The Sun.
London, England, 1832-03-15 00:00:00

STAFFORD, MARCH 13.

Somerfield, aged 32; George Welch, aged
26 ; and James ;Markle, aged 29; were indicted for
assaulting Charles Shenton, on the Hth of February, at
Walsall, in this county, avd putting him in bodily fear of
his life, and taking from his person against his will, seven
sovereigns and divers other articles, his property.
The Jury, after about ten minutes' consultatiou, Ac—
quitted the prisoners.
The trial lasted eight hours. None of the property al-
leged to be lost was ever found, and the case seemed to
savour much of the late mock robbery at Barnet,

IRELAND.

(From the Times.)

KILKENNY ASSIZES.-STATE OF THE COUNTY.
DUBLIN, MARCH 11.
_ _

I have just returned from Kilkenny, where the Assizes
ended on Saturday, and I now present you with a sum-
mary of the business transacted since the acquittal of John
Kennedy, in the Carrickshaugh affair. Patrick Grennan
and Patrick Brophy, apprehended at the opening of the
Assizes on suspicion of being concerned in the battle, were
liberated on Saturday, no bills of indictment having been
found against them. They danced through the streets
like madman, shouting " Who cares for the Peelers now?"
while numbers of their countrywomen hugged, and kissed,
and danced for joy along with them. Kennedy is also to
be set free, without bail, as soon as he can he tried pro
forma on the second indictment, for the murder of Chief
Constable Gibbons, but all his companions are to he held
over for trial in the Court of King's Bench, Dublin,
whither the law officers contemplate removing them by
writ of certiorari, hopeless of attaining a conviction from
a county Kilkenny jury. Thomas Read, who was on the
first day convicted of an outrage in Smettzer's house, with
intent to rob it of fire-arms, was on Saturday sentenced to
transportation for life. Smettzer, who is a Palatine by de-
scent, and whose house is in a lonely part of the country,
has determined on going with his daughters to the north,
to escape the vengeance of Read's relatives.
Five men were found guilty of the horrible outrage on
Manning (the fanner whose legs and feet were burned at
his own hearth a few weeks since, on his refusal to surren-
der a pair of pistols that his Whitefeet visitors knew lie
possessed.) Three of them, brothers, (Mick, Pat, and
John Summers) elderly men, are sentenced to be hanged
next Saturday at the county gaol outside the town; the
fourth is their nephew, Martin Whelan, who on account
of his youth, and having acted under intimidation of his
uncles, has had his sentence of death commuted to trans-
portation for life. The fifth, Laurance Dolan, servant of
the Summers' family, and the most depraved of the gang,
was the man who had-dragged old Manning to the hearth,
and raked down the fire on his feet. He was tried sepa-
rately on Friday, and convicted, but a point of law was
saved in his favour by Counsellor Hamilton, as the chief
witness, Manning, fainted during his cross-examination
in consequence of accumulated suffering from his wounds,
and a painful disease that he has been labouring under for
some years. The judge was evidently displeased at the
unnecessary production of the unfortunate old man in
Court, who appeared to suffer much while giving his
testimony, and died the next morning. Previous to pass-
ing sentence he addressed a solemn discourse of considerable
length to the prisoners, who seemed rather impatient.
Whim the last words of the sentence were yet upon his
lips—" Hanged till you are dead, and may the Lord have
mercy on your souls," Laurence Dolan exclaimed in the
most reckless and hardened manner, " May my soul be in
hell two hours after !" "Yes !" said one of the three
brothers, " if we're guilty !" No one except their imme-
diate relatives, who had attempted to establish an alibi,
seemed to feel the least regret for them. Whilst Dolan's
Jury were considering their verdict, the crowd left the
Court, and at the time they handed it in there was only the
Judge to receive it, the Clerk of the Court to record it, the
High Sheriff, the gaol governor, the policemen, and their
prisoner ! In fact, no popular feeling ever existed through-
out this county in favour of Whitefeet atrocities, and
from the exertions of the Magisirates, farmers, and the
Catholic clergy, that party is now nearly extinguished.—
The anti-tithe feeling is quite a different thing. It is
strengthening and extending every day. Not only the
peasantry around Knocktopher, Hugginstown, and Car-
rickshaugh, cheerfully paid the " rent for the prisoners"
of Id. per acre, but various people of property subsetibed
largely to the fund, some anonymously, but the majority
openly. Among the latter were two Protestant graziers,
who had lost the best part of their property in defending
tithe suits in the Ecclesiastical Courts. There is still a
surplus of 1001. remaining to defray the legal expences of
the defence of Kennedy's companions, and subscriptions
are about to continence in Dublin for the same purpose,
where no doubt they will raise ample funds, Those gen-
tlemen who have taken an active part in the late prosecu-
tions do not feel at ease in returning to their country seats.
Morris Read, Esq. (a gentleman of property, and formerly
aacctaivnedlyideatnegafgoerdthien rehpisresuelhigtaisttieornialocfaptaliceitya,tyi)n,
s wo
e ahr hwi nags
for and apprehending his neighbours, the peasantry about
Carrickshaugh, prefers residing in the city of Waterford at
present. He was fortunately not at home on two occ-
casions, when armed parties of the peasantry (estimated
at between 200 and 300) called to inquire for him
at night.
Since the unfortunate occurrence great pains have been
taken in the better training of the police through the se-
veral counties. The county Westmeath are the most ad-
vanced in discipline, and are dead shots at the bull's-eye.
Those who best know the feelings of the police and the
peasantry towards each other, anticipate considerable mis-
chief from the continued employment of this species of
force in country affairs, especially after the effect produced
on their minds by the late verdict.