The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-12 00:00:00

WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 12, IBIS,

IRISH SPECIAL COMMISSION'.

SENTENCES ON PRISONERS CONVICTED
DURING THE COMMISSION.—IMPORTANT
ADDRESS OF THE LORD CHIEF JUSTICE.
LIMERICK, MONDAY.—The prisoners convicted
during the commission, and not before sentenced,
were brought up to receive sentence.
The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE addressed them as fol-
lows :—Prisoners, you all (with the exception of one
who pleaded guilty) have been tried and convicted of
various offences—offences partaking of the character
of those outrages which have been so prevalent in
this country—which have disgraced its character and
destroyed its peace. You have been found guilty
upon evidence which, any person who heard must be
convinced, left the jury no alternative but to fine you
guilty. You are now about to receive your sentences,
and it is no part of my duty to rebuke or to insult
you. God knows there is enough before me to disarm
any feeling of resentment, and to cause to be extended
to you pity and compassion, if mercy to others -did
not forbid that extension. The time has gone by at
which admonition or advice would have been of use.
Your career of guilt has been run—that career
has terminated, and now arrives another state of
things—to hear the sentence of the law and the
punishment inflicted upon you. These sentences in
the cases of every one of you, with some slight dif-
ference, will have the effect f causing your imme-
diate removal from this country—separation from
friends and kindred—in some instances that separation
will be eternal—for the whole period of your natural
lives, at least for periods which exceed the ordinary
duration of your ages. The ties which have con-
nected you with your families, the ties which have
connected you with your parents, brothers, sisters,
are all suddenly and for ever to be snapped asunder,
not by the laws of nature or by the act of God, but
by your owri evil deeds. Friends and kindred will
hereafter live, but not for you. You will live,, but
not for them. I might be spared, and would cer-
tainly spare myself, the labour and pain of these ob-
servations, if I looked simply to your condition and
your fate. You have forfeited your liberty—you
have forfeited the most inestimable treasure with
which God has blessed man—you have forfeited
the labour of your hands, and you will hereafter,
during the long periods oiyour sentences be in sub-
stance but serfs and slaves. But it is for the sake of
others that 1 protract my address to you. The object
of our law in inflicting punishment is not to gratify
the passion of revenge. Revenge is foreign to the
spirit of that law. The object of punishment is the
salutary, the important principle of preventing crime
—of saving these who might otherwise be criminals—
of saving them from themselves and their own evil
passions and propensities—and of saving others from
aggression by inspiring them with a salutary terror,
which may arrest their progress in crime, and protect
the sound and well-ordered portion of society. It is
therefore that at this moment you have comparatively
little interest in what lam about to say. But what
lam about to say is all important to others. And
who are these others? Your associates in crime—
your companions in guilt—the desperate band of
robbers and assassins who have pillaged the country
and rendered life and property insecure. They
it is that are now to be warned by your
example ; and if not reclaimed from their evil
ways, they at all events may, by the signal
punishment which awaits you, learn what their
punishment will be if they do not stop short in their
crimes, turn away from the paths of riot and disorder
and bloodshed to the paths of peace and order. There
may be many such here, and to them it is highly im-
portant to lay deep in their minds the few observa-
tions which I avail myself of this opportunity of
making, for their sakes and for the sake of the com-
munity, which I hope will be protected by the ex-
amples now about to be made. I hope that these
examples will operate as a discouragement to them.
And here, I would ask, if any partners of your
crime—if any associates of your guilt—if any persons
guilty of similar practices be within hearing of my
voice is your position one which they or any of them
envy—are you at this moment in such a condition as
that they would exchange their places with yours ?
Will they not reflect that what is your fate to-day
may be theirs to-morrow? Will they not reflect
that the ignominy and the exposure—the loss of
liberty, of country, 'and of kindred, that are
now about to be inflicted on you must in-
evitably be the lot of that man who is not warned
by your example and arrested in his course
of guilt ? Is not your position calculated to make an
impression upon the heart of every man ? What a
spectacle to witness in a civilized and Christian
country I I believe that there are at this moment
net less than 15 human beings before me, all of
whom, in mercy to the peaceable and well disposed,
it is necessary to remove from their friends and native
land; and will your companions in guilt go on and
face that danger ? Will they blindly, to their own
ruin, rush into crime again ? Again brave the
authority of the law, and again incur its terrors and
its punishment ? Oh! if you had voices and could
use them ! it is not from my lips the language of
admonition should come, but you should warn, from
the place in which you stand, every human being
misled by your example, or who may have participated
in your crimes, by your example to beware of your
fate, and that, if they continue in their crimes, your
fate must be tbeirs. But with what hopes are these
evil designs entertained and these evil practices
continued ? Does this commission prove that
the law has lost its vigour that the
ministers and officers of justice, false to their trust,
wink at the escape of criminals, and decline to per-
form their duty ? Every event that has occurred
since the commission opened forbids the expectation
of impunity. The jurors have done their duty ably,
firmly, and constitutionally. A more conscientious
discharge of such duty I never witnessed in the
course of my life ; and is it from laws so administered
and laws so executed that these dastardly banditti
hope to escape ? Is it against such authority they
hope to battle ? But has nothing occurred within a
Mort period to diminish their hopes of success, and
deprive them of the power of doing mischief. [His
Lordship here referred to the clause in the recent
Coercion Act, rendering the possession of fire-arms
even in dwelling-houses, without a license, a high
misdemeanour, and giving a power to the police to
search all suspected houses.] From my own expe-
rience, I can say that as arms cannot be safely
kept in houses—for the police will know what
houses to search, and will have the • power of
searching them, and as arms concealed outside houses
will from damp be rendered unserviceable, the best
hopes may be indulged in. But has nothing else oc-
curred to diminish their hopes of success, by dimi-
nishing the power of this banditti ? Has not the case
of William Frewen, condeinned to transportation for
life, occurred, and has it not been heard of? The
power of these illegal confederacies is founded. upon
terror. Under the influence of that terror the farmers
of the country have repeatedly—very often, I trust,
involuntarily—received and harboured criminals such
as you. Perhaps they did it in ignorance of the law
—whether that be so or not the law on the subject is
no longer doubtful. Its power has been asserted and
proved by the conviction of William Frewen ; and
every man who harbours a murderer or a felon does so
at a peril of which if not heretofore aware, he is now
well warned. In future he cannot pretend ignorance
of the law ; where, then, without fire-arms--
without protection—where will the disturbers of
the peace find repose ? Let me here advert
to what has occurred in two or three instances during
the present commission, because they show the condi-
tion—the miserable condition of privation and suffer-
ing which is the inevitable result of persisting in these
crimes. We have heard instances—and I now men-
tion them for public information—of criminals con-
scious of their guilt skulking from the officers of
justice, abandoning their own dwellings, and scarcely
venturing, in the severest weather, to enter under the
roof which ought to give them shelter, or to warm
themselves at the hearth from which their crimes have
excluded them. I cannot conceive a more miserable
state of things; but it is a retributive consequence of
the violation of the law of God and man. Practically
the robbers and assassins in this country are reduced
to destitution and misery by the consciousness of their
own criminality. But let me address another, and
perhaps a concluding, word of advice to those who,
like you, have formed members of these atrocious
confederacies, and whom I would rescue if I could. I,
in this county, And in other counties in Ireland, have
witnessed the progress of these confederacies, and I
I d ' s grapp e with them
know that, as soon as the_ lawh ha
distrust of t e conspirators becomes
successfully,
universal—confidence is undermined, and treachery
begins. Nothing is so true as that no real confidence
can, from the nature of things,
f subsist between icom-
panions in crime. Sooner or later--that is, as soon
as self preservation or fear shall have alarmed the
confederates, some one will, without hesitation, in-
stantly avail himself of his means of knowledge to
betray the confidence reposed in him, and be the in-
strument of bringing his own companions to justice.
—this will happen—
This has happened I speak with
that confidence—with that settled irreversable prin-
of nature enable me to enter-
tain,ciple which the laws
repeating that amongst guilty men there can
be no confidence.
,1 knowl the name of the inform( r
is odious. I know in abut detestation it is held.
informer ? The person v‘ ho
But who makes the
trusts him. What gives him power over life and
liberty ? The confidence reposed in him. Who is be-
trayedby that centidence ?
and destroyed The men
who confided inguilty associates.
Therefore cri-
minals, in reposing confidence in each other, arm each
other with the means of mutual destruction ; and,
whatever the horror with which the name is regarded,
it should be recollected that his power of doing mis-
chief—if you will call it so—arises from the absurd
folly of trusting to a man who is from the very nature
of things only safe in that trust as long as it serves
his own interest. Let that self-interest, that self-
preservation come in contact with his vow, his pro-
mise, And the oath or engagement of such a person

will perish with the same rapidity as flax is consumed
by fire. Now I have concluded what I had to say
on the position in which you stand in reference to
your own companions in guilt, of whom there must
be many ; and in reference to those with whom,
though you are not individually associated or
Personally acquainted, are looking on at the result
of these trials—looking on with a natural anxiety
to know whether they can safely proceed further
in their career of wickedness, or whether your
escape from the violated laws of the land can extend
any hope of further impunity, or any prospect of
enjoying the plunder they were desirous of possessing.
I do again warn those whom you represent—the
criminals, the untried criminals—the unapprehended
criminals of the county of Limerick. Let them look
to your station, and ask themselves is that une of
triumph, or rather is it not one of misery and distress.
Are you prepared to say, is any one prepared to say,
that the sentence I am about to announce to vou, any
human being, with a particle of mind, can hear un-
regarded. One word more before I proceed to pass
sentence. Six months ago, when the criminal justice
of the country was administered at the assizes, it may
have been that some of you were present at scenes
somewhat similar to that now presented to you. It
may be that you saw prisoners in that dock sentenced
by the judge, and that judge holding out as a terror
to you the example of those than sentenced. Nov, if
you ever heard that language, what must be your afflic-
tions at this moment? And what would you not have
given—would you not have given the whole earth to
have abided by that advice ? Advice may be suspected
because it comes from the organ of the law. Those
who entertain that supposition, or who would diminish
the value of that advice, are greatly mistaken. But
suppose it was not he who addressed you—suppose it
was any individual who cared to do no more than tell
the truth, and was simply anxious to preserve you
from incurring the severe penalties of the law, would
it not be the advice of a true and sterling friend ? Is
it the less friendly because it comes from the high
authority of two of the principal judges of the land ?
Those who give you a different advice are your real
enemies, and by following it you do that which tends
to your own destruction. His Lordship then pro-
ceeded to pass sentences as follows, recapitulating and
shortly commenting on the particular circumstances
of each case :

John Farrell, attacking the dwelling-house of
Thomas Barkman—Transportation for 14 years.
Michael Looney, Daniel Looney, Michael Madigan,
Jeremiah Garven, Thomas Frawley, and Patrick
Gleeson, for attacking the dwelling-house of Patrick
Maloney. All (with the exception of Michael
Looney, recommended to mercy and sentenced to 12
months' imprisonment) to be transported for 14 years.
In this case there was au indictment for the abduc-
tion of the prosecutor's daughter, but it was not
pressed by the Crown. The facts, however, came out
in evidence on the trial, and Looney was recommended
to mercy for having shown some kindness to the girl
when the others were brutally dragging her through
the country.
Patrick Richardson, Maurice Oitrey, Michael
Kennedy, and Michael Collins, for having attacked
the dwelling hou,e. of William Staunton, ten years'
transportation.
Thomas Newman, attacking a dwelling-house,
seven years' transportation.
Denis Flyn, who pleaded guilty to a like offence,
seven years' transportation.
John Collins, highway robbery, seven years' trans-
portation.
Thorns Hinchy, firing into a dwelling-house, two
years' imprisonment and hard labour.
Laurence O'Donnell and two others, attacking a
dwelling-house, two years' imprisonment and hard
labour.

Daniel Noonan, Michael Collins, and Andrew

Duggan, attacking a dwelling-house and appearing
in arms, two years's imprisonment and hard labour.
James Ilealy, and nine others, who pleaded guilty
of having unlawfully assembled, nine months im-
prisonment.
REMOVAL or THE CONVICTS.—During the passing
of sentence preparations were made without the court
for the immediate transmission of those sentenced to

transportation to the convict depot in Dublin. The
space in front of the court house was lined with a
large party of the 92d Highlanders, and jaunting
cars were ranged along the entrance of the outer
hall for the reception of the convicts. Beside the
Highlanders there was in attendance a troop of the
Queen's Bays, and a large party of mounted police. The
convicts having been handcuffed and manacled, were
placed two on each car with two of the constabulary,
and with the escort of the Queen's Bays and mounted
police before mentioned, conveyed direct to N enagh,
en route to Dublin. They were accompanied out of
town by an immense number of spectators. The
wailing of the convicts themselves, as well as of
their friends and relatives, was most painful to hear ;
and it is not too much to say that examples of this
kind will have greater effect on the country than the
more serious vindications of the law which have
.attended the present Commission.

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LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 11.
JOINT-STOCK ZLNICS.

Dividend Amount
Name of Company.
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Shar of
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46 a. d. E. 0.
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Ditto •• • ••• •• • -
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CANALS.
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Names of E; Dividend! Names of Q 4
Prier
Companies. per ce. Companies. Annum. Price.
v.: Annum. ul
Aghtn& Oldh 97 51.5 r. p c 70 Macclesfield • 100 - 15
Barnsley- •• IEO 121. 180 Neath ••• • • • 100 201. 340
ritnli&Abrg 150 51. 80 Oxford lOO 201. 200
Birmingham 35 4/. 80 Peak Forest 7B 31. 40
Coventry ..• • 100 251. - Regent's •• •• 23 1/. 4s. 18X,
Derby ••• • • 100 61. 63 Rochdale.. ••85 , 41. 54
Ellsw re&Chs 134 41. 50 Somrset Coal 150' ii.los. 130
Z:43,4 ash •• • 100 324 - I Do.Llard St 12 8/. p. c. -
GrandJunctn 100 51. 80 Stffrd &Wo*c 140 28/, 2;5
Grand Surrey 100 - 30 Shrewsoury 125 151. -
Grand Union 100 1/. 10s. 213 Stourbrldge 1
Grantham • • 150 12/. - Sevens and
l 145 201. 305
Kennt & Avb 7s. 6d. 5U Wye Rail. j 26 11.88. 30
Lo•ads&LivrP 100 341. 505 Warsvick&
Leicester ..•• 1401 10/. 75 Birming. J 100 51. 65
Leicstr &Stb 83 41. 36 Warwick& 1
LoughbOrtigh 1421 701. 530 Napton.. J 1 46
Monmouthsh 100 Si. - Worcstr &2 78 2/. 39
Mntgemrysh 1001 51. - Binning.
McltnMwbry 'OO, 101. k Wilts & Bras 67 11. 11