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

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LONDON:
MONDAY MORNING, JANUARY 22, 1844.

We give the following summary of the pro-
ceedings which took place in the Court of
Queen's Bench, Dublin, on Friday and Saturday.
he examination of Mr. Ross was resumed
on Friday morning. It was confined to read-
ing, according to the direction of the Solicitor-
General, copious extracts from his notes, of speeches
made at the meetings he attended at Clifden, Donny-
brook, and the Corn Exchange.

The Court rose for a short time, in the middle
of the day, after which the examination in chief
was continued, and ilid not conclude till half-
past three o'clock. His cross-examination was ex-
pected with considerable anxiety, as it was rumoured
it would be a very severe one. When Mr. lIENN
rose for the purpose there was a general bustle
through the Court, as if the interest of the proceed-
ings had suddenly revived. The first questions of the
traverscrs' counsel were directed to ascertaining the
state of the witness's circumstances at a former period
It was elicited that he had been insolvent, and that
he received for attending the different meetings in
Ireland 3501., with 501. separate for the meeting at
Donnybrook. He said he was not aware, when sent
over, of the nature of the services that would be re-
quired of him, end that he regretted baying ever un-
taken them. When asked by the Counsel whether
be would have undertaken them for fifty thousand
pounds, he said he would not have undertaken them
for a very large MIL The witness seemed much ex.

y

hausted by the long examination, and the Court rose
at the usual hour.
At the sitting of the Court on Saturday, the
Crown called as a witness Mr. .14ocsox, the Irish
correspondent of the Morning Herald. He proved
the payment of different sums of money at the meet-
ings of the Association. He read from his notes, or,
rather, memoranda, the dates of the several meetings,
the names of the traversers present, and extracts from
speeches made by them. On his cross-examination,
the testimony of this witness was completely broken
down. He admitted that his notes were some-
times made by himself, and sometimes taken
from the reporters sitting beside him, as he
admitted that he did not pretend to be a pro-
fessed reporter. The general impression produced
by his evidence was, that his communications to the
journal which he represents in Dublin—his " corres-
pondence"—consisted of whatever he could vamp up at
second hand, and, however it might suit the columns
of the Herald sometime past, it could not be admitted
as evidence in a Court of Justice.

The next witness examined was JouN BROWN,
printer, of Nassau-street. He proved the printing of
all the documents issued by the Association—the in-
structions to the repeal wardens—the address to the
subjects of the British Crown—the arbitration no-
tices—the members' card, drawn up by Mr. O'CAL-
LAGHAN, author of the " Green Book" (of which card
the witness gave a description)—and the plan for the
renewed action of the Irish Parliament.

This witness, who is a member of the Associa-
tion, also proved the printing of several documents
and pamphlets, which the traversers look upon: as
Lvourable to their case.

Up to the present stage of the proceedings the evi-
dence has done little or nothing to support the case
of the Government.

If any doubt existed, that the Irish law officers of the
Crown, had been guilty of the grossest negligence in the con-
duct of the important prosecution which now occupies the
public attention, the examination of Mr. Bosn HUGHES must
have dispelled that doubt, and proved them not only guilty of
negligence, but of acts worthy of severe punishment.
With the evidence given by Mr. HUGHES as to matters af-
fecting the traversers, we shall not meddle; that evidence was
given honestly and truthfully. But the conduct of the offi-
cers of the Crown has nothing to do with that evidence, and
is fair matter for comment. It appears that Mr. HUGHES
arrived in; Dublin, for the first time in his life,
about ten o'clock at night, with a letter for the Irish
ATTORNEY-GENERA L ; that he went to the house of Mr.
SMITH, and, not finding him at home, was sent to Mr.
BREW STER, the real director of these trials. That he was or-
dered to go to Mullaghmast, and at four o'clock the following
morning set off for that place, distant about 38 miles, unaccom-
panied by any one but his own assistant reporter. He made
no secret of the capacity in which he came, and took his notes
as a Government reporter. He subsequently attended other
meetings, and, being totally unacquainted with the parties
who were present, was obliged to rely upon casual
information as to the names of persons. At two of
those meetings, a gentleman was pointed out to him
as Mr. BARRETT. When the duty devolved upon Mr.
Huc ius, of making an affidavit as to what he had heard, and
whom he had seen, at the meetings, he swore to the presence
of Mr. BARRETT, and upon informations granted on the affi-
davit so sworn, Mr. BARRETT and others had to put in bail.
When the affidavit came to be acted upon, it was found that the
Christian name of one of the defendants was wrongly given,
and the error was rectified. At the time of rectifying that
error, Mr. HUGHES saw the real Mr. BARRETT, and he at
once told the Crown Solicitor, and his chief clerk, that he
had been misled, and that the person pointed out in his affi-
davit, was some other person, and not Mr. BARRETT. But the
Crown Solicitor declined to rectify the affidavit, and held Mr.
BARRETT to bail, formatters which he, the Crown Solicitor,
knew to be falsely alleged against him.

Now, was there ever such mad, such reckless condact pur-
sued, so cruel to Mr. HUGHES, so unjust to Mr. BARRETT,
and so totally opposed to honour and common honesty ? Mr.
flucitEs, a stranger to Ireland, within six hours after
his arrival, in the dead of night, sent to a " monster
meeting" almost alone, and then attending other as-
semblies, without guide and without instruction as to
the very identity of the leading characters ! That he made
only one mistake is the wonder. The Irish officials, in their
anxiety to get hold of Mr. BARRETT, appear to have mistaken
their man ; they hoped that the mistake would pass unnoticed,
and that Mr. HUGHES would not expose the truth—they did
not calculate upon its coming to the ears of the public. They
forgot the respect due to a man of character and a gentle-
man. Mr. HUGHES has vindicated his claim to both those
designations.

Let it not be forgotten that Mr. BRIMSTER, the legal
adrisee of the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and Mr KEdIMIS,
tlie Crown Solicitor, are the persons concerned in this part of
the affair.

Next comes the conduct of the Government, with regard
to their second witness, Mr. Ross. We had hoped that the
days were gone by, when the Secretary of State for the Home
Department, should seek out implements to act the part
of spies and informers. We did not think that, in the year
1843, a Secretary of State would dare to employ means
which brought so much disgrace upon former Govern-
ments, and rendered the acts of the Administration ob-
jects of suspicion. But we now find that it was reserved
for the renegade Whig, holding the powers of the Home De-
partment, to resort to a practice of bygone days, and seek
instruments, such as those used when PITT or CASTLEREAGH
ruled the destinies of England, to turn the reporter into the
spy—to degrade the character of the Ministry and of the
public press ; the one by finding, and the other in lending a
willing instrument, for espionage, and the betrayal of faith.
No doubt that Sir JAMES GRAHAM may attempt to justify
this conduct, by the emergency of the case, by the urgency
of the matter, and the difficulty of acquiring information.
But surely, nothing can justify the lavishing of the public
money upon an agent of Sir JAMES GRAHAM, who had
for years endeavoured to resuscitate that interest in Cum-
berland which the renegade's conduct had destroyed ;
and who, holding the character of a reporter for the press,
was all the time in the pay of Government. Nothing can
justify, the conduct of the Government, nothing can justify the
conduct of their agent ; and this affair will be a
beacon, not a precedent. And as to Mr. JACKSON, the
third witness, another Government Reporter ! ! ! em-
ployed on the Morning Herald, who had deposed to the accuracy
of his notes taken by himself at the moment, let the following
questions and answers, speak for him :

" Mr. FITZGIBBON-Will you now, Sir, take on yourself to
swear, on your solemn oath, that you did not copy these slips Of
paper froze the morning paper of the uext day, and then send
them off as your own report ?—To the best of my recollection
—I cannot say. I might have copied them either from the
paper, or a notetaker's slips.
" On your solemn oath will you venture to swear you did not
take all these papers from the newspapers, or from another note.
taker's slips ?

t‘ Judge PERRIN—Come, Sir, speak up, and let:us hear you,
as it will save a great deal of time to do so.

~ Witness—For all I can tell, I might have copied them from
the newspaper or the note-taker's slips.

" Mr.:FITZGIBBON—Can you tell from which you copied them?
—I cannot tell which" !! !

The conduct of the Government in these prosecutions, from
the Secretary of State downwards to the Crown Solicitor, as
exemplified in their conduct to their two chief witnesses, de-
serves every reprobation. Before these trials began, we put
our opinion upon record as follows :—" The stream of justice
" ought to flow in chanrels free from taint or from suspicion.
" Crown solicitors ought not to have compelled witnesses to
" swear to pets which they found out to be incorrect.
" Attorney- Generals' creatures ought not to have wormed
" themselves, under false colours, into quarters where
"they had no right to be admitted; and Secretary of
" States' implements ought not to have disgraced the character
" of the Press, by pretending public employment, when in
" reality in Ministerial pay." Time will show whether any, or
all, of these things, have been. If they have, the shame, the
disgrace, is on the heads of the abettors and of the contrivers,
and punishment must and will follow them.

We repeat that shame and disgrace is, and will be, on the
heads of every party concerned in the getting up of these pro-
secutions, and we do hope and insist that the attentions of
Parliament will be called to every circumstance connected
with them, at the very earliest opportunity.

Madrid Journals of the 12th instant have been received. In
the Gazette of that day we find the ful►owing official notice,
annulling the SALAMANCA contract, addressed by the Minister
of the Interior to the Minister of Finance :
Her Majesty, hav►ng considered the terms of the agreement
made on the '2d instant with Don Jose Salamanca to annul the con.
tract by anticipation of 400,000,000, to be repaid in national pro-
perty, concluded the 30th of August of last year, and conformable
to the advice of the Council of Ministers, has decided that the said
contract is and shall remain annulled."

NAKVAEZ still persists in refusing the rank of Captain.
General. " If," says he, in a letter to the Minister of War,
" the high favour with which it is wished to honour me is
meant as a recompense for any services I have been able to
render the throne and the cause of liberty, they have already
been sufficiently rewarded in the high dignity I already enjoy
in my prevent employment, and by the numerous and honour.
able decorations 1 have received."
The Three per Cents. were done at 26i cash, and 26 11-16
at 60 days; the Fives, 1914 at 60 days.

On Thursday the French funds suddenly fell nearly per
cent. On the previous Tuesday the Three per Cents. had
reached 83, while they closed on Thursday at 82f. 25c. There
were ♦arious rumours as to the cause, the most probable of
which is, that the Goverment intended to issue another in-
stalment of the loap, and had determined on taking the con-
struction of some of the principal railroads into their own
hands. The discussion on the address continued, but it pos-
sesses very little interest. Dispatches had been received from
General BUGEAUD, dated Algiers, January 4, and inclosing
Reports from Generals TsairouttE and BEDEAU of various
successful attacks trade upon tribes that had shown a disposi-
tion to join ABNFr.-KADEA.