The Sun.
London, England, 1844-02-07 00:00:00

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GREAT CATHOLIC MEETING.
(THIS DAY.)
(Continued from our Afternoon Edition.)

The Hon. CHARLES LANGDALE moved the second resolution.
He should confine himself strictly to the business of the meeting,
and carefully abstain from the least word that could be for a mo-
ment deemed a reflection on the members of the jury then sitting
in Dublin. Were lie to do so, he should be guilty of the very in-
justice of which they had to complain. The resolution he had to
propose was the following That the officers of the Crown, in
striking off every Catholic from the panel In the trial pending in
the Court of Queen's Bench in Ireland, have raised in the Court
of Justice itself a well-grounded suspicion of the violation of the
Emancipation Act, and have thereby insulted our religion, and en.
dangered our rights by an implied imputation upon our fidelity to
our oaths.") He then gave a detailed account of the manner in
which the panel was drawn up, including the suspicious loss of
sixty.three names, and the striking off of the Catholics who hap-
pened to be left on the list. The circumstances are already well
known to the public. The subsequent allegation that they were
struck off because they were Repeaters was untrue, as, though
some of them were Repealers, none of them had ever taken any
active part in the agitation. Three were not on the books of the
Association at all, two never attended any repeal meeting, or ex-
pressed any opinion upon it, and one was adverse to it. These,
therefore, were struck off for no reason but that they were
Catholics, and the whole body must feel it as an insult.
He bad been told, happily, not by a Catholic but a Protestant, that
they ought not to interfere at all. They were Irish Catholics, and
therefore they, as Englishmen, had nothing to do with them.—
(" No, no," and cries of " We've done that long enough.") What
would have been their state in England now but for the Catholics
of Ireland ?—(lmmense cheering, and three cheers for O'Connell.)
He wished he could think they were indebted to the justice of
England for their rights; but he had the words of the Minister of
the Crown, that it was not a sense of justice but a sense of neces-
sity; it was granted to the united voice of millions.—(Cheers.) What
was the legal disqualification for sitting on a jury ? Being a con-
victed felon; that was the legal disqualification. What then was
the inference? That they were no more to be believed than con.
vic'ed felons, And were they tamely to sit down under this
imputation.—(" No, no," and cheers.) As far as the press
could bear the accounts of the trial, this imputation had
been circulated. And one portion of the press had stated that
which the Government perhaps did not dare do; the Morning
Herald—(Groans)—justified the conduct of the Government; it
said It was right, because, had one Catholic been left on
the jury, he would have immediately received notice
fram his spiritual superior that it was his duty to
acquit the traversers.—(" Oh, oh, and shame.") It was not the
Crown solicitor who was to be charged with this insult—it was not
even the Attorney-General--he charged it directly on the Govern-
ment by whom be was appointed, as from his previously expressed
opinions it was known that he could hardly have acted otherwise.

The Rev. Mr. S►SK seconded the resolution. He said that this
was not the first time the Irish Attorney-General had struck out
the names of Roman Catholics as such from the jury panel. But
in fact it was not an uncommon thing in Ireland. It was only a
short time ago that a prisoner in the county of Monaghan was
actually tried by three succe•sive juries, before a verdict
was obtained suitable to the wishes of the protecutors.
Was this state of things to last (Cries of " No, no.") He
hoped not. The Roman Catholics of Ireland were looked upon
in England as beings of an inferior race. Why it was become
common in this country to stigmatise the Roman Catholic priests
of Ireland as surpliced ruffians.— (Hear, hear.) He was there to
proclaim that a more hard-working, moral, or enlightened set of men,
did not exist in the world than the Roman Catholic priests of Ireland.
It wrs said, in this country, that the people of Ireland would never
think of their wrongs if O'Connell did not tell them of them.—
(Cheers.) Thank God they had an O'Connell —(Cheers.) He had
toiled for forty years in their behalf, and he st as not now to be put
down.—(Loud Cheers.) Could any Irishman sit calmly and con.
template the bare possibility of O'Connell being immured in a
dungeon.—(Load cheers.) No doubt that every effort would yet
be made to bri g about such a result. He could
not sit down without congratulating the English Catho.
lice upon their having come so manfully and spiritedly for.
ward to resent the insult which had been cast upon their brethren
in Ireland. With these observations he begged to second the
resolution.