The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1868-02-04 00:00:00

THE IRTSH PRESS PROPIterTIONS.

In the Dublin police-court on Tuesday. Mr. Shaw,
Q.C., oretned the case against Mr. Sullivan. eittor oft..
Weekly News, for printing sed•tione ',bele, tending te
broil( her Mejesty's Government and the adminiArdtion
of jiistbe into heti, d and enntempt, by desertbing tie
eartionns of the paper placed in the indictment, as
allegorical picture., and the "Fenian placard" as a
copy of a document purporting to have been pcnted in
manuscript on the door of a nation .1 schoolienud• in
Romoomo on. It was laid in "Holt on Libel" and in
Bleckatone'd "Commentaries" that a libel might be
published by a pietnre as well as be writing. The
Weekly News circulated chiefly among the lower order.
of the people, and in their ease the libel was insi•h more
expressive when in the f trm of a picture. Many of
th im could not read or write othtirs could .peak only
; and the picture addicrs'sed itself to all of these.
Mr. Shaw de•cribed the p,etn•es alit-god to be seditinna.
In one, as the inectiptirn in the paper ran. "Mr..
Britannia, while holding Erin prostrate in bondage, sewe
the effect of the policy she leas rejected in the reoon-
ciliation of Austria and Hungray." Erin was repre-
sented en. young woman with bare head and did-
bevelled hair, ly log 0,. the ground, nod bolding in her left
hand • small cross. Upon her right hand was fastened a
tter, attached to a clinic. Britannia has thrown !sr-
self on the figure of Erin ; and having grasped Erin's
neck, is about to strike a blow with. short sword, when
she hcsitates, seeing in the background the figures of
the Emperor of Austria on hid throne, whilst Hungary,
as • young woman, is placing a crown on his head.
The tendency of the picture WWI (Mr. Shaw mkt) to
depict the leniency of the Austrian Government, and
the cruelty of that of Fngland. The law enjoined and
enter ed respect for Government, and while It per-
taittoi fair criticism of the conduct of the Government,
addressed to the reason of On reader, it reprobated in-
ireAive against tne Government addressed to his
passions, and intended to bring the Government into
contempt. Lord Elleettorough affirmed that liberty of
ctoticts.n should be allnwed, for without it they could
never have purity of taste or morals; but all writing
: which tcntied to vilifY the Constitottne or to impair
Vie exercise of the functions of Government was sedi-
tious libel, nunishable he the rigour of the law. "The
Clemency Discipline--Tan.ing a Fenian" was a picture
n presenting • prison yard, where a 1:111.13 ens being
i brutally (logged, whilst John Bull sat by in • chair
, contemplating the scene. The most striking of
the pictures, however, were "The Angel of Justine"
and "It is done ;" the latter poblished immediately
after the executions at Manchester, had • deep
bleak border. In the background was • manufacturing
town. In front was a female figure weeping over three
dead bodied. Then appeared the figure of Britain
" with a countenanee of the moat fiend dh appeerance.
holding in her right hand • short damp r. and trempling
nub rhe 'eft foot the wales of jnagoe." Thu was sooner-
which Mr. Sktew rend. The "Angel of Justice" picture
partied by • long article—" The Manchester Tragedy"—
showed • gallows from whieh thne ropes an suspended.
A female figure is beneath in a supplicating attitude.
The angel has the sword of (u-tine in her right hand,
and is driving before her the crouching figure of
Britannia grasping ad . In the same paper with
this cut there was an article, "Ireland's Reply," which
pointed to the processions, then held in Cork end to be
held in Dublin, as showing that, "save by the foreign
brood that prop up the wreck of ascendence. and save
iii the subsidized preen which echoes their I)igOtry,
voles was raised in Ireland hut to stigmatise, to
reprobate, and to condemn the brutal wens in
. „

.Ilion craft appeared as the preserver of
British power." " What the people of Dublin
think of the triple execution, and the light in
which they regard the memories of the men strangled
an murderers by Britiish law, to-morrow's demonstration
will show." The placard upon which Yr. She. insisted
was headed " Lrberty. God save itel•nd." and onto
mooned, " Brothers and friends of liberty, do not
despond. The persectliions of centuries will soon be
avenged, and, by the force of our arms, we will purge
our native soil from the aurae of British,. misrule.

What hay been our position hitherto? We labour hard
and constantly, not tr enjoy the fruits of oar industry,
but to support the revelries of landlords, tensed upon
our fathers by the English despoilers of our country.
then Ireland expects that every man will to his duty
when the timo of the glorious strangle arises. Re
united, and rerneinber the eactoefor which Allrn,O'Brien,
and Larkin died on on English scaffold." A more
seditious libel spina the Gove-nmeut than this had
never b-en (Mr. Show said) published. After reading
another article on the futon' proceseiony, he claimed to
have shown • primp! foci case to send forward for trial.
Hr. Crean a. Galata for the detendant,argned that nev r
since the days of the Star Chamber was • prosecution
undertaken for libelling • Govrrnruent by the publica-
tion of pictures. No one ever thought of prosecuting
Pullet. The certain, were not exelosively directed
against the Government, as one of Mr. James Stephens
had appeared in one of them seated in luxury whilst his
Impoverishedhbeer on tha
ed
atdeun:f snthteensdltcod
.• t o
sh i baround
h publicronoe of
npisn n thet
or.
Sham: I deny that the lash Is ever applied except to
javentle o,nviate and prottors.” Yr. Crean, oontinu-
log, Paid Mr Sullivan had exercised his talent upon the
topics 01 ihe d.l : he did not assail the nriente
character of the tior *Ago ;b. d no: enter upon the
hearth and home of the Qa.sa to mike sit.s•, upon
her and her family. He lett Wee metieel to the

chivalrous penes of England. (Ram eouneel deerribasi
two cartoon. of • London publication). The English
pipers were allowed to lib.' U e Soeereign with im-
punity, while an Iridt Purnslvt was prosecutvd for
sedition. He juttlied Mr. Sullivan for his articles on
the Manchester executions. The fiefeadea• bo,g a row
sori•l prwit inn, wad • mtmbvr of the moontipal corpora-
tion of and hal already to wilbstsod a crest
'J..) of Portia, opposition. H. denied that the Weekly
Nnos was • Fenian corps. The rosghtrate (Mr.
O'Donnel) asl4 lie felt bound to send the case for trial
to the Gimmis-ion which it to open on the 10th IR
Feb, tiary. accepting Mr. Sullivan'a own rreognisances
for his appealante on that oft .non.