The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-27 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, April 26.
It was past 6 o'clock yesterday evening when the
last of the 12 jurors was sworn to try Thos. Burke
and Patrick Dorau for high treason. This was, the
second day spent wrangling about preliminaries:
The prisoners did not join in their challenges, the
consequence of which was that 40 jurors were chal-
lenged peremptorily on their part, and as many
more as they could show cause for challenging. A
great number of the best men for jurors were rejected
for misdescription. This was the result of gross ne-
gligence on the part of those whose duty it was to
prepare the proper panel. Merchants and traders of
various kinds were set down as " Esquires" without
any mention of their profession or business, and
places were given as their residences without being
described as the law requires. For ex maple, one

was given as " Rose Lawn, county Dublin," without
mentioning " Rathgar," in which this re3idence is
situated; another as "Palmerston Villa, county Dub-
lin," without stating that it was in Upper Rath-
mines; there were " terraces" without the locality
in which they were situated, and houses on " roads"
without the numbers. Considering that points had
been raised about such omissions at former Fenian
trials, the negligence of the officials in making out

the Jury lists seems almost unaccountable, as matters
io important as the due administration of justice
and the peace of the community depend upon their
accuracy and strict conformity to law. This care-
lessness on the part of men employed by Government
presents a striking contrast to the care and vigilance
with which the lists are made out of persons en-
titled to vote for members of Parliament. The dif-
ference seems to be accounted for by the fact that
in the latter•case the work is done by party agents,
who hope to be rewarded for political services,
and in the former case by those who have been re-
warded for such services. Whatever be the cause,
the public interest suffers grievously, and it was
melancholy to see the Judges engaged the whple
day in listening to debates upon the small points
connected with the merely technical qualification of
jurors caused by official neglect of duty.
The two prisoners " General" Burke and Patrick
Doran (with most of their fellow prisoners placed in
the dock on Wednesday) have been represented in
ionic of the reports as " respectably dressed," and as
having " evidently paid attention to their toilet."
ft would be a mistake to infer from this that either
the General or his companion has the appearance
of a gentleman. They both seem exactly like re-
spectable mechanics or artisans in their working day
dress, which consists of grey trousers and vest, and
a sort of greatcoat of rough material, dark colour,
and not new. They are both of middle stature.
Burke looks about 35 years of age. He bas black
hair and large black whiskers. His complexion is
sallow; his forehead not large, nor high, but pro-
! minent, having large wrinkles when he raises his
,yes, which he sunk under heavy brows, his
cheeks being low, and his nose large. The ex-
pression of his face is grave, determined, and
not very prepossessing. Altogether he does
not give the idea of the General to an
army in which promotion depends on personal
appearance or brains. Doran is a younger man, pre-
senting a milder type of humanity, with thin fea-
tures, dark brown hair, sandy beard, and apparently
a very nervous temperament. Both seem to be
suffering from the hardships of the field and from
confinement in gaol. Compared with the prisoners
at the first Special Commission they have few sym-
pathisers, which is the more remarkable, as they
really took up arms and risked their lives.
When the Court rose the Lord Chief Justice in-
formed the jury that they could not leave the Court-
house or separate till the trial was over, but he was
sure the High Sheriff would provide for their com-
fort as well as possible under the circumstances. A
number of constables were sworn to prevent them
communicating with persons outside.

A prisoner has been brought to Dublin for trial
from Roscommon. When arrested he gave his name
as O'Connor. Since then it has been ascertained

that his name is Joseph Gibbons, from Mayo, who
has been an officer in the Federal army. He is a
respectable-looking man, about 30 years of age, and
6ft. high. He was handcuffed, and in charge of a
strong party of police. There was no manifestation
of sympathy otherwise by the spectators.
The cattle show was continued yesterday. The
sale of prime stock was most brisk, and the section
of breeding stock weft off at high prices. The year-
ling bulls were not in as quick demand as was ex-
pected, but this, in a great measure, was owing to
to the Punchestown race. Stock sold well generally
at the show, but too many things being on at the
same time did not answer well for the spring show
of this year. Ganly, Sons, and Parker transferred
bulls at from 40 to 80 guineas.

The National and Kildare llunt races came off
yesterday at Punchestown. Thera was a very
large concourse of spectators, the Lord Lieutenant
present. The races were all well contested, and
the running was good. The Leinster Cup was won
by Mr. Forbes's Kingswood, the Kildare Hunt
Plate by Mr. Joseph Doyle's The Lamb, and the
Dowushire Cup by Mr. Campbell's Tom Thumb.