The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-12 00:00:00

triertatt

LONDON, SATtTRDAY, MAY 12, 1849.

The last act of the Irish state trials has termirated.
The arguments which ran to such an extraordinary
length on the other side of St. George's Channel
have been brought to a summary conclusion. The
House of Lords, after hearing the unanimous de-
cision of the Learned Judges who had been called in
to assist their Lordships—a decision which was de-
livered without the counsel on behalf of the Crown
being called upon to argue the errors assigned,
confirmed the judgment of the Court below,
without the slightest hesitation or difficulty. This
result cannot in any degree have surprised the learned
gentlemen who appeared on behalf of the prisoners,
or even those unfortunate persons themselves. The
opinions of the Irish Judges were too clearly and un-
equivocally expressed, and too ably sustained, to per-
mit a single doubt to remain in the mind of any
person possessed of the slightest knowledge of law.
It was manifest that the objections taken,
although ingenious enough, could not stand the
test of the close and accurate reasoning to which they
would undoubtedly be subjected. This anticipation
has been fully realised, and the parties convicted now
await the punishment which her MAJESTY, tempering
justice with mercy, may please to allot for the offence
of which they have respectively been fuund guilty by
juries of their country.

Although the proceedings have been so unusually
protracted, we cannot regret the delays which have ne-
cessarily intervened, or that the cases have been brought
under the consideration of the ultimate tribunal, the
court of last appeal. It is well that the nation should
be convinced that no unfair advantage was taken—
that everything was conducted in due form of law—
that there was no error, either of form or substance,
on the part of the law officers of the Crown in Ireland.
Had it been otherwise, statements might have been
made that would have acted strongly upon an
excitable nation ; it might have been hinted
that those learned and impartial Judges who
presided over the Irish Courts had bee❑
unduly biassed, that their opinions had been in some
degree influenced by the importance of the subject,
and the necessity of vindicating the majesty of the
law. It will now be known that they held the
scales of justice with even hands; that they firmly
and dispassionately discharged the grave duties with
which they were entrusted. The well-merited eulo-
giums passed by the Lord Chief Justice of the Com-
mon Pleas, as the representative of his judicial
brethren, upon the sound learning and distinguished
ability displayed in their judgments, were strength-
ened and confirmed by the Noble and Learned
Lords who presided on the judgment-seat ;
and the voice of detraction and calumny, must be for
ever silenced after such an expression of admiration
and respect.
Although, however, no question can now be raised
as to the legality of the judgment, although it must
be admitted that parties accused of high treason in Ire-
land are not entitled to the privileges conferred by the
statutes of WILLIAM and of ANNE upon persons in
this country charged with the same offence, we,
trust that the Executive may take a lenient view of
the case, and deal as mildly with the prisoners
as circumstances may permit. It has long since been
announced that the extreme penalty would be re-
mitted. Before Ireland was fully tranquillised, before
it was distinctly shown that agitation had ceased in
Ireland, the friends of these misguided men were
tranquillised by the assurance that the capital punish-
ment would not be enforced. So sanguinary a con-
clusion would, indeed, have created a deep feeling of
disgust, and loathing not only in Ireland, but through-
out the civilized world. The times have gone
by when death could be inflicted for a
merely political offence. No stronger stimulus could
be applied to the cause for which they had struggled
than what would unquestionably be regarded as their
martyrdom. They wuuld be looked upon as heroes ;
the follies and vacillations of which they had been
guilty would be forgotten, their names would become
household words, and their memories be consecrated
t: in the hearts of their countrymen. Any vindictive
or severe punishment may have a similar result.

a e 1

The causes that would render an example ne-
cessary or desirable no longer exist. The
revolutionary spirit has subsided. The Young Ire-
land party is broken and dispersed; its leaders are
either exiles from their native land, or are awaiting the
final decision of the Executive. Physical force is no
longer heard of ; the people are completely subdued
by the sufferings and privations they have under-
gone. England has indeed proved itself their best
friend, and to the generous assistance so readily
afforded in the hour of distress they owe
their preservation through a series of un-
paralleled miseries. Even on the very day
that the judgment of the Irish Court was confirmed
both branches of the Legislature were engaged in
passing important remedial measures for the benefit
of Ireland and the Irish. The desire of all parties
should, therefore, be to ratify and cement the union
between the countries, to bind more closely the ties
by which they are connected. No boon would be
more gratefully received than a very great modifica-
tion of punishment to the parties already convicted,
and a complete and unconditional amnesty to all who
have not yet been brought to trial. We trust that
the Government may not neglect so favourable an
opportunity of consolidating their power and of gain-
ing the affection of the Irish people.

Can there be any truth in the rumour ? That Minis-
ters are projecting a grand scheme to relieve them-
selves from a vast accumulation of embarrassments.
Among the Clubs we have heard it, not whispered,
but openly reported, that it is the intention of her
Majesty's Government to hurry two or three pet
measures, such, for example, as the Navigation Bill
and the Rate in Aid Bill, through the Houses, and
then, about the middle of June, to arrange about the
sudden and premature prorogation of Parliament.
By that means, of course, burking all the important
measures which are either in preparation, or are even
partially developed—tbe Scotch Lunacy Bill to wit,
the Scotch Registration Bill, the Health of Towns Bills
proposed for Ireland and Scotland, the Parliamentary
Oaths Bill, the Charitable Trusts Bill, and the rest, and
the rest—thereby affording the members of the Cabinet
leisure to deliberate over the difficulties that have to be
vanquished, especially in reference to the contrivance
of some magnificent policy in regard to the adminis-
tration of affairs in Ireland. Our emotions would,
indeed, be peculiarly poignant could we by any
means induce ourselves to view these assertions as
credible. We should, in our capacity as journalists,
sympathise with the lamentations of MACDUIT more
than if we witnessed the impersonation of that cha-
racter by the greatest Macnurr upon the boards,
Mr. PHELPS. " What—all my pretty ones? Did
you say, all ? 0, hell-kite ! All ? What, all my
pretty chickens and their dam, at one fell swoop?"
That such, however, can be the ruthless determina-
tion of her MAJESTY'S advisers is beyond all reason.
able belief. No such dangerous experiment can, we
are satisfied, be in contemplation among a body of
statesmen so familiar with the disposition of the mul-
titude. The more especially is the thing improbable
at such a period of anxiety and agitation—when, to
the urgency of our own interior condition in regard
to Ireland, are added all the actual or prospective
disturbances of the states of the continent—war
between Hungary, on the one side, and a Russo-
Austrian Coalition on the other; war between Den-
mark and Prussia; war between Naples and Sicily ;
war between Austria and Venice ; the invasion of
the Roman and Tuscan dominions from the north by
Austria, from the south by Naples, and from the
western shores of Italy, through Civita Vecchia, by
the French under OUDINOT ; a probable insurrection
throughout the Polish provinces, namely, in Posen
and Gallicia, in obedience to the summons of the
battle-trumpet of BEM ; a by no means impossible
declaration of war by the Turkish SOVEREIGN in de-
fence of the liberties of Moldo-Wallachia, threatened
by the AUTOCRAT ; and, above all, the very serious
state of agitation which is becoming every day more
perceptible over the various kingdoms and principali-
ties of the German population ! At such a juncture
it is more than ever unlikely that Lord Jona' RUS-
SELL and his colleagues would be rash enough to
place a padlock on the mouth of the Peeple, by
abruptly proroguing the Parliament. It is more
than ever unlikely, when the community are more
than ever conscious of the inestimable advantages
afforded by the possession of a legislative chamber
like the House of Commons—a chamber through
which the nation can at all times speak whatever is
uppermost in its heart, or deepest in the abysses of
its conscience.

Our sole object, therefore, in making allusion to
the rumour just now prevalent in the club-houses of
Pall-mall and St. James's is, that by plainly articu-
lating that rumour in print we may elicit its direct
contradiction ; and our anxiety to obtain this denial
is the more urgent, as we observe an incident which
occurred only last evening in the Commons. In an-
swer to an inquiry put to him yesterday by the
Hon. Gentleman the representative of Carlow, in
reference to the intention of the' Government as to
the introduction of sanitary measures for Ireland, the
Prime Minister gave a reply so equivocal as in some
degree to justify the credulity of those who seriously
anticipate this premature prorogation of Parliament.
We are in consequence doubly solicitous that all
further doubt one way or the other should at once be
removed. The anxiety arising from the present un-
certainty only tends in a very striking manner to
aggravate the unhealthy excitement of the general mind
both in regard to our home affairs and our foreign
relations. When likewise it is borne in recollection
that some of our most conspicuous colonies, such for
instance as Ceylon and the Canadas, are in a posture,
either dangerous to their reputation or incompatible
with their retention, it must be acknowledged that
there are additional reasons, and reasons, moreover, of
a very remarkable and conclusive character, for the
continued sitting of the Houses until the ordinary
period of their prorogation, until the grouse are suffi-
ciently plump to whet the appetite of the true
sportsman.
Nothing, we are satisfied, would tend more to
diminish the popularity of the Administration than a
movement like the one to which we are making allu-
sion—a movement which would inevitably be viewed
as a tacit confession of the incapacity of the Govern-
ment, at least yet awhile, to grapple with existing
difficulties. Out of a regard, therefore, to their own
repute with the million, we trust that the Cabinet
will, by its conduct during the remainder of the ses-
sion, dissipate any such idle conjectures. To suppose
that the men now at the head of affairs would act, as
it is imagined by many persons it is their intention to
act, would be to conceive them capable of throw-
ing over the national interests for their own
individual convenience. Several of the measures at
the present moment before the Legislature are of too
peculiar importance to be suddenly burked with im-
punity. The Scotch Lunacy Bill, for example, is one
long demanded by the multitude, and its fur-
ther postponement would be nothing less than
the infliction of a very serious injury
upon an unhappily large section of the inhabitants
of Scotland. Its provisions are as essential, as
the principle which first created the office of Com-
missioners de Lunatico Inquirendo was hu-
mane and generous. Again, the procrastination
of the Parliamentary Oaths Bill would be a
direct slight, nay worse than a slight, a positive
injustice to the very constituency which elected the
Premier as one of its representatives—the great me•
tropolitan constituency of London, which, by the
election of Baron LIONEL DE ROTHSCHILD on the
occasion of the last general election, have declared in
favour of the extension of religious tolerance at
the expense of a quarter of its legitimate
influence in the deliberations of the House of Com-
mons. Nor are those the only measures required by
the people for the alleviation of their sufferings or for
the development of their enjoyments. There are
several others—and this, be it remembered,
thanks to the very Cabinet which is pre-
sumed in many quarters to be on the eve
of risking its popularity by the sudden proro-
gation of Parliament! Let the leaders of the Admi-
nistration, if they value the opinion of the great
nation over which they are placed as rulers, avail
themselves of the very earliest opportunity for the
contradiction of a rumour so injurious to themselves
and so hateful to the multitude.

The Lord Mayor received yesterday at dinner Mr.
Masterman, M.P., the Chamberlain, Mr. Murray,
with several members of the Common Council, and pri•
vats friends.