The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-18 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 18, 1844.

The Irish State Trials commenced in good earnest on
Tuesday, at ten o'clock. The traversers made no more
opposition to the swearing of the jury, which was pro-
ceeded with, after a short delay caused by the non-
appearance of the traversers, Mr. Barrett and Mr.
Duffy, the former from having to come from
his country residence, some distance from Dublin.,
and the latter from ill health. Mr. Cantwell, th© soli-
citor, and Mr. llenn, the counsel for these gentlemen,
each offered to allow the trial to proceed in their ab-
sence, but the Attorney-General would not per-
mit it, and the consent of the Crown is necessary for
a defendant in such a case to appear by attorney.
The Chief Justice said the reason given by Mr.
Barrett was no excuse, and if the delay
occurred again the Court would enforce the recog-
nizances. Some applications for exemption, sup-
ported by affidavit and certificate of bad health
and incapacity, having been granted, and one
for exemption on account of age having been
refused, the following gentlemen were sworn :
.James Hamilton, Upper
Ormond-quay, Foreman ;
(apt. Roper, Eccles-street ; Edward Clarke; F. Faulk-
ner, Grafton-street; John Croker ; Henry Flynn,
William-street ; Henry Thompson ; Anson Floyd,
Wellington-street ; Johu Rigby, Suffolk-street ;

The prosecution against Mr. O'CONNELL and his
fellow traversers, " like a wounded snake, drags its
slow length along" the slimy paths of Irish law.
The challenge to the array, or, in other words, to
the entire jury, although refused, and productive of
no direct advantage to the traversers, served, at all
events, to expose more fully the gross injustice
which carelessness, or wilful intention, had perpe-
trated, by excluding from the panel nearly one-
' tenth of the entire number of qualified jurors. The
fact is now admitted on all hands, and it is openly
confessed that, by the conduct of the Irish officials,
the jury-list has been limited in number, and the
chances diminished, to the prejudice of the ac-
cused. So much for justice to Ireland, and the
Irish, under a Tory Government, when even the
material out of which a jury is to be selected, shall
be confined, and partially annihilated, to the utter
prevention of all fair choosing.
And when the forty-eight names were chosen from
this unfairly diminished list, the course taken by the
prosecutors, to exclude every Roman Catholic from the
the panel, was just as unwise, and improper, as the
omission of the qualified jurors from the entire list
was illegal and unjust. Can it be wondered at,
that the traversers should make every effort to set
aside a panel, from all chance of serving upon which
so many had been by fraud excluded, and all of one
faith rejected ? Can it be any matter of surprise, that
they should fight every inch of ground, and contend
foot to foot with their persecutors, not for advantage,
for of all advantage the Crown officers have deprived
them, but to obtain, if possible, justice in the tribunal
appointed to try them, and to show the public how
justice is dealt out to the people of Ireland? Shame
upon all concerned, that fraud, and exclusion from
civil privileges, on account of religious opinions,
should be perpetrated under the name of justice !
Shame upon all concerned, and may the day of their
shame be the day of their punishment, as it is of their
exposure and disgrace !

A jury has at length been constituted, after pro-
ceedings which, most unfortunately for the ends of
justice, have taken away from it every claim to con-
fidence, and rendered the conduct of that jury matter
for the closest scrutiny, and the most rigid observ-
ance. And before that jury, a jury chosen from a
list improperly narrowed in number, and to serve
upon which religious opinions were made the test of
fitness, or of exclusion, the eyes of England and
Ireland are now fixed. That jury may yet show its
disdain of the trammels in which the law officers of
Ireland have sought to place it, and may prove that
an Irish jury, although selected from fraudulent
lists, and sought to be confined to one religious creed,
can do the duty of jurors to their fellow-countrymen,
by deciding according to the evidence submitted to
them, and not according to the would-be dictation of
Tory prosecutors. The Attorney-General for Ireland
may be taught that the juries of his country are, as
yet, proof against all the manoeuvres of his subal-
terns, and that no conviction can be attained by
sharp practice, or the trickery of official underlings.

It is said, and we believe it to be true, that Sir
ROBERT PEEL, And the English law officers of
the Crown, look with disgust and disapprobation
upon the :proceedings of the Irish officials, in the
whole matter of this trial. No one on this side of
the water connected with Government, save and
except the renegade Whigs, part of the present Ad-
ministration (and to whom, in order to form a " Go-
vernment of Combinations," as Sir ROBERT PEEL
himself said and wrote, he sacrificed the patronage
and the real reins of Government), in heart approves
the reckless desire and purpose to convict O'CoNNELL,
displayed by the conduct of the present prosecution.
The director of the " Derby Dilly" and the " Ne-
therby Clan" desire to crush the fearless assertor of
Irish rights—the champion of equal justice—equal
laws—equal privileges for Ireland. But we do not
believe that Sir ROBERT PEEL, led, as he is, by the
fiery TYBALT of his Administration, and yielding to
the advice which, disapproving, he yet follows, can
really hope for gain to himself, or power to his Go-
vernment, even by a conviction upon the present
occasion.

It would have been far better for the Crown officers,
that their mischievous intents and decided aims at
conviction should have been more decently shown,
and less obnoxiously avowed. It would have been far
more decent that the jury list should' have been pro-
perly formed, and that the names of 65 persons, of whom
thirty-seven are Catholics and Quakers, should have ap-
peared thereon, rather than have been totally omitted,
with every appearance of design. It might have been
more decorous if the Recorder had waited to see the
lists completed, before he hastened off to join the fes-
tivities of Sir ROBERT PEEL at Drayton Manor, to
which place the sheets of the jury list were sent. It
would have been less obnoxious to every Catholic in

England and Ireland, if, in striking the jury, religious
opinion had not been the sole ground for exclusion.
And it would have been more consonant to the prin-
ciples of justice, and to the course that a POLLOCK or
a FOLLETT, a CAMPBELL or a WILDE, would have
pursued, if, instead of throwing every difficulty in the
way of the accused, every leniency and concession
had been shown, that could in fairness have been
demanded.

Then, at all events, would the prosecutors have
gone to the jury with clean hands, and with claims
to their attention, founded upon the purity with
which they had conducted their official duties; then
would the jury have had the confidence of all par-
ties—the Crown might have hoped for favour—the
jury for implicit trust,—and the whole proceedings
would have been freed from the imputations and sus-
picion which now attend them.

The accounts which have been lately published of
the state of affairs in Monte Video are at once dis-
tressing to humanity and disgraceful to our own
apathy. Monte Video has been exposed for about
twelve months, not so much to the more immediate
horrors incident to a protracted siege, as to the more
hopeless and withering process of a land blockade,
efficiently established, and rigorously maintained by
a bigoted and remorseless soldier. General RosAs,
commanding the troops of the republic of Buenos
Ayres, invests Monte Video with an army which cuts
off all communication between the beleagured town
and its commercial resources and connexions. Monte
Tideo contains not only a very considerable number
of English merchants and their families, but Spanish
and colonial mercantile establishments of extensive
connexions and character. It is believed that through
this body, in the aggregate, outstanding credits on
English account are due, amounting to upwards of
600,000/. The passion of RosAs having, for its pecu-
liar object, the extirpation of foreign commerce, he
will not permit the cordon which be has established
under the walls of the ill-fated city to be broken
through, on any pretence of communicating with the
native and colonial consumers from whom these
credits are due. The inevitable consequence, it would
appear, must be, that they can never be collected.
The Monte Videan houses must perish under the
continuance of the cruel duresse in which the con-
tending pretensions of Buenos Ayres and Monte
Video thus operate to keep all foreigners who are
shut up in the latter. They have especial reason to
complain, and do, accordingly, most vehemently com-
plain, that they have been made the instruments of
aggravating the losses which are likely to be sus-
tained by the strong assurances that were given to
them by Mr. MANDEVILLB, our Minister, when
visiting the shores of the Plata, that the British Go-
vernment would certainly protect British rights and
property in those regions, in the event of the
Buenos Ayrean armament entering the territory of
Monte Video, by repelling force by force. In conse-
quence of this assurance—so the correspondence, re-
cently received in London, declares—" large sales of
merchandise were made on credit, and orders transmit-
ted
to this country for further shipments." 'When
Rows did cross into the territory, there was a
British force in these waters, more than five times suf-
ficient to have effected his instant discomfiture and
retreat ; but he was not interfered with, and has, ever
since, cooped up the unhappy residents •at Monte
Video, Iwithin the bare walls of their strong posi-
tion, where the whole community experience the un-
satisfied cravings for the common necessaries of life.
In the meantime the native and other consumers in
the interior of the country are becoming, every day,
leas and less competent to pay for their purchases,
owing to the unrelenting destruction of all foreign
property, carried on by orders of ROSAS throughout the
territory subject to his exactions and his vengeance. To
such an extent does ROSAS indulge his stupid preposses-
sions against external commerce of any kind, that he
had very recently enforced the immediate return,
without unloading, of several vessels which had
arrived with cargoes of produce from Corrientes at
Buenos Ayres. These cargoes were composed, in
part, of returns of the native dealers and oonsumers
above alluded to, for the British merchandise and
manufactures supplied to them by the importers of
Monte Video. It seems, therefore, that no course
more effective could have been taken for sacrificing
all chances of reimbursing the shippers or owners of
600,000/. of British merchandise, destined for that
market alone.

Now, it is not without reason that the Monte ideo
correspondent of the Morning Chronicle complains,
that if Mr. MANDEVILLE was authorised to give such
assurances of protection as he did, the British Go-
vernment is bound to do that instantly, which it
ought long ago to have done, namely—to interpose
its full authority for securing compensation and satis-
factionfrom the ruling authorities in Buenos Ayres, on
account of losses by British subjects thus sustained :
that if Mr. MANDEVILLE had no such authority, the
fact ought to be immediately proclaimed,—himself
dismissed or otherwise punished,—and his proceeding
formally disavowed by the Foreign-office.
For ourselves we go further. Irrespective of the
question, ,whether Mr. MANDEVILLE had or had not
due authority for a certain declaration to British
subjects in the territories of a foreign State,—
is the grave consideration how far the honour
of our common country is involved in, and
compromised by, such vexatious pantomimes of State
hostility and diplomatic duplicity, as these crude
and but half-fashioned States of South America are
perpetually " getting up"—to their own gratification,
probably, but to the detriment and injury of the com-
merce of the civilised world, and all the blessings
which follow in its train ? It is true that modern
jurists have ruled very decisively that a blockade—
maintainable as to all other circumstances-is good,
so long as it can be effectively enforced. It is also true
that France has concurred with Great Britain in re-
cognising this exercise of the right of blockade by
Buenos Ayres against Monte Video. Nevertheless,
in a case where the sufferers by the interruption and
' prohibition of the trade of the place are foreigners,—
English, Spanish, and French subjects, against whom
there is no charge of contraband trading or smuggling,
but who, in the lawful pursuit of their commercial
operations, are suddenly placed in a position from
which they are not permitted to extricate themselves,
wherein their capitals are sacrificed, their trade ruined;
and their lives endangered by the proceedings of
belligerents, each of whom is under treaties of amity
with their own sovereigns ;—it does appear to us that
on every principle of expediency and justice those
sovereigns, or one of them, should insist on the per-
sonal rights and liberty of their own subjects being
respected. Reparation ought clearly, we think, to be
enforced in this instance, which comes precisely under
the conditions we have been supposing. The conduct
of ROSA/3, in sending back the vessels from Corrientes,
was a wilful interference with the private property
not merely of the merchants of Monte Video, but of
his own compatriotes of Buenos Ayres, that his own
Government should be made to disavow, as some sort of
guarantee against the recurrence of such exhibitions
of wanton folly in future. Let us hope that a little
Cromwellian vigour may yet be aroused in the re-
cesses of Downing-street, to bear upon the wings of
the wind the once dreaded and omnipotent protest of
Britain against all dishonour to her flag, or injury to
her subjects, in any corner of the habitable world !

Of all the questions which have been entered
upon by the public reformer in this country,
there is no one which has presented greater diffi•
culties to his efforts than has that of University
reform. The causes of this
.seem to us to be
pretty evident. With the majority of topics
which have been from time to time imported
into public discussion, people generally have at
least something like a practical familiarity. Re-
specting, however, the two national Universities
and their concerns, the nation, excepting the
upper classes and the members of the learned
professions, is as compliitely ignorant as if these
institutions were in nowise connected with the
country. There is a mystery attending every-
thing transacted at Cambridge and Oxford,
which the uninitiated can only look upon with no
means of solving. Those, too, who have the
power of divulging " the secrets of the prison
house" are apparently restrained from doing so
by a feeling of attachment to their Alma Mater,
and an esprit de corps, which makes them regard
with utter abhorrence, as a species of parricide,
any such publication.
Just now, however, things appear to have taken

a turn more favourable for the operations of those
who would introduce amendments in the regula-
tions of the two great academical bodies. People
appear to be at the present time aroused to the
necessity for some inquiry into the application of
funds which were left by pious and patriotic be-
nefactors for the advancement of religion and
science, and in very many instances for the pro-
secution of these most commendable purposes by
eliciting indigent merit.
The expense of an education at either Oam-
bridge or Oxford has of late years been far too
high to admit of any but those in com-
paratively easy circumstances sending their
sons to those institutions. But they are
considered as national seminaries. How
can this character rightly accrue to them when
such obstacles exist to their realising the pur-
poses which so comprehensive a title suggests?
The lowest annual expense at which a young man
can pass through either of our Universities we
should fix at 1501. This we consider is the
lowest estimate which can be formed for an
undergraduate's expenses. These expenses usually
are much higher. We all know the force of a
spirit of emulation upon the actions of men. In
youth the same feeling has influence, and there
is far less discrimination to direct it into proper
in
nhaanftneer yearsls—a assumesfeeling w
a which, if properly fostered,
liberal and most praise-
worthy bent, directing frequently to the accom-
plishment of purposes highly beneficial to man-
kind, in youth is liable to be perverted to a thou-
sand purposes injurious alike to society and the in-
dividual. Hence we have young men of high birth,
excellent capacity, and with Lhigh-spirited but
misdirected natures, applying all their energies
gto perfection in tandem drivin, pigeon shooting.
jockeyship, and other employments,. which, at
least, are inconsistent with the scope of a liberal
and intellectual education.

How much of the tendency to extravagance on
the part of the upper classes of society in this
country is attributable to the habits of profligacy
and folly nurtured under" the present system of
University education ! Is not a cheaper system
of instruction—a system
.which might develop
the eleemosynary resources of our colleges, and
attract poor but enterprising scholars to their
foundations—compatible with a course of study
as efficient:as, if not superior to, the course which
is now adopted? In the Scotch and German
'Universities the expenses are, in many instances,
not one-fourth part of what they are at Cam-
bridge and Oxford, and yet these bodies have
furnished their full quota to the stock of learned,
wise, and pious men.
It would be well if sizarships, servitorships,
and bible clerkships were more numerous and
better endowed than they now are. It ought to
be within a young man's power to live on the
emoluments which these situations produce,
instead of being obliged, as is at present the
case, to draw largely upon the already shat-
tered resources of the paternal purse for main-
tenance during his college residence. In former
times these:endowments did greatgood,by;eliciting
obscure and indigent merit, and by providing a
maintenance for those who, in after-life, occupied
distinguished posts in various departments of
Church and State. In later days likeiresults,
though of a disproportioned extent,l have fol-
lowed. Why should not amendments be intro-
duced which might restore the utility of our
collegiate establishments, infuse into them fresh
and highly needed vigour; rendering them, as
they ought to be, as they still may become,
seminaries of a national, comprehensive, and un-
sectarian character, the boast of England, splen-
did evidences of the intelligence, .the opulence,
and grandeur of our countrymen, and ,the means
of handing down the lamp of philosophy with
undiminished, and still accumulating splendour,
to those who come hereafter in the course of
scientific research ?

Madrid journals of the 10th have been received,
but they bring no news. The City elections still
continued in favour of the Progresista candidates,
the highest of whom on the list had 928 votes, while
the highest on the other side had only 589.
On the 10th the Three per Cents. were done at
25e for cash, and 25i at 60 days, and the Five per
Cents. at 19 at 60 days.

The Paris papers of the 16th are almost entirely
occupied with the debate on the address, and the
pilgrimage of the Legitimatists to London. The
speech of M. BERRYER, in defence of himself and his
colleagues, is generally admitted to he a great
failure. M. GUIZOT took advantage of his weakness,
and made a most impressive speech. The Constitu
tionnel admits its great ability, and the weakness
of M. BERRYER'S oration. The Journal des Debats
says of it—" The man has failed, and the cause is lost."
Much business was done on the Bourse on Tuesday,
with a considerable rise in the Funds. The Three
per Cents. closed at 83 ; the Five per Cents. at 125-10 ;
Orleans Railroad Shares at 861.25 ; Rouen, 842-50;
Avignon, 678-75; Havre, 652-50; Spanish Active, 30

we find a remarkable con-
uat,nnounced in the article we
In the Number of the Edinburgh Review (CLIX.)
pfilrlib'uileailstililohlta'oso-jdfuasyttheocnovinitele"le.ossubject of the " Oregon Terri-
tory." It occirs in an able paper on Captain Sir
Edward Belcher's " Voyage Round the World, per-
formed by her Majesty's ship Sulphur, during the
directnd o
tnh,
el Br4e;al.4)e" The passages to
rs,
attention are
ywehairesh l‘fiv 3e 6 4111
d.
these : (The Reviewer has been quoting a dispatch
from the Right Hon. the Earl of Aberdeen, repudiating
a sort of compulsory cession which had been
made •of the Provisional Government of the Sand-
wich Islands by the Queen, Pomare, to the Queen
of Great Britain, ill consequence of certain
extraordinary proceedings of Captain Lord George
Paulet, in her Majesty s ship Carysfort This
sound doctrine, moral as well as political . . .
may also serve to abate the furious attacks of our
transatlantic brethren on this occasion, who, in no
measured terms of accuse, abuse the British Govern-
ment of an all-grasping disposition to plant colonies
in every part of the world. If priority of discovery
authorised possession—which, alone, it does not ; but
if cession of territory, made by legitimate authority,
sanctions possession, which it does—then the Sand-
wich Islands might, long ago, have heen annexed to
the British Crown—a formal cession of them having
been made to the King of Great Britain, in considera-
tion of services rendered by Captain Vancouver.
But supposing the charge of all-grasping to
be true, what prevented us from establishing colo•
nies in every part of the Pacific, and on the
northern and western coasts of America P Instead of
which, what did we do ? We gave up Nootka Sound
and its islands, which were ceded to us by Spain. We
left the Falkland Islands a derelict on the ocean, also
ceded to us by that:Power." . . . "But the Ame-
ricans are the last people in the world who should ac-
cuse us of a grasping disposition to seize upon new
acquisitions of territory." '‘ It is somewhat
whimsical, and augurs no great share of moderation
or modesty, that a nation brought into existence only
about half a century ago, and which by its ' grasping
propensities' has swallowed up nearly the half of a vast
continent, and will not be satisfied until she has got the
whole,—so that its two shores may be washed by the
Atlantic on one side and by the Pacific on the other,
—that such a nation should talk of the grasping pro-
pensity of others."

CLERKENWELL_(THIS DAY.)
John Battens, a notorious thief, was charged with breaking
into the stable of Mr. William Henry Cook, a linen-draper, re-
siding in High-street, Islington, and stealing therefrom a
quantity of carriage-harness, whips, umberellas, and other
property.
It appeared, from the evidence, that, on Tuesday night last,
the prisoner got upon the roof of the stables, and, by removing
the tiles, effected an entrance into the loft, in which the har-
ness, &c., were deposited. Ile carried the property down to a
public-house in the New-road. where he was arrested by police-
constable Wright, of the N division, whilst endeavouring to sell
it to another person.
Mr. COMBE committed the prisoner for trial.
A young mechanic, named Albert Jones, was charged with
assaulting police-constable 179 G:
The prisoner was creating a disturbance in Coppice-row on
the previous night. The officers attempted to remove him,
but the prisoner attacked the complainant in a very savage
manner, and endeavoured to force his eye out with his thumb.
He did not succeed, but very much hurt the organ, and dis-
figured the flesh about it.
The prisoner was fined 15s. The fine not being forthcoming,
he was committed for seven days.

_-- -
REVIVAL OF TRADE AT STOCKPORT. 4S hear
that arrangements have been made for the working of one of
the cotton-mills last occupied by Messrs. Lane and Sons, in
Higher Hillgate, and which has now been standing about four
years, and that it is likely to commence operations very shortly.
An extensive firm, at present carrying on business in the
borough, are named as tine tenants. We are also informed
that the premises eight years ago occupied by Alessrs.
Christy, opposite St. Thomas's Church, Higher Ilillgate,
have been purchased by a cotton-merchant, with the intention
of commencing 13010 dtlicriPti9r4 of work thcrein,...Manchiater
Guardian.

Dec. 3 .... 5l 1
9 5O 0
50 5O 9
2:3 49 9
30 49 10
Jau. 6 5O 9

31 8
3
32 2
32 3
32 7
33 0

18 8
18 6
18 7
IS 5
18 3
18 9

:0 1 32 0
30 0 31 6
39 9 30 10
21 4 30 1
30 8 29 5
33 5 S

33 6
32 0
30 10
30 6
30 7
31 0

IMPERIAL AGGREGATE AVERAGES OF THE SIX ww.pics
Wheat...—. 50i. sd. Oats
Barley ...... 323. 33 I Rye

DUTIES ON FOREIGN CORN.

Wheat 2os. 0,1.1 I
Oats
Barley .... N. Od. Rye ...... 6d.1 PeA5e.......10 6d.

MARKET NEWS.-(THIS DAY.)
EAT IVIAREETS.

SMITHFIELD.—Coarse Meadow Hay, 2110 s to 3/ ; useful do,
313 s to 31 lOs ; fine Upland do., 31 12s to 3116 s ; Clover Hay,
31 to 5/ ; Oat Straw, 1/ es to I/ ; Wheat Straw, 118 s to 11
lOs per load. Both hay and straw, though in limited supply,
sold heavily, at barely late rates.
CUMBERLAND.—Coarse Meadow Hay, 21 15s to 315 s ; use-
do., 3/ 8s to 3/ 12s ; fine Upland do., 31 13s to 4/ ; Clover
Hay, 3/ to 41 15s ; Oat Straw, 1/ 6s to 11 8s ; Wheat Straw,
119 s to I/ lls per oad. A short supply and a very dull trade.
WHITECHAPEL.—Coarse Meadow Hay, 2/ 5s to 31; useful
de., 313 s to 3110 s : fine Upland do. 3/ 12s to 31 17s ; Clover
Hay, 3/ to 51; Oat Straw, 1/ 6s to 11 8s ; Wheat Straw, 1/ Si
to 1110 s per load. Supply tolerably good, and trade dull.