The Sun.
London, England, 1848-05-29 00:00:00

CONVICTION OF MR. MITCHELL.

Sir JAMES GRAHAM said, in justice to the
late Government he felt it his duty to state
that the instructions given in the private letter
which the N. ble Lord had read were directly con-
trary to those given by the late Government, in re-
ferrence to Mr. O'Connell's trial, if they contained an
intimation that parties were to be t.truck off the jury on
account of their religious persuasions. The instruction
given by the late Government were identical with those
given by Mr. Monoghan, and it was distinctly laid down
that those parties only were to be struck off who might
be supposed to be identified with the political opinions
of the late Mr. O'Connell.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL said the letter alluded to was
not sent to Lord Clarendon as instructions, but simply
to put him on his guard that charges might be preferred
against Government after the trial had taken place.
Mr. BRIGHT said it was quite evident from what
had passed in that House, and indeed from what had
been said to night, that it bad been the opinion
of the Government, that it was highly desirable that
the trial of Mr. Mitchel should take place, and that
a conviction should be obtained. Now he was not in
the least disposed to m..ke any complaint of that; but
there was another thing at least ut as much importance
for pacifying the people of Ireland and cementing the
union of the two countries, and that was, that the people
of Ireland should feel convinced that in the trials upon
charges ef grave offences, whether political or other-
wise, that they should have that fir trial which
the constitution of this country declared should
be had b, the meanest subject of the Crown. Ntiv he
was not about to say that Mr. Mitchel has bren guilty
of evert thing that has been laid to his charge, nor would
he say that the verdict returned was riot in accordance
with the dictates of the law; bat it' they might judge
from the report* which appeared in the public prints,
and these reports it must be borne in mind would be
read not only in London but through( ut Great Bri-
tain, and riot mile le Great Britain but by every
person who could nisi in Irelani ; It wo ill seem
that there were 15u „er sons who were upon the panne!,
of whom, if he were not mistaken, 28 were Roman
Catholics, although it was a notorious fact that the
largest proportion of the population of Duhiin were of
the Catholic persuasion, while of that 150 only 65,0 r 75
answered to ihvir names. Or those, Government had
the power of striking off to an unlimited extent,
but the prisoner had only the power of strik-
ing off to a limited extent. It appeared thus
that the Crown struck off every person who was a
Roman Catholic. Now it was quite possi. le that every
one of these persons was known to sympathise with the
views of the prisoner, arid it was quite possible
that every one of these twenty-eight persons
was incompetent to give a fair verdict, but the
people of Ireland would not so consider, and as
six-sevenths of the entire population of that country
were of the Catholic persuasion, no doubt it would
become the universal opinion of the majority of them
that they were not considered by Government competent
to give a fair opieion, and, therefore, ought not to be
asked to take part in a jury to try a political offence.
He h,eped that whilst the Gov,:rnment showed the
powers of the law, arid were determined to put it in
force, the llouse, from whom the law emanated, would
show the people of Ireland that it wished w see justice
done, and was disposed .to exercise its mercy. There
was one destitution in Ireland which had been the cause
of most of the evi!s that had been inflicted upon
that country, and which he was confident the majority
of the people of this country would assist in taking
away. lie allude dto the Established Church, the.mam-
hers of which the Guyer:lna, nt had looked upon as the
oely tit persona to sit on juries in political cases, thus
excluding about six-sevenths of the people of Ireland
who were Catholics. Such a state of things is most chs-
gracelnl, and he hoped the House and the country would
not long tolerate it.—(fleor, hear.)
Mr. GRATTAN here rose and interrupted the Hon.
Member to state that Catholic juries in Ireland were as
honest, intelligent, and as capable of discharging their
unties as Protestants. In consequence of the proceed-
ings against Mr. Mitchel, he had to say that many of
those who were anti-repealers would now be thorough
repralers for the rest of their dais.—(Laughter.)
He would tell the Government that they had made
a great mistake of late—that they had acted
the part of cowards, and not the part of men
in enforcing the law. They had brought into the
House a most abominable law to put down the phy-
si.ail force men iu Ireland, when that might
have been done quite as eff ctually by the common
law. Nothing milk be so monstrous as the packed jury
system in Ireland. In the jury books the proportion of Ca-
tholics gas there to ogre mere than that ot Protestants, but
after they had been under the revisiou of the sheriff, the
proportion was reduced to one Catholic for five
Protestants. He hope d that some Honourable
Member would give notice of a motion for
a sifting inquiry into the whole proceedings in Ireland;
because he held, froth the virtue, wisdom, and knowledge
in that country, that the arbitrary power which Go-
vernment had exercised would be but short lived, and
weuld ultimately fall.
Mr. BRIGHT said it appeared from the Honourable
Member's observations, that it was as dangerous to d&-
fend Ireland as to attach her. . The Hun. Member
had entirely mistaken his remarks, for ha never meant
to express an opinion that Catholics were unfit for juries.
What he meant to convey was, that six-sevenths of the
People of Ireland were not in harmony with the Go
yernment, and would not help them to carry out the
law- His sentiments were entirely in accordance
with those which the Honourable Gentleman had
enunciated, and, thetefore, he was never more surprised
in his life than when the Hon. Gentleman rose and at-
tacked him.—(Laughter.)
Mr. ROCHE raid if the Government had occa-
sion to appeal to the laws of the country against
those who opposed them, they should take care,
for their own reputation, that the parties were
tried by an impartial jury.—(Hear.) Although Mr.
Mitchel had been convicted anti sentenced, they hall his
statement that there were 300 who were ready to follow
his example, and, therefore, it was not unlikely that
some of them would have to pass through the ordeal
which be, had passed through, sod therefore it behoved the
Government to take care that the juries by whom they
were tried were fairly selected. It was stated in the
letter which the Noble Lord had read that every man
professing repeal principles was to be struck oft—so
that it came to this, if this were done, that parties placed
on their trial like Mr. Mitchell would be tried by parties
who dissented from them. The. repeal party was di-
vided into sections, some of whom had no sympathy with
the violent principles maintained by Mr. Mitchel, who
dissented from them as much ps he or any one in this
country did ; but surely they were as competent to return
a fair verdict as any other parties. It came, therefore,
to this, were .they to have trial by jury in Ireland or
not ? If they 'struck off thOse_ of the same religious,‘
persuasion as the persons to be tried, trial by jury in
Ireland would become " a delusion, a pincliery, and a
snare."