The Express.
London, England, 1866-01-04 00:00:00

TM% FENIAN TRIALS.

;mon 008 OWN COUBSPONDILIT.)
CORK, TOINDAT EVENING.
The business of the special commission in this
eity was brought to a close this evening, when the
prisoners who remained untried were liberated on
bail ; a course amounting virtually to an abandon-
ment of the prosecution against them. The persons
who have been thus released are Captain John
McAfferty and Win. Mackay, Marcus Adams, M.
F. Murphy, P. O'Shaughuessy, J. Thompson,
P. Ahearn, W. Crowley, and L Carmody.
With the exception of the four named first
they were of the lower class, and were said
to have filled very subordinate positions
in the conspiracy. Mackay and McAfferty were
officers in the American service, who were said to
have been sent to Ireland as Fenian emissaries, and
In liberating them Judge Keogh significantly ad-
♦ised them to leave this country as soon as they
mulct.

Three men, named Spillane, Desmond, and
=elan, who were arrested a week ago in the
neighbourhood of Macrons on the charge of having
been present at a drill meeting on the 17th Dec.,
have been remanded until the assizes, and will not
be admitted to bail. It appears that these drill
meetings still continued to be held in some places,
and those who attend them after the warning that
has been given certainly deserve exemplary punish-
ment.

The commission spent fourteen days in full, and
during that time fourteen prisoners were tried.
Three out of the fourteen were acquitted—namely,
illcAffeety (on the first indictment), O'Riordan,
and lifountaine. One, Alexander Nicholls, pleaded
guilty' and was liberated on bail, and ten were
eonvicted. The prisoners convicted received the
following sentences :—Tillen, Lynch, Duggan,
Kinneally, O'Connell, Hayes, and Barry, all of
whom were stated to have been centres in the organi-
zation, were sentenced to ten years' penal servi-
tude each •, Regan received a sentence of seven
years, and Casey and Donovan five years penal
servitude each. The three latter were persons in
a humble position in life, and Casey is little more
than a mere boy. It was remarkable that none of
the prisoners, with the exception of Nicholls, seemed
in the least to regret what they bad done, or to
be sensible of the nature of the position in which
they stood. On the contrary all of them boasted
of (their connection with the conspiracy, and
defied the judges to punish them ; and some few
openly stated that their imprisonment would soon
be brought to an end by a rescue. This is an
opinion largely shared in by the lower classes, who
have scarcely lost their faith in the conspiracy yet ;
and, beyond doubt, the idea that a rescue will be
attempted has been strengthened by the precautions
the authorities have taken. But the result of these
trials might be sufficient to convince even timid
persons that Fenianisn cannot muster strength
enough for even • decent street row. The
city was never more perfectly tranquil,
and perhaps no cases of the same gravity
have occurred here which excited less public
interest. One result of Fenianism has been to prove
that Ireland is every year becoming a more loyal
and contented part of the British empire. There
are men living in this city who can remember a
time when disaffection was not confined to any
particular class or creed, when the well-to-do shop.
keepers and the comfortable farmers were as fierce
in their denunciations of England as the
lower orders. But the influence of time, weaken-
ing the exciting recollections of the past, the power
of fair legislation and of advancing prosperity, have
weaned the middle classes altogether from seditious
movements, and there now remains but the lowest,
the most ignorant, and the most helpless class in
the community for persons like Stephens and his
associates to work upon. If the government con-
tinue to act towards this country in a just and
liberal spirit, as if this temporary ebullition of
irritation and of ill feeling rather than of deep.
rooted and incurable disaffection had never taken
place, in a few years more we shall hear nothing of
Fenianism or any corresponding movement, even
amongst these very people who are its warmest
advocates now.

Still there is no apprehension of danger from the
Fenian movement ; meet people in this country are
not disposed, on the whole, to quarrel with the
sentences which have been imposed on the pri-
soners. To some these sentences have seemed un-
necessarily ass ere ; and a few newspapers have
followed the example of some English journals in
stating that an equally beneficial effect would
be produced were the punishment made
lighter. It is, however, necessary to wake
some striking examples in order to put down
that sort of sneaking sedition which has for years
past been the bane of this country. Nothing could
be accoLiplished in trade, no im provemen ts could take
place in the general condition of the country, while
there was one set of people talking treason at public
meetings, and another set plotting it in public-
houses. Fenianism is very ridiculous when we
come to look into it, but it was enough to make
sensible business people nervous about their invest-
ments, to retard for a moment the increase that was
taking place in'itrade, and, above all, to seriously
effect the good relations that were beginning to
exist between the upper and lower classes. This is
a thing which mast be put an end to if Ireland is to
prosper, and the only way to put an end to it is to
convince the mischievous and worthless fellows who
engage in movements of the kind, that their mis-
conduct will not escape unpunished—a matterwhich
they had entirely forgotten under the too tolerant
rule of English law. The middle classes, who are
thoroughly loyal, are disgusted at finding them-
selves indirectly made to suffer in reputation
as well as in prosperity for the misdeeds of the
least useful members of the community ; and they
will be disposed to support the government in the
stern repression of all future attempts at such petty
treason.

As the commission approaches the close of its
labours it is right to give expression to what is the
general opinion of the manner in which the trials
have been conducted. That opinion is that the
impartiality of the tribunal has only found
a parallel in the fairness of the prosecution.
The judges have never once deviated from
the strict line of their duty. If they showed
a leaning to either side it was for the protection of
the prisoners. With the verdicts of the juries it
was impossible to cavil, and Judge Keogh, in com-
plimenting the gentlemen forming the panel for
the county of Cork on the scrupulous care and im-
partiality with which they bad discharged their
duty, only did them simple justice. Nor could the
prisoners complain that anything bad been unduly
pressed against them by the crown counsel, or
that any improper means bad been re-
sorted to in order to procure a verdict
of conviction. For the first time, perhaps,
in the history of political trials in Ireland, there
was no charge of jury-puking against the crown
officials ; for the objections made to the Cork
panel on religious grounds did not contain such an
imputation. Whatever effect the trials may pro-
duce in the way of eradicating the spirit from
which Fenianism arises, they at all events must
leave the conviction in the public mind that now-
a-days the law is as impartially administered in
Ireland as in the most favoured part of the British
empire.

METROPOLITAN BENEFIT SOCIETIRe ASYLUM—
Tbia iostitution is sow in the thirty-smote year bons its
foundation, and to celebrate the anniversary the committee
have arranged to give the usual treat to the inmates, now
reduced to 3.5. Death has been busy in the past TOM', and
last week took away Mr. Humphrys, the respected warden,
who wu buried in Abney Park Cemetery on Tuesday. The
event has eaused a gloom, but the committee adhere to
their inteotion to regale the inmates in the chapel next
Monday, when Mr. J. T. Slater will preside, and many
friends and su_pporters are expected.
CITY OF LONDON PUBLIC FREE LIBRART.—The
corporation of the City of London a few days ago Doan'.
slowly voted the use of the Guildhall, recently restored at
gnat coat, for the purposes of an industrial exhibition to
be inaugurated on the let March next. Oa the motion of
Mr. Thomas Lamprey, F.&G.S., of Paternoster•row,
number of the general and executive committees, it has
been determined to devote the surplus funds towards the
establishment of a free public library for the City of Landow.
Several City firms have already expressed their iotentioo of
liberally contributing to the project, and it is believed the
earporation will also lead its aid.

%h.