The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-12 00:00:00

which contain a statement of matters upon which they (the
members of the Association) had no right to make any de-
cision. They may give their opinions—they may circulate
these opinions—they may endeavour to support them, they
have a right to enlist popular opinion in favour of what they
call their grievances; by all fair means they are entitled to
do so ; but is it to be so considered, when they are enrolling
the whole country under stated officers, under repeal-
wardens and inspectors, and that these cards are given
and circulated, to be placed by these officers in the hands
of persons whom we find gathered as conscripts? Gentle-
men of the jury, the intention of such enrolment is for your
consideration. Is it with a fair intention of free discussion
—of candid and deliberate opinion—or is it with a view
of banding the persons through whom cards are distributed,
and that newspapers are desired to be circulated ? Are they
banded, I say, in favour of the particular political views enter-
tained either by Mr. O'Connell or by the members of that As-
sociation—is that the intention? Or is the intention to pro-
mote free discussion by the enrolling of members to be con-
federated in one universal object, the nature of which they
themselves do not know, and to which they subscribe while
they are ignorant of the purpose ?
The CHIEF JUSTICE then intimated that he would postpone
the further consideration of the case till to-morrow.

The Court was then adjourned till ten o'clock the following
morning.
There was great excitement in the Court, and large crowds
in the vicinity.

TWENTY-FOURTH DAY.
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH, SATURDAY.

THE QUEEN V. DANIEL O'CONNELL AND OTHERS.
Their Lordships having taken their seats on the bench at
10 o'clock,
The CHIEF JUSTICE proceeded with his charge to the jury,
and commenced by recapitulating the observations with
which he concluded yesterday, respecting the sums of
money contributed to the funds of the Association by these
and other countries. Very large sums came not only from
America under the British dominions, which might have an
interest in what was going on in this country, but also from
the United States of America, which, in reference to Great
Britain and Ireland, were foreign countries. Those sums of
money were handed in in large amounts; and they had in-
controvertible evidence that Mr. O'Connell spoke then of
the forces he had at command and acting under his control ;
and that at one meeting he said he would lake the opportu-
nity the next day of handing into the Association several
sums of money, amounting in all to about 1,1001., all from
America, and for the purposes of the Association. The Asso-
ciation was thus provided with funds for the purpose of
working out the ends and objects for which that Association
was fonned. Mr. O'Connell and the other traversers con-
tended that this was all legitimate, and that they had a
right, by all legal and constitutional means, to get rid
of the union if they could. So far the Attorney-General
concurred with them ; but the question between them was
this—whether the means resorted to by the traversers were
or were not legal? or whether, in pursuing their object in
the manner they had adopted, they had agreed to transgress
the law in the manner charged in the indictment under which
they were then on trial? As far as he knew, the only legal
means to obtain a repeal of the union would be by addressing
petitions to the Queen or to Parliament, as by law esta-
blished; nay, there might be more than that—there might
be the introduction of free and fair discussion to ascertain the
opinions which were entertained by the people generally on
the question of the union. But there must be nothing done
inconsistent with free and fair discussion—no threats for the
purpose of intimidating the Ministry and the Queen; and
still less should the traversers take the law into their own
hands, and endeavour to.alter the constitution of the coun-
try from what it was made by the Sovereign and Legislature.
He would now procoed to lay `before the jury some of the
acts of the Association in furtherance of what they called
their legal intentions; and the first document to which he
should call their attention, was one submitted to the Associa-
tion on the 22d of August, entitled " A Plan fof the Renewed
Action of the Irish Parliament:" He had already explicitly
told them, that as the Act of Union remained unaltered by
the proper authority, the Queen was bound by her corona-
tion oath to support it—and no set of persons had a right in
themselves to attempt any alteration in that Act, except
those legally authorised—the Sovereign and Parliament of
the country ; yet here was a plan for making new laws and
a new constitution for that part of the United Kingdom
called Ireland. It commenced by stating, first, that " the
Irish people recognise, acknowledge, and maintain, and will
continually uphold and preserve upon the throne of Ireland,
her Majesty Queen Victoria, whom God protect—Queen by
undoubted right, and by hereditary descent, of Ireland—anti
her heirs and successors for ever." Now, from the time of the
passing of the Act of Union, and up to the present, she had
ceased to be the Queen of Ireland. The King at that time
was Kin.. of -Ireland, but since the passing of that Act he
-ceased to be so, anti the title merged in that of King of the
United Kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland—in fact, thence-
forth, the King or Queen was KingorQueen of Great Britain
and Ireland. That process, therefore, was one for an entire
alteration in the constitution of the country as by law esta-
blished; and to propose in lieu thereof to place her Majesty
on a separate throne, which could not be done without the
consent of the Legislature of the United Kingdom sanc-
tioned by the Throne itself. The plan went on, secondly, to
state that " the people of Ireland will acknowledge, and
will maintain and preserve, the privileges, hereditary and
otherwise, of the peers of Ireland ; together with the legis-
lative and judicial authority of the Irish House of Lords,"
&c. Now they (the jury) would have to say was that the
language of petition to the Parliament and King or Queen of
the United Kingdom—or was it a petition at all ? Was it
not rather a demand, than the language used in a petition ?
The fourth plan (the Chief Justice went on to observe) was
for the increase of county members ; the sixth provided for
a right of voting by virtue of househod suffrage ; the seventh
provided for voting by ballot ; the eighth provided that the
monarch of England de facto should be monarch de jure
•of Ireland ; and the ninth acknowledged the connexion be-
tween Great Britain and Ireland, by means of the authority
of the Crown, to be perpetual. He did not see how much
such a plan as that proposed by Mr. O'Connell, being as it
was a direct violation of the coronation oath as at present
existing, could possibly be carried into effect according to
law. It is impossible, then, to repeal the union in the exist-
ing state of things ; but the union might be altered if
the Legislative wisdom of the country, together with
the Crown, should think fit to adopt, and if the Par-
liament of the united kingdom, with the concurrence and
sanction of the Crown, thought proper to pass a new Act
of Parliament, either repealing the union or modifying it
as it at present stood with regard to the connexion
between Ireland and England. That was the legitimate
mode of doing it; but as long as the law continued as it now
was, there was the Queen's coronation oath to be violated,
and the statute of the 40th of George 111. to be outraged,
before the plan laid down by the Association could possibly
be carried into practical effect. There was no attempt made
to petition the Queen in this plan suggested by the Associa-
tion ; nor was there any recommendation in it that the Re-
pealers should petition the United Legislature. This plan or
manifesto of the Association was put forward as the demand
of the Irish people, organised and disciplined as they were to
have their objects carried into effect according to their own
wishes and desires—by- whom or how, he (the Chief Justice)"
not know, nor did the plan specify. However, this plau
was laid before the Association, and there was no statement,_
whatever that it was rejected. What was the Association
doing in the meantime, while the authoritative demand on
behalf of the people of Ireland was thus placed upon their
records? They thought right to have meetings held in dif-
ferent parts of Ireland. Now, although it had not been ad-
mitted in that Court that he or the Association had convened
more than a few of those monster meetings, yet it would be
seen by the repeated declarations of Mr. O'Connell himself, in
the Association, or out of doors, that lie or the Association had
called all of them. It would be for the jury to say, whether
these meetings were held for the purpose of petition and free
discussion, or whether they were called together in order to
make a display of the physical force and powerful strength
of the Irish nation, banded together by the ties of the Asso-
ciation for effecting their objects by the agency of such
means as had been imputed to them by the Attorney-Gene-
ral. He was not inclined to lay much stress upon the fact of
there being bands of music at those meetings ; there were
bands almost in all instances—perhaps in every instance, and
those bands were in great number, 30 or 40 of them being at a
single meeting. There were flags, and banners, and inscrip-
tions, but to all this lie was not inclined to attach much im-
portance. Although it was true that in some cases violence
of expression might appear in souse of their mottoes and de-
vices, they went but a little way to establish the crime im-
puted, namely, that the traversers intended, by intimidation
and demonstration, by physical force, to overawe the Govern-
ment of the country. These bands were something, no doubt,
contributing more or less to the existence of physical force,
but they constituted, after all, but a slight ingredient in the
case. The striking feature in these meetings was the immense
masses in which the people were collected, and the nature
and violence of the speeches which were delivered to
the assembled multitudes on that occasion. Generally
those speeches were made by Mr. D. O'Connell ; but that
gentleman was not by any means the only person to address
the meetings. There were other persons also, some of whom
were included in the number of the :traversers, who took the
opportunity of making their feelings known to the face of the
assembled multitudes. It was for the jury to decide, from the
tone and tenor of those speeches, whether they were delivered
by men who were acting in pursuance and From
of a
common design, and that a criminal one. From a few of
these speeches he would take the liberty of selecting one or
two passages for the consideration of the jury. The first he
would refer to was the meeting held at Mullingar on the 15th
of May, and which was attended by Mr. O'Connell and Mr.
Barrett. In the presence of that assemblage, composed of a
multitude of persons amounting to hundreds of thousands.
Mr. Barrett thought proper to express himself in language
which he should read from the Pilot of the 15th of May, Mr.
Barrett's own paper. Mr. Barrett could disown whatever there
might be of criminality or violence in.the speech, by the asser-
tion that what he uttered escaped from hint unpremeditatedly
and in the excitement of the moment—that it was a hot effusion
—but that the thing should be passed over, inasmuch as it
was not preconcerted or premeditated ; but there was not a
particle of evidence to show that Mr. Barrett's speech de-
served to be so characterised. It was a deliberate speech,
and not only did Mr. Barrett utter it at Mullingar, but it was
to be presumed that lie wrote it down, and when he had ar-
rived in. Dublin he had it printed and circulated in his paper,
the Pilot. llis Lordship then read an extract from the
speech, concluding as follows:—" We will crouch, but it will
be the crouch of the tiger, ready to take a terrible spring,
and clutch our independence. Come what may, the dye is
cast—repeal must be successful. We have a leader worthy of
our people, and a people worthy of such a leader—a people
sober, forbearing, resolved, and possessing all virtues which
will enable them to obtain, by allowing that they are worthy
of, national independence." That speech was delivered on
the 15th of May. See how simultaneously the operations
of the Association, the meetings, and all these proceedings
went on together. He now came to the Pilot of the 31st
of May, and they would see that in that paper Mr. Bar-
rett gave a report of Mr. O'Connell's speech at the great
Longford repeal meeting. The jury remembered what
was stated at that meeting by Mr. O'Connell with respect
to an English Roman Catholic Nobleman, Lord Beaumont.
lie (the Chief Justice) would not go into the particulars of
the dispute between the two individuals, but he alluded to
this speech as showing the opinions which Mr. O'Connell
uttered in presence of the populace with respect to what he
thought might take place in England if opposition were
made by the Government to his plan and that of the Asso-
ciation. (His Lordship proceeded to read that passage from
Mr. O'Connell's speech at Longford where he alluded to the
sensation which would be treated in the popular mind to-
wards England, in case coercive measures were used against
this country.) It would be for the jury to say, whether they
thought the use of such language as this a fair and legitimate
mode of exercising the right of free discussion, and bringing.
the mind ofs oltvl
heea
tp?
se
lovpaol
sme
ett
hot
hi
sbi
nemga raenxconstitutionallyin the
oiinvh
he p oo
mi
ml i taAihcriar:l
Oqu'Cesotnionnesll.
nation of Mr. O'Connell, who framed and fabricated this
story for the purpose of having its effect. No such story
ever existed ;it was a supposition—a kind of novel invented
by him upon the occasion ; and for what purpose ? To
have free discussion of the subject of the union, or to have
the passions of one portion of the people of this country
excited against another, and violence, and deeds of violence,
provoked by the introduction of unfounded and false stories
of this nature. The speech was received with "hear and
clreers ;" and that was the way in which stories of the kind
were received by those multitudes of loyal men. His Lordship