The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-04 00:00:00

IRISH SPECIAL COMMISSION.

(From Saunders's News Letter of Wednesday.)
CLoNmEL, TUESDAY, FED. I.—The Lord Chief
Justice sat this morning at half past ten o'clock. I
regret to say the Chief Baron is still confined to the
house.

CAPITAL CONVICTIONS.—SENTENCES UPON FIVE
CoNvicrs.—The several prisoners convicted in the
course of last week of capital offences, having been
placed at the bar to receive sentence,
The Clerk of the Crown (Henry Peddar, Esq.),
asked them if they had anything to say why sentence
of death and execution should not be pronounced
upon them ?

- All the prisoners remained perfectly silent but two,
John Lonergan, who said—" A long day, my
Lord"—and

Henry Cody, who in speaking of his brother and
himself, replied that they were not guilty.
The CHIEF JUSTICE then put on the black cap and
addressed them as follows :----

John Lonergan, you have been indicted and found
guilty of the wilful and deliberate murder of Mr.
William Roe.
Henry and Philip Cody, you have both been in-
dicted and found guilty of the wilful murder of
Edward Madden.

Terence Corboy, you have been found guilty of a
like crime, of the murder of Patrick Gleeson ; and you,
John Daly, of a malicious assault upon Mr. Richard
Uniacke Bailly, with intent to murder him.

In point of fact you are all murderers, for although
the life of Mr. Bailly has been, by the mercy of God,
preserved, you John Daly have been found guilty of
having made an attack on him which endangered his
life—an attack with intent to murder; you are there-
fore a murderer in intention, although by the mercy
of God not in act. I feel it impossible to conceive a
more awful or heartrending spectacle than you all
now represent. Five men in the prime of life—in
the vigour of manhood—stand at that bar to hear
a sentence by which their days will be numbered and
their lives cut short. I would that in the conside-
ration of any of your cases I could discover one
mitigating fact—one gleam of humanity ; but I am
bound to say j,hat the cases of one and all of
you present instances of crime of the most atro-
cious charade* instigated by a vindictive and
sanguinary 1 s 'tit. In every one of your cases
there was d" p premeditation, and a long in-
terval betwee the formation and execution of your
murderous designs—an interval, God knows, long
enough to have awakened in you some sense of pity
or compassion—some degree of compunction or
remorse—but all- fiiiiled ; you went forward to your
fell and deadly purpose—that purpose accomplished by
means so desperate—so incorrigibly wicked was the
hearts of those who plotted and executed these atrocious
deeds. The whole course of your crimes have been
marked by unrelenting cruelty, and by that cowardice
which is always attendant on a cruelly vindictive
spirit. You armed yourselves with deadly weapons
—you lay in wait for your victims—you took them
when they were not prepared—when they were
defenceless ; when they were incapable of resisting ;
when they expected no danger, you sent them
with all their sins on their heads into the presence
of Almighty (lod. Yes, in the cue of one and all
of you, you stand there convicted, not of murder,
caused by any sudden resentment or excitement, or
infirmity of our nature, but you stand there convicted
of the worst species of crime—of the crime of assassi-
nation, of the worst form of murder, in the most
hateful shape which that horrible crime can assume.
There you are in the prime of manhood, branded
with the character of assassins, a disgrace to
your country, and a disgrace to human nature.
Oh, that the spectacle which now presents itself
to the world may work out the great ends of
reformation, and the prevention of crime that
those who are pursuing the course which has
led to your destruction, oh ! that they may see
in your fate the fate that surely awaits them
if they will not be warned and deterred. If there be
no other material—no other means by which such
men can be reformed—at least let them know that the
course of law—although it is slow—is sure, and that
sooner or later murder will be tracked, discovered, and
brought to condign punishment. If I were to review
in detail the proceedings on every one of your trials,
I could point out instance upon instance that prove
the power of Almighty God in prociucing accidents,
and bringing accident of the most trifling character
to bear upon the one great end—that of bringing mur-
derers to justice—that of revealing and establish-
ing the truth. There are other classes who
ought to take a lesson of warning from your fate.
There are those who have taught you to avenge
your own wrongs—who have justified, palliated,
and excused your crimes, and who must be respon-
sible for the consequences—the consequences exhi-
bited in your dreadful cases--such doctrines, and
such teaching has, as far as any effect can be
produced, been the case. . There is another class
to whom I must advert, and my wonder is that
all that has occurred has made no impression on
them. Some of you have wives—some have pa-
rents—some have children—all have friends and
relatives. Have they done their duty ? Have they
warned you against the crimes that have brought you
to destruction ? Have they known your designs ?
and have they warned you against the perpetration of
them ? Have they endeavoured to prevent you ?
Have they endeavoured by their influence to save
you ? Sorry am Ito say, from what I have observed,
that friends and relatives—those to whom you ought
to be true, and your protection ought to be the first
object—have actively concurred in bringing you
to the place where you now stand ; because if they
did not prevent they have in some degree caused
those crimes which brought you here. Let your fate
be a warning to them, and whatever may be the ca-
lamity end fllictiou which your death visits on friends
and relatives, let it be to others a warning in crimi-
nal cases actively to interfere, and when they can, by
their influence save from destruction those who are
going in the same path. Think not that when I
have used such strong terms of reprobation that I am
actuated by any vindictive spirit, or a desire to insult
you, nothing could be more abhorrent to my feelings,
more foreign to my duty ; but if I could command
language ten thousand times stronger, I would use
it fur the purpose of indelibly impressing on your
minds abhorrence for your crimes and abhorrence for
yourselves. I wouN do so, because that abhorrence
and self condemnation is the only sure ground of
sincere repentance—is your only title to salvation
through the merits of our blessed Lord and Saviour.
This is language you will hear from those to whose
spiritual care you will be confided, and of whose care
I implore you to avail yourselves, for remember the
rest of your lives are only spared to you that you
may be prepared to die. lam now about to pro-
nounce the dreadful sentence of the law, which
consigns you all to an ignominious death
and which consigns you, as convicted mur-
derers, to an ignominious burial; your remains
—the law says—must be buried, and your graves
must be " within the precincts of a gaol." There
you will lie, side by side with murderers, and your
ashes will moulder and mingle with theirs until the
final day of judgment, " when the trumpet shall
sound, and the dead shall be raised." Upon you it
depends whether that trumpet shall summon you to
hear a sentence of forgiveness and of mercy, or a
sentence of everlasting misery ; use, therefore, that time
which yet remains to you to " prepare to meet your
God." Short as it is, a sincere repentance for your
past sins will be sufficient to effect a reconciliation
with your offended Maker. His Lordship in con-
clusion sentenced the five prisoners to be hanged—
John Lonc rgan, Henry Cody, and Philip Cody, on
the Ist of March, and John Daly and Terence Cor-
yOn the 4th of the same month—all the convicts
nbTelhobesusroiredlifwe.ithin the precincts of the gaol in which
a syllabi
they were confined since their conviction, with the
exception of Daly, whose crime did not terminate in
t?th
uttering
they appeared
wildly round,
than has been displayedg bya
larly placed during the ess
able fact, that in these
tried in Limerick and Clare,
received in solemn silence
unfortunate men were then removed without
toe
.to the Court, or to one another—
they
stupified arid stared
_gnroetater degree of terror
any of the parties sitri-
casmesission. It is a remark-
ninnesthietc, capital csses
aansuhoriunkcem. announcement was
a wg itvheen or. f a
tear shed—although in some instances
in others the father or mother, and in others time
children of the convicts, listening to the sentence of
the law which was to consign those nearest and
dearest to them to a premature and disgraceful death.
ADJOURNMENT OF THE COMMISSION.—The Hon.
Mr. PRITTIE (foreman of the grand jury) having
come into court and asked if there were more bills to
be sent before them,
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL replied in the negative ;
but stated that tie pro, osed moving an adjournment of
the Commis-ion before his Lordship rose.
The ( ni..r JusTice—Then, Gentlemen, for the
pserrevszts ya
aegyeain rexeeugseudiredfr,omyoauttewndililngg.et Ipf
ryopouerr
notice.
The grand jury here retired. - J

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