The Sun.
London, England, 1823-01-10 00:00:00

IRELAND.

ISWILIN COMMISSION.
[From the DzthlinFrec-nan's Juumal of• Tuesday, Jan. 7.1
Yesterday morning the Judges MOORS and
BURTON Were on the Bench at ten o'clock.
About three o'clock.the Grand Jury of the City
of Dublin came iiiko Court, and the Foreman,
Sir George WhiteG4d, read from a written paper
nearly as fellows
8I y Lords—We have learned, with deep regiet, that the dis-
charge of our official dutieS, as to certain bills of indictment,
has been made the subject of animadversion by his Majesty's
Attorney-General, and has been pronounced, by the authority
of this high Court to be a tnateer of surpriee. We hope that
•
neither tha Court, npr warts 2allotioni his Majesty's irrtrtcll3il
Law Officers, intended to convey any inumation, that our judg-
went has been influenced by fear, by favour, or affection. A
charge of such a nature, without adverting to the enormity of
the guilt which it would intpute,would be essentially unjust; for
the oath of secrecy which we have taken forbids a disci°.
sure, which the vindication of that lodgment, and, if neces-
sary, the satisfactory refutation ofauch a charge, would impose.
it must be. recollected,
.that to us exclusively is the evidence
known, upon which our judgment was founded ; and we there-
fore trust that this high Court will receive, the declaration now
unanimously and solemnly Made by us, that out decision was
the result of a laborious investigation of the evidence, a con-
seientious consideration of its wewht, anti a sincere desire to
adhere to the charge of the Learned Judge, who so fully de-
tailed to us the nature of our duties, and the nature of the prin.-
'ciple upon which he was, bound to discharge them-
JusticeMootto-41mitletrien of the Grand Jury, the less.
I now say upon the subjetie of your communication, perhaps
the better. You have atannl what you have stated, from what
you say you have heard, and only beard, and not front tiny thiut;
collected by your own intelligence, or in your own presence.
It is a dangerous thing for a public body to act on opinions and
on hearings, of the accuracy of which they luau not be apprised.
Gentlemen, shall say no more than this, that the Attorney.
General has, in 'what has been communicated to you, been (I
will not say unjustly) most shamefully inisrepreeented. In my
hearing, or in that of, my brotbetJadge, he not onlydid,,not
cast any imputation upon the Grand Jury, but expressly
guarded himself against any such suspicion. Ile said that
no man could, or dared to arraign a Grand Jury for their
decision in the exercise of their Constitutional privilege—
Um*, Gentlemen, leaving to you all the privileges which by
law belong to you, and, which you have a right to chant.—
The Attorney-004ra hail at the earne time his privilege, and
a right to expreess his surprise and disappointinent that a body
of evidence which had appeared to hint so decisive, shook!
have struck a superior jurisdiction; in so veryAiffereut a way.
—lie had, I say, a right to express such eurprise, giving
every respect to the conselencious decision of the Jury ; and
having that right; he manfully stated that Ins mind could not
be satisfies), unless titecase underveent discussion Before another
Jury ; and 'be. accordingly annotniced his intention to flie an
information agaiust the same person;, and tiring alio ..matter
before a .Petty Jury, where the whole event and cireuriatances
of the case could be cottideretl. It is said that the Gond Jury
have a constitutional right to decide, under their oaths and con.
consciences, and diet no Man is entitled to dispute, the exer.
cise of their privilege. As to any intimation of what haefellen
from the. Court, if you listen to, vuLlic report, you might
have had still more to advert to in that respect ; ,for whet
was tuna by the Court has been utSbst strangely rniireprNettred
in some of the public newspapers. If the Grand Jury,
tbtrefOro, 114Ye'lWen led 0Y40441 relanw they-hove-boen
moderate in not stating Tate with respect to the Court. ilitat
you have addressed to the Court has been temperate and respect.
ful. You have stated that the Court expressed surprise. I did
say that I was, and I am, surpriseil. 'You, gentlemen, lam
ogre, have acted according to your consciences: but I dill and do
express my surprise, after reading the laxly of evidence, that it
was not calculated to obtain the character of veracity from the
Jury. I also said, in answer to an observation filial Counsel
(and I say so still), that you had no right, by laws to try what
constituted a conspiracy, and that your only business was to
consider whether you •believed the facts. I said, and say
again, that on the imam informations which I had, there, is
a full conspiracy shown ill point of law hp if the facts are .
lieved. I also said that the Grand Jury' had no right to try
the cause, but only to put it info a course of .troile It watt in
answer to. Counsel, who asserted that. the men were in effect
acquitted, that the Court thought itself betuid to say, that no
nom could be acquitted who wits not tried. I said that upon
the informations there appeared a manifest conspiracy—,pre.
pared eireumstances--placards distrihuteC—c.alls understood..._
Intentions shorn by some parties or other to disturb the
public peace. if you had decided that these facts did not
Brove a conspiracy, you would have decided a question of lew.
ut if the point of your decision was, that there was not credible
evidence of the factsalien Limit/ I had nothing to do with that,
and diet I must prestime that such was the ground of your de.
termination. l'hese were explanations which I gave to Conn.
sel ; that is the opinion which I' held, and now entertain, and
when different language has been attributed to me, it hex been
either from great tu 'lsconception, or gross misrepresentation.
The Grand Jury then withdrew.
The ATTouNEY-tiENEit4tt. was not in Court during this
conversation.

ENNIS, JAx. a.
It is our painful duty to. mention this day an unfortunate dr-
cumatance which occurred at Moyhlll, in the barony of Inchi.
quit); Lieut. Franklin, of the revenue, proceeded with a party
of the army Stationed at Ennistymon to the place abovemen-
tioned, and seized and destroyed some illicit malt: he was re-
turning, when a young Man, about 21 year+ of age, named
flehir, cams Whim, and begged to get back the bags, which he
alleged were bags be tent the person who had the malt, for the
purpose, asThat person stated, of taking corn to market. This
Lieut. Franklin thought proper to refuse on which Het& be-
came exceedingly insolent and abusive; whereupon the Lieute-
nant attemptetho arrest flehir, who fled inw a bog, where he
was pursued by the Lieutenaht on horseback, but his horse
getting stuck in the hoe, he drew a pistol from the holster, anti
ran alter him on toot, till he overtook him, on which flehir per-
ceiving the Lieutenant to be some hundred yards detached !Not
his party: and thinking, no doubt he should .be able to overetnne
him, for that purpose struck at the Lieutenant several times
with a two-handed wattle, the Lieutenant then,- as our inform-
ant states, and not till then, fired his
.pistol, a ball frotn
which, Unfortunately, entered- near Itelur's right eye, and
cameout somewhere at the back of his head. The Lieutenant
proceeded directly to Ennistymon, and sent 'Dr. Finneatie to
see if any thing could be done for Whir, who is still living,
with however, we fear, little hopes of recovery. Lieut. Franklin
was sent into our jail yesterday evening, escorted by a party of
the Ennistymon police, under a warrant from Tonikinat:reir,
Esq., where, ire suppoie, he must remain until the t suit
of this melancholy :affair is know. However, if the 'above
statement be correct, in case of Ifehiett death, the Coroner's
jury, whit!' we would here sugg4,st ought to be respectable.,
will, we have nu doubt, give 3tr. Franklin his liberty, by brink-
ing m a verdict accordingly: We understand; from unnues-
tionable authority, that an investigation was this day held beige
Major Warburton and Boyle Varideleur, Esq., collector of
Excise, relative to the above circumstance, which, we are happy
to say, terminated most favourably to Mr. Franklin.

CITY I .2111.11tiiDAT-I*.,'VrNING.

The ,Consols for the next settlement opened
at 801 anti at one time foundbuyers at the latter price. The
expresses from Paris quoted the. Renter there last .due lay at
87. 65, being s shade above the price of the preceding any..
It being understood that a ptn Hebrew interest has car-
ried their account forward to the February settlement Alf the
Consols, anti money being -abundant, caused a considerable
.deal of business ,to be trans!ieted 1011410 On in British
Funds of all descriptions.
Foreign Funds, of every description arc exceedingly heavy,
and all.of them We kwer. In, French Roues no transactions
are publicly known to have taken plate, and the value is sup.
posed to be somewhere. about 87. . The Spanish Rands are
again lower, and confidence in them daily decreases, There
were sonic rumours respecting thentin circulatitm, which did
not, tenti...W make them more valua:de. Neapolitan Scrip is
also lower.--( Nor, Citron.)