The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-29 00:00:00

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, THURSDAY MORNING.
THE DONEGAL OUTRAGE.
The Derry Jourual gives full particulars of the
late diabolical plot to murder the Rev. Alexander
Nixon :

- -
" On Monday last a report reached Londonderry
that the county of Donegal had been disgraced by
a crime of the most heinous character. It was
stated that the Rev. Alexander Nixon,,of Heath-
field, near Falcarragh, in the county of -Donegal,
had:been murdered on Sunday as he was returning
from church. We immediately put ourselves in a
position of gaining information of the real state of
the. case, and found on inquiry that, although a
most nefarious attempt was made on the life of the
rev. gentleman, the design of the assassin had been
providentially frustrated, at least so far as the life
of his victim was concerned. Mr. Nixon is wounded,
but is not dead, as was at first announced. We give
the circumstances of the attempted murder, and have
to prethise that we left no available means untried
to verify the truth of the several statements em-
braced in the subjoined narrative. On the day in
question Mr. Nixon was returning from church,
accompanied by his wife and daughter. The party
travelled in a close carriage. When about a mile
Trom. Falcarragh,.. Mr. Nixon's attention was
attracted by three persons on the road. They were
dressed in women s apparel, but there was some-
thing strange in their appearance. It is said they
had been noticed on the road earlier in the day,
and had been mistaken for women of loose charac-
ter. As it turned out, they were really men,
dressed in the clothes of the other sex. The three
seemed to be under the influence of drink, and were
conducting themselves in a way to justify that as-
sumption as the carriage came forward. One of
the fellows sprang to the horses' heads and stopped
the vehicle. • Another began, as is stated, to dance
outrageously on the road. Others say the second
ruffian seized the coachman and held him ; but, be
this as it may, Mr. Nixon put his head out to see
what had interrupted his journey. This seems to
have precisely answered the calculations of his as-
sailants. No sooner had the bead of the gentle-
man been protruded from the carriage window than
the third fellow fired at him. The weapon used
was a pistol, and the shot passed through his face.
Entering at the side of the head, fronting the ear,
the slugs smashed through the jaw-blade, carrying
away two or three teeth, and came out at the oppo-
site cheek. The deed done, the ruffians fled. No
doubt they thought they had killed their victim.
Fortunately, however, such was not the case, for it
was found that the wound, though serious, was not
mortal. Some of the slugs were found subsequently
in the bonnet of Mrs. Nixon. It is unnecessary to
say that the ladies experienced a severe fright, and
were well nigh overcome by the horrible nature of
the bloodthirsty outrage. Running off, some de-
clare that the ruffians parted with their female
habiliments,. so. as not to encumber themselves in
their flight. They went towards Muckish moun-
tain. A bailiff in the employment of Mr. Nixon
is stated to have followed them for some distance,
but, on coming. up with them, one of the men
turned, and, presenting a pistol, swore he would
have his life if he came a step further. The other
then •desisted, and the :fellows got off. We have
not heard anything reliable as to whether any
of the country people were by at the timo of the
attempt on Mr. Nixon, although it is said that,
while the ruffians were making their escape, several
persons whom they, encountered did not offer any
impediment to their progress. Various rumours,
some of them intrinsically untrue, are afloat
on this branch of the story ; but for the present
we forbear to specify them, especially since
the full truth will be laid bare to the public,
by the searching investigation which the au-
thorities are sure to institute. As. to the possible
motive of the assassins, it is currently believed
that the attempt on Mr. Nixon's life arose out of the
part he took in those social commotions by which
Gweedore and Cloughaneely have latterly been
convulsed. At the same time it is accepted as the
truth that the fellows who made the actual attack
did not belong to the neighbourhood. Up to the
hour of our latest advices no arrests had been
effected, but if it be the case that the assassins flung
off their outside clothes as they ran a elite might
thus be obtained by which tkc culprits would soon
be brought to the bar of justice. Mr. Nixon is
being attended by Dr. Eames, of Dunfanaghby,
and Dr. Brady. Being of corpulent habit, the un-
fortunate gentleman is in an exceedingly critical
state,. and mortification is apprehended. We be-
lieve that at first the medical men did not perceive
much danger, but their opinion has latterly been
considerably altered, their patient having got
weaker. He is not able to speak, and can com-
municate his ideas only by signs and by writing.
As is natural, the event has created intense excite-
ment, not only in the district of its occurrence, but
in the whole county of Donegal. On Monday Mr.
Cruice, magistrate, left Letterkenny on his way to
the scene of the outrage. A meeting of magistrates
was held in Letterkenny on the same day, and we
understand that a close inquiry is being prosecuted
in the district where the offence was committed. It

has transpired that, in consequence of what has
happened, the relief from the extra police taxation
in Gweedore and Cloughaneely, lately promised by
the Dublin organ of the Government, will not be
carried out, and that an additional force, augmen-
tative of the present large number, will be demanded
in the constabulary of the county. There is little
fear that the utmost exertions will be made by
magistrates, police, and all else concerned to trace
out and discover the perpetrators of a crime so foul
and cowardly."
An old and temperate organ of the Liberal and
Roman Catholic party thus comments upon the
foregoing narrative :
" We have often had occasion to write of the
condition of Donegal, and of the causes to which,
in our opinion, its social degradation was at-
tributable. There was, however, one considera-
tion which always inspired hope for the future,
and that was that amid poverty and oppression
of no ordinary kind, the hands of the people were
free from blood. The natives of many of its back-
ward districts suffered much, but they contented
themselves with asking public sympathy, and pub-
lis sympathy they obtained, largely and practically.
No murder was done in the county. This state of
things is now changed. In the attempted assassi-
nation of Mr. Nixon a portion of the county. of
Donegal has received a stain which it will require
years to efface. This is what every one must regret
and deplore. For OurselveS, we are at once shocked
and astonished by. the melancholyintelligence which
we this day communicate to our readers. This is
not the place to canvass the public character of Mr.
Nixon. All we wish to recollect now is that he is
a man, and that an attempt was made to assassinate
him ; and the predominant feeling which this recol-
lection inspires is that of indignation. Let no one
talk of justification, nor even of extenuation.
Nothing can justify assassination. Nothing will
justify any one who takes justice into his own
hands, arrogates to himself the functions which
properly belong.to the law, and impiously usurps a
wicked and irresponsible power over human exis-:
tense. This is a crime the guilt of which can as
little be diminished by the sufferings endured as by,
the wrongs .inflicted.) ille who speaks of the ' wild
justice of revenge' either does not know the doctrine
he propounds, or, knowing it, propounds impiety.
These are our sentiments, and we hope they have
been expressed in
.a way not to be misunderstood.
At the same time it were nothing short of hypo-
crisy to conceal our profound conviction that the
landlords of the district have it in their power to
do much towards preventing the recurrence Of a
crime like that in question. We are told that Mr.
Nixon's assailants were strangers,—and we believe
it ; but it is to be feared that their prompters could
not be so described. We are afraid that some of,
the ignorant people are implicated in the foul
transaction. Popular discontent existed in
Gweedore and Cloughaneely, and, sharpened
by poverty, it took the form of crime. It is
childish to suppose that if the complaints of a
people' are allowed to pass unheeded, or their
wrongs permitted to go unredressed, the exhortations
of clergymen and others who advise them to re-
spect the law will not be eventually stifled by the
Wernptings of passion. The first thing to be done
now is to discover the assassins. This is a matter
in which everyone in the diStrict, lay and clerical,
poor and rich, is interested, and we trust soon to see
condign justice fairly administered in the case of
those -wicked men. It will then be the business of
the proprietary to recollect that their tenants have
passions and feelings as well as the and
sinews ; but, whether the people be well treated or
ill-treated, whether their complaints be real or
imaginary, whether their woes meet haughty dis-
dain or aristocratic indifference, we. call upon
the peasantry to remember that nothing can pos-
sibly justify a crime suchas thaton the inexcusable
atrocity of which we have been commenting."

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THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY VXENING, OCTOBER 29, 1858.

the offence committed by the prisoner was an ex-
tremely aggravated one, as there was no knowing
the extent of injury done by wounding the feelings
of the friends of those whose remains had been dis•
turbed. The remains of the dead were a most
sacred trust, and the breach of that trust in the
prisoner List was aggravated from the circum-
stance of his position, but believing that Saville
had suggested the crime, and that List had told the
whole truth, he should make a marked difference in
the sentence which he was about to pass, and that
was one of eighteen months' imprisonment upon
Saville, and six months upon List.
Saville was then moved from the dock, threaten-
ing to do for the witnesses when he came out of
gaol.
Mr. Robinson applied that the Court should
award the expenses of this prosecution upon more
than the ordinary scale. The parish authorities
had very adroitly slipped the vxpenses, which were
heavy, upon the executors, and their trust had long
been distributed.
The Common Sergeant said that public justice
would have been greatly disturbed had not this
case been properly prosecuted, but he feared he
had no power to interfere. The treasury were now
very restrictive.