The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-11 00:00:00

our triumph, and in the victory that we have N'
obtained. I am, as I have stated,. utterly unable to de- ----s("C-N,„,_
scribe the sensations that overpower my mind. Thes--3''.''''\
first thing that comes upon me with all the force of an tl-'-'7.
absolute certainty is, that the repeal must be carried—
(Cheers)—that nothing can impede the repeal but mis-
conduct on our parts—that recent events prove that the
repeal is in its progress tco awful and too important to ---
be retarded by any means but by our own misconduct „; %t sy
alone.— (Cheers.) It is not by man's effort that we have "'
achieved this victory over fraud, and conspiracy, asd in-
justice. It is not by man's means that so great a change
•has taken place in one week. Last week everything
was triumphant on the part of the prosecutor and the
oppressor—he had been until then allowed to enjoy his
triumph ; but the shout of exultation is now on our
side.—(Loud cheers.) No, it was not man who did it.
We were defeated in every part of the progress of our
case. The judges refused everything that we demanded
for conducting our defence. Every motion that was
made on our part was sure to he negatived by the bench.
Every attempt that we made fur our defence was coun-
teracted by the judges. Every right given to us to in-
sure an acquittal was taken away by the selected jury.
—(Loud groans.) We appealed to the House of Lords,
but even there we found the same unfavourable auspices.
We found seven out of the nine English judges giving
the most astoundingly absurd opinions that ever were
pronounced by mortal man ; but they were not the less
against us for being absurd.—(Hear, hear.) If I ever
entertained any hope—and really I did not—it had
been long since banished away ; and when the account
Came to me of the decision in our favour, though
the attorneys rushed into my presence, and one of
them did me the honour of embracing me, still, notwith-
standing that kiss and the words that accompanied it,
and with the full knowledge that it was so, or the attor-
neys would not be:there, yet for a full half hour after-
wards I did not believe it.—(Cheers.) Yes, I repeat it
is not the work of man. It is a blessing bestowed by
Providence -on the faithful people of Ireland.—(Hear,
hear, and cheers) There is no superstition in repre-
senting it as the gift of Providence ; no submission in
bowing before the throne of God and accepting it as his
act. I would not introduce such a topic here if it were
contrary to the principles or doctrine of any religious
sect represented here. But it is not. It is the doctrine
of the Protestant Church, as well as the Catholic Church,
that God interferes with the concerns of man. As
Christians they all believe that ; and the Book of Com-
mon Prayer contains, in every part, proofs that it is
one of the tenets of Protestantism, for it contains prayers
for fair weather, for rain, and for other variations in the
seasons, as well as for every temporal advantage. I
cannot, therefore, hurt an individual prejudice by refer-
ring to this subject ; and I would not do so, if it were
possible that any such prejudice could exist. What I
have been describing is clearly the doctrine of the Ca-
tholic Church also. And let us recollect that millions
of the faithful people of Ireland had lifted up their hands
to God—that the priests of God offered up the holy
sacrifice of the mass—that the holy secluded Sisters
of Charity united their prayers with those of the priests
at the altars. The Catholics of England joined with us
on the occasion. The entire Catholic population of Bel-
gium offered up similar prayers, and along the shores of
the Rhine the same voice of supplication has been
heard. Oh yes, it has been heard, and we stand free
before you, thankful to God, and blessing all good men.
—(Loud cheers.) It is a glorious triumph, and it is
fitting that such a cause should have had such a triumph.
For what was our cause ? There was nothing selfish or
individual in it. There was nothing in it that involved
the fortunes of particular persons ; but it was a cause
involving the great principles of the British Constitution
and the interests of liberty. By that prosecution the
Government attempted to prevent peaceable meetings of
peaceable persons to petition for the redress of grievances,
' or, if it did not profess to take away that right altocse-,
ther, it would, if the attempt had proved successful, have
left scarcely the shadow of a right remaining. For what
was the case made out by the indictment ? It was that
great multitudes of persons, assembled together even for
a legal and proper purpose, necessarily produced intimi-
dation, and that we, having so many people together at
the meetings which we attended, were guilty of a con-
spiracy, because those large assemblages must necessa-
rily have intimidated those who were opposed to us. If
that attempt of the Minister had not failed the conse-
quence would be, that the more people you had concur-
ring with you in the progress of public opinion—and
you would not be entitled to alter the law without hav-
ing a considerable portion of the community with you,
for the more you had with you the more would it ap-
pear were the public convinced of the necessity of the
alteration which you advocated— the more criminal
would it be for you to look for the alteration or im-
provement you required.—(Hear, hear.) The only
chance which exists of procuring any redress of op-
pressive grievance arises from the weight of public
opinion that was brought to bear upon it, and that
chance was to be thus taken away for ever ; for
when the popular voice was poor and pitiful it was
only sneered at and laughed at, and when it was
swelled to be the voice of the people generally—which
in our case was the voice of God—every foul means was
to be taken to violate the popular right to petition, by,
rendering it criminal for that popular voice to make it-
self be heard.—(Hear, hear.) I say, therefore, that
ours is a triumph of the holiest and best of causes. It
is a triumph without which the throne of the monarch
would be insecure. It is to public opinion that Queen
Victoria owes her throne. But for it, the family of Sa-
voy, or of the Stuarts, would still be upon the throne of
these realms; and their fate shows that even the monarch
himself is not safe from the influence of the popular
voice. As the gigantic accession of man to man could
not be prevented without the misconduct of the govern-
ing power, it becomes treason against the safety of the
Queen, or her throne, for any Government to attempt
preventing the popular mind from being heard. When
I come to talk to you presently on the subject of the
present Government, I shall be able to demonstrate to
you that they did meditate treason to the throne, when
they resorted to such an unconstitutional attempt to
suppress public opinion.—(Hear, hear.) Well ; but
there is also another branch of our triumph that cannot
be doubted—it is the vindication of the principle of trial
by jury.—(Hear, hear, and cheers.) There is now no
fear that you will have another selected jury ; or, at
all events, there will be no precedent for it in our
ease. Here we had the panel fraudulently constructed
will not say by whom.—(Hear, hear.) We had the
jury list fraudulently diminished—l will not say by
whom ; but this I say—if I get the voice of public opi-
nion to support me, I will be able to ascertain by whom
that fraud had been perpetrated.—(fear, hear, and
cheers.) The trial by jury was in its purity put an end
to, and a packed jury substituted—but we stand here
triumphant over those who would substitute a bad
principle for a fair tribunal to adjudicate on the lives and
the liberties of the Queen's subjects.—(Cheers.) Trial
by jury and the right to petition have, then, been
triumphant, and we stand here to-day rejoicing in the
vindication of both.—(Cheers.) I rejoice in being one
of those to announce to the public and to the world our
joy on this great triumph achieved in our persons. But
it is not for these alone that we should express our gra..
tulations. Another great cause has also obtained a
triumph. What chance, I ask, would the repeal cause
have if these proceedings had been affirmed ?—(Cheers.)
It would, to be sure, have some chance from the progress
of public opinion ; but now, in our peaceful majesty and
tranquil might, united, but determined to violate no law,
we remain, without a particle of intimidation, as in our
monster meetings, but with a continued and thorough
conviction, that repeal is absolutely necessary for Ire-
land.—(" Hurrah," and loud cheers, which continued for
several minutes.) There is no ifupediment now in the
way of the peaceable and triumphant termination of the
repeal movement. There is nothing to prevent us, by
keeping ourselves within the law, from meeting, and re-
solving, and organizing, and fortifying ourselves by the
increase of our strength at the registry, and by every
other legal means, to bring petitions before the Legisla-
ture until we make the table of the House of Commons
rock beneath the load of the collected complaints of the
people of Ireland.—(Cheers.) The constitutional right is
free—the guarantee of trial by jury is secured, and will pros
tect us, and, standing on one and on the other, I here an-
nounce that the universal feeling of the Irish people, from
the Giant's Causeway to Cape Clear, and from Connemarato the hill of Howth, is in favour of the great national
cause of repeal, and must to any man of common sense
and common honesty appear too strong to render any
amount of resistance to it permanently successful.—
(Cheers.) Well, we have been successful, and, what is
better, the success has been achieved on the merits. It
has been said, and it will be repeated, that the decision
in the House of Lords was a crotchety decision founded
on technicalities. It was no such thing. It was a deci-
sion upon the merits, and I will prove such totbheouthehcase
count
to any man in less than three
even
may not be a lawyer. Ti sixthe a
e tings for the purpose
colflairngtidmiudsawtingh.imiTailniegsepub m
were held by all the
judges
here, including even Judge Perrin, to be good counts,
and the judgment of the Court was given upon them.
The judges of the Irish Court of Queen's Bench gave
their judgment on these counts, declaring that they con-
tained charges or offences of a most criminal nature.
Judge Burton, in passing the sentence of the Court, used
the words "on these counts," in allusion to me expressly,
and to the other traversers also, but he directed himself
to me in that part of his address. lie referred directly
to these counts as being good counts, and yet all the
English judges have, without an exception, declared them
to be bad counts.—(Hear, hear.) In fixing on the sen-
on e forfinding
tence that was to be imposed, Mr. Justice Perrin, as the
junior judge of the Court, was first asked what he
thought the sentence ought to te. lie said he thought
six months should be the time fixed. Judge Crampton.
was next asked what he considered the sentence should
be, and he said two years.—(Loud cries of " Oh, oh I")
Judge Burton was then asked his opinion, and he
said one year ; and Chief Justice Pennefathearowanids
finally' asked what he thought the sentence_ should
be, when lie said, also, two years.— Oh oh.)
'(
Thus two of the judges were for two years
twelvetht a
imprison-
ment, one of them for six months, and
d on
months. Judge Perrin very proprly,
he could not do better, joined with Judge Burton, and
the Court, then condescended to pass a sentence of 12
months upon me ; but I had as good a right to send
them to gaol as they had to send me there.—(G rent
These wiseacres
d
7th counts are certainly bad ; but wea
cheering for some minutes.) Let us now come to the
decision of the seven English judges.
will presume that
said, " There arc some of the counts good ; the 6th an
theh d
counts." Why, the judgment of the Irish judges had
the judges did not intend to fix any sentence on
every one
been before the public—they had been printed, and were
in circulation. Every one had read them,
"The judgment had been publicly
announced,lands. It was used
by counsel
everybody's I
at the bar—so that, in point of fact, it was as
s reading
a and them.
was in
•
clear as the sun at noonday that the judgment had been
pronouns against us oil the bad counts ,but the seven
wiseacres of judges in England presumed otherwise, and
decided against us on thct presumption. Their decision
is, in fact, founded on a lie.—(" near, hear," and cheers.)