (0 0 51f 10P the AY ) rs , re'tl 50 0 I a Os Sid 11 43 0 111 e so : l a 'eilic we' Y