The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-29 00:00:00

%ecure .admi 4sion, were prese.it. We obserred \lr.
ni aS. g'Brien, M.P., and several other influential
and
had rPlPuldr 07.-mtlemen in the gallery. When the judges
a-•:Ita their seats the most death-like silence pre-
h.,tyr.d every eye Was turned in the direction of the
t orator, and when he rose to address the jury we
• never witnessed a more impressive or solemn scene.
-t-he Right Hon. Gentleman then roceeded as follows:
:.1-tay, it please your Lordships and Gentlemen of the
'Jury, lam Counsel for Mr. John O'Conn2ll. The im-
Tortanof
ee this case is not susceptible of exaggeration.
"and I do not speak in the language of hyperbole when I
say that the retention of the empire is directed to the
,i.'Blset in which we are assembled. How great is the trust
;_6'Peesrefdornl ? iriye you--how great is the task I have undertaken
0
Conscious of its magnitude, I have risen to
swim dress you, not unmoved, but undismayed indeed ; for
this nio*.nent how many incidents of my own political
com, back upon me, when I look upon my great
r)entiaa't benefactor, my deliverer, and my friend ; but
t‘he emotion by which I acknowledge myself to be
hfor°lnitlly stirred, although I will not permit myself
be subdued by it, solicitude forms no part. I
jve great reliance upon you—upon the ascendancy
Principle over prejudice in your minds ; and I am
Lot without reliance upon myself. Ido not speak in the
ahl?Fnagn of vain-glorious self-complacency when I say
iel'• I know. that lam surrourvied by men infinitely
tdeseutupai,
eriors ha every forensic, and in almost every in-
Valification. My confidence is derived not
from any tierweening estimate of my own faculties, but
• a. thorough conviction of the innocence of my
--•
"qt• I know, and I appear in some part not only as
"n• advocate but a witness before you, I know him to be
r,"eent of the misdeeds laid to his charge. The same
°°(l flows through their veins—the same feelings cir-
culate through their hearts. The son and the father are
4411 Political regards the same, and with the father I
the toiled in no dishonourable companionship for more
,),!at half my life in that great work, which it is his
zer praise that it was conceived in the spirit of
tor.ee--in the spirit of peace it was carried out—and
fti. in the spirit of peace it was brought by him
its glorious consummation. I am acquainted
7stilth every feature of his character, with his
~, °tights, hopes, fears, aspirations. I have—if I may
enture so to knowft;ll cognizance of every pulsation
ef
"'s he,-.4,rt I—l am sure as that lam a living
it •
b• ---salat from the sanguinary misdeeds imputed to
un
e shrinks with abhorrence. It is this persuasion
`r ale
impassioned—and I trust that it will prove
touts ions—which will sustain me in the midst of the
lithxihaustion incidental to this lengthened trial ; will en-
able me to overcome the illness under which I am this
-:eatent labouring ; will raise me to the height of this
treat argument, and lift me to a level with the lofty
`"Pies which I shall have occasion to treat in resisting a
Trosecution, to which, in the annals of criminal
intisprudence in this country no parallel can be
vinna• Gentlemen, the Attorney-General, in a state-
'tient of eleven or twelve hours' duration, real a long
aeries of extracts from speeches and publications, ex-
irding over a period of nearly nine months. At the
;rrnination of every passage which was cited by him, he
;aye utterance to expressions of strong resentment
_Ohm the men by whom sentiments so noxious were
zeulated, in language so envenomed. If, gentlemen
the jury, his anger was not simulated ; if his
as II
lrnation was not merely official ; if he spoke
si e felt, how does it come to pass that no,
gle step was ever taken by him for the pur-
Cse of arresting therogress of an evil represented by
trnt to be so calamito us?He toldyou that the country was
the
by incendiaris who set fire to the passions of
ge People the whole fabric of society, according to the
Att
nr,ttey-deneral, has, been a blaze for the last nine
a-ntna ; wherefore hen did he stand with folded arms to
oile,•at the.conflagration. ? -.Where were the Castle fire-en-
inf„ s'----where was the indictment—and of the ex-officio
41;4/nation, what had become ? Is there not too much
%ein to think that a project was formed, or rather that
d• et Was concocted, to decoy and ensnare the traversers,
fiethat a connivance, amounting almost to sanction, was
berately adopted as a part of the policy of the:Govern-
of nt, in order to betray the traversers into indiscretions
wnich advantage was, in due time, to be taken ?
have heard it said that it was criminal to tell the people to
• their time;" but is the Government to "bide its time"
order to turn populak excitement to a useful official
letee„ ennt ? The publicairosecutor who gives an indirect
erouragement to agitation, in order that he may after-
Nards more effectually fall upon it, bears some moral affi-
d tY to the informer, who provokes the crime from whose
enmiciation his ignominious livelihood is derived. Has
thea Attorney-General adopted a course worthy of his
bar' office—worthy of the ostensible head of the Irish
and the representative of its interests in the House
ithranons? Is it befitting that the successor of Saurin,
Plunket, who should keep " watch and ward"
oJen'. his high station over the public safety, should de-
ad to the performance of functions worthy only of a
the
of the French police ; and in place of being
kle sentinel, should become the " Artful Dodger" of the
th te ? But what, you may ask, could be the motive of
h_e Right Hon. Gentleman for pursuing the course he
ha Right adopted, and for which no explanation has been-et-
c:ll4e dby him ? He will have obtained no advantage
1.'4441Y SerViCeable to his party by prosecuting Mr. Bar-
ett,
their r liar. Duffy, or Dr. Gray, for strong articles in
/1„` newspapers ; or by prosecuting Mr. Steele, or Mr.
nairfiney, for attending unlawful assemblies. He did
sh With linesif I may avail myself of an illustra-
b°„! derived from the habits of my constituents at
t augrvon
but cast a wide and firmly constructed
t, in order that by a kind of miraculous
• n
he might take the great agitator-leviathan, him-
t; a Member of Parliament, Tom Steele, the three edi-
zssof newspapers, and a pair of priests in one stupen-
u hawl together. But, gentlemen, there was another
otiect still more important to be gained. Had the At-
tornv o j
eenYt -General
tt
engerile,prosecuted individuals for the use of
or for the attending unlawful meetings,
each individua would be held responsible for his own
ots but in a prosecution for a conspiracy, which is
en to every one of the objections applicable to con-
structive treason, the acts and the speeches of one man
are given in evidence against another, although the latter
the
have been at the distance of a hundred miles when
, circumstances used against him as evidence, and of
hhe had no sort of cognizance, took place. By
I,"ens..efe.uting Mr. O'Connell for a conspiracy, the Attor-
thYF %,eneral treats him exactly as if he were the editor
e the Freeman, the editor of the Nation, and
five,, editor of the Pilot newspapers. Indeed, 'if
eo„'„„. r six other editors of newspapers in the
th:',"rtry had been joined as traversers, for every line in
„„!
.newspapers Mr. O'Connell would be held re-
rnsible. There is one English gentleman, I believe
ana that jury. If a conspiracy were instituted
iirin.st the Anti-Corn-law League in England, would
Mr' ci,t, think it very hard indeed that Mr. Cobden and
in -nright should be held answerable for every article
la the C4ronicle, in the Globe, and in The Sun ? How
thr.a portion of the case of the Crown depends upon
aews Implication of Mr. O'Connell with three Dublin
who PeaPers ?—He is accused of conspiring . with men
those ertainly never conspired with each other. For
that't,,who know anything of newspapers are aware that
there l'eY are mercantile-speculations-,the property. in,
of t, 1„s held by shares—and that the very circumstance
koneir being engaged in the same politics alienates the
to retors from each other. They pay their addresses
rek,,e same mistress, and cordially detest each other. I
eairo'laber to have heard Mr. Barnes, the celebrated
what Of of the Times newspaper, 'once ask Mr. Rogers
k Manner of man was a Mr. Tomkins ;to which
r.
Illorn7gers replied, 4. he was a dull dog, who read the
RerGli." Let us turn for a moment from the
• to the antisliepeal party. You would smile I think
14,41 suggestiaa that Mr. Murray Mansfield and Mr.
the, t,''Y Sheehan should enter into a conspiracy toge-
at th
.Those gentlemen would be themselves astonished
of the_ imputation. Suppose them to be both members
stance Conservative Association : Would that circum-
of „a. be sufficient to sustain, in the judgment- of men
%filo M sense, the charge of conspiracy upon them ?
and iittoen, the relation in which Mr. Duffy, Mr. Barrett,
ethi:titr.ii,vGe....reakyly stood to the Repeal Association, is exactly
as that in which Mr. Staunton, the proprietor
er the
Register, stood towards the Catholic Asso-
aews„• He was paid for his advertisements, and- his
thesevaper contained emancipation news, and was sent to
trieal,.wito desired to receive it. Mr. Staunton is now a
his vet' of the Repeal Association ; he will tell you that
ehareennection with that body is precisely of the same
hrst:rieter, as that which existed with the cele-
Prove" oody to which I have referred ; he will
eXerei t`-' You, that over his paper Mr. O'Connell
clonetes no sort of control, and that all that is
of hie by him in reference to his paper, is the result
at the own free and unbiassed will. The speeches made
by hi_4.ssociation and public meetings were reported
NI,
.4u In the same manner as in the other public Jour-
e is not
not tre a conspirator ; the Government have
uo d him as such. Why ? Because there were
wlifehynts in his paper The Memory of the Dead,"
o',caoltnhongh in direct opposition to the feelings of
s lieu, and which he had frequently expressed,
hare , used in evidence against him. Gentlemen, I
doer enough to you to show how formidable is this
rine of .
conspirac--of legal conspiracy—which is
iar removed from all notions of actual conspiracy, to
it.'ve.You further how cautious you ought to be in find-
-I'4 fight of your fellow-citizens guilty of that charge.
thin 'eendants are indicted for conspiracy, and for no •
lawkielse„ No counts are inserted for attending un-
cooviocassemblies. The Attorney-General wants a
d"iater for conspiracy, and nothing else. He has
indictmin these particulars from English usage
tem;ments for a conspiracy, counts for at-
intr-olitg unlawful assemblies are in England uniformly
festodtined. English juries have almost uniformly math-
Take ~an aversion to find men guilty of a conspiracy.
ease :eary Hunt's case as an example. When that
had bees tried England was in a perilous condition. It
C'ranin Proved before a secret committee of the House
fmiler ons, of which the present Earl of Derby, the
bodies et' Lord Stanley, was the Chairman, that large
1'046,01 rn,e_n_were disciplined at night in the neigh-
Of a OtnAlanchester, and made familiar with the use
lie tins' An extensive organisation existed. Vast pub-
!utioaer"4,,eLiclvere held, accompanied with every revo-
Ject__y.i
au ent in furtherance of a revolutionary ob-
rantYt Englisho°ffteh°enjury would not find Henry Hunt
, but found him guilty, on the fourth
eoy,,;,ponie
ofthe indictment for. attending an unlawful assern-
artists were not found guilty of a
_the-rwiortter,l Y., butns were found guilty upon counts from which
lileei4neafteiffilfliered.°
pitstiracy" is left out. Gentlemen, the pro-
Izillvlien the Union was carried, have not
s:,ll,lifieensdeclar the
prospects presented by him in his
have not been realised ; but, if in
°us 44:11Y other rerlariedns_ have sustained a most griev_ trourrtedisbaePrpeoini
ftmEenngt-iii.fuZghlaisvhe
peraepfietrarlelessinnkoitngadleenir-
i unes in the rocks of Mexico rather than embark them
sPeculatir
,s connected with this fine but unfortunate
e 'enntry___
nr.e beYdterfir.om the Union,. let one advantage at all
Let English love•
tnesh pri Ned.
of justice—let
ciples—let English horror of oppression—let
"sh detestation of foul thiy.-*-let English loathing of