The Sun.
London, England, 1831-02-17 00:00:00

AIR. O'CONNELL.

Mr. STANLEY—I rise, Sir, for the purpose of stating
to the Noble Lord (the Marquis of Chandos) a communi
cation which I have received to-day, with respect to the
recent proceedings in Ireland ; and I am anxious to take
the present opportunity of doing so. It will be in the re-
collection of the House that the trial of Mr. O'Connell
took place on Saturday morning last, and the question was
put to me by the Noble Lord on Monday. The question
of the Noble Lord was to this effect :—" Whether any
terms had been made by the Government, or any com-
promise with Mr. O'Connell ; or whether the law was to
take its course ?" I am in the recollection of the House, and
I beg to say, on that occasion, I observed, as nearly as I can
recollect, that no terms bad been entered into with Mr.
O'Connell—that he had placed himself and the country in
such a situation, it was impossible for the Government of
Ireland to recede from the course which had been taken,
and that he must be the hest judge of his own conduct,
and that the law must take its course. So far as I re-
collect this was the substance of what I asserted, in an-
swer to the question put to me by the Noble Lord.—
(Hear.) At that time I had only received intelligence of
the bare fact of the trial and the conviction. This morning
I have received a snore detailed account of what took
place ; and, with the permission of the House, I will re-
fer to a part of it. The statement will corroborate the
opinions 1 then gave respecting the matter ; and I will
now, although from a private letter, addressed to me by
the Attorney-General for Ireland, proceed to read an ex-
tract, in order to show the facts as they transpired, being
anxious that the House should be in possession of the
whole of the case, as far as the Government is concerned.
The original indictment, the House will recollect, against
the Learned Gentleman and his associates, contained a
great many counts, the first 14 of which went to charge
them with a violation of the law. The next 16 charged
them with conspiring to evade the laws. To the first 14
counts Mr. O'Connell demurred, and to the last 16
pleaded not guilty. The effect of his demurrer
to the 14 counts would be, when the case came before
the Court for argument, supposing that the point of
law upon which he demurred was decided against him,
that judgment would pass against him at once, without the
intervention of a Jury. After the demurrer had been
filed, Mr. O'Connell, probably not having so favourable
an opinion as he first entertained upon the point of law, or
probably being apprehensive that a Jury would pronounce
a verdict against him, applied at a subsequent period to
the Court of King's Bench to allow his demurrer to be
withdrawn, and place him in the same situation in which
lie stood before. To this course the Court consented ;
and the parties were placed in the same condition as they
were in the first instance. The Attorney-General then ap-
plied to tl.e Court to name a day for the trial, the earliest
which could be fixed. The Court of King's Bench accord-
ingly named the 17th of the present month. Mr. O'Connell
having made two applications (I do not say for the purpose
of delay), he now contended that he ought to be furnished
with the names of the Jurors ; not only having 24 hours'
notice, but one clear day, and another clear day for the
purpose of striking off the names of Jurors to whom he
objected ; and the Court having consented to this arrange-
ment, it became impossible to fix an earlier day for bring-
ing on the trial than the 17th, because it was necessary to
have six clear days after the original notice was given. I
now come to the passage in the letter of the Attorney-
General. " On Friday last," says the Learned Gentleman,
" I gave Mr. O'Connell notice that on the next day I
should apply to the Court to fix a later day than the 17th.
To this notice a verbal message from him to me, through
the Crown Solicitor, was conveyed, to request that I would
postpone the trial until next term. To this message I
answered that any communication made must be made in
writing. He accordingly wrote to me on Friday, making
the request, and on Saturday morning I sent him a pe-
remptory refusal. If was not difficult to collect from this
that he did not wish to encounter a Jury, and consequently,
rather than do so, he would plead guilty. On Saturday I
spoke to his Counsel, Messrs. Perrin and Greene, and told
them, with respect to terms, none would be granted, but
that Ishould press for judgment on the first fourteen counts,
and should most certainly enter a noli prosequi on the re-
maining sixteen counts. The House will bear in mind
that the latter are subsidiary to the former. " I was wil-
ling," continues! the Attorney-General, " to be satisfied in
a conviction having the same advantages of which I had '
been deprived by the withdrawal of the demurrer, and in
ten iiiinates after I had made this offer it was acceded to,
and in half an hour afterwards Mr. O'Connell pleaded
guilty."—(Hear.) I think., Sir, this statement bears use
out in the assertion that the Government had not receded
one inch from the ground which it had originally com-
menced.—(hear.) The Government told Mr. O'Connell
that let him proceed as he would, judgment would pass
against him. This negatives anything like terms baying
been entered into.—(Hear.) In ordinary cases, at an as-
size, I am sure that if a party were found guilty on a series
of counts, and there were other counts subsidiary to those,
no judgment on the latter would be asked. If it were
otherwise, instead of justice being done, it would be some-
thing worse. The Crown hail thought it right to treat
Mr. O'Connell in this case precisely as it would proceed
against any other person. The Crown has vindicated the
outraged law : it has prosecuted, a verdict of guilty is re-
corded, and it will proceed to call upon Mr. O'Connell to
receive judgment.—( Hear.) I have been anxious to state
these facts to the House, lest there should be persons who

may say that terms have been entered into between the law
officers of the Crown and Mr. O'Connell.

The Marquis of CHANDOS expressed his satisfaction
at the statement which had been just delivered.
The motion for the postponement of the Committee of
Supply was then agreed to.