The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-11 00:00:00

QUEEN'S B:-.NCH.-(THIS DAY.)

others that it u urp :d, a pr.vilege. He asked the Attorney-
Genaral whether t e hau ever exces ded that duty or priva.
lege ? Whet could not the press do ? If it con--
JUDGMENT ON mit. FEARGUS o'coNeort• bined against the Bsnch—the Psrliament—all the
This being the day appointed for passing judgment on institutions of the country—it would destroy them.
Mr. O'Connor for the publication of seditious libels, the If it combined against the Attornee-General, would
Court was crowded at an early am., On the Learned • destroy him to morrow. fie would not stop to dispute
Judges taking their seats,
whether the press had an assigned d sty or prescriptive
Mr. O'Connor rose and said_Before he addressed the , right ; but he defied the Attorney-General to produce
Court in mitigation of punishment, he wished to lay be. : from the Northern Star a single passage which violated
fore their Lordships several affidavits, which he prayed the secrecy of private life, or which could be consider, d
might be read by the officer of the Court. libellous. Yet, his prosecuth n was considered so im-
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL made an observation which ' portant as to require that the Artornes General and four
we did not hear, on which
gentlemen of the bar should tto t.ent to piosectite him fo
Lord DENMAN observed it might be inconvenient, be- ! en account given in four lines in The Sun newspaper of a
cause the affidavits might require an answer; but after a seeech he had delivered at Rochdale, ie which it was said
short conversation many of them were read, Mr. O'Connor gave an sec u t of the proceedings at
The affidavits, which Mr. O'Connor said were sixty- Birmingham, and sa d that the people should have guns,
two in number, were from various panics in Eng- cartridges, and pikes prepared. • He had not said
land and Scotland who were acquainted with Mr. a word of this; yet, for these four lines he was
O'Connor, who had attended public meetings at which prosecuted by all the law officers of the Crown.
he had spoken, and testified that the deponents had Was that prejudice er not? The At orney- General said
never heard Mr. O'Connor advocate any principles of he (Mr. O'Connor) boasted his paper gave an impetus to
an illegal, libellous, or treasonable character ; but that, on his party, and it was so. Was not that the
object
the contrary, he had constantly repudiated such principles, of a paper ? If told by the Editor of • the
and urged his bearers ever to seek the attainment of their Times it did not do so, he would laugh, and in
of jests by legal and constitutional means. boasting this he had done no more than other papers
Mr. O'Connor then said, these affidavits having been did, but the Attorney- General did not
prosecute the Times.
read befere, he addle sued the Court in mitigation of He, Mr. O'Connor, was the great offender. He was
punishment. He wished to be allowed, in the first in- . charged with attacking the Queen's prerogative, and pro-
stance, to thank their Lordships, not more for the favour pagating opinions which would le d to revolution. Snow
they had teen kind enousea to extend towards him when in him one sentence against the Queen's prerogative in the
truth he required it, than for the courteous manner in Northern Star; they could not, but he could produce
which they had complied with his request. The great thousands in its favour. It did not a:ivocAte. as others
difficulty he lad to contend with, he was aware, v h were not prosecuted, a tepee! of the Corn-laws, which
we uid he to heap the subject matter for the consideration it it took place to day would occasion a revolution to mor
ut ih- Court before it, and at the same time to keep row. It. did not advocate a refoim in the Huse cf Lords,
himself out of view. It was quite true lie was found for God forbid in the present state of the other Howie, the
guilty at York of what was called a libel, a portion of House of Lords should be reformed. Thay were the only
Kitsch he would not defend, but he thought the better berriar between the people and the most traffic,ng /I"as°
s'ourse would be to separate that which b; longed to him- of Commens the country had ever known. He wae a De-
self, fr,,in 0).4 the responsibility of which had been Mi. mocrat—a Chartist—lntl he advocaaed the five peinta
Pastd up. n a journalist. H.- took his but he would surrender there only with his life. tie had
,•,wri eae which had bee,, eontineutvd on by the advocated them at great expense, fur, thank Ged, he was
Learlied Judge ii, addressing the Jute, ;led who, after not a mendicant partizan, but he Was not, as he was .S" a full summing up to the Jury they might find him guilty cused, one of those who ,ought to bring public euttiositici
upon ,ortie counie—.c nnmenting at the' ,aerie strong' ceetempt. He eid not euercl at
oil ttie sp• ech included in anwher count, and saying that the aristocracy of the Cabinet ; no, but at its vulga-
its phraseology was mere!) the fignreeve eay adopted y city. He cemplaim d the aristocracy were robbed
sees addr. ssing meetisiga. y-I us nut,,,cou- their iisturai rights, that the connection bet-seen them
in tapittity and indecent haste the Jury returned a said the poor, as patron and elect, was dissolves], and the,
vendee—net having had time to react ten lines of the line of detnareation drawn more strongly ev..tY
alleged libel—that icy found hire guilty upon ell Uinta The objects of the Government were to be
this it was that he cow sulindoed first socech to their obtained per fas ant nefas. The Cabinet was
Lordships, and left it with them without quallficatim. He not modeled as the would nave it, and he taought it
took she effirtatit 'rem Rochdale, %atilt the speech was de- an excessively vulgar Cabinet. But it was no linger a
liver d. In the rep art of that speech 1,0 WA, 1114(14! !O talk libel to bring a Government into di repute. Mr. O'Con-
eoriscuse, by a rep atee who teatime, Itelead n his sffid•‘ret a nor diet. went on comment upon the proceedings of the
that he was incompetent for the office he !resumed. He Wing Government in former days, and alluded to the At-
eas these made to say that feu pound' worth of certain tort-my-General entering into Dudley in 1832 by toschZght'
would only tell for five shillings. This was a speettnan of and coup r,d the Gav !riveted of the Whigs with that of the
the way in which his sentiments had been misrepresented ; Tories, end asked, when did a Terry Government ever put
for what he said was, that now ten pounds' worth 240 men into prison for language • which, as Mr Jostle.°
.of cotton would make but five shillings profit in the Coleridge said was that which would be naturalle used by
market ; and, again, that ten pounds' worth of wheat illiterate men. He then contended that he had never ad-
would after a moderate expense had been laid out upon it vocated illegal doctrines, but that, on the contrary, when-
sell for 25/. in the market, so that the ornis'don of the word ever he had addressed the peopl.e he had advised them to
" profit" in the report had occasioited it altogether to mis- rely on moral power seine—had told them bow far endue
represent whet he really said. But what attracted the (aim.; should be patiently i:ubtnitted to, and when alone en-
attention of the Jury at York vas it being said, idler some durance would become a crime. These were the electrifies
comments on the disturbances at Birmingham, " That new he had advocated, and they were those alone which the
the peop!e were attacked, they were prepared to give Attorney-General would find in the Northern Star•
physical force a warm reception," In another report he He had been accused of exciting discontent among her
was made to say that " mischief was a-brewing." Majesty's subjects. Now, what was the fact ? Why,
He did say so. But under what circumstances? instead of raising disturbance, be had done all in his power
In Birm'ngliarri a large assembly, amounting to 40,000 to put it down. In every part of the country he bad ale
persons, were congregated in the Bull_ring_the Magic_ sited all was order and peace ; but where lie bad not been,
!rates were assembled, and, as was prover: by affiaavit, there agitation reigned. They had it in evidence that,
were of opinion that some defence should be immediately instead of exciting, he bad put down disturbance
Wha,
made for the protection of the place. Ile (Mr. O'Con- interest could he have in raising disturbances ? He bad
nor) went and told the people that they ought to separate, every thing to lose, and as great a stake in the country
and they did so. Yet he was made to say that they were as the Attorney-General. He could gain nothingby
prepared to give physical force a warm reception. Then a general scramble, and he defied any man to say
tie came to that which was most important of all—the affi- that be had ever done any thing that need raise a blush
davit of the reporter, who stated that was the first speech upon his face; and as long as be had the power of standing
he had attempted is report for the IVorthern Star, and up to protect his own character from slander, for that was
that in consequence of the incorrectness of that report he what was attacked now, he would do so. Every cause
became the compiler and sub-editor, which was quite con- hid its martyrs, and he was picked out as the martyr to a
sistent, because an individual might be, well qualified for cause which he conscientiously believed to be just. No
those duties who had not sufficient skill to report the pro- revolution bad been effected without many martyrs, and
ceeoings of a public meeting. They had the affidavits, he supposed he was destined to lie one. Nothing had give°
not of Chartists, not of Radicals, not of political partisans, him greater delight than to hear the Lord Chief Justice in
hut of gentlemen who declared they were averse to his pole_ defending the Court against the privileges claimed by the
tied' opinions, all of whom were electors of the town of Roach- House of Commons sey thut there was a difference e
be-
dale, and who deposed that what had so alarmed-the tween political and criminal offences. Who was it, It
Attorney-General had had the effect of tranquillising the would ask, that had invited agitation? Why, no Ices
town—of putting off the sacred holiday ; and, in feet, a a persorage than Lord John Russell himself. Now what
tendency for anything but that which the Attorney- was the nature of the offence for which be was called ow'
General had attributed to it. But take that speech, to account ? laity this ;—a report which the reporter him:
with all its faults upon its head, and he defied self had stated was not correct. The Attorney-General
the ablest lawyer in the land, except by undue had stated that he had been longer in the office of Attor-
perversion of the law, to say there was a single li- ney-General than any other man for the last century!
bellous sentence in it. The Learned Judge who told Toat might be true; but it was equally so that
the Jury it was their province to say whether it was libel- mote prasecutions had been instituted in that period than
lous or not, told them it did not strike him as being libel- at say former time, He (Mr. O'Connor) had advocated
lous. He ( O'Connor) was not astonished to hear his the Charter, and lie gloried in having done so; he should
Lordship say that he regretted that fair O'Connor devoted persevere in the course he had hitherto adopted,• but he
his talents to the furtherance of principles which had a was the last man that would enter resort to or advise the
tendency to subvert the order of society, when he was adoption of physical force. It could not be said of bins
made to say that he would unseat the Judges, and take the that he had any selfish motives in view in the course
Helie
land from its proprietors, and divide it equally had adopted, for he had done it a; his own expense._
among the people. Common sense would tett had never attempted t o push that agitation by any Other
their Lordships he had never used this language than peaceable means, and he would be most happy to
lie wanted not an equalization of the soil ; he was con_ have the Attorney- General as a subscriber to the Northern
vineed diet it was impracticable, and that were it cqua_ Star, for in that publication he would find some of the
lazed to-day, it would not remain so to. morrow. When h, b:st writing, by uteri us a humble 'sphere of cite, he had
spoke of society generelly, he did not mean to include all , eecr read. He had no 'nonunion in saying what
society. They might as well say, that because be spok, was the cause of the i rosecution—he had '.'eon pointed
agains, a lairtieular A,Artinistration, I.e Was opposed at by Mt. O'Connell ; and it. was
.very extraoidittary,
• o ell Adrninistratietis. lie swerved from Inn- that n.. 1 a single l air tip Ih, en tiros d l not
had then ss:d. . bier, was, that some eepetetment. Shared as simder honeur Mr O'Connoreute then titochaieeded
of Judges both at home and in the Colonies were a de- . scud the litter which he had written to Lord Jahn
pit ace to the (hily, and au insult to the Bar.—( Ap- Russell, which ecieted ~ut to him tile constquences
piausa its the Court, on ehteis Lord Danteen said thin it asiech tne agitation that was then eoieg on eas liaelY t"
eny iodithduAl relented it he should he taken into cu,tody, lead to. There eery eAlaitri, Vt tit re pasties might liednifi°
use it it Aes, tr..ises di the Court steed(' ta• cleared. ) Lc! 11l peace anti list,. in sestet's:Tien, hut that was net the clishei:t
1 be tested by comenni sense. Suety se hid eed. a Eaeland, beceuse. feessed be,Gud. in this cowl*
pus
sutured to peel is to the people 'ha their fe idahias ate. slier Imes were allowed to lake places, and they acted 5:
graced the 13.•neit ; suppose he said that Mr. anew what might be called a safety valve. Wholesale ch`roe,,,
Park,,
or Mr. Baron Alderson, or CeiefJestice Tindal, drat had beet, made against him of publiseing libeb;• N._,
so, was there a single man it, England who eould believe him? what was the case ? Why one of the very libels with
Was there a reporter who would 'cleat it? He now re- which I,e was charged was taken from the Tyne Mete:ail;
turned to O'ifien's speech, He remembered the Atter- Was the props ietor of that er brought upon the floor of
ney-General bad said that he never prosecuted a Mull for the Court of Queen's Bosch as he was? °t
;cords spoken in excitement or after dinner,. lie (Mr, he was wanted by the Attorney-Gencrel to assist
O'C.) took no advantage of this, for though spoken after in the prosection of him (Mr. O'Connor), and, there:a
to
dinner and in the heur of excitement, it made little cliff:_ he was let go free. He defied the Attorney-Gener
ience to him, who, whatever he might be, was never libel- prove that he had ever been connected with any sec vet
lous. Now as to the matter of fact, he had been informed societt, or that his name had ever been mixed up wits
of what he was not cognizant when last before their Lord- any disorder that had occurred. It was for his Lordship the Northern Star published three editions, to say, considering all the charges that had been made
the one for London and another for the North of Eng- against him, and what he bad really done, what punish,"n
land, and in this edition only O'Brien's at tech appeared. he was to receive. He appeared on the flaor of the Court
He had each of the editions in Court, which proved the fact, to receive the judgment of their Lordships, although h
which must have been known to the Attorney-General, and had entered into no recognizance to do so. Wbutetr
he rested bis case in mitigation of punishment upon that that judgment might be, he would meet it as a man.; taut
fact. There was not a word of his speech in the second Ls considered his life as nothing compared with the can`"7 _
edition, which 37,000 copies were published, it being he advocated. If he had pandered to the wishes of Obeli'
contained only in the first edition, the circulation, of which he, perhaps, might have been the master of the Attorney^.
was very small, and consequently the publication' of General, instead of being, as he was now, the servants
the libel would have been small if the prosecu. He entreated their Lordships, in the judgment tl ear'
tion of the Attorney• General had not occasioned might pronounce, to consider that they were tryil
its re-publication. He had availed himself of the a cause and not a man. He was not charged with
courtesy of the Learned Judge in allowing him to any original libel; and with respect to the Northern Star,
procure affidavits from persons of all parties, both in Eng- he challenged the Attorney- General to find in that publi-
land and Scotland, that they had never heard him at the cation one single immoral sentence. He bad suffered a
meetings they attended advocate resort to physical force, great deal, n t because he had violated the law, but on
or the seeking a restitution of their rights by any hut account of supporting it. He had suffered, because be
peaceable means. He asked whether these affidavits could was determined not to allow Mr. O'Connell to have
be stronger, and whether they were not entitled to the an English tail as well as an Irish one in the
attention of the Court. The Attorney_General said he House of Commons. If the Attorney-General had not
(Mr. O'Connor) if he did not approve of the alleged punished others who were far
more guilty than
libel, should have commented on it, and said that it himself, why, he would ask, should he be punished The
was wrong. Here, then, he was charged with an act of cruse was plain, because he had not become the tool f
omission, and not of commission. Suppose the Attorney_ others he had been a mark: d man. He was not ashamed
General had taken up the Times, or the Morning (.)fro- of what he had done, but he was sorry that the sixeches
nick, and found in it an extravagant speech—did he look of Taylor had found their way into the Northern Star,
to see whether it was commented on by the editor ?—and, for he had found that those who professed to be Bible men
if not, why did he not seek for that from t',e Times and were always the greate:t hypocrites. He was no destructive.
Chronicle which he required from the Northern Star? He had neverattacked theinstitutionsofthecountry. Hewes
He came now to the speech of Taylor, and he for the support of the Throne, the palace, and the cottager
had no objection to the castigation it bad received. He but then they were to be subservient to
each other. He
was always opposed to spiritual Chartism, as he had was happy to say that the circulation of the Northern
ever been to spiritual Whiggism or Toryism, and had al. Star was perhaps greater than that of any other newspaper,
ways opposed the introduction of passages from the Holy and for that he bad to thank her'Majesty's Attorney-Gene-
Scriptures into political discussions, yet the Attorney- nil. He hoped be should suffer any punishment their
General sought to associate him with the doctrines therein Lordships might think proper to award as a tutu!'
contained; aut he defied hint to find in the two volumes at and this he was determined, that what•:ver
the Northern Star a single profane, irreligious, (Cr lode- might be, he would stand by the principles be
cent ahrase. Would to God the Attorney_General was as professed. He was truly astonished when the
perfectly convinced as he was that a day would come people had such examples set them as he could refer to--;
when they should all stand in de! presence of One who when they had seen power scrambled for—that they had
would judge them justly, however the decision here might been so quiet" as they had been. It had been said,
be affected by discussions in the Cabinet—the skill of an God forbid that the time shoWd come when the p^ol,.
Atturney-Gens ral, or his criminal ingenuity. Whatever were not allowed to meet. He for one thought that that might have b. en the excesses perpe•retert in the country time had now arrived. The Learned Gentleman Con-
ha was in no way assoeiet, d with them—he had never been eluded by stating- that he was prepared to receive
guilty of any act which had the least tendency to disturb any judgment thut the Court -night award, as a martyr
the public pesee, though now aecu,ed of it by to flue min; which he had always, and ever would supports
that politic-,1 party ve nich had evewedly done to •he lest days of his existence.
more than any win rto produre itwien, Wes The A-rrottsßv GENERAL :hen lose to eddress the
there ever a time when puhre wasowed to Court. He :owed that It W,R not his it t occupy
ruts risk as it now did, ;thieve her um ri, sive in [Om- the time of tie ir Leresilipe at eny lengthil en
)1-17, bed little
self and a few otoers. Look to the Ina m,., of more to do than tee etni, ti the Court tteet the delandaer.
that party ;if they had lee sueeeestee, Ateet ey- wood there to rte ire i‘s dgru,.-1;t, Itsvine het",
General wi.add !sot heve stood wh. re he 'ed, iii. coot/listed of puide hiate si:vjiurel I:hris, the. Obj"C'
was he M . O'C'aiiia,) proseeet. d, w,t n.of was to ex,o,t the people to the colones-
nell, Mr. Bridenew, mid Mr. Reby were ps netiesl ripe of crime. It wee not his ini,eation Cater
to Vie SIX% lie did not 48k the Atte he., • tit.itel .tu Rey &teem, of his owe eiduet. He thought
why he did not prosec.ite them, but not liavOlg t';al. fair O'Connor had no right to complein that 11" j
done so, why he prosecuted hint ? the Attorney. harshness had been shown to him, and as a proof of that:,.
General did not prosecute Mr. O'Connell, because he hew he might refer toahe statement of Mr. O'Connor himself,
he would not be Attorney-General if he did. By the that he was nos under ant- tecognizances to appcsr in this
present law, no one knew when he had hen guilty at libel. Ceurt. hit. O'Connor had refs rr, dto other pi osecuti
If a roan were guilty of murder or robbery he which. had beset instituted against him Now; with knew it ; but he never knew when he was
:;nifty „t libel respect to that, he the Attorney-General) must state that
until the AttorneaeGeeeref inetitieed a pros,rurion roiainst h, eas tint aware of ;qty. fair O'Connar had stated very
him for one. Why did a member or Th.- Celenet go to tinily that aft..l. the %erdier wren pronounced he ( the At" Edinburgh and induce parsons to lib by stating 11.0 turricy-Gent rp.i) called upon the le art d Judger?, present Government were determined not to pro‘ecute in- I protiouece sentence. He had done So, because he th,e. aossi'd
dictments. What was his protection if the Aosirusy- that in such cases it was far better that judgment sh u General was thus allowed to keep the law in lean ? be Pronounced immedien ly than that it should.
have
Three times had the Attorney-General called hint into delayed. He (the Attorney-General) would
dutyif
given of
up the charge, but now he sought for 'vanish- he had not brought this case before a jurdy
to
merit. His (Mr. °Twiner's) character had been his country, because the publication seem ,:d
plunder
well tested since the Reform Bill, which had been him and the jury calculated to lead to pl,..by
no reform for him, before Committees of the House aid insurrection. The jury believed that that was tnauve a
in-
of C-,mmons and otherwise, and he agreed with Mr. tention of the defendant, and for that reason the.
Justice Coleridge, who said at his trial that character, verdict against him. Mr. O'Connor bad com
when a negative act was chsrged, should go far, and that ethers had not been prosecuted.i Now he (thehe
time be
s we ei
without
Ino gastion for such
there ought to be strong ground', to convict a man of an General) coueldhecotthiseenthhe:tidouhsi?-hsaa that durine
offence which was contrary to the tenour of life which he filled the office
if he had he
was proved to have led for a long series of years. He had a prosrcutton.;
id' it. shouldMbad also talked
never for a single moment violated the public peace him- tation have ifisti,nut , r.. O'Connor
s receive some
self, and he asked therefore whether it was fair he should ' Of the lsw of heel ; that law might perhap Bill
the amendment—indeed it hod received it from
be watched, as the Attorney-General confessed
f Con-
Parliament. He agreed with Mr. 0
outoc the least hest'
Northern Star WAS—yet after all was unable to hang already before „
of a
O'Con-
his •
s prosecution upon any other than this slender nor that public meetings often lead to the stability
i Aftnt:gdrntehya-t
peg--not finding any ground for it in the leading articles, .
Government, ; but those !neetings ought never to be Sig'
or in his own speech. It was said by some the (seas had a nahzeeby speech es being made at them exhorting
d and these resent public duty to perform ;by some that it posses by pto subvert the laws, to rise sensi