The Express.
London, England, 1868-04-28 00:00:00

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THE F'ENIAN TELila. -

to summary of the following appeared in our late
editions last evening.]
The jury retired to tensider their verdict at ten Wanks
to After being dhow. AIM two hears they retorted foie
court, and found William Demand, Meath Esse=
and Nicholas English, Not Guilty, and h•
they found Guilty of wilful werder,
*/". 146, ;as sierermt
being returned, put the usual formal question to the pri-
soner whether he bad anything to my why judgment of
death shesid nee be passed apes hies.
The weal pan adamilsa ter edemas was thee made by
Mr. WlllOll4 the mks taller of the eosin.
The Lord Chief Justice then addressed the prisoner, and
mid that miter • mat patient trial the jury had found him
guilty of the *rime of wilful .murder, • murder committed
under oirennasteases which made it doubly atrocious.
Not satisfied with entering into • traitorous conspiracy
against the established government of the realm, be bad
endeavoured to interpose between the law and • prisoner
who was in the custody of the kw for • most serious
offence, and had endeevoured to rescue that prisoner by
one of the most terrible outrages of modern times. He had
adopted measures to carry out his illegal object of the
most fearful character, regardless of the sacrifice of life
that must ensue, or what amount of misery might be
occasioned by the proceeding. He trusted that when he
came to contemplate his position be would feel sorrow for
the act he had committed and the mischief he bad
done to so many persons who had to earn
their bread by their labour, and who would be
prevented from doing so in future in consequence of the
injuries they had sustained through him. He could not
but say that be entirely concurred in the verdict that
had been pronounced by the jury. He could not doubt
that he was mixed up with this treasonable association,and
that his was the hand that set fire to the barrel of gun-
powder, andYcaused the terrible mischief that ensued.
He hadno desire to say anything to aggravate the misery
of his position at that moment, but he could not refrain
from expressing a hope that his fate would be • warning
to other, not to follow his example, and mix themselves
up with proceedings of this description, and that
they would find that if they were guilty of out-
rages of this description, they would find in the end that ,
the law would be too strong for them, and that in the end
they were sure to suffer for their misdeeds. His time in
this world would be but short, and he hoped be would
make the best use he could of that time in order to obtain
forgiveness from another tribunal, the only one frees
which it could be obtained, for the great crime that he had
committed.
The Lord Chief justice was then about to pass sentence
of death, when
The prisoner interposed, saying he wished to say a few
words before sentence was passed.
His Lordship—You should have availed yourself of the
opportunity that was offered you.
Prisoner —I was not permitted. Your lordship com-
menced to speak before I could do so.
His Lordship—The time is passed when it was proper to
avail yourself of that opportunity. What is it you wish to
lin Prisoner —ln answer to the question why sentence
should not be passed upon me, I have indeed a gnat deal
to my, but I do not intend to occupy much of your time,
being fully conscious that no words of mine would alter
your lordship's mind in this matter. Nevertheless, I can-
not allow this opportunity to pass. without making a few
remarks, as it is the only opportunity I shall have on this
side the grave of placing myself in the pond= in which
I wish to stand before my fellow-men. In doing so, the
prisoner continued to say, he would be obliged to expose
the means to which recourse had been had to secure his
conviction. He was not going to plead for
mercy, although he was fully conscious of
never keying maliciously injured a human being
in the world. True, he stood charged with
• most repulsive crime—that of murder; but anyone
who examined the evidence would find that no two of the
witnesses corroborated each other; they all gave contd.
dietary evidence. The man who set fire to the barrel was
described to be a tall man of gentlemanly appearance,
aad he asked them to considerthe impossibility mistakin
a person of his the prisoner's) humbleappearanos, only five
feet six inches in height, for the man who committed the
deed. Taking all these things into consideration, apart
from the incontestible testimony that he was not
in London at the time, he expressed the opinion
that no unprejudiced person, if there were such a one in
the court, could in his own mind find him guilty. The
jury had so far met the requirements of the prosecution
as to return • verdict of guilty in his case, and he would
now endeavour to review • little of the evidence that had
been brought against him, notwithstanding the masterly
manner in which his counsel had analysed it on Friday,
being compelled to do so owing to some remarks of the
Attorney-General and a few of the observations of his
lordship in the charge to the jury. The prisoner
then referred to his arrest in Glasgow, and the
way in which he had been subsequently " smug-
gled," as he said, to London. When he was
first arrested in Glasgow for pistol firing there was no evi-
dence against him, and the police were compelled to set
him at liberty, and before doing so he gave them his name
and address, which he thought it highly improbable be
should have done were he apprehensive of being arrested
on the charge of murder. The police afterwards came to
his lodgings, and re-arrested him, and be must express his
regret that the constable who apprehended him the first
time was not examined by the crown, for it would have
been shownthat the pistol onto( which it was alleged he had
fired three shots was utterly useless; but not • single one
of them used itto see whether that was the case or not.
On two succeeding days he was brought up for examina-
tion, and such an examination ! Without being permitted
to utter one word he was ordered off to gaol for nine and
ten days in order, as they said, to inquire into the ease.
They did inquire, and they found every reference he gave
them to be true ; but they likewise found what suited
their purpose better—that he was just recovering from a
long illness, without means, and that when he was
out of Scotland they could do what they liked
with him. Consequently he was taken away out
of Glasgow, and a meet flagrant act of injustice
was committed. He did not refer to the higher

authorities at Glasgow, but to those low and Retty persons,
such as were to be found about police stations, and who
bad recourse to petty ensannesses to forward their own
pri,teintetsta. :Itey ware now, be bad no doubt, eon-

.868.

Mann the wow et his beloved eseatry he mead
avgive up hie We. Othading, as he did, ou the
the guise, and shunt to eater another weld
he tend be free from the tyranny of mea, where
eeeeelle, he hoped, would eases and where might would
me bays eeeleeeee right, he 'desisted that be was in
eiteltirsear. trim primmer washers • peed deal affected, and
Pillt) Attar • short daisy,
& Lord Chief Justice inquired if he had anything
sew tory.
The prisoner went ca--He had a few more words to
' Ely—Math Eli ei:erif wine* lie Loved time imam
would be administered to him, and he hoped to
obtain pardon and feegimarms, he should still
continue to pray foe poor unfortuathe Ireland, and for the
redemption of his unhappy conatry—that would ever be
his most fervent wish. He raided that he hoped her chil-
dren would saver cow from their emdeavours until they
had thrown Mr the yoke, until the freedom of their
Gauntry wee °Method, or the extinction of their race
should be complete. He muted no petitions or demon-
strations to have his life spared—he would never walk
abroad with the brand of Cain upon him—he would rather
gob the scaffold. He then said that he thanked his
thrdship far the attention with which he bad listened to
him, and be also thanked his very learned and talented
counsel, and Mr. Lewis, kis solicitor, for the meaner in
which they had assisted him in hisdedence. He concluded by
libehl in en impressive manner that he hoped that God
is Hu infinite mercy might reeks the sacrifice of his
humble life a mesas of benefiting his unfortunate
mantry, and he should mount the ecold with confidence
in that hope. The prisoner then said, " I have done."
The Lord Chief Justice then again addressed the pri-
mmer, sad said he could peas no opinion upon the matters
that had been alluded to by the prisoner, and he would
only say that the jury bad moot attentively considered
all the facts that had been brought forward in evi-
dence, and they had found him guilty, and he must
say that in that verdict he entirely concurred.
As to what he had said with regard to the
contradictions is the evidence of some of the witnesses,
it could not be expected that in such a masa of complicated
evidence there should not be serious discrepancies, but
the jury had laid greet attention to the whole of the
evidence, and they bad come to the conclusion that he
was guilty of the offence with which he was charged. He
was glad to find, in the faint protestation he had made of
his innocence, that he did not attempt to persist in the
truth of the defence that had been set up on his behalf
that he was at Glasgow at the time the offence was cow- I
mitted ; but he could not at the same time help expressing
his regret that upon this, the last time when he would have
any opportunity of addressing any one in public, he should
have occupied so much time in attacking some of the wit-
nesses who had been examined, in the manner he bad
done. With regard to some of the observations he had
made, he (the learned judge) believed that he really did
feel very sorry for the mischief and misery that were
the result of the act he had committed, and that he pos-
sibly did not contemplate that such serious consequences
would have been the result. At the mine time every one
Mete have been perfectly well aware that the consequences
of exploding a barrel of gunpowder at • time when cbil.
siren were playing about close to the spot, and that a
number of men were probably on the other side of the
prison wall, must almost necessarily be to canoe the death
of many persona ; and it was not for a man who could
commit an act of such a description to talk of injustice.
It wee lamentable to see a man like him, evidently pos.
sassed of considerable ability, and who might have done so
wall it he had only kept within the law, and exercised his
abilities in • proper and legitimate manner, placed in his
present position through being led astray and induced to
join this wicked organisation ; hut he would say no more
upon this subject. The only duty that he was now called
upon to perform was to pass upon him the sentence fixed by
the law for his crime, which was that he be taken from
the bar at which he now stood, beck to the prison from
whence he came, and from thence to a place of execution
and that he be there hanged by the neck until he shall
be dead, and that he be afterwerds buried within the
gaol, and the learned judge added with great solemnity,
' May the Lord God Almighty have mercy on your soul."
The primer then left the W. quickly, and without ex-
hibiting the least emotion.
The court adjourned at 7 o'clock, and it will sit again
this morning (Tuesdey) at 10 o'clock, when the trial of
Burke, Shaw, and Casey will be proceeded with.