The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-04 00:00:00

Yesterday the inquiry into the case against the
six prisoners was resumed before Mr. Stronge, the
divisional magistrate, and resulted in the committal
of O'Donovan, Rossa, Luby, O'Leary, O'Connor,
and O'Keefe for trial, the case against George
Hopper having been postponed. The day was prin-
cipally occupied in reading the informations of the
several detectives who have been entrusted with the
delicate duty of "keeping an eye" on the suspects ;
and, certainly, the minuteness of their statements and
the particularity with which the movements of the
different " Conspirators" were watched and re-
corded in the " diary of the G's," leave no doubt
that the duty was discharged with the most scru-
pulous conscience, care, and exactness. Everywhere
they went, when and how they came, to whom they
conversed, and very frequently what they said, was
" down in black and white" against them. They
were dogged and watched night and day—at home
or abroad, the detective was their faithful attend-
ant. The drill meetings were chronicled with espe-
cial particularity ; where they met, the number
" under arms," and the exercise gone through, were
also duly entered in this day-book of " rebelly
doings." The reading of these lengthy documents
having concluded, another informer occupied the
stage and the attention of the auditory. This was
no less a personage than George Augustine Frede-
rick Gilles ! Who is he ? " A cart and dray
maker," as set forth fully in the deposition. He let
the stable in which Moore, the industrious black-
smith, turned out pikes at the rate of 120 per week,
at the small charge of 2s. 6d. each. He tells us
that the pikes were removed in boxes of fifty, and
sometimes, when so many were not required, only
two dozen. They would be carried away under
the arm of one of them ; on one occasion he him-
self brought fifty pikeheads tied up in a cloth to
a public-house kept by a man named Hendrick,
and delivered them by direction to a man whom,
he did not know, • They had the stable so con-
trived that no person could be admitted into it
without George Augustine Frederick Gilles con-
senting. He knew the person called Capt. Michael
O'Boyle. On two occasions he came, to the
stable while they were pike-making. He knew
very well that the pikes were for the Fenian
movement. Several persons, he said, connected
with the Fenian Society, whose names he
did not know, but whom he would recog-
nise again, visited the stable where the pikes were
made ; he could also identify several of the brother-
hood, who were drilled in his drawing-room by a
man named Michael Murphy. On one occasion he
was drilled himself. Thirty men used to meet in
the drawing-room. He was a C, which stood for
sergeant, but he knew none of the officers except
the man immediately over him. On the 6th Sep-
tember last he was present at a meeting at which
there were seventy-five officers. Captain O'Boyle
was there, and some others whom he did not know,
but whom he would be able to identify. A person
unknown to the doorkeeper was asked if he knew
any one inside, and if the answer was satisfactory
he was admitted. They were addressed by the
principals to the effect that they should stick
together, to stay united, and not to flinch, but to
stand man to man. Last week there were 120 pikes
removed ; the pikes were similar to lances, the lance
being seven inches long, and the entire pike-head
two feet six inches. George Augustine, having
been cross-examined, was permitted to withdraw,
and Mr. Pearce Nagle took his place for the pur-
pose of making a third information, which, how-
ever, it is unnecessary to particularise. The evi-
dence having concluded, the magistrate proceeded
to commit the prisoners. The following is an ex-
tract from the full report

The prisoner O'Donovan continued—This is the way the
Irish. People has been seized, and the way we have been
treated. We wanted to have an hour's conversation in the
presence of an officer of the prison, and we sent this scrap
of paper to the governor:—

"Richmond Prison, Sunday, Oct. 1, 1865.

"Sir,—ln taking measures to prevent us from speak-
ing or communicating with each other, the Government,
we consider, aro precluding us from the means of defence.
We were before the Crown prosecutor yesterday. Many
things came under our notice that demand our considera-
tion for a short time before we are taken before them
to-morrow again. We ask that we may be allowed to
confer during an hour or so. Did the matter rest with
yourself, we may expect you would see the justice of
granting this request; but if Government has given orders
to the contrary, of course we cannot expect it.
JOHN O'LEARY, JAMES O'CONNOR,
O'DONOVAN ROMA, GEORGE HOPPER:2
T. C. LUBY,

Well, the governor sent a message saying that he could
not grant our request himself, but would send a copy of our
communication to the authorities, and that if they gave
him liberty he would give us the opportunity we asked.
Under those circumstances I think we are treated very
harshly. If we were charged with murder, or the assassi-
nation with which Mr. Barry opened his statement, we
could not be worse treated than we are. We defy you to
prove us criminals. We defy you to bring evidence to
show that we were in association with this Nagle or
Pettit. Why did you not honourably prosecute our paper,
and we would be able to defend ourselves, instead of
bringing up professional swearers to swear against us ?
None of the other prisoners offering any further obser-
vations, they were all removed in custody to the prison
van, which, escorted by a troop of mounted police, drove
rapidly to the Richmond Prison.