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

to read everything of which the witness had taken notes, and
not such extracts only as were deemed material.
Air. 13k EWSTER said in some instances he had certainly called
on th© e iiness to read the speeches; in a majority °teases these
speeches had been already read by Alr. Ross, but where he
thought it desirable he had called on this witness to read them
a secontl,time. 1. In some instances this was not at all necessary.
All he wanted to prove at present was whether Mr. ®'Connell
announced the meeting at Mullaghniast.
Mr. Aloone—lf the witness came forward to give evidence
as to any of the traversers being at the meeting, he submitted
that he ought to give an account of all that was done. He would
not go the length of saying that a reporter ought not to give
evidence as to what Mr. A. or Mr. B. said, or what every indivi-
dual said; but if Mr. O'Connell er any of the other traversers
made speeches on that occasion, he had no right to make ex-
tracts lions those speeches, or read only those portions which
he thought material.
The CHIEF JUSTICE thought Mr. Moore had misunderstood
Mr. Brewster. What he had stated had not been done ; the
witness was stopped in his reading by Mr. Brewster.
Mr. Aloortx—ln one instance the witness began in the
middle of a speech.
Mr. I3REWSTER—II was the middle of apage, not the middle
of a speech. The passage was the reference made to the dis-
tribution of " the Spirit of the Nation" by Mr. Ray.
Mr. MOORS—On this occasion Mr. O'Connell appears to
have made several speeches, and when he called for any of
them to be read, he called for the whole. In this particular
case nothing had been heard of the speech beyond theannounce-
ment of the speech at Alullaghmast.
The Curer JUSTICE—You have misunderstood Mr, Brew-
ster, Mr. Moore.
Alr. WniTestne said if they had half the sentence read
they must have the whole.
The Cuter JUSTICE—I shall not consider a single sentence
of that 'pet ch as having been rend. It was not wanted, and the
reading it was merely a mistake. lie would agree that it would
be quite unfair for the Crown to give a garbled extract from a
speech, and net give it entire.
Mr. WHITESIDE—What your Lordship has said is quite
enough. Mr. Brewster asked a question about a speech of Mr.
O'Connell ; if he asked more than that, and wished to have any
of it read, he must read the whole.
Was there anybody else present at the meeting of tho 26th
of Sept. ? Look at the last page and tell me.—Mr. Steele was
there also.
Mr. Bitewsrea (to the Clerk of the Crown)—Hand me the
witness's notes of the 3d of Oct.
The Clerk of the Crown handed over the document.
Mr. liaewsmn (to witness)—Look to page —, and try
do you find there any other of the traversers?—Yes, Mr.
O'Conned.
Look at page 4?—Mr. Steele.
Look at page s?—Mr. Duffy, of the Nation.
Look to page 6 ?—AI r. Ray arid Mr. J. O'Connell.
Link to page 7?--Dr. Gray and the Rev. Mr. Tierney.
Mr. BeewsTee— Then it appears that all the traverser,
were present except Mr. Barrett My Lords, as Mr. Hughes
has already read out his entire report of the roceedings of that
meeting, I do not think it necessary to trouble the Court by a
further reference to the witness's report of Mr. O'Cosinell's
speech.
Mr. FITZGIBBON begged leave most emphatically to protest
against the Leareed Counsel indulging in any such remarks as
those which Lad now fallen trim him. If Alr. Brewster in-
tended not to ask his witness any further question, he might
rest satisfied with his own deterreittation to that effect, without
troubling their Lordships with what he did not purpose doing.
Such a course was wholly unnecessary.
CHIEF JUSTICE—But, Mr. Fitzgibbon, the Court has a
right to receive for their own satisfaction. if they think fit, such
information as has been offered by Mr. Brewster.
Mr. FITZGIBBON—My Lords, I most respectfully maintain
that Alr. Brewster has no right whatever to state to the Court,
in the hearing of the jury, the reasons which have induced him
to adopt sus h or such a course.
Mr. Mooer, Q. C.—Besides, such a proceeding leads to the
inference that the present witness may be in a position to cor-
roborate Mr. Hughes's notes, whereas there is , no direct evi-
.dence-Whatevvrto prove anything, of the kind.
Mr. BREWSTER-1 only wasted to avoid the imputation of
leading the witness. To witness—At the several meetings in
respect of which you have given evidence, did a great number
of persons attend in the room?—Sometimes more, and some-
times less.—( Laughter. )
Were they generally well attended ?—Yes, the meetings
were usually well attended.
At any of the meetings, in respect of which I have been ex-
amining you, are you able to call to mind whether you heard
any of the traversers say anything about newspapers?
JudgC PERRIN—To which of meetings do you allude ?
Mr. BREWSTER—My question has reference to any of the
meetings in allusion to which he has given evidence.
Mr. FITZGIBBON objected to the generality of the question.
Judge PERRIN—II-le witness you know, Mr. Fitzgibbon,
must specify a date, otherwise his evidence is of little value.
Mr. BREWSTER—I merely wanted not to lead the witness.
Witness—l have nothing on my notes in yeference to news-
papers beyond what I have already read from my reports.
Mr. BREWSTER—I meant something additional, my Lords.
I have done with the witness.
Cross-examined by If r. FIT/GIDEON—May I take the liberty
of asking you, Sir, what countryman you are ?—I am a Clare
man.

You are an Irishman at all events ?—Yes, I am.
How long have you been a reporter ?—I have been for two
years in the capacity of Irish correspondent to the Morning
Herald.
1 did not ask you, Mr. Jackson, how long you hail been a
correspondent. That was not my question, w hat 1 asked you
was how lung you had been a reporter?—l can't say lam
a reporter, that is to say, I am not a shorthand writer.
1 did not ask you were you a shorthand writer, I asked
you how long you had been a reporter; do you mean to say
you are not, and never were a reporter ?—I am not a reporter,
and never was in that sense of the word.
In what sense of the word ?-1 mean in the sense of a short-
hand v.t-iter, for the term, '•reporter " is usually applied to a
shorthand writer.
Then, by a •‘ reporter " you mean a shorthand writer, or
stenographer ?—Yes, I do.
Were you ever in the habit of reporting proceedings of
meetings or courts for the purpose of such reports being pub-
lished in the new,papers?—Yes, after a manner.—( Laughter. )
Then you were, in point of fact, a reporter of public pro-
ceedings with a view to having them published in the news-
papers ?—Yes.
That is just what I mean. When did you begin to practice
in that cal.acity ? Three or four years ago.
ith what newspaper did you begin ?—I had been in the
habit ut contributing to provincia. papers before I was con-
nected with the herald.
By reports 1 do not mean contributions; but to what pro-
•incial papers used you to send your reports?—Principally to the
Limerick Star and the Limerick Chronicle
V‘ hat were the politics of the Limerick Star?—lt was a
Liberal paper.
And so, too, is the Limerick Chronicle?—Na, it is not ; it
is Conservative.
Did yeu send reports to both of these journal, at the same
time ?—Nu, I did not. ; I used to send reports from my own
place, and not from Limerick.
And of all this wide creation, Mr. Jackson, pray what place
belongs to you?—(Laughter. )—Kilrush.
That is your place ?—Yes, it is ray native place ; my con-
tributions had no reference to politics.
I did not ask you anything about politics, Sir; your reports
had reference to public proceedings, had they not—had they
not reference to matters of public interest ? 1 hey were princi-
pally sketches of the petty sessions of Kilrush.
Illustrated sketches ?—A little embellished occasionally.
By being 't It little embellished " do you mean to convey that
there were pictures in them for the purpose of embellishment ?
—No; they were pen and ink embellishments.
Then, 1 suppose, that by embellishments you mean some-
thing in the report which, in point of fact, did nut occur ?
Decidedly.
Something, in fact, that was not true ?—Yes.
I may go the length of saying I suppose, that half of them
were fictions?—There were many fictions in my sketches.
And that, I suppose, is what you call reporting after a man-
ner ?—Yes, precisely so.—( Laughter. )
Then you commenced your career as a reporter by vending
falsehoods ?—No, not exactly that ; I wrote on the same prin-
ciple, and in the same style, as a reporter to a magazine.
Have you contributed to magazines?-1 have done so a little.
And your magazine articles are embellished after the same
fashion ?—Aly magazine articles were tales of imagination.
Are you a bit of a poet ?—lndeed a very large bit of a poet
(the witness was remarkably tall).
Are you what is called in the county Clare a poetasther ?
(Laughter.)--You may, if you like, apply that appellation to
me, for I do not mean to say I am a poet.
Have you contributed articles in verse to any publication?—
Yes, I have.
Did you ever contribute to the Nation?—tiever.
To what papers were you in the habit of sending verses ?
To the Limerick papers I have named.
And your poetry, I am to suppose, bore some conformity to
the principles of the paper to which you sent it ?—ln nine
cases out of ten such was not the fact.
But you admit that in the tenth case it might, perhaps, be
the fact?—lt might, perhaps.
Were the reports you sent to the newspapers similar to your
contributions to the magazines ?—No, they were not.
To what magazines do you contribute ?—There was a sketch
of mine some time since in the University Magazine. It was
a tale of fiction.
Yes, but was it not intended to pass for true ?.—Yes, with
those who would be fools enough to believe it true.—(Loud
laughter. )
Was it not intended by those reports to convey an accurate
account of what passed at the Kilrush Petty Sessions ?—Some
of what was pub;islied did occur there.
You intended they should all appear in the newspapers as
true ?—Yes.
And yet they were not true ?—Some of them were.
When did you cease reporting at Kilrush ?—This month two
years I came up here.
How did you propose to live in Dublin ?_1 got a letter from
the proprietors of the Morning Herald, asking me to °nine up
here as their Irish correspondent.
Who was it at 'Kilrush that introduced you to the notice of
the proprietor of the Morning Herald ?—I met a relation of
the proprietor of the Limerick Star in Kilrush, Mr. Griffin ;
he asked me it I was nut the author of those sketches in the
newspapers of the Kilrush Petty Sessions, and I said I was,
and then he said that the proprietor of the Morning Herald
expressed a wish that 1 should send some of them to that paper,
which I did, and then I came to Dublin to be their correspon-
dent.
Dublin is a place where a man must have a little iacome to
make nimss If smooth. Pray. how do you support yourself here
—1 have 150 guineas a year from the Morning herald as their
corresi ondent.
A fixed salary ?—Yes.
What were you to do for that ?—To send a letter every day,
having reference to the leading topics of political interact, and
whatever the local papers adverted to.
That is, you were daily to read the morning papers in
Dublin, and to make a summary of that which you thought
would be agreeable to the Morning Herald editor ?—Yea.
Had you the privilege or embellishing those before you sent
them up?-1 had.
And of coarse you exercised it ?—No, I did not, beyond the
truth.

There was no truth in those petty sessions' sketches you sent?
--Only in same of them.
Weil, I now speak of those from Dublin ?—They were always
true, to the best of my ability. 1 gave the news of the day as
I found it.
That is, you gave whatever you found in the morning
papers, whether 'twas true or not ?—I gave what 1 thought
‘ias probable; if 1 saw any absurd statement, I would be slow
in adopting it until I ascertained by inquiry whether it was true
Or not.
Tell me now, by way of sample, what mede you took of u-
certaining the truth or falsehood of any one of those state-
ments ?—General inquiry.
From anybody you happened to meet ?—Wherever they
were the subject of conversation, I endeavoured to find out
whether they were true or false.
Can you describe how you proceeded on any one occasion ?
I don't understand you.
You don't ?—I cannot charge ray memory as to any particu-
lar occasion. If you were to ask the editor or correspondent to
vouch for the accuracy of every thing he writes, you would find
it very hard to get him to do it.—( Laughter. )
Would you be good enough to take up the first of those papers
produced, that of the 30th of May. Did I understand you to
say this s, as the note you took for the Morning Herald?—
That was my daily letter.
Mr. BitSWSTSI....nte 1100 you took. WO it's it letter.