The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-28 00:00:00

S VEr
JAN uAR 1 28 1848.

viction that a principal object of the illegal confede-
racy by which this country is overrun and disgraced
was the frustration of the rights and remedies of
landlords. I remain of that opinion. It has been
confirmed by all I have seen. Whether this con-
federacy originated 'with the class whose dishonest
purposes it seeks to effectuate, or whether, having
been originated and found, its powers were employed
to accomplish its dishonest and fraudulent designs, is
of very little moment. Suffice it to say that, in order
to accomplish the design of defrauding the landlords
of their legal rights, and frustrating their legal
remedies, scarcely any crime has not been com-
mitted. In the prosecution of that design the
most frightful murders have been perpetrated. But
what shall be said of those by whom this sanguinary
spirit has been awakened, cherished, and matured ?
They have found it ungovernable, and they are them..
selves the first to feel its cruelty, and to sink under
its oppression. We have been engaged for nearly
three weeks in administering the criminal law in the
counties of Limerick and Clare; and during that
time, with very, very few exceptions, the persons
aggrieved have been farmers of the lower class. Not
persons of rank, opulence, or power ; but persons of
the very class and rank by whom those assassins, and
their illegal confederacy, have been supported ; and
they themselves have become the victims of the very
power which was created for the destruction of
others. I say with deep regret that the scenes we
have witnessed have pressed on my mind the dreadful
truth, that demoraliaation prevails to a greater ex=
tent, and to a much deeper degree than I thought
when I opened this commission. It can answer
no purpose to go into details. They can be read in
the reports of the trials that have taken place under
the commission, by those who wish to be informed
On this subject. But I will shortly, and in a few
words; advert to some of the circumstances that have
transpired. What do thejc.ahlaw ua 2. That human:
• life irtlftstste 4laeels has become the-. Subject of barter
—that human life .has had a price fixed upon it. We
have witnessed the attacks on human life. We have
witnessed the preparation for the attack, the consum-
mation of the deed itself, and the escape of the mur-
derers. We have witnessed the conspiracy to murder,
with scarcely an attempt at secrecy. We have seen
the conspiracy to murder plotted and planned—that
many persons were present—that women and chil-
dren, whole families, were present at it. We have
seen the assassin hired and brought from a
distance. We have seen him and his companions
stalk abroad in the daylight in a populous
country, armed, and scarcely disguised, his purpose
known to every man who saw him. We have seen
the victim approach to the place where the assassin
lay in ambush for laim, but there was no voice to
warn him—no hand to protect him. The bloody
deed is perpetrated under the eyes of .hundreds of
people, yet, after all, the assassin walks off observed,
but undetected ! Nay, as if to consummate the
atrocity and infamy of all this, the murderer is
housed, sheltered, protected, and preserved for further
deeds of destruction. I can scarcely trust myself to
speak upon this subject, or to detail to you any of the
horrid crimes that have been committed—of which
the proofs were laid before us in the neighbouring
counties. But I will give,you one instance, in the
simplest words I can use. His Lordship here de•
tailed the circumstances relative to the murder of the
liourigans, and caused a thrill of horror to run
through the court by recital. He then continued—
Gracious Heaven ! would that those things were not,
or that we could expunge them from our memory.
.Yes; there does seem to be a demon spirit let loose on
the land. The spirit of vengeance rages without
control. And no wonder, when those crimes are ex-
tenuated, palliated, and excused. Nay more, we see
tow the spirit has gone forth. People are told of the
wild justice of revenge,' a phrase which has now
obtained credit and currency as if it was a great
moral truth. Now; not to dwell upon the audacious
impiety of man arrogating to himself the exercise of
that which belongs only to man's Maker—without
stopping to dwell upon the profanity of the sacred
name of justice by assoeiating it with the idea of
revenge—see what that principle means, and what it
is intended to mean. It means this—that murder is
just—that rapine is just—that cruelty is just—that
any and every crime is just—provided only that
revenge be the motive, and its gratification the object.
I regret to think that such a precept as this should
have been -issued to our ignorant, turbulent, and
excitable fellow-creatures. How do they understand
it? They understand it as it was meant to
se understood. A men becomes the judge and the
avenger of his own wrong. And the conse-
quences are what might have been expected.
l'he innocent fall by the arm of the assassin ;
and the assassin, his accomplices, and the con-
spirators, in their turn, fall by the arm of the law.
Now, Gentlemen, why is it that I have addressed
ou ? First, it is because, though I hope matters are
not so bad with you generally, I fear that in many
[stases they are so ; I would impress upon your minds
the necessity of exertion to suppress this dreadful
evil. Towards that object I will make a suggestion
to you. I would ask you whether this state of things
is not absolutely intolerable ? I would ask you whe-
ther it can be endured ? I would also ask, is there
any exertion too great—is there any sacrifice too
extensive—any price too high to pay in order to get
rid of this dreadful evil, and substitute the permanent
blessings of peace and tranquillity ? I know that
you will answer that there is no price too high, no
sacrifice or exertion too great, provided that important
object can be accomplished. Now, gentlemen, so far
is respects the administration of the criminal law, and
so far as regards the prevention of crime by the
power which its punishment inspires, no person can
have stronger confidence in the administration of
the law with this view than I have, or of the
necessity and propriety of vindicating it, and of
vigorously arraying its power against its violators—
and so far as our experience goes, its speedy and
effective administration promises to be attended with
success; but I am perfectly confident of this—that
even if the law be applied in the most vigorous and
effectual manner, and if the power of its punishment
be adequate to the repression of these outrages, you
could not calculate on more than the temporary
repression of them. The experience of your own
county in particular tells you that notwithstanding the
vigorous and effective administration of the law in it
from term to term, as if the flame but smouldered, it
has broken out with renewed strength and increased
violence. Therefore, in my judgment the effectual
suppression of these mischiefs at this moment, and the
prevention of their recurrence, demand the active co-
operation of those who are the friends of peace and
order. See what the power of combination for
evil is, you should try what the power of combi-
nation is for good. I would humbly suggest the
formation of associations to preserve the peace in
parishes or lesser districts ; and that to these associa-
tions every man should be admitted who wishes to
become a member of them. I enter not into the de-
tails of the application of this association—of the
mode in which it may be made an auxiliary to the
police, or the manner in which it may be brought to
bear upon the suppression or prevention of crime.
But of this' I am perfectly assured—that there are no
means immediately within your power, or within the
power of the friends of order and peace, that are so
immediately capable of being put into execution, or
that are so likely to be effectual when they are put
into execution. I would ask you to use your own
exertions to prevent crime without punishing it—to
try whether there be not within your powers the means
to prevent crime. Because, if those means are
within your power, I .must say an awful responsi-
bility rests upon you if you do not endeavour to
make them available for purposes of such inestimable
importance. With respect to the particular cases
to come before you, there is only one to which I
need call your attention. That is, where a person is
charged with being an accessory after the fact, you
will take care, in investigating that case, to be satis-
fied of two things—you will see that the evidence
supports the indictment in two main points. First,
that the crime has been committed—there will pro-
bably be no difficulty on that ground. But, in the
next place, you cannot find a bill in the case, unless
you are satisfied that the party charged with her
bouring a felon knew he committed a felony._
that you must see that the accused had actual know-
ledge of the fact, but that the circumstances under
which he harboured the felon leave a natural and
probable presumption that he knew him to be guilty '
of a felony. Now, in conclusion, I will draw your
attention to two clauses of two different Acts of Par-
liament—the object of which is the prevention of
crime, and therefor, of much importance. The
matter is the snore important, too, be cause it has been
only recently brought under public notice, and be-
cause the law I refer to is peculiarly adapted to the
state of the country, and the persons by whom crime
is committed. The 60th of George 111 , section 7,
gives magistrates the power to arrest strangers, and
commit them to prison if they do not satisfactorily ac-
count for themselves. Yeti all know the importance of
that power, because it is a notorious fact that when
persons will not perpetrate crime with their hands,
for fear of being recognised, nor by the hands of
individuals in their neighbourhood, lest they also
might be known, they call in the assistance of sten-
gers, and the crime is perpetrated through their in-
strumentality. The -other clause to which I 'have
i alluded is a clause in the Whiteboy Act, which gives

magistrates the power to compel persons to give in
ft rmation—l mean the 15th and 16th George 111.,
chap. 21, section 22. That Act authorises justices of
the peace to summon any person suspected of being
able to give evidence under the act, to examine him
ox oath, and bind him to prosecute at the assizes ;
and if he refuses to submit to examination, or to be
bound to prosecute, then the magistrate is authorised

to commit him till he is discharged by due course of
law. Gentlemen, there are powers for the prevention
of crime, end to enable magistrates to procure infor-
mation, and they are very important provisions—they
should not be allowed to remain a dead letter on the

statute-book. If they are properly carried out, they
will be productive of great benet.t, and tend most
materially to repress crime and disorder when they
first appear. His Lordship concluded with some
gen stal observations upon the duties of grand jurors.
The judges took their seats on the Bench this
morning at 10 o'clock, and immediately afterwards
the grand panel was called over. The attendance of
jurors was pretty good. A great number of those
summoned to serve as petty jurors were gentlemen of
the grand jury class.
MURDER OP Ma. WlLLuss ROE.—John Lonergan,
a man about thirty years of age, was placed at the
bar charged with the wilful murder of Mr. William
Roe, at Boytonrath, in this county, on the 2d of Oct.
last, by inflicting a mortal wound with a gunshot ;
a second count in the indictment charged that an
unknown person fired the fatal shot, the prisoner having
been present aiding and assisting.
A jury having been sworn after several challenges
on the part of the prisoner, the Attorney- General
stated the facts of the case.

George Roe, Esq., examined by the Solicitor-
General—l am cousin to the late Mr. Wm. Roe,
and was his agent. I remember the time the pri-
soner's holding was taken possession of by the sheriff
fca' Wolutt,of zent, on the day cousin was
itfot, I heard of the murder at about ftelve o'clock.
The holdings of the prisoner and his brothers were
opposite my . place at Belleview, on the other side of
the road, and a mile and a half from Rockwell, Mr.
Roe's residence. He usually lived at Kingstown,
but was two days in the country at the time of the
murder. He got possession of the land held by the
prisoner, and was on it the day before the murder, and
was going to it the day the murder was perpetrated.
On going to my place he should pass James Loner-
gan's gate and the widow Lonergan's house. There
were at some distance the ruins of Kate Daly's house,
and the body was found between that and James
Lonergan's house. I heard a shot some time before I
heard of the murder, but my attention was not ex-
cited, it was so common to hear shots at the time.

When I beard of the murder I ran towards the place,
and saw some persons round the body.
Cross-examined by Mr. ROLLESTON—The action
brought by my cousin at the last assizes against the
prisoner was not defended. Kate Daly, the ruins of
whose house I spoke of, was badly off, and I got
possession from her. I gave her a pound to go to
America. There were other houses also thrown
down, the owners having got money to take them to
America. I had a
.conversation with the prisoner
about getting compensation from Mr. Roe. I offered
him 101. before the record to give up possession, but
he refused. After the habere he asked some com-
pensation, but Mr. Roe then declined to give him
any. I told the prisoner I would speak to Mr. Roe
again and endeavour to get him something. That
was a day or two, before Mr. Roe went to Dublin.
The prisoner said he wanted to go to America.
Samuel M. Going, Esq., swore that he was sub-
sheriff of the county at the time the habere was
executed. The prisoner kicked a vessel of water out
of the hands of one of the bailiffs, with which he was
going to quench the fire. • Witness gave him into
custody on his doing that ; Wand before he. went away,
after giving Mr. Roe -possession, he asked him
whether he would send the prisoner to gaol, but Mr.
Roe requested him not to do so. The prisoner before
that had some angry altercation with Mr.-Roe.
Judith Grady, examined by the ATTORNEY-GENE..
am,—l lived at Carrigeen in September last. I saw
the prisoner in the.house of John Lonergan (Maurice),
some time before the murder. Other girls and I
were w:srking for Mr:-„Roe on land that had been
taken from him by the prisoner's brother. The
' prisoner asked for pen and ink from the man of the
house, who asked him what he wanted with it. He
replied that he would tell him by and bye. I said
that Mr. Carey had given notice to a great number of
persons at Carrigeen, and to the Lonergans .among
others. The prisoner s iid, "If they meet one person
honest, they will not find others so ; and if there was
a few blackbirds' lessened, the rest would be easy—
it's only a made up matter between them. Mr. Roe
was the first to begin ; himself will he the first to
fall. I hope he won't reign long—l think he won't."
The day before that I saw him in his brother's, next
to his own old house, with fire arms in his hands.

ilalloran, the steward Mr. Roe put over us, and others
saw him also.

Cross examined by Mr. ROLLESTON—My father is
dead, my mother lives on the public when she can't
get hire. We have no land. I lodge in Clonmel
now, in the house with the police.
Mary Quirk, examined by the SOLICITOR-GENERAL
—I was servant to Mr. Lonergan, at the time of the
murder. Between ten and eleven o'clock on that
morning I was sent for water, and had to pass by
James Lonergan's house at the plantation. The first
person I saw after I left the house was the prisoner,
John Lonergan, standing beside Paul Cantwell's
house, inside the road. He came out on the road,
ssluted me, and passed on in the directio where the
body was feund. When I got as far as the widow
Lonergan's gate, I saw two boys come oat with an
ass and cart, and met Mr. William Roe coming from
Rockwell, near the ruins of Holly's house, which had
been pulled down. Mr. Roe passed me on the road,
and went on in the direction of where his body was
found. On my return with the water I met John
Lonergan, the widow's son, running towards Racket's
house with a hatchet in his hand. As I was going
home I saw the body of Mr. Roe on the ground,
and saw a man whom I did not know passing the
body. I left the water in William Lonergan's
house. I went to Belleview to tell them of what
happened.
Cross-examined by Mr. ROLLESTON. —I was taken
up by the police for the murder of my child. Mr.
Roe (not the deceased) was the father of that child.
I had four children, who are all dead but one. I
never was married. My children all died young. The
police told me that there was a reward in this case,
813/. Con Loughnane was taken on the same day
with me; James Quirk was also taken, but John
Lonergan, the widow's son, was not.
To the SOLICITOR- GaNERAL—I was only kept in
custody one night on the charge about the child. I
never was sworn against for it.
Thomas Norris, examined by Mr. SCOTT, Q.C.—
I was in the employment of the late Mr. Wm. Roe.
On the day before his death I was on my way from
Rockwell to Belleview, and near Maurice Lonergan's
house, I met James Lonergan, brother to the Ipri-
soner, and near the widow Lonergan's gate I saw the
prisoner come out upon the road from the plantation.
When I came up near him he went in again to the
ditch. He came out twice on the, road, and looked
towards Rockwell. On returning from Belleview to
Rockwell I saw the prisoner going through the plan-
tation from the direction of the widow's house. Be-
fore that I met my master on the road opposite the
plantation, near where the body was afterward found,
and accompanied him along the road towards Belle-
view. I was walking at the plantation side of my
master.
Cross-examined by Mr. ROLLESTON—I didn't see
the prisoner in the ditch, but convenient to it.
Edward Mahony, a boy about twelve or fourteen
years of age, was examined by Mr. SAUSSE, and de-
posed that on the morning of the murder he was
minding turnips for his master, Timothy Loughnane,
opposite Mr. Roe's plantation, when the prisoner
passed down from his brother's house. As he passed
he told witness that any one could steal the turnips
while he was there. After that, he saw the prisoner
lying on the top of the ditch, between James Loner-
gan's and Kirby's. In about an hour after that he
heard a shot up near the plantation, and saw the smoke
of it. On coming to the road after that he saw the
body of Mr. Roe.

Cross examined by Mr. ROLLESTON —My father is
dead, and my mother-lives on the public. Since the
murder I have lived with the police at Cahir. They
are better masters than Tim Loughnane. . The
trousers I wear I got from the police.
Judith Sullivan was the next witness. She was
examined by the Attorney-,General, and deposed that
on the day before the murder she was in the house
of James Lonergan, brother to the prisoner, and saw
the latter fixing a gun in the room. She saw him
the next day at eleven o'clock in the outhouse of
Juhn Lonergan, where be lived. He cams in while
she was there, and told them (his wife, the children,
and herself) to go out. He left the house before her,
and when she went out she saw him taking off his
coat (a blue frock), and throw it inside the ditch. In
about half an hour after that she heard a shot, and in
some time, while she was sitting in James Lonergans
house, she heard the noise of a person passing by the
back of the house.
Cross-examined by Mr. ROLLESTON—James Lo-
nergan's wife is my aunt. The prisoner never charged
,me or my sister with stealing money from him. It