The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-26 00:00:00

THE FENIAN OU7ARGE IN MAN-
CHESTER.

----_...k.-

The following letter and the accompanying me
morial have been forwarded to the Home Office:—
" Gresham Chambers, 41, Princess-street,
Manchester, Oct. 21.

" THE QUEEN AGAINST ALLEN AND TWENTY-FIVE

OTIIERS.

" Sir,—l am directed by the few English friends
of the prisoners to send for your consideration a
memorial requesting that the trials of the persons
accused of the murder of Sergeant Brett may be
postponed till after Christmas. There is little
doubt but that several important questions of law
will arise on the cases of the prisoners ; that for
their proper argument it •is requisite that gentle-
men of the greatest learning should be obtained ;
that many gentlemen whose assistance the pri-
soners might desire to have are now away for the
vacation, and will not be available for the
28th of the present month. The trials will neces-
sarily occupy a considerable time—probably more
than a week, therefore extending into the first days
of Michaelmas Term, and so adding to the difficul-
ties of the trial and of the prisoners. The time is
very short. The copies of the depositions were not
completed until Saturday ; they amount altogether
to upwards of 1,000 common law folios, compre-
hending more than 150 sheets of ordinary brief
paper ; the last of the prisoners was not committed
till last Wednesday.
"It is my duty also to tell you that the prisoners
are for the most part wretchedly poor. They have
friends, but these friends are at a distance—some in
Ireland, some in America, and other far off places,
and it will take some time for them to collect to-
gether their small sums. For the prisoners—there
are 26 of them—to be properly defended will entail
a very large eipense, even if counsel at this inop-
pbrtune season can be procured and detained from
their London duties threugh the first days—the
most important—of the ensuing term. The pri-
soners, if the trial is not reasonably postponed, will
have probably to chose the alternative of an in-
adequate defence, or of not being defended at all.
My own opinion is in favour of the latter course.

"For myself, I can assure you, as the solicitor
for the prisoners, I have/ been most indefatigable
and incessant in my labour ; but my difficulties arc
very great. The practical difficulty of communica-
tion with the prisoners is more than is apparent to
those who don't understand it. And though, of
course, I shall do my best, I still feel that I am
wholly incapable of doing justice to the defence of
my clients (all of whom, you will observe, are
charged with ' wilful murder') in the short time
allowed me.

"I most earnestly trust thftt you will giant the
prayer of the accompanying memorial. And I have
the honour to be, Sir, your most obedient servant,

" W. P. ROBERTS.
"The Right Iron. the Secretary of State,
Whitehall, London.

" To the Right Hon. Gathorne Hardy, her Majesty's
Principal Secretary of State for the Home De-
partment.
" The memorial of the undersigned counsel and
attorneys for the prisoners charged with the mur-
der of the police-officer, Sergeant Brett, at Man-
chester, on the 18th of September, 1867.
" That your memorialists are all residents in the
city of Manchester, and have been engaged in the
defence of the said prisoners from the time of their
first being charged before the police magistrates.
" Your memorialists have bad ample opportunity
of judging of the state of feeling now prevalent in
the said city, and feel certain that, in the present
excited state of feeling, it would be impossible to
secure a fair trial for the prisoners at the hands of
a jury, if that trial were to take place as early as
the 28th inst.

" Your memorialists arrive at this conviction
from their own pelso.tal observation of the public
feeling evidenced in various ways, and among
others, by eeDonymous communications in writing
containing threats of death and personal violence,
addres ed to and received by certain persons who
are desirous of raising a fund for the defence of the
said prisoners ou their approaching trials ; from the
remarks current in ordinary conversation ; from the
tone assumed by the public press ; from the demon-
strations made by the public in the courts of jus-
tice ; and from the panic and irritation caused by
the continual rumours, founded and unfounded, of
intended outrages by the Irish population of this
district—a panic and irritation heightened by the
military and police precautions publicly taken, of
which your petitioners do not complain, but which
nr turally have a tendency to aggravate the position
of the prisoners—and by the impression created by
the fact of the prisoners having for nine days been
kept coupled in handcuffs in the poiice court during
the investgation of their case.
"Your memorialists, therefore, feel certain that
there would be a miscarriage of justice if the
prisoners were to be tried on the 28th inst. ; that
the innocent would, despite any effort of the
learned judges, be confounded with the guilty.
And they, therefore, pray the trial may be post-
poned till after Christmas next, or until such other
time as to her Majesty's Government may seem fit
and convenient.
"Dated this 21st day of October, 1867.
" ERNEST JONES.
" JOHN COTTINGHAM.
" W. P. ROBERTS."
The reply from the Home-office wes received yes-
terday afternoon by Mr. Roberts. It simply states
that there is no sufficient reason shown for the
postponement of the trials, and refuses. the prayer
of the memorialists.

Mr; W. P. Roberts, solicitor, Manchester, on be-
half of the prisoners committed for the murder of
Police-sergeant Brett, has transmitted the follow-
ing letter to the Home Secretary, in reply to the
communication refusing to postpone the trial :

" ALLEN AND TWENTY-FIVE OTHERS.
" Gresham-chambers, Princess-street,
Manchester, Oct. 23.

" Sir,-1 have your letter of this morning, in
which you decline to accede to the prayer for a post-
ponement of these trials. Permit me to request you
to reconsider this determination.

" It is impossible to instruct counsel in time. No
counsel are retained, for there is no money to retain
them with, but during the next six weeks money will
come in. Briefs ought to be in the hands of counsel
at bast a fortnight before the trials. The work is
immense of anal sing all the cases, and it requires
time and indullrous labour.

"The case is very much out of the common-26
men, all of them accused of murder, and all with
evidence against them that in the present state of
excitement may sentence them to death. It is easy
to talk about being ' firm,' and so forth.
"My impression is that if the trial is thus pressed
on the men will elect not to be defended at all. I
feel compelled to ask you to satisfy yourself of the
truth of the memorial, and to grant its prayer.—l
am, Sir, y our obelient servant,

" W. P. ROBERTS."

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