The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-07 00:00:00

ert trV ;Station

IRELAND.

THE WRIT OF ERROR.
DUBLIN, SEPT. 5, TEN O'CLOCK, P.M.
LIBERATION OF MR. O'CONNELL.

possible, even in these days ; namely, that there may
be no law Lords in the Upper House, or that if
there are, they may (in the absence of any means
of compelling their attendance) happen to be away.
"The Crown," it is added, "is under no constitu-
tional necessity for creating law Lords, and law
Lords are under no official necessity of attending
Parliament." In what predicament, therefore,
in such an event, would the appellant be placed ?
Would the House declare its incompetency
to legislate in his case ? We know that
it would not, because we have several pre-
cedents in which lay Lords, unassisted by the
paramount power now sought to be erected, de-
cided, and decided wisely too, on such occasions.
If, however, the authority of the lay Lords is
to be wholly set aside for the future, the only
alternative would appear to be a competent legal
tribunal drafted Alto the Upper House, from
the most eminent lawyers of the age—a tribunal
whose number should be sufficient to prevent a
court of three from controlling the judgments, not
only of two members of their own House, but of
an overwhelming majority of the most eminent
and experienced lawyers of the country. As, how-
ever, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to
find a sufficient number, of lawyers in the lower
courts qualified for the peerage, our only resource
is to fall back upon the practice which has now been
abandoned, of allowing to the lay Lords the jurisdic-
tion to which their rank, intelligence, and privileges
entitle them; especially when their opinions are in
harmony with those of a majority of the most dis-
tinguished lawyers of the age.
GLOBE.--The Ministerial journals continue to
indicate the bitter disappointment which the reversal
of the judment of the Irish Court of Queen's Bench
against 0 Connell, and the rest of the Repeal leaders,
has inflicted on the Government, and on the entire
Tory party. As when an army is defeated in the
field, amid the confusion which ensues, mutual recri-
mination adds bitterness to discomfiture ; so, from the
depths of humiliation and bewilderment into which
the failure of the prosecution against O'Connell has
plunged them, we hear not ing from the Tory jour-
nals but reproaches and denunciations. The means
which they affirm ought to have ~een taken to avert
the event they agree to deplore, are such as plainly
show that defeat has deprived them of reason.
To secure a party triumph, they would not
merely, depart from the established principles
and invariable practice of the House of
Lords, when sitting as 's Court of Appeal , they
would risk the consequences of a subversion of all
constituted rule for a temporary triumph. They
would reverse the maxim, Fiat justitia, ruat ccelum.
Instead of exclaiming, " Though ruin ensue, jus-
tice must be done ;" their cry is, " The judg-
ment against O'Connell ought to have been sus-
tained, in opposition to law and justice, even
though ruin had ensued !" The reversal of the
judgment against O'Connell and his co-defend-
ants is impugned and denounced by the Post,
because the decision of the House of Lords on the
Writ of Error was limited to the rotes of law
Lords, instead of being decided, as the Post con-
tends it ought to have been, by the votes of the Peers
who were present when the vote was taken. Lord
Wharncliffe, the President of the Council, is es-
pecially the object of our Contemporary's wrath, for
having suggested that—in this important case, which
had excited so much public interest, and in deliver-
ing the final judgment upon which the proceedings of
the House would be viewed with jealousy and
scrutinized with severity—there should be no depar-
ture from their Lordships' practice in ordinary
appeals from the judgments of inferior Courts.
In such cases, the law Lords, who have heard the
arguments in the cause, deliver judgment. The
questions raised are questions of law—the errors
assigned are upon the face of the record—laymen,
though Peers, are not presumed to have the re-
quired knowledge to render them competent to
decide amid the intricacies of litigation, even though
they had attended the sittings of the House, and
heard the arguments of counsel, pro. and con., in the
cause. They, therefore, very properly leave the deci-
sion with those whose education and experience qua-
lity them for the work. The Post complains, in most
bitter terms, that this practice, though consecrated by
time, was not departed from on Wednesday. When,
from the opinions delivered by the five law Lords
who were present, it became obvious thas the judg-
ment of the Court below would be reversed by the
votes of three to two, a movement among the lay Lords
whom curiosity had stimulated to be present on the
occasion, showed that political feeling was about to
operate against established practice, to prevent a result
which, as partisans, they thought their votes might
avert. They had not attended the House during the
arguments. Had they done so, they would not, pro-
bably, have understood them. Their object was,
simply, to secure the full infliction of the sentence up-
on O'Connell and his defendants ; and thus prevent
the political defeat which the threatened reversal of
the judgment would occasion. Lord Wharncliffe
saw this ; and he saw also the calamitous conse-
quences to the administration of the justice of the
country which such a procedure would occa-
sion. The moment was critical. Though the failure
of the prosecution was fraught with mortification and
embarrassment:to the Government—and Lord Wham-
cliffe, as a member of the Government, participated
in that mortification and embarrassment—his Lord-
ship had discernment enough to see that these were
of comparatively trifling moment, and of merely
temporary inconvenience ; while the course which
men less cautious would plunge into would create
perils and involve results, the effects of which would
be calamitous and permanent.

GRAND POPULAR DEMONSTRATION.

After the dispatch of my second letter by the
mail this evening, I proceeded to the Richmond
Prison. The streets all along the route were densely
crowded, and in front of the prison an immense mul-
titude were assembled. In a short time the crowd
became so numerous that it was necessary to send
for the Hor3e and Foot Police to preserve a passage.

Messrs. Ford, Mahony, and Cantwell, immediately
after the arrival of the train at the terminus at
Westland-row, proceeded to the prison to communi-
cate the decision of the House of Lords to Mr.
O'Connell. In less than half an hour after the arrival
of the mail-packet in Kingstown, Mr. O'Connell
and his fellow-prisoners were acquainted with the
fact of the reversal of the judgment. Mr. O'Connell
received the intelligence with great gratification, be-
cause it proved the utter injustice of the sentence
which had deprived him of his liberty, and he was
the more rejoiced at such a result, inasmuch as it was
the solemn decision of the highest court of appeal,
branding the jury list as having been fraudulently
concocted. In this decision of the House of Lords,
Mr. O'Connell recognised the complete justifi-
cation of himself, and the condemnation of
the prosecution, and the instruments by whom
that prosecution had been maintained. All through
he had avowed his determination never to
submit to the slightest compromise, though his prison
doors should be opened on the condition of a particle
of concession on his part. There were confident state-
ments that the royal clemency would be extended to
the State prisoners if the appeal should be decided
against them. But Mr. O'Connell had determined
never to submit to the slightest compromise, under
any circumstances whatsoever.

The order for the liberation of the State prisoners
is expected to-morrow evening. They will leave
the prison on Saturday morning, at ten o'clock, ac-
companied by an immense procession of the citizens,
headed by the Lord Mayor. The procession will go
over the same ground by which Mr. O'Connell had
been led from the Court of Queen's Bench to the
Prison, and from the Courts the procession will go
through the great leading streets of Dublin, finally
restoring Mr. O'Connell to his mansion in Merrion-
square.

A general illumination is spoken of; in fact, all
sorts of rejoicings are projected.
The reversal of the judgment has fallen like a
thunderbolt amongst the Orange and Tory party
here. After the desperate assertion of Sir R. Peel,
that Mr. O'Connell had had a "fair trial," the ultras
here speculated and betted upon a confirmation of
the unjust judgment by the House of Lords. They
are wofully disappointed; but the people rejoice ac-
cordingly.

In all parts of the city placards are exhibited, an-
nouncing the glorious intelligence, and all the streets
are crowded, and perfectly peaceable.

The Repeal Association is not to meet until the
regular day (Monday next), when Mr. O'Connell is
to attend.—Chronicle.

THE FUNDS-(CLOSING PRICES).

BRITISH FUNDS.
Bank Stock ........ .......... — lndian Stock ...... ......... 284
3 per Cent. lied ..... — IDitto Bonds ...... .........
3 per Cent. Cons. ..... 99% Ditto Old Annuities ...
3% per Cont. Red Ditto New Annuities ...
New 334 per Cent.... .....
New 5 per Cent — Ditto 5001.
Long Annuities to expire Ditto Small ........
Jan 1860 — Bank Stock for Acct....
Oct. 1859 onsols for Act.......... 99%
Jan. 1860.........
FOREIGN FUNDS.
Austrian, 5 per Cent .... ..... !Portuguese, 5 per Cent B2
Belgian, S per Cent. .... ....... 10356 Ditto, New Ditto_
Brazilian Bonds ............ 85 Prussian,s per Cent —
Buenos Ayres, 6 per Cent... Russian, 5 per Cent
Chllian, 6 per Cent — Ditto, Metallic ...............
Colombian, 6 per Cent
Ditto, 1824 — ;Ditto, 3 per Cent ....... ...... ..
ebbe Bonds, 6 per Cent...— — ;Ditto, Deferred —
Danish, 3 per Cent - —t. —c
Greek. 184, 5 per Cent — ;Exchange .. ..... .......... —f. —c.
Mexican, 5 per Cent .....
Ditto, 6 per Cent., 1857 — ;Dutch, 234 per Cent...... 6214
Peruvian, 1925, 6 per Cent — ;Ditto, 5 per Cent ........100%
SHARES.
Birmingham and Gloucester (100 paid) ll3
Caledonian, 5 paid
Chester and Holyhead ( 5 paid)
Dublin and Cashel, 2% paid
Eastern Counties (23 paid) ........ ll
Ditto Registered (8/ 68 8d paid)
Ditto Perpetual, 5 per Cent, 13s 4d. paid,Ne 1 1
Great Western (75 paid)
Ditto Half Shares, 50 paid B9
Ditto Fifths, 12 paid `%
Lancaster and Carlisle, 5 paid 634
Leeds and Bradfori, 5 paid - 0%
London and Birmingham (Stock)
Ditto, New Thirds, 2 paid
Ditto, Quarter Shares ( 2 paid)
London and Blackwell (161. 13s. 4d.) 7%
Lon Jon and Brighton (50 paid)
London and Greenwich (12t. 15s. 4d. paid) .....
London and South Western (411. 6s. 10d. paid)
Ditto Eighths (15s. paid)
London and Croydon (Trunk) 17%
Lynn and Ely, 11 paid
Manchester and Leeds (70 paid)
Ditto New Quarters ( 2 paid)
Midland Counties (100 paid)......... ...........
Newcastle and Darlingron Junction, 21 paid 4B
North British, 5 paid .. ....... ... ........ ..„ .....
Northern and Eastern (45 paid)
Ditto Scrip (15 paid) 24%
South Devon, 5 paid
South Eastern and Dover (33 2s 4d paid)
Ditto New Shares, 4 paid
Thames and Medway, .tl9 5s 8d paid lOl4
York and North Midland (50 paid) loa
Ditto Half Shares (25 paid)
Orleans, Tours, and Bourdeaux, I paid
Yolk and Selby Scrip, paid :I%
Earls and Orleans (20 paid)
Paris and Rouen, 20 paid
Rouen and Havre, 10 paid

-- pm.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAT;
STANDARD.—The more we reflect on the late
unconstitutional abandonment, by the House of Lords,
of its just and important functions as a final court of
appeal in criminal cases, the more extraordinary and
indefensible does it appear. It was a course neither
justified by precedent nor warranted by expe-
diency, and one, the adoption of which (the re-
sult being certain), has rendered the whole of the
late proceedings before the highest tribunal of the
country not merely nugatory, but absolutely pre-
posterous. Hitherto the restriction of the decision
of a case of appeal to the law Lords, has never
been suggested; and cases have not been of unfre-
quent occurrence in which there would have been
no law Lords present to decide them. Now as no
provision is made by law for their special attend-
ance on such occasions, it may fairly be presumed,
that however desirable their presence may have
been considered, it has not been regarded
as indispensable ; still less has it been deemed
necessary to confine the decision of such ap-
peals exclusively to them. Were it otherwise,
why invite for them the opinions of judges of in-
ferior rank, and then set those opinions entirely at
defiance ? The pretext alleged for the non-inter-
ference of the lay Lords lin the late decision, that
they had not heard the whole of the evidence,
would apply with equal force to every instance of
appeal that has ever come before their Lordships.
They were not called upon to try the case anew, but
merely to record their opinion, strengthened, or
rather founded upon that of the most eminent
judges of the land, who had been invited to assist
them. They had heard the arguments in support
of the writ of
appeal,
were well acquainted with the
nature of the
asuponand as competent, so instructed,
to decide upon itother appeal ever sub-
mitted to their judgment. Eleven . judges out of
doors, and two of the minent law Members of
the ouse of Lords, were
decidedly(a of opinion that
the judgment ought to be affirmed
csoimilildeermdaj orit3r
in ordinary cases of appeal is usually deci-
sive, and has consigned many a less criminal and
mis-
chievous offender than Mr. O'Connell to the ail
Two judges and three law Lords, however,g gallows),e
in favour of the reversal of the judgment, and
whilst the lay members in the House of Peers
were virtually prohibited from gi% ing force to the
opinions of this large majority, the small minority of
the law Lords were permitted to decide the question.
It has been suggested, and with good reason, that
many lay members of that House are as well ac-
quainted with the practice of criminal law as Lord
Cottenham, whose experience has never extended
beyond a court of equity, and that even Lord
Campbell, whose failures in that line have been
so conspicuous, might have found his equals in
knowledge on such subjects among them. We say
nothing of Lord Denman's casting rote, because,
although WQ entertain the highest respect for his
Lordship's motives and character, we cannot over- ,
look the fact, that his chief ground for the reversal
of the judgment was an opinion wholly at variance 1
with that of all the other • ,
judges! But supposing ,
N.,,,, ,
i'" e*Tli4e, .• sons to have been • in possession of all
:, .. ~ -. e a') uted to them by their party, what
f, •_ • * e: 1:1104 cs ld they have had to control the
1$11.:?:--%. iiiiiik,-4.11,V1d1i of elevenother •
f
judges, no one
r, .. 1... , ...- ~,,i -- - r in
r
~ , .*,•, . eb,. . ~._ -4 - ,
„,,
.. , informed of the triumvirate. A
• A43e- r • 4,, ad' .1 ! -sled by the
••''t*' ,:1` ‘ .44%* •

TRACTORS.

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 7, 1844,

only 360 bags were disposed of at 253 6d for middling
dingy dry grey, 5i per cent refraction, and unrefracted
245, being rather under former rates ; the remainder
was all taken in at 26s 6d to 27s for fine strong grey 4i
to 31 per cent refraction.
COCHINEAL.—There has been an increased demand,
and the rates previously established are fully supported:
Honduras at auction went at 4s 5d to 5s 1 d for very ordi-
nary damp to very fine bold silvers, and 8 bags black at
5s 4d to 5s 9d per lb for middling to good.
INDIGO.—A favourable opinion is still entertained to-
wards East India Indigo; for good and fine descriptions of
Bengal the demand is brisk for exportation, and the
rates paid are fully equal to those of the last quarterly
sale, and in some cases rather above. For picked lots
buyers are compelled to pay an advance of 2d to 4d per
lb. Madras, Oudes, and Kurpah are wanted, but of
such the supply is scanty. The quantity of Indigo sold
during the past month was large, amounting to 1,400
chests, and was taken chiefly by exporters.
Ou.s.—There has been little business transacted in
any description of common Fish Oils this week; solve
importers are inclined to realise, and have accepted
prices rather under those of this day week, pale Seal at
3415 s to 34/10s, Cod 331 lOs to 34/, and Southern at 271
to 311 per tun. Sperm, fine British has been fetching 851
to 861, and American 811 to 831 per tun. Linseed
Oil at 24s to 24s 3d per cwt on the spot ; the market
is well supplied. Rape Oil 36s for pale, and 35s per cwt
for brown. Olive Oil is held with firmness. Gallipoli
at 45l to 464 Spanish 42/ to 444 and Barbary 40/ to 411
per tun, but there has not been much passing; the con-
sumption continues good. Palm Oil, prime, has been
fetching 27s to 28s per cwt. This afternoon prices gave
way for Southern Oil, at a public sale of 80 tuns selling
at 27/ 103 to 31/10s.

TALLow.—The market has been firm for Russian
Tallow since this day week; a good business has
been transacted on the spot at 41s to 41s 6d for
old, and at 41s 9d to 42s per . cwt for new P Y
Candle. Holders are not disposed to press for sales.
For delivery sales to a fair extent have been made, and
42s per cwt paid currently for the last three months of
the year. Prices remain firm for Town Tallow, and the
demand has been brisk at 40s 6d to 41s per cwt nett
cash ; other descriptions of Tallow brought full rates,
and have been in steady request.
This afternoon at public sale 220-casks North American
Tallow were partly sold at 37s 6cr to 61s 6d ; 271 pipes
102 hhds 2 brls 96 srns 4 boxes South American 34s 9d
to 40s, and 144 casks New South Wales 34s to 42s
per cwt.

THE SHIRT-MAKERS AND THE
WORK-WOMEN OF THE ARMY CON-

Some new terms have been put out for the prices
to be charged for all work made for Government, and
it will be seen whether the poor shirt-makers of the
slop shops are not better off, or, at any rate, as well
paid, as the poor creatures who have to work under
the Government contracts, though probably the mem-
bers of the Government know nothing of the pro-
ceedings. The following are the prices, and many
are the long faces and unshaved beards that carry the
work home :
Police.—For double-breasted great coats and lap-
pels, so that when one is worn out another can be
put on, 35.; the profit to the middleman, who are
responsible for the work, and give security for 501. to
the contractors, being about 3d., while the labour in
the work amounts to eighteen hours, they have to
pay for their own thread, &c and a tailor would
charge 9s. Dress coats are the same, and occupy
sixteen hours, tailor's price Bs. Trousers, undress,
eight hours' work, 10d.; the full dress, ls. 3d., which
takes ten hours; the one being 4s. and the other ss.
as the tailors' prices, and it should be remembered
that men work at these. _

The Regiments of the Line.—The great coats with
capes, 5d., after seven hours' work, the usual price
being 3s. 6d. With fourteen hours' work a red coat
can be made, and 11d. is paid for it; the tailors'
price ss. 6d., looping is 7d. extra. The undress
white jackets, sd. and 7d., with five hours' work, and
usual price 2s. 6d. Trousers, white and grey, sd.
and 6d., and it takes six hours to make them ; tailors'
charge 3s. Drawers, linen and flannel, 34d., four
Thehours' labour,peesi
e2nse.rsbyetfhethte Army.—The old Chelsea
pensioners, with their large red coats, lined with
blue shalloon, are supplied by the poor workwomen
at is. ld. each, occupying twelve huurs in the
making, and the tailors charge 6s. The trousers,
which are heavier work than the Guards', are paid
for at the same rate. Recently it was expected many
of the old pensioners would be called out, and for
that purpose they had a double-breasted coat, with
stand-up collars and loops. 2s. 2d. was the remune-
ration for eighteen hours' work, and what ought to
have been charged 9s. for; trousers, 6d., and six
hours' work ; wages ought to be 35.; shirts of linen
for 3d.

Cavalry.—ln the Life Guards and Blues, the very
expensive leather breeches are made in the barracks,
for which tailors are employed at 2s. 6d. a day, and
it *ill occupy a man two days. A tailor in Bond-
street would charge 30s.
The chief contractors for the army work are the
Messrs. Hebbett, of Pall-mall East ; Prater, of
Charing• cross ; Dolan, of St. Martin's-lane ; Gilpin,
Northumberland-street; and the proprietor of Paul's
Wharf, Upper Thames-street.—Post.