The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-23 00:00:00

MANCHESTER AND LIVERPOOL

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.

(Abridged from the 1114 chester Courier.)
The dinner of this society took place yr sterday even-
ing in the large room adjoining the Palatine Hotel (Mr.
Adcock's), generally- used as a riding school. The
room, which is a mcst corimodious one, was elegantly
fitted up fur the occasion. It contained 11 cross tables,
and the principal table (at which sat the Noble Chair-
man), ran the entire length of the room.
Tee chair was taken by the Right Hon. Lord Stanley
at half-past fur o'clock. Upwards of 400 gentlemen
sat down to dinner, and amongst them we observed Mr.
J. Wilson Patten, M.P., Mr. William Brown, M.P., who
supported the chair right and loft; the Mayor of Man-
chester (Mr. E. Armitage), Sir Richard Brooke, Sir
Thomas J. de Trafford, Mr. Humphrey de Trafford, Mr.
Cecil Trafford, Sir John Duckworth, Mr. J. Mined:,
M P., Mr. Mark Philips, late M.P. for Manchester; Mr.
John Moore, F.L.S., Mr. G. W. Ormerod, F.G.S., Sir
I3enjansin Heywood, Mr. Peter Clare, Mr. C. J. S.
Walker, Mr. T. Hampson (steward to the Earl of Wil-
ton), Mr. S. Brooke, Mr. SJivler, Mr. J. Neilson, Mr.
leasc Picton, Mr. Commissioner Jemmott, Mr. J. Con-
sterdine, Mr. J. Ireland Blackburne, Colonel Brooker,
Mr. T. Townley Parker, Mr. Josias Booker, Liverpool;
Mr. G. Booker, Liverpool; Mr. J. Wagstaff, Warring-
ton; Mr. P. Ainsworth, Bolton; Captain Blackburn, Mr.
Anderson, the c immitbee of the society, the judges at
the exhibition (whose names will be found above), &c.
The cloth having been removed,
The Noble CHAIRMAN rose and proposed " The
health of her Most Gracious Majesty Queen Victoria."
—(Cheers.) He need not say this toast was to be drunk
with three times three.—(Tremendous cheering.)
His LORDSHIP shortly after rcse, and proposed "The
health of her Majesty time Queen Dowager, Prince
Albert, the Prince of Wales, and the rest of the Royal
Family."—(Cheering.)
The Noble Ci.teeaxest next said, he had now to pro-
pose " The health of the Gallant Defenders of this
country—the Army and Navy." It was now, he be-
lieved, a period of somewhere about thirty-three years
since this country was exposed to all the vicissitudes, to-
gether with the triumphs, of a great and general war-
fare; and sinco that period our troops had been, in the
eye of the world, comparatively unemployed. He did
not mean to say that in both services there had not been
gallant exploits performed, which showed that neither
British soldiers nor sailors had degenerated in their
prowess or efficiency and valour. The sailor had been
well and arduously tried in the conflicts on the coasts of
Africa and with the pirates of the East Indian seas, and
the prowess of the British arms had been gallantly and
manfully sustained on the continent of India under
Hardinge and Gough, and other less distinguished but
not less deserving names, who had led them uniformly
to suMess—(Clseers)—and victory—(Renewed cheers)
—and he thought it was not in these days of economy
and demand for every possible retrenchment—it was not
unbecoming that, in a great assembly like that which he
had the honour to address, he should remind them that
there was no army in the world which performed in time
of general and profound peace the same amount of harass-
ing duty which fell upon and was cheerfully discharged
by the British soldier.—(hear.) The plan which the
military authorities had always been desirous of acting
upon was, that the soldier should have five years of ser-
vice at home for every ten years of service upon a
foreign station ; but to this maximum they had never
been able to attain, and ordinarily it happened that regi-
ments coming home from foreign countries, the skeletons
of sshat they were, were again sent out to bear the vicis-
siterfles of British tropical colonies within a period of
three years after returning from foreign service of four-
teen or fifteen years. At this moment the British army
for this country, for all its widely-extended colonies—
about forty in number, besides the continent of India—
barely exceeded in amount the force which France kept
on foot fur the occupation and management of the
French possessions of Algeria alone.—(Hear.) He
thought this fact was in itself sufficient to show that
there was little reason, and still less wisdom and policy
on the part of those who, looking at figures and sums of
money alone, complained of the amount and expense of
the British naval atid military force.—(Hear.) He
called on them to drink the toast he proposed—" The
Army and Navy of this country."—(Loud cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN then rose and said,—Gentlemen, I
rise to prapose to you a bumper toast, and in offering to
you the toast of " Prosperity to the Liverpool and Man-
chester Agricultural S3tiety," I must begin by express-
ing the pleasure which I feel at finding myself called
upon to preside over the first meeting of this united so-
ciety, add at finding realist-A an object in which I have
long felt a deep interest,—being convinced that the
union of these societies would tend to the mutual ad-
vantage of both of them, and also would tend to effect
that which is the object of all societies like the present
—an increase of competition and a stimulus to exertion.
The Liverpool Agricultural Society had been in exist-
ence for a period of eighteen years, during which I have
had the honour of holding the situation of president of
that society—(Hear, hear)—and for the last few years,
while I have watched with the deepest interest—an in-
terest shared I am sure by many around me, and I may
add with the greatest satisfaction, the progress which
that society had made, and the improvements effected in
the district to which it belonged, which were mainly at-
tributable to the exertions and influence of the society—
when I noticed the advancement which has been made
by the practical application of science in the cultivation
of th 6 land—l have yet felt for the last few years a grow-
ing conviction that great advantage would be gained if
the sphere of the operations of that society were extended
by its amalgamation with its elder sister—the Man-
chester Agricultural Association.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen,
I would not be supposed to mean to undervalue the ex-
ertions or the efforts of small local agricultural
societies. —(Hear, hear.) On the contrary, in the in-
fancy of agricultural improvement, or rather at the
earliest period of that spirit of competition and enter-
prise that leads to agricultural improvement, I should
almost go the length of saying that the smaller the range
of the society the greater the prospect of its being bene-
ficial by leading to improvements (Hear, hear)
because every man is more willing to enter into :com-
petition with a small number of rivals, of whose capacity
he is able to form a more correct estimate; and many a
man will enter into competition with a small society who
would be disinclined to enter the lists with one whose
range was of a more extended character.—(Hear hear.)
But the spirit of rivalry once excited and brought
into action, the extension of the range of the society,
in my judgment, tends to increase the amount of
the stimulus, and the extent of the competition.—
(Hen, hear.) It brings the competitor into] contact
with his neighbour, and into a range of an infinitely
superior description to that which it was in his power to
attain in his own less limited range; and his views and
feelings being thus raised he makes efforts towards a
higher scale of excellence, and those efforts must ever
be succeeded by the attainment of the object which the
competitor has in view. I think too, that great advan-
tages are derived by the localities in which meet-
ings of such societies are held, and that great advantage
results to a ptace from having some society connected
with it.—(Cheers.) I am sure it is impossible to see
the effects which were produced, locally, by any of the
meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society of England,
without being Convinced that the peripatetic nature
of the society, if I may so call it, does materially
add to the improvement of agriculture generally.—
(Cheers.) Therefore, gentlemen, for these and other rea-
sons I have long been, as I have said, anxious to see a
'anion effected between these two societies.—(Cheers.)
I rejoice to see it effected, and under, I hops, favourable
auspices for its future success.—(Cheers.) Trifling
difficulties, of course, there must be; no doubt some
little jealousies will occur, and some difficulties will have
to be smoothed over and removed in the spirit of mutual
accommodation. But if that spirit exists generally
amongst the subscribers of the society which I believe
does exist, the result, I cannot hesitate to believe, will
be productive of interest and advantage both to the two
societies themselves and to the united district over
which their joint exertions are to extend.—(Cheers.)
I cannot, gentlemen, think, whatever others may do,
that a great commercial town like Manchester is an
unimportant situation for the holding of a meeting of
a great agricultural society.—(Cheers.) None know
better than the agricukurists acct the manufacturers—
and I speak in the presence of both classes belong-
* to L.ineasl).ire and Cheshire—how much they are
dependendQut on each other fur their mutual prosperity
and success. The agriculturist well knows that the
prosperity of the macufacturing and commercial districts
and the well-being of trade, secures good customers, an
abundant market and favourable prices. The manufac-
turer knowsais well, that if by a visitation of Providence
the harvest of this country should be deficient, the con-
sequences must be not only dangerous to the agricul-
turist, but must also injuriously affect him and his best,
his most extensive, and his nearest market.—(Cheers.)
Therefore the interests of agriculture and commerce are
intimately connected in this great country, and I think
it a most appropriate place for the first meeting of this
united Manchester and Liverpool Agricultural Society
to be held in—this, the great metropolis of British
manufactures.—(Loud cheers.) Again, gentlemen,
there is one great advantage, I think, of peculiar pro-
priety, in the society meeting here, because it is not to
be denied that the neighbourhood of these great towns,
the neighbourhood of these constant and opulent markets,
that the facilities for the cultivation of land afforded
by these gseat towns and these markets, give them-
ate& a great stimulus and assistance in the spread
d carrying out of agricultural operations. —(Hear.)
(.416Elen, I must be permitted to express some doubt
whether in thistorespect the agricultural interest was
thesesotiffacleatly. alive the great importance of the vicinity
large towns or sufficiently aware of the im-
portant benefits which
(Ilear)—l doubt whetherlethey might derive from them—
commercial towns, , in the neighbourhood of great
likether Manchester and others of a
similar character, e are the same advantages taken
by the neighbouringfarmerst of the facilities afforded to
them of a due expenditure capital, and an expensive,
perhaps, but not aln
see in
cultivation of the land.
—(Hear, hear.)
of small plots of lanadre
not they can scarcelyde be called
;
farmers at all they
on
roniti,gnendent mainly on the
the most of the pro-
ducecultivation of the soil,
of the soil for their livelihood and support
ploymeof ; they
horses
*rugt io too much to the clients' em
towns,
nother
and carts in carting coal for their neighbours,
open lions connected witli the labour of the and
in sti lying the tawns of this kingdom with milk, the
produce-of cows fed on undrained, rushy, ill-cultivated
farms.—(Cheers.)- Gentlemen, I have no hesitation
in saying, that the agriculturists in the neighbour-
hood of these 'great manufacturing and commercial .
towns, if they desire to thrive, must change their system
—they mast apply themselves to make the most of their
land—,(Cheers)--and, to make the most of their land,
they must adopt the legitimate means of farming it, of
cultivating it, and of manuring it, as it ought to be
drained, cultivated, and manured. And for this, perhaps,
they in the immeditte vicinity of a great town like Man-
43hester enjoy advantages which no other portion of the
common has. On thwaubjeot of drainage, gentlemen,

I will not say a word, because there is no man whoshas
I;sOked at the A B C of farming but must admit that in
respect to the drainage of land, though much has been
done much remains to be done, and how absolutely null
and void in various parts of the country are what are
called agricultural improvements, upltss such improve-
ments be preceded fiy- deep, thorough, and effectual
drainage.—(Cheers.) The subject to whieh I ,ifish to draw
the attention of those I have now the honour of ad-
' dressing, and a subject to which I think it is desirable
the public attention of this country should be called—as
hardly a less important one—is the use, or rather the
present waste and abuse of manure, for which the
neighbourhood of these great towns furnishes the farmers
with such incalculable advantages.—(Hear.) There are
now great facilities given by railroads for bringing pro-
duce easily into the markets of the great towns. I have
been told, such are the facilities afforded by this mode
of conveyance, that the best fish market in England is
the town of Birmingham, the most central town in the
whole kingdom, and that the consumption of this and
other perishable articles is vastly on the increase, for the
facilities aff)rded by the rail way equalizes the ad van-
tages of the neighbouring and more distant consumer.
lam afraid to name the sums which the London and
North-Western Company some years ago began to make
in the carriage of milk, from comparatively distant dis-
tricts of the land to Liverpool alone, doing away with
the exclusive advantages afforded to the farmers in the
neighbourhood. The same fact is universally in opera-
tion, but the farmers living in the neighbourhood
of great towns cannot be deprived of many of the means
of high cultivation of their land, by the great abundance
of the manure which they may derive from such a
neighbourhood. And, gentlemen, it does strike me, as
a'matter of surprise—though perhaps it is not altogether
within the range of agricultural science—it strikes me
with s urprise when I see around Manchester and all the
great towns of Lancashire and Cheshire, as far I know,
the practice of market gardening and high cultivation
carried on in the neighbourhood of London, chiefly
through being near a large supply of manure—it strikes
me with surprise to see such gardening comparatively
if not wholly neglected.—(Hear, hear.) Gentlemen,
among the admirable arrangements of Providence, per-
haps there is none more admirable than that which pro-
vides for a perpetual succession and sustentation of ani-
mal and vegetable life—than that which, according to
recent discoveries, sufficiently proves the same gases
aro deleterious and destructive to the one and the
necessary aliment and sutentation of the other, and
that that which is thrown off as injurious to the one is
absorbed by the other, and tends to its support and
maintenance—none more admirable than that by which
perpetual corruption and decay, to which all earthly
things are subject, and to which even the refuse of the
food that has done its part in sustaining animal life is
subject, is made the element for increased fertility, trea-
sure, and re-production—(Cheers)---yet, I ask, whether
it be not the fact, that in all the large towns of this
country, from year to year, from week to week, hundreds
of thousands of tons of invaluable treasure, a mine of
wealth if properly applied in the cultivation of the soil,
are not only absolutely wasted and destroyed, but are
suffered to accumulate in pestilential heaps, producing
disease, pestilence, and death, instead of being applied
to that which they were intended to aid—the fertility of
the soil and the sustentation of the rapidly growing
population of the country.—(Cheers.) Public attention,
and, following public attention, the attention of the
Legislature, has been recently called to this subject,
and a step has been taken towards the remedy of the
melancholy and deplorable grievance—an attempt to
remedy the defect of imperfect, or the absence of all
sewerage and drainage in great towns, thereby adding
vastly to the disease and mortality of the population.
Steps are taking, therefore, for the purpose of effecting
a discharge of the deposits of the great towns, so that
they may not be prejudicial to the health and interests
of the inhabitants. But when this is effected we have
only done one-half of our work. Our object is to im-
prove the heaolth of great towns, and, in doing so, to get
rid of, as fast as possible, and to waste that, which, if
we knew how to economise it, would be greatly benefi-
cial to the population. There is no subject more worthy
of the consideration of the community at large ; pri-
vate individuals have directed their attention to it, and
plans more or less of a practical, nature have been put
forth ; but depend upon it there is no subject more
worthy of the attention of this country—first, as the
means of getting rid of an intolerable nuisance, and next,
of converting that intolerable nuisance into a source of
wealth. Then, any plan that could be devised for carry-
ing off the unwholesome deposits of the great towns of
this country, and at the same time rendering them avail-
able in the operations of agriculture, diffusing them over
the fields of this country and making them available in
the produce of wealth, would be a public benefit. I
conceive this subject is one of deep importance to the
country, and I trust you have not thought either the
occasion or the place inappropriate for calling your at-
tention to it.—(Cheers.) Gentlemen, I revert then, for
a single moment, to that which is the more immediate
object of the toast which I am about to propose to you—
" Success to the Manchester and Liverpool Agricultural
Society."—(Cheers.) I will not trouble you with many
details as to the show we have witnessed to. day. I have
myself not had the advantage of witnessing any previous
show at Manchester; but certainly the effect produced
on my mind is this, that if much has been done—and I
believe much has been done—l must honestly tell you
the effect on my mind is that much yet remains to be
done.—(Cheers.) I say nothing of the pigs, because
for many years past the pigs exhibited at the shows at
Liverpool and Manchester have been of unrivalled qua-
lity.—(Hear, hear.) I saw two or three bulls that
struck me as being very valuable. And not only from
what I saw in the yard, but from constant intercourse
with my neighbours and tenants, I conceive that there
is a very great improvement in the Nature and character
of the tenant-farmer's stock.—(Cheers.) I wish I could
say anything in praise of the exhibition of horses.—
(Hear.) I believe any person at random mightgo into the
streets of Manchester or Liverpool, and in the course of
a couple of hours might find horses at least equal to any
I saw to•day in the show-yard.—(" Hear," and a laugh.)
There is one point with reference to which I may be
permitted to say the society has proceeded satisfactorily.
I see that your last year's receipts for admission to the
showyard were 107/. ; this year they amount to 146/.
(Cheers.) I perceive from this a growing inclination on
the part of the public to support such societies, and I
mean to say I augur favourably from that.—(Cheers.)
I am bound to say, not looking alone to the reports of
the inspectors, though they are in the highest degree
satisfactory—l am bound to say that, within my own
knowledge and observation—and I know I shall be con-
firmed by many present, there has been a general im-
provement of farms in the general agricultural system,
in the science adopted, and in the practical application of
that science to the land, on the part of the tenant-farmers
in Lancashire and Cheshire there has been a very great
and marked improvement during the course of the last
twelve years.—(Cheers.) There are in this district
many farmers that would do credit to any county in
England—l was almost going to say to any county in
England or Scotland.—(Loud cheers.) I rejoice to see
in the inspectors' report one farm described as approacu-
ing as nearly to the perfection of management as it is
possible to conceive.—(Cheers.) I rejoice also—and I
• hope there is no presumption in doing so—l rejoice also
in seeing that three of the prizes for the best managed
farms have been awarded to three of my father's tenants
living in different parts of his estate.—(Cheers.) Every
well-judging and well-disposed landlord feels the pros-
perity of his tenant as the prosperity of himself and
of his possessions—he feels his tenant's welfare to be
his own interest, setting aside all ocher considerations
of moral feeling between landlord and tenant—such a
landlord feels a satisfaction and a pleasure in being at
the head not only of a contented but a thriving
tenantry.—(Applause.) While, on the one hand, jus-
tice requires I should thank those landlords who have
liberally come forward to assist their tenants in their
attempts to improve, and shown so great a desire for
their welfare and the prosperity of agriculture by their
presence this day, I must also express my regret that we
have not the pleasure of seeing a larger proportion of the
landed proprietors of the country .—(Cheers.) There
are some fur whom I need make no excuse—who are
unavoidably absent, and among them I have been espe
cially requested to make an apology for the absence of
my Noble Friend and relation, the Earl of Wilton, who
was present at the showyard this morning, and intended
to be present at the dinner, but was compelled to give
up his intention for the purpose of receiving the Duke
and Duchess of Cambridge, who arc to arrive at Heaton
in the course of the evening.—(Cheering.) He par-
ticularly requested me to make au apology fur his
absence. I have detained you for a considerable
length of time, and. I wish to apologise for doing so.
I trust you will not merely give your acquiescence
and reception to the toast I am now about to pro-
pose, but that you will show by your conduct you are
determined to do away with any little obstacles or diffi
culties that may be in the way of the union of the two
societies; and do all in your paw to carry out that
which is the object of the toast, and which I trust will
long continue—" The Prosperity and Welfare of the
United Manchester and Liverpool Agricultural Society."
The CHAIRMAN again rose, and proposed " The health
of the Patrons—the Earl of Derby and Mr. Wilbraham
Egerton."
Mr. J. WILSON PATTEN, NI.P., said he had obtained
permission of the chairman to propose a toast, and he
(Mr. Patten) thought he was making no improper
selection when he chose the health of his. Noble Friend
the President.(Cheers.) The private and the public
character of his Noble Friend were too well known in
the county to render it necessary to make the toast ac-
ceptable to them by any observations on the part of the
party proposing it.—(Hear, hear.)
The health of the Chairman was then drunk with
three times three and one cheer more.
The CHAIRMAN, who was received with enthusiastic
cheering, having acknowledged the toast, some other
toasts were given, and the Noble Chairman having dis-
tributed the prizes, the meeting broke up at an early
hour.

very crowded
ST. MAST'S, LAMBETH.—Thursday
meeting of the ratepayers of the above parish assembled
in tha vestry-room for the purpose of ensbling the over-
seers and churchwardens to nominate and appoint a
successor to Mr. Thomas Woodward, the late collector
or poor-rates, &c., who has absconded with 1,600/. The
Rev. Mr. Dalton, the rector, presided. Mr. Field was
nominated and seconded, amidst some disapprobation, as
the successor of Mr. Woodward. The question was then
put, and after a protest from Mr. Byron, Mr. Field was
declared duly elected. A meeting of the inhabitants is
fixed to take place on the 29th, when the entire matter
is to undergo examination.
CIIkNT - ILLY B.ACES.—There are to be four days'
racing this autumn at Chantilly, on the 7th, Bth, 12th,
and
15th October. Among the stakes are the Omnium
of 4,000 E, the tiaras Nationaux of 4,000 C. the Arron-
dissement of 3,000 f. and 3,500 f., the National 6,0001,
the Principal 5,000 f. and 3,5001., and the Great National
Stakes 14,000 f. The St. Leger is also to be run tor, and
19 horses have been entered for it; or the entry is 400 f.
eaoh horse.

IRELAND.

THE SPECIAL COMMISSION.
DUBLIN, SEPT. 22.

CLONDIEL, THURSDAY, SEPT. 21.—At nine o'clock
the gentlemen of the press from Englund, Dublin, and
the provinces, anticipating a crowded court, took pos-
session of the places appropriated to them by the High
Sheriff, Richard Pennetather, Esq. At this time the
police-constables, who were stationed at the doors, were
the only persons present. By ten o'clock a large con-
course of persons had occupied parts of the Court-house,
and at eleven o'clock the public gallery, side bars, and
grand jury galleries were filled. Mr. Hodges, and two
assistants, were in attendance as the reporters for the
Government.

At half-past eleven o'clock the Attorney-General,
the SolicitoasGeneral, Mr. Scott, Q.C., Mr. Sausse, and
Mr. David Lynch, entered the court, and took their
seats as counsel for the Crown. The places behind
these were occupied by other members of the bar. No
counsel appeared for the prisoners.
At twenty minutes to twelve o'clock Chief Justice
Blackburne, Chief Justice Doherty, and Justice Moore
took their seats on the bench, when
Henry Peddar, Esq., Clerk of the Crown, read the
commission under the great sell, nominating the judges,
or any one or more of them, to inquire into all manner
of treason, murders, inanslaughteis, offences, transgres-
sions, and evil doings by whom committed cr perpetrated
within the county of Tipperary, as well against the
peace of the common law as statute.
The following grand jury were then sworn:—Richard
John Lord Viscount Shirdale, Knocklofty, foreman; the
Hon. Cornelius Callaghan, Shanbally Castle; Hon.
Francis A. Prittie, Corville; Hon. R. tidy Hutchinson,
Knocklofty; Sir John Craven Carden. Bart., Priory;
Sir Edward Waller, Bart., Knockree; William Ponsonby
Barker, Kilcooley; Stephen Moore, Berne; John Bag-
well, Mar Meld; Ambrose Going, Ballyphilip; Mathew
Pennefather, Newpark; Lieutenant-Colonel Wray Pal-
liser, Derryluskar; John Bayley, Debsborough; Caleb
Going, Traverston; Thomas Lawler, Cregg House;
James Lenigan, Castle Fogarty; and Joseph Cooke,
Cordangan.
The CHIEF JUSTICE then, addressing the grand jury,
said—Gentlemen of the grand jury for the county of
Tipperary, I feel assured that you participate in my
feeling, and in that of every person who has the peace
and happiness of the country sincerely at heart, in the
regret that her Gracious Majesty has now, after the
lapse of but a few months, found it necessary to issue a
commission which has been just read to you, and by
which she calls upon her subjects to aid her by perform-
ing their duty in the administration of the criminal law
of the land. Distressing and deplorable as such a mea-
sure would bo under any circumstances, it becomes so
in the last degree when we know that that measure has
originated in machinations and attempts which consti-
tute the crime of high treason—a crime the highest in
degree that a subject of the realm or a member of the
community can commit—a crime whose object is the
total destruction of our social system, the sub-
version of all security of property and of life,
and a crime which no reasonable being can con-
template without knowing that it must lead to the
shedding of human blood, and that it must entail
upon the country all the horrors and all the miseries
of civil and social war. Gentlemen, as I have alluded
to the former special commission, in which the
greater number of the jurors whom I see before me were
called upon to perform their duties in the month of Ja-
nuary last, I think it but just, and so far it is satisfac-
tory, to observe that the crimes and outrages which
formed the subject of your investigation at that period
do not appear to have any connexion, as far as I am in-
formed, with the matters that will now be brought under
your consideration ; upon the contrary, I have reason
to believe, and I do sincerely hope that the firm admi-
nistration of the law under that commission, and at the
assizes which have since intervened, have been attended
with the most salutary effects, and well justified the
hope of the restoration of peace and order in your county.
Gentlemen, the crime of high treason is one happily of
such unusual occurrence; and one with respect to which
there are peculiar provisions that do not belong to the
investigation of other crimes and misdemeanours, that I
think it my duty, in order to assist you in the discharge
of yours, to point out to you the peculiarities of the haw
relative to that charge, in order that you may regulate your
course accordingly, and say in what way the evidence
which is to be laid before you is to be applied when you
come to consider it; but in the first instance, in order to
make these observations,upcn the nature and course of
the proceedings perfectly intelligible, I think it my duty
to give you a general, and a very general, outline of the
nature of the case as it appears to me upon the perusal
of the informations which have been laid before you upon
the part of the Crown. Gentlemen, it would appear from
them that for some
.months past a political body, or so-
ciety formed for political purposes, held its meetings
and conducted its proceedings in the city of Dublin; at
these meetings there were a number of inflammatory
and seditious speeches delivered by the leading members
of the body. About the middle, or towards the latter
end of July, these members, I mean the leading mem-
bers, or some of them, appeared in different parts of the
south of Ireland, and at last seemed to have determined
upon making the county of Tipperary the scene of
their further operations. Accordingly largo bodies of
people were assembled—they were harangued, and
upon more than one occasion it was distinctly an-
nounced that there was to be an immediate arming
of the population, with a view of severing Ireland
from the British dominions and erecting it into an
independent kingdom. In pursuance of these in-
structions—which were extended to the procuring of
arms by any means whatsoever, legal or otherwise—in
the last week of July, several large bodies of men ap-
pear to have been congregated in a part of the county;
they were marshalled, trained, and officers upon some
occasions were nominated; barricades were erected in
some parts of the county, which, upon one occasion,
had the effect of obstructing the march of her Majesty's
troops, and which appear to have been designed for the
protection of persons against whom warrants had been
issued. Upon the 29th of July these proceedings ap-
peared, at the time at least, to have reached their con-
summation; a body of police, upon its march to the
scene of the disturbance which had taken place, was en-
countered and nearly surrounded by different armed bo-
dies of men; the result was they took shelter in a house,
and there an actual conflict took place between them
and the assailants. Upon the same day another body
was similarly assailed. The result in both cases
is perfectly known to you. Gentlemen, that is all which
I thick it necessary to lay before you preparatory to
the statement of those rules which, in respect to the
law of treason, are made for your judgment and the re-
gulation of the court. The indictment contains two
distinct daises of counts, and each relates to a distinct
treason ; both are founded upon the provisions
of an ancient statute—a statute passed so long ago as
expressed
sayxuetip subjecttiet
di
the reign of Edward 111., and without troubling you by
shnesagret.d
tiooit
nfGc
twootethhnn
ee-.
detailing the language of this statute, it is sufficient for
my present
phto,eencapgfiinuesrdsrtsptwoooofhstfehi c,ethhraesnydoe
treason,u twoft owrwreihalplsi croyours,ohhnvasaiysrw coate tnstooisi
idttn:iedsinantiicsninic distinct
stdoscdi oceni msmtgmi
design
eantu
nchst sheteui
angwri
death
goieh.
entrai
dhest
utehhb:d::
hoeoeoaefurnt
pheawt
enhoioryl
the
circumstanceshnitlQah have
o
.rgeeeeunat
o og Queen,ftecitosohf renmaoientditodet thatmur_
thata.ndietaias
yßnt
otyot
nsmbef tpeeoht
rumheett treasonhpyieaan
e
sonal life or personal safety of the Sovereign—the
Sovereign, whether King or Queen, being, under our
, Constitution, the representative of the State, any attack
upon the sovereign power of the State, is, under that
statute, to be taken as an attack upon the person of the
Monarch ; and therefore you will have not to consider
whether the personal death or actual injury to the
son of the Sovereign be the intention, but wheth-
er per
the designs, as proved by overt acts
in the indictment, are of a character
which
come under the description of an attack
the sovereign power of the State. Gentlemen,upon
I shall put before you some instances to show that Ig ave
correctly stated the law, and that by compassing the
death of the Queen you are to understan I the crime of
aiming at the destruction of her sovereign power; and it
matters not whether this design be to depose hr from
her Crown, to depose her from her imperial authority
over the entire of her dominions, the crime of deposing
and crime of compassing her death will be equally com-
mitted, whether the object be to depose her from the
whole of her dominions or any part of her possessions.
Gentlemen, I shall now read to you the law, taken from
an author of the highest authority, Justice Foster, and
also the words of Lord Tenterden, some passages which
will show you that I have correctly expounded the words
"compassing the death of the Queen" to extend to
and comprehend an attack upon her imperial power.
Describing the crime of compassing the death of
the Monarch, they state as follows:—" Anything
wilfully or deliberately done or attempted, whereby
the King's life may be endangered, therefore,
measures for deposing or imprisoning him, or
getting his person into the power of the conspirators, are
overt acts," that is, overt acts for the compassing and
imagining of the King's death. And again, " Offences
which are not of so personal a nature, have, with great
propriety, been brought within the same rule, as having
a tendency to the same fatal end, though not so imme-
diately; and therefore the entering into measures, or the
concerting with foreigners, or going into a foreign coun-
try, or even proposing to go thither for that end, are
overt acts for the compassing and imagining the King's
death." Gentlemen, any offences falling directly under
other branches of the statute may be brought within the
compassing of the King's death. The levying of war, or
the compassing to levy war, are overt acts within this
branch of the statute—that is, within the branch of the
statute which refers to the compassing of the King's death
by high treason; and it has been settled by several im-
portant cases, and by the opinions of the first writers " that
all attempts to depose the King from [the royal title, or
to levy war against him, and all consultations or agree-
ments for the accomplishment of those objects, are overt
acts for the compassing and imagining of the King's
death." Gentlemen, I have now closed the observations,
and stated the authorities which I hope are sufficient to
ex plain to you what is meant in this statute, and in the
indictment which transcribes its terms, by the compass-
ing or imagining the death of the Monarch. I have in
the next place to tell you that the crime of high treason
consists altogether in the intention. The mere intention
—the mere design against the King's life or his imperial
authority is the offence created by the statute. But as
the intention or design is, in all cases, or at least in the
generality of cases, I might say almost universally, to be
inferred from acts or from declarations written or orally
made, that intention s. to be collected must have as its
basis, and as proof of it, the commission of certain overt
acts. No man can dive into the secrets of his fellow-
creatures ; for the thoughts of the heart are known to
one Being only, and therefore the intention and design
must always be collected from the acts, the declarations,
and those other means and tokens by which, in the
ordinary intercourse of life, we judge of the intentions of