The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-23 00:00:00

THE MITCIIEL AMNESTY.

• This "patriotic" individual has favoured the
public with another letter in explanation of his
views. In writint,re to the Waterford Citizen (a
journal recently established by one of the " heroes"
of 1848) Mr. Mitchel says
I have not scouted' the amnesty movement ;
I will scout the amnesty, if granted. Indeed it was
and is my strong wish to see that movement prose-
cuted to an issue, in order to bring the system of
British jurisprudence and government in Ireland
more prominently before the world just at this
juncture; and presuming that the' Queen would
certainly be advised, to refuse the application, I
greatly wish to see on what; false pretence the
refuse., would be based ; for it is a rigid rule,
admitting of no exceptions, that an. English Minis•
ter never assigns to any public act its true motive.
Further, the tone and spirit of the proceedings of
the friends of the amnesty, both in Cork and Water-
ford Corporations, were dignified and just, and
there was no fear that in the hands of such men
as Mr. Maguire and Mr. Blake the cause of the
exiles would suffer damage or derogation. In
short,•l should have been .silent, and looked on
with pleasure, if I had not observed that some
Of • the resolutions calling for an amnesty in
various towns were sustained by several speakers
on' the. ' eipiess ground that the law had been
now sufficiently vindicated,' and even certain of
those resolutions themselves (at least in Dungar-
van) urge that the time is arrived' for au am-
nesty. This was too bad ; and I thought no time
must be loSt in showing that I, for one, had no
concern in such proceedings. The law was not
vindicated ; the law was violated and trampled
undor foot by those proceedings which were called
our trials.' They were not, I hope, Catholics who
said the law had been sufficiently vindicated by de-
liberately excluding all Catholics from the juries—
as ly.ing persons accustomed to perjury; perhaps ;
at any rate, as being for some reason unfit to exer-
cise the common civic office of jurors in nny case of
public importance. As for the' time being come,'
the time at which such an atrocity should have
been undone was the very moment after it was per-
petrated. Nevertheless, if there be Irishmen in
your part of the world who believe that by pack-
ing juries law is vindicated, or that an unjust and
illegal judgment, having been carried out for twelve
years, the time is then come to annul it, no doubt
they have a right to their opinion. Moreover,
they have a right to lay their petitions at the foot
of the throne' upon those very grounds, and none
other; but I must be allowed to express my modest
sentiments thereupon. After all, the affair is yours,
not mine ; bnt I felt the more strongly called upon
to say what I thought of it, inasmuch as in the
month of October, 1853, I did, in an American
court of justice, according to the forms in that case
provided, abjure on oath all allegiance to all kings
and queens, and especially by name, to Queen Vic-
toria—an abjuration which cost me small effort—
and I deem ir no more than the respect due to my
Government that I should distinctly show I have
no participation in a petition for pardon to a
foreign Sovereign, lest any human being should
imagine I think of sinking down from the station
of an American citizen into that of an Irish subject
to an English Queen."
After this, surely no one will be silly enough to
advocate the extension of the royal clemency to Mr.
Mitchel. The man is a contemptible fool, too weak
to do any serious mischief.