The Express.
London, England, 1868-04-22 00:00:00

THE FENIANS AT THE OLD BAILEY.

THE Fenian prisoners now at the bar of the Old
Bailey are of widely different physiognomical
types. Viewed from the Bench there is indeed
little in common between the row of faces in the
de,l opposite save a certain stoicism or hardi-
hood which contrasts strangely with the miserable
appearance of the abject creature testifying against
them. Muturiv, unless appearances belie him,
is the moat actually wretched man in court.
Ghastly pale, and with sunken eyes, which look
more sunken from his standing with his back to

the light, the approver, whits under croes-exeszd-
nation, seems to be the hunted man. All present,
including the prisoneis, seem to listen to him with
lofty contempt. None is so poor as to render
him anything but scorn at the whining
plea that his duty to his young fatally made
him a traitor, . and had . kept him from
accompanying the barrel-firing party to Clerluind
well, though he subscribed for the purchase of
powder, and was cognisant of the entire scheme. I
The prisoner lisaarrr smiles, and Alm JUSTICE
laughs outright. While pressed home by the
various counsel for the prisoners, his long, nervous
fingers close half convulsively round the brass
knobs of the rail before him ; he moves restlessly
from foot to foot ; his voice is so low and husky
that he is frequently reproved for not " speaking
" up," while his tongue rolls and lips quiver, as if
the one clove to his mouth, and the other were
parched and dry to a degree which makes free
speech impossible. Every eye is on him, and, as
he stammers out his answers and explana-
tions in a broad Irish accent, he strives
to avoid looking at the dock, as if the
sight of his late comrades and victims were
unbearable ; yet now and again he glances there as
if fascination overcame and conquered shame and
self-contempt. But for his present degradation and
distress he would pass as a good-looking man of
I thirty, of slim figure, and whose Shakespeare collar, 1
gay neckcloth, and shabby genteel cloth garments,
seem to verify his statement that he earned
five pounds a week in good times, but had been
out of luck lately through the tailors' strike. All
this time WILLIAM DESMOND, said to be one of the
ruling spirits who planned the outrage, sits in
front of his fellow prisoners, with his face in pro-
file, sternly gazing on the witness, writing little
notes from time to time to his attorney below,
and receiving and tearing up the brief answers of
the latter. An unusually large and heavy beard,
sandy in hue, and extending broadly over chest
and shoulders, a regular nose, keen grey eyes,
which dart their penetrating glances from be-
neath bushy, overhanging brows ; a broad,
well-shaped forehead ; short, dark brown hair ;
a thoughtful, intelligent face ; florid complexion,
a generally respectable exterior, and an air
of confident and unceasing watchfulness make
this DESMOND the most striking figure in the dock.
A professional lecturer, the crack orator of a
debating club, a shrewd dogmatic expounder of
half-truths and crotchets to uneducated com-
panions, are all phases of character to which his
appearance and demeanour would fit in. The
man next him, his namesake, but as is easy to see,
no relation, TIMOTHY DESMOND (said to have been
drunk at the time of the outrage, and to have
disobeyed the orders of the first DESMOND by not
sleeping for an hour) is his antithesis in every
particular. He is thin in person and shabby in
dress. A cadaverous, uneasy face ; thin, weak
beard and whiskers ; dark, curly hair, and a rest-
less, hungry, fretful, dangerous look,which accords
fully with his frequent change of posture and
fidgetty uplifting of hands and arms, his demeanour
is the more striking from the calm repose of the
right-hand neighbour we have described, and the
sodden, callous indifference of the prisoner Ezra-
LISH on his left. This man is the oldest and most
repulsive looking of the party. He is credited
with the speech : " Diabolical ! We'll burn the
" whole of London ; that will be more die-
" helical ! " O'Kzarz, who comes next in
order from left to right, is comparatively
characterless--little weak and straggling hair
on chin and cheeks, a wavering mouth partially
open, and an aspect of stolid unintelligent endur-
ance, brightened by fitful, half-formed smiles when
MULLANY is made more than usually uncomfort-
able, are the points in which he differs chiefly from
BARRETT or JACKSON, who site between him and
ANN JUSTICE. The man last named (who is
accused of having actually fired the barrel)
is better dressed than the rest, and of an
obviously higher station. Under other circum-
stances you would admire his look of determina-
tion and frank courage. A bright, resolute
eye, quiet in marking the slightest and most
trivial incident in court ; a confident, brisk bear-
ing ; manly, regular features ; a short, crisp
beard, thick hair, and a muscular compact
figure, show him to be the physical, as WILLIAM
DESMOND is the mental superior of all the people
accused. He, too, writes frequent notes to his
attorney, and often smiles contemptuously at
Mulaany's statements and admissions, but in an
off-hand, dashing way, as if a mere informer were
really too small a subject for serious indignation. I
ANN Jurricz (who had interviews with Iluaca and
CASEY in prison, and ischarged with having acted as
go-between between them and their would-be deli-'
verers) in a coarse woollen shawl, pinned closely
to the throat, as if to conceal au insufficiency
of under garments, and with bold, dark,
gleaming eyes which rove unabashed about
the court, is evidently expecting friends.
Whenever a door opens or the least movement is
made by officials or barristers this woman's eye is
there. She examines every face quickly and sus-
piciously, and looks round and round, finally bend-
ing her body back to obtain a good upward gaze
at the sitters in the gallery behind and above the
dock. Inquisitive, expectant, and, if her situation
were less critical, with what one would call a sense
of humour, she looks about and around her
with unaffected interest. The coarse wood-cut
sold in the streets is wonderfully likes, and her
good-looking, common face is that of hundreds of
women to be seen at court-entries and gin-shop
doors in the poor neighbourhoods of hidden London.
Her look of restless cunning is brought into relief '
by the stolid immoveable features of the female
turnkey sitting behind her, who might be a mask
of wood in blue ribbons and a bonnet. ANN Jurrics
drinks greedily of the water brought her, turning
round, as if in politeness to the Judge, whilst
doing so. The bold respectability in black
behind the male prisoners is the turnkey, and
looks every inch a vestryman ; while the City
police-officers are plentifully distributed about and
around the dock, bringing into still stronger con-
treat the characteristics of the swaged. These
remain unaltered during our stay, and without
building up a theory or deducing a single inference
from what we maw, we give the foregoing as a
tolerably faithful picture of the Fenian in the
dock.

the Court.

OSBORNE, Aran, 21.

A PIIVATI letter from Dr. lavaroirroan to a
friend in Edinburgh, given in the Daily News
this yawning, furnishes news of the greet
traveller &Awn to February ben yew. It recounts
considerable hardships, but leiiiiitivntoerings in
good health and spirits, in the midst of forests so
dense and leafy that one " cannot see fiftryards on
" either side," and "at 10 degrees 10 minutes
"south latitude, and long. 31 degree 50 minutes 2
"ten." The slave dealing tribes have fled at his
approach, and the prestige of the English name
has actually been among the gravest incon-
veniences experienced by the explorer. His
Johanna men left him through fear of
the shwa traders' vengeance; he was prevented
crossing a lake because the owners of the only boats
on it dreaded he would burn tbem as slavers and

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alooreetly bid themselves, and he found whole die.
*Wks denuded of food by tribes whose traffic in
their friends and enemies is their sole means of
subsistence. Hunger and the rainy season bad
Idelayed his progress, but the latter part of his letter
is dated from Bemba, where ho has just had a
cow given him by the chief, upon which he is
about to make " Christmas feast, as I promised the
" boys a blow-out when we came to a place of
" plenty." "We have had precious hard lines,"
writes the brave doctor, "but I would not nom-
" plain if it had not been gnawing hunger
" for many a day, and our bones sticking
" through as they would burst the skin."
In parte where game abounded LP/no:mons
" had filled the pot with the first-rate
" rifle given me by Captain Fraser," but
elsewhere the only food had been "a species of
" millet which passes the stomach almost un-
" changed." But his sorest grief was the loss of
his medicine chest, which " with plates, dishes,
" clothes, and much of our powder," was stolen
by two of the natives employed in carrying them,
and whom it was found impossible to follow. This
" fell upon my heart like a sentence of death by
" fever," notwithstanding which he resolves cheerio
fully to trust to native remedies, and tohope the
best. The letter concludes sanguinely, and men-
tions the slow rate of progress—eight miles a day
—and the necessity of travelling rig-mg as causes
for delay. It is, however, cheering to note that
the party has " not had a single difficulty with the
" people," they are with now ; and that the gang
of Arab slavers who promise to post Livisoarorra's
letters at Zanzibar have obviously kept their
word.

Iris to be hoped that the detection of the assassin
of Mr. M‘GEE will follow the crime as swiftly as
the arrest of Hoorn succeeded the murder of Mr.
LINCOLN. The Canadian papers consider the
evidence against the man WHELAN, who is
charged with firing the pistol, as over-
whelmingly strong. The doorkeeper of the
Canadian parliament deposes that he had admitted
WHELAN four different times to the gallery of the
House on the night of the murder, and speaks of
his excited and uneasy demeanour. A revolver
found upon him showed signs of having been recently
discharged, and the bullet discovered exactly
corresponded with some in the prisoner's possession.
For years past it is asserted he has openly avowed
Fenian sentiments and hatred of M'flae. A late
telegram goes further and states that three men
who were charged as accomplices had turned
Queen's evidence against WHELAN. We find there
is a general belief, as in the case of the assassina-
tion of Mr. LINCOLN, that the deed is the result
of a conspiracy, in which the guilt of the actual
murderer is shared by several accomplices.

The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon, accom-
panied by Princess Christian ; and her Majesty, accom-
panied by Princess Louise, drove in the grounds this
morning. Prince and Princess Christian and Princess
Beatrice walked in the grounds, and Prince Leopold
drove sot, attended by Mr. Duckworth.
Lord Colville and the Rev. G. and Mrs. Prothero had
the honour of dining with the Queen and the royal family
last evening.
Sir William Jenner has arrived at Osborne.

A Cabinet Council was held yesterday at the
official residence of the First Lordof the Treasury,
in Downing-street. The ministers present were
the Right Hon. B. Disraeli, the Lord Chancellor,
the Duke of Marlborough, the Earl of Mahnesbury,
the Right Hon. Gathorne Hardy, Lord Stanley,
the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, Sir S.
Northcote, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the
Duke of Richmond, and Lord J. Manners.

(THIS DAY.)

JEWS.

(IKUTliell TILIGIAJL )

Tlii QUEEN' VISIT TO BALMORAL—We under-
stand that her Majesty will arrive at her Highland home
about the 10th of next month. From the openness of the
season it is expected that the flower plots around the
Castle will be extremely be►utiful. The grounds are, of
course, in admirable condition, and have even already as-
sumed a summer aspect. —EdinburgA Courant.

Their Royal highnesses the Duchess of Cam-
bridge and Princess Tack honoured the exhibition of
paintings by Gustave Dort, at the Egyptian Sall, with
their presence yesterday.

Sir John and Miss Lister-Kaye have arrived at
17, Cromwell•roed, South Kensington, for the imam, from
Yorkshire.

FOREIGN NEWS.

THE PERSECUTION OF THE ROUMAIN

The New Free Pees', of Vienna, in a correspon-
dence dated from Jassy, April 13, re-affirms the
fact of the persecution of Jews in Baken, Mol-
davia. It gives a list of 96 persons who have been
toroed from their homes and are wandering
about Okra, Kaintz, and other villages in
search of a temporary shelter. It states that
the graves of the Jews were desecrated,
that shots were fired into the houses.