The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOUR2YALS.

FROM THE EVENING PA.:,%ns OF Skr eiet.l7•
GLOB s'.—The examination of wit ..eases. in the Irish State
Tri-ds, on the part of the prosecution, was proceeded with on
Thursday morning. Three " gentlemen of the press," occu-
pied in succession "the chair," as the revolving seat in fee
centre of the table around which counsel are arranged,
is designated in the Irish Law Courts. Their evidence
—a mere recapitulation of matters eith which every onen
who has read the proceedings at the " monster meeting!,
as supplied by the daily journals, was already familiar
—afforded nothing new to the craving curiosity of the crowd
within the Court, and will be regarded with indifference by
the country at large. The leaders of the Repeal Association
seem to have courted publicity in their whole proceedings.
The extraordinary facilities afforded to the reporters for
the London journals, and the special attentions shown
to the witness wh3 announced that he attended the
meetings on behalf of the Government, showed that se-
er. cy formed no element in the dire " conspiracy" with
which the indictment charges O'Connell and his co-defendants.
The Attorney •General, in his opening speech, laid great stress
on those parts of the speeches delivered by O'Connell which
asserted that the Act of Unien was not bindieg on the Irish he""
pre. Divested of the iodemontade which seems id be generally
regarded in the sister country as genuine eloquence. the Inean"
ing of those passaees must be taken as intimating that
the conditions n which the Act of Union was proposed,
have not been fulfilled on the part of England. The impres-
sion which prevails in Ireland is, that the distress of the pope
lation of that country has largely increased since, the maims
of the two kinedoies ; and that, in its results, 4
has not wrocight any of those benefits which it
was expected to produce The Repeal leaders have.
it is true, asserted that the Union ha. palsied, instead
of invigorai ell, the energies of Ireland; that it has ex-
cluded, instead of admitting, the talents of the country from
he natienal eouneils—t hat it hes deprived her of the benefits
which she hoped to dei lee f. um he exertions of her own chil-
dren, 'ors, bred, and edueeted v Rhin her bosom ; that, in
gee. it has not allies ed her tii judge for herself on matters re,
lacing to the management solely of her own interests; and tbat
a surrender of her legislative independence., without compen"
nation or equivalent, is the character and consequence of the
Union. But these things were said anti published long before
the • epeal Association was iu exivence. The question is not
as to the validity of these vi one; : it relates solely to their ex'
i-fence, and to the perio is of their -eirth. At the time when
they were first promutged, .it wis cotitended that the Union
ought not to be condemned before it had obtained a fair
tri,l Catholic Emancipation wa, part and parcel of Mr.
Pitt's plan of uniting the two kingdoms. Nearly thirty
years elapsed before that mea-ure was conceded; and
then it was wrung from the fear, of a Government, the leading:
members of which yie ded to the arrayed determination of It
people to obtain, by force of compulsion, what ought long be-
fore to have been conferred from a sense of justice. Shortly
after that great me sure was passed the Whigs came into (Ace,
xhd administered the Government in the spirit of the enact-
ment. The people received the altered disposition of the
Government tcward the long-proseribed race as a pledge and
earnest of a new dispensation. The country became peace-
able. The long•existing indications of a disaffected PP'
lation disappeared Ancient feuds between the profes-
sors of the rival creeds became less frequent, and
lee; virulent. A new order of feelines began t•
pervade the social system. This gratifying change
confirmed to grow in extent and depth, until it be-
come evident that the hold of the Whig Alinisters
upon the Government waxed feeble, and that the period
of their govertimeet was fast drawing to a close. The
apprehensions of the Catholics, that with the return to office
of the party which had long proses:bed them as unfit to posr,e's
the rights of citizens, their practical exclusion front those rights
would again commence, began to operate. The raised hopes of the
Ultra-Protestants found utterance in boasting of what would be
Ole effects of a Tory Government. The first acts of the pre'
sent administration were but little calculated to remove
or lessen the Catholic dislike to its rule. The Re',
peal movement was the result. With giant strides it pursue
its march. Three provinces became embued with its spirit,
and thousands of the population enlisted in its cause. Ths
poliey of the Government was the very opposite of that which
would have disarmed the hosti!ity cherished by the Repeaters.
Conciliation would have melted the masses into grateful
submission. A very small instalment of gentleness would
have sufficed ; but that small effort to propitiate *
jealous population was denied. The country is a gar"
rison—its shores encircled by a fleet. as though $
blockade was to he maintained, strict as if an invasion were
dreaded by its inhabitants. The people are quiet ; but that
very quietness is interpreted into an indication of gloomy resolve.
A State trial, which promises to be extended to weeks, has
been determined on, by way of intimidating the people ; yet"":
such has been the ill-advised course of the prosecutors, that
even a verdict against the defendants will be deprived of
moral influence on the nation. - Such is the state—such the
spirit of the country.
STANDARD.—We have no intention to deviate from the
rule invariably observed in the Standard on similar occasions
of refraining from any comment on the evidence adduced 00
Thursday last, on the State prosecutions in Ireland. The
first witness examined was Mr. Frederick Bond Hughes'
A'llo was upwards of six hours in the box, and
who deposed to what took place at the various,
meetings arid- -dinners he a-tended from the Ist various
October last, beginning with that of Mullaghmast. His
eseefeece Contained with which the readers of news"
papers are not. already familiar. He obtained his admission
to the Mullaglimast meeting by means of a card, which he re'
eeived from Mr. Ray, avowedly in his capacity of reporter
for the Government. He was unable, flowerer, to ex-
tract from Mr. Ray the resolutions agreed to at
Mullaghniast, although Mr. O'Connell had promised
that he slimed be furnished with them; but he wag
informed by that person that they had been correctly reported
in the newspapers. The witness was rigorously cross-
examined by one of the counsel for the traversers, Mr. Hat"
(then, who (teemed it necessary to announce that he cross-
.examined on.behalf of only one of these parties. Some notion
may be twined of the gratuitous insolence and irrelevance of
portions of this cross-examination from the following sample :---
" Mr. Hatchell—As a man of the win ld, do you not think
there is very little high treason in a cap ?—I formed no opinion
en
It tatter.
warns at that the crown was made at White's, in Tho•
mas-street ?—lt was.
Then any per-on going to White's could get a crown to s.et
his head, or a cap to fit his crown ? Did you become Irish enook
during your stay in this country to buy anything of Irish Menu.
facture yourself?—l did. indeed'
" Perhaps you bought a tabinet for the lady ?—I did
—( Laughter.) t.as pro-
,. Then one great advantage that the agitation it
duced is, that it brought you over here to encourage Irish
manufacture. I suppose if you were disengaged, yins c`.
have no objection to take a lady far the tabinet ?—perhaps
should.
" Coun,el—All I can sty is, that the lady would have the
worst of it."
We say nothing of the gross insult to the Court in thus es"
hausting its time on so important an occasion by coarse itell'e'
tinence like this, but we may express our belief that it the lett
toile be allowed to the other counsel to the traversers
seems to have been accorded to Mr. Hatehell.there is no sayinf.
to what remote date these trials may be protracted. To the vat
nesses subjected to such gratuitous insult, it must- be cu.!:
soiatory to know that, did their evidence present any di'.
crepancy which could possibly be converted to their PT!'
Indite, the Counsel for the trarersers would barn
Jut! it necessary to resort to such modes of annoy"e
ante. Mr. Leatham, the assistant of Mr. Hughes w,s:
neat examined, but did little more than corroborate to:
evidence of his principal. Mr. Ross, a gentleman long c.ulse
fleeted with the London press, said that he went to Ireland 1
the suggestion of the Government, and attended the Hera,
meeting at Donnybrook, on the Ist of July. He 7eto
visited London shortly afterwards, but returned
Ireland in A ne, u-t, when he attended sever*:
meetings of the Repeal Association. The Court adjournedh,rie
fore the examination of this witness was concluded. All brie
Irish correspondents of the London press concur in their te,a,
moray that no feeling stringer than that of mere curiosity 11111),:t
pears to have been excited by these proceedings ; and „toe
whatever be their re-ult, there appears to be
chance of the agitation which has been foretold by the 111,
Repeal journals. Even the Morning Chronicle, bold in
predictions of " public calamity," does not Prete ese
that the interest which has been excited by
trials in Ireland is of a nature to warrant its ,Fce
ference. We omitted yesterday, by the way, to Wire
the indecent exultation expressed by our ContetniAr..4
at the personal ailments and infirmities disclosed in the We'
.
of several of the jurors, who are sitting on these trials, to of
relieved from attendance. The age and rheumatism of one fo
these gentlemen have beets gressly exaggerated, in order.%
afford' an excuse for the suggestion that his bodily eneeg.leb
may be exhausted during the five or six weeks to whiff
the traversers propose to prolong their trials ; and it is arm;
that, if he be not wholly incapacitated by illness from the Pe „
formance of his duty, he may, and ,r probably will, if partielcti.
lady game," die at his post ; in which case the peaces„
lugs would be brought to an abrupt termination. It is ITO
cordingly hinted to him, that if he have any sense he hit
take to his bed, and procure a doctor's certificate, in order l.'s
the anticipations of this zealous friend to the Repeal cause °h.;
be fulfilled. The hint to protract the proceedings to t.,,
longest possible peri.,d, on the contingency of so destrable4;
event, will not, we dare say, be lost upon the counsel for

traversers.
Of
MORTALITY IN THE METROPOLIS.—The HUMh—e 7;3,
deaths continues to decrease, being, for the week ending Jait„ii
from .
929, or four fewer than on the previous week. Deaths fro ,'"'"
pox are on the increase, twenty persons having died of that di'esi
twelve of whom had not been vaccinated. The number of violeell
deaths amounts to ten. In the western district, 138 persons did
during the week; northern, 185; central, 178; eastern, 113,:g
southern, 239—making the aggregate number of deaths 929, °-
of a population (census of 1841) of 1,915,318.
EXECUTIoN OF JOHN ROBERTS.—On SatUrarl
this unfortunate man, convicted of the murder of Lord
Derby's gamekeeper, suffered the last penalty of the 1aw.;,1
Liverpool. ,About half-past eleven the prisoner, accomPan,,lir,
by the Rev. Appleten, Mr. Amos the la!e, end '
Gibbs, the present Governor of the gaol, entered the cbsc
where he partook of the sacrament. On leaving it he !„0,
braced, in the most affectionate terms, his COrnpail_l;k,
Jim Hunt.-- He placed his arms round Hunt's 17ing
acid pressed him .most warmly. At this leave-teept
his firmttess, which was so marked during his subseq;
movements, appeared for a
:moment to desert hits—bf one
was only for a moment, for when the Chaplain on o,7,ber,
side, and one of the officers of the prison on the %ea
with
moveasd forwar
muchd,a pparent he took
Lerve his placethose aboutttween
him . hem,
After
one
and wa
the
usual ceremonies, the bolt was withdrawn, and the Poe an.
fell, the crowd setting up a hideous yell, the expressiotr.l.,_rof
parently, of their feelings of horror at the shock rather 11.__Plor
bad feeling towardi the dying man. He struggled v‘olentlY
a few seconds, and then ceased to move. -

_ -
_V RTI
On the 17th inst., in Cambl
ridge-7 street, Hyde-park. the la"
of C. P. Loehaer, EN., of Doctor's• Commons, of a 50,,,n• cut.
On the 17th inst., at Great Marlboroughotreet,
street, the lady of \lr. Henry L. Keeling, ors
- - ,
MARRIED. J Cl'
At St. Mary's Church, Lambeth, Air. Thorou - notOr•
gon, Fenchureh.street, to Eliza Jane, third. datigWer,t.
11. W. Lepine, Chesbunt College Rooms, Bleouifieltr.
On the 17th inst.. at Missenden Church, the Rev. P.'
Burgess, B. A., to Elizabeth Sophia, second dat:hter of
0,,
Lain W. F. Arnold (late 19th Lancers), of Little Misse
Abbey, Bucks.

4,rer
On the 13th inst., in Belgrave-square, the Countess Dow-.
of
O C n
the 13th inst., at Brighton, Mary, wife of the late
Smith, Eq.
On the 14th inst., at Basting• Sarah, only daughter of *
George. Kendall, .cf Urper 1-10mse'rton aged 17- reellt
(hi the 15th inst., at Downside 0:11€•ge,. near Batur --
Mazzitghi, aged 79. • OS,
On the 16tb inst., at Church•street, Stoke Nee'llig
Sparks Alolin, aged 86 . ••3 1,11 B•
On the 16th inst., at Woodbine House, Haverstock- '
Budd, Esq., of the Stock-Exchange, aged 08.

of
London: Printed and Publiabedb. „4. ii
No. 112, Strand, at. The Sun (Ace) No. 112.7,9 11-
the County of Pdiddlonsf Mondiy, January 221

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