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

IRELAND.

THE STATE TRIALS.

ELEVENTH DAY.

procure admission were present. We observed Mr.
William S. O'Brien, M.P., and several other influential

and popular gentlemen in the gallery. When the judges
had taken their seats the most death-like silence pre-
vailed, and every eye was turned in the direction of the
great orator, and when he rose to address the jury we
have never witnessed a more impressive or solemn scene.
The Right Hon. Gentleman then proceeded as follows:
—May it please your Lordships and Gentlemen of the
Jury, I am Counsel for Mr. John O'Connell. The im-
portance of this case is not susceptible of exaggeration,
and I do not speak in the language of hyperbole when I
say that the attention of the empire is directed to the
spot in which we are assembled. How great is the trust
reposed in you—how great is the task I have undertaken
to perform ? Conscious of its magnitude, I have risen to
address you, not unmoved, but undismayed indeed ; for
at this moment how many incidents of my own political
life come back upon me, when I look upon my great
political benefactor, my deliverer, and my friend ; but
of the emotion by which I acknowledge myself to be
profoundly stirred, although I will not permit myself
to be subdued by it, solicitude forms no part. I
have great reliance upon you—upon the ascendancy
of principle over prejudice in your minds ; and I am
not without reliance upon myself. I do not speak in the
language of vain-glorious self-complacency when I say
this. I know that I am surrounded by men infinitely
my superiors in every forensic, and in almost every in-
tellectual, qualification. My confidence is derived not
from any overweening estimate of my own faculties, but
from a thorough conviction of the innocence of my
client. I know, and I appear in some part not only as
an advocate but a witness berore you, I know him to be
innocent of the misdeeds laid to his charge. The same
blood flows through their veins—the same feelings cir-
culate through their hearts. The son and the father are
in all political regards the same, and with the father I
have toiled in no dishonourable companionship for more
than half my life in that great work, which it is his
chief praise that it was conceived in the spirit of
peace—in the spirit of peace it was carried out—and
that in the spirit of peace it was brought by him
to its glorious consummation. I am acquainted
with every feature of his character,• with his
thoughts, hopes, fears, aspirations. I have—if I may
venture so to say —a full cognizance of every pulsation
of his heart. I know—l am sure as that I am a living
man—that from the sanguinary misdeeds imputed to
him, he shrinks with abhorrence. It is this persuasion
—profound, impassioned—and I trust that it will prove
contagious—which will sustain me in the midst of the
exhaustion incidental to this lengthened trial ; will en-
able me to overcome the illness under which I am this
moment labouring ; will raise me to the height of this
great argument, and lift me to a level with the lofty
topics which I shall have occasion to treat in resisting a
prosecution, to which, in the annals of criminal
jurisprudence in this country no parallel can be
found. Gentlemen, the Attorney-General, in a state-
ment of eleven or twelve hours' duration, read a long
series of extracts from speeches and publications, ex-
tending over a period of nearly nine months. At the
termination of every passage which was cited by him, he
gave utterance to expressions of strong resentment
against the men by whom sentiments so noxious were
circulated, in language so envenomed. If, gentlemen
of the jury, his anger was not simulated ; if his
indignation was not merely official ; if he spoke
as he felt, how does it come to pass that no
single step was ever taken by him for the pur-
pose of arresting the progress of an evil represented by
him to be so calamitous? He toldyou that the country was
traversed by incendiaries who set fire to the passions of
the people ; the whole fabric of society, according to the
Attorney-General, has been a blaze for the last nine
months ; wherefore then did he stand with folded arms to
gaze at the conflagration ? Where were the Castle fire-en-
gines—where was the indictment—and of the ex-officio
information, what had become ? Is there not too much

(FROM OUR OWN REPORTERS.)
(From our Third Edition of Saturday.)
DUBLIN, FRIDAY, JAN. 26.
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.
At the sitting of the Court this morning, Mr.
M'DoNonou applied on behalf of an officer of police,
named Co=Lotion, stationed at Athlone, for a cri-
minal information against two persons, named JEssor
and O'BRIEN, for sending him a challenge, and
provoking him to commit a breach of the
peace. It appeared that COLCLOUGU called a
Mr. GARDINER, who was a friend of JESSOP, "a
five-shilling doctor and a Radical;" and on being
called upon for an explanation, on the part of Mr.
GARDINER, he denied having used some of the ex-
pressions attributed to him. Upon this Mr. JESSOP
who conveyed the words to Mr. GARDINER, sent him
a challenge by Mr. O'BRIEN, which occasioned the
present application.
The Court granted a rule nisi.
THE STATE TRIALS.
The foregoing case being disposed of, the Court
proceeded with the State trials. The business of the
day, like that of yesterday, consisted exclusively of
reports of meetings and articles from the Freeman's
Journal, the Pilot, and the Nation newspa-
pers. It was a dull, monotonous, and un-
interesting day's proceedings. Mr. VERNON of the
Stamp-office, and Mr. BOURNE, the Deputy Clerk of
the Crown, read alternately the various newspapers
pointed 'out to them. One of the papers handed in
was the Nation of the 11th of April, containing the
spirit-stirring ode, " The Memory of the Dead."
Mr. VERNON was directed to read the words of the
song, which he did in a very distinct and emphatic
manner. When he came to the concluding portion—
" But true men be you men,
Like those 9f ninety-eight,"
he was observed to look Very significantly at the jury,
which they will interpret for themselves.
Mr. Justice BURTON took his seat with his brOther
Judges this morning, for the first time after his in-
disposition.
The reading of the documents having been con-
cluded, a policeman was called to prove the proceed-
ings of the Arbitration Court at Blackrock, and pre-
cisely at a quarter past three o'clock the ATTORNEY-
GENERAL rose, and stated that the case for the Crown
had concluded.
After a short pause Mr. MooRE addressed the
Court, and begged an adjournment till to-morrow,
when Mr. SHELL will open on the part of the tra-
versers. The application was immediately granted,
and the Court rose.

THE QUEEN V. DANIEL O'CONNELL AND OTHERS.
The Court sat this morning at ten o'clock, and we are
happy to say that Mr. Justice Burton is so far recovered
from his recent attack of illness as to be enabled to take his
seat on the bench with the other members of the Court.
Before the business of the day commenced, Mr. M'Do-
nough said he had (with the permission of the Attorney-Ge-
neral), a short application to make to the Court on behalf of
Colclough v. John T. Jessop and Edward O'Brien.
The Learned Counsel said he appeared then on behalf of
Mr. Colclough, who was an officer of police in the town
of Athlone, and who sought for a criminal information
against the defendants for having written a letter to Kra
with the view of provoking him to fight a duel, and for having
posted him in the town of Athlone as a liar, a coward, &c.
The facts are shortly these :—The plaintiff and Mr. Jessop
were acquainted for some time, and, on Dec. 29 the latter
called on plaintiff, when a conversation took place rela-
tive to Doctor Gardiner, when plaintiff said, " Oh, he is a
five-shilling doctor;" this was said in jocularity, and nothing
more was heard about it until six days after, • when Dr. Gar-
diner's brother called on Mr. Colclough, who explained, and
apologised for the expression. Subsequently, on the 11th
of January, the defendants walked the streets, in order to
horsewhip plaintiff; but, failing to meet him, a hostile letter
was written to him, and, on the 13th of January, the de-
fendants posted a placard on the walls of Athlone, calling
plaintiff a coward and a liar. He was proceeding to read
the placard, when
The Chief Justice said—That is quite sufficient—take a
conditional order.

Mr. Smyley handed in the Freeman's Journal of the 4th
of April, which was proved by Mr. Vernon.
Turn to the first column, third page, at the top.
Mr. Bourne then read the proceedings at the weekly meet-
ing of the Association, at which John Reich, Esq., took the
chair.

Mr. Smyley—Gl to the s,evond column and read what Mr.
Steele said.

Clerk of the Crown--" r. Steele, immediately after
Mr. O'Connell t- clowis* 'Ward, ana as a repeal
warden of London, pr,-;cil:ed him with an address from
the repeal wardens of London on the occasion of the
triumphant result of the debate in the Corporation on the
repeal question, and concluded amid loud applause by
moving that the address be inserted on the minutes. Town
Councillor White seconded the motion, which was carried
amidst acclamation. Mr. O'Connell then moved that his son
Maurice, having declared himself ready to accept the office of
Inspector of Repeal Wardens for Munster, be appointed to that
office, which motion was put and carried. Mr. Duffy handed
in 21. from Nevrtownlimavady, and moved the admission of
Messrs. Coghlan and men as members."
Mr. Smyley—Now go to the fifth column, and you'll see a
letter ; read it.
The Clerk of the Crown—" Mr. Ray read the follow-
ing letter from General Clooney. The letter contained a
remittance 61., 51. of which was the *subscription of one
hundred associates, and 11. the personal subscription of
General Clooney. Mr. O'Connell moved the General's
letter be inserted on the minutes, and that the thanks of
the Association be given to this esteemed veteran and patriotic
friend of his country, which motion was put and carried.
Mr. Barrett handed in 305. from his own neighbourhood,
Drimna, and moved the admission of the subscribers as asso-
ciates, which was put and carried. He also handed in 61.105.
from Newtownbarry, a place which he said was famous in
Irish story."
Mr. O'Hagan—Refer to the fourth column of the same
page, and read the passage commencing with Counsellor
Duffy.
Clerk of the Crown (reading)—" Counsellor Duffy handed
proved by Mr. Vernon, was given
in 31. 25., and moved the admission of Peter C. Roche, Esq."
Mr. Sniyley handed in the Freeman's Journal of the 31st of
Association on the pre-
May,
we Hayes,r admitted.Esq.'
was called to
Mr. O'Connell
tt3hof
eat yh ,e
proceedingsw h
Clerki which
o having a v i
theno
gf
tbeenhCrown,e
who read from it the report of
Repeal
vthioeusday at
chair. Several
in 31/. 10s. from Youghalt and moved the admission
of the Rev. Richard Smithy and Mr. John O'Lomasney, and
having passed a high encomium on the patriotism of both
gentlemen, moved their admission, which was seconded
evewrahlicmh
by Mr. John O'Connell, and passed unanimously. Mr.
O'Connell next said that he had to correct a typo-
graphical error in the admirable report of the pro-
ceedings at Longford, which appeared in the Freeman's
Journal. He was reported to have called the soldiery of
Britain " a ruffian soldiery, but he did no such thing; they
were an exceeding well behaved set of men. He seldom or
aver saw a soldier in the dock. He also spoke of the ser-
geants as an exceeding well-informed and well-behaved
body of men, and said if justice was done them one should be
promoted to the rank of an officer in each company. What
he said was in the words of the beautiful ballad—
" And now a sad maniac, she roams the wild common,
Against minions of Britain she warns each woman,
And sings of her father in strains more than human,
While the tear drops do fall from poor Eileen O'More."
Mr. Close requested of the Clerk of the Crown to read Mr.
O'Connell's speech at the Loyal National Repeal Association,
on the 30th of May, 1843.
The Clerk of the Crown complied, and read the speech in
question.
Mr. Close—Go to the report of the Longford meeting.
The Clerk of the Crown then read the speech of Mr.
O'Connell, proposing the health of the Bishop of Ardagh,
and the speech of the Bishop in returning thanks. The next
health proposed was that of the Bishop of Meath, and the
Right Rev. Prelate, in returning thanks, said he cordially
concurred in every expression used by the Bishop of Ardagh
Some other documents having been read, among them
some referring to the arbitrators, their duties, character,
and appointment, together with a form of submission to an
arbitration award,
Charles Hovonden, a police-constable, was then called and
examined by Mr. Brewster.—The witness proved that Mr.
John O'Connell acted several times as arbitrator in the
Blackrock Arbitration Court, and that Dr. Gray acted once

in the same capacity.
This was the last witness called on the part of the Crown ;
and the Attorney-General then rose, and said that the case
for the Crown was closed. It was now exactly a quarter
past three o'clock.
After a short pause, Mr. Moore rose and said that Mr.
Mr. Shell, who was to open the case for the traversers, as
counsel for Mr. John O'Connell, was unwell for two or three
days. He had been sent for, and stated that he was con-
fined to his bed, but he would be able to attend to-
morrow. He hoped under the circumstances that the Court
would adjourn the case till to-morrow.
The Chief Justice said the application was only reasonable.
The Court accordingly adjourned till .
Mr. Justice Perrin said hewould remain in Court if any
gentleman had motions to make, but there was a general
rush from the Court, when it was known the Crown had
closed, and that the State trials were adjourned.

TWELFTH DAY.—BY EXPRESS.
DUBLIN SATURDAY, JON. 27.
The full Court sat this morning precisely at 10 o'clock
It being publicly known that the case for the Crown had
terminated, and that Mr. Sheil, Q.C. and M.P, was to
open the case for the defence, the greatest anxiety pre-
vailed. The hall of the courts and the adjoining avenues
were thrmiged to excess at an early hour, The interior
of the 'court presented a very novel scene, and every
part of it was crowded almost to suffocation. We have
never on any occasion observed so many elegantly at-
tired females in a court of justice. Almost all the nobi-
lity with their families, at present in town, who could

reason to think that a project was formed, or rather that
a plot was concocted, to decoy and ensnare the traversers,
and that a connivance, amounting almost to sanction, was
deliberately adopted as a part of the policy of the:Govern-
ment, in order to betray the traversers into indiscretions
of which advantage was, in due time, to be taken ? I
have heard it said that it was criminal to tell the people to
"bide their time;" but is the Government to "bide its time"
in order to turn popular excitement to a useful official
account ? The public prosecutor who gives an indirect
encouragement to agitation, in order that he may after-
wards more effectually fall upon it, bears some moral affi-
nity to the informer, who provokes the crime from whose
denunciation his ignominious livelihood is derived. Has
the Attorney-General adopted a course worthy of his
great office—worthy of the ostensible head of the Irish
bar, and the representative of its interests in the House
of Commons? Is it befitting that the successor of Saurin,
and of Plunket, who should keep " watch and ward"
from his high station over the public safety, should de-
scend to the performance of functions worthy only of a
commissary of the French police ; and in place of being
the sentinel, should become the " Artful Dodger" of the
State ? But what, you may ask, could be the motive of
the Right Hon. Gentleman- for pursuing the course he
has adopted, and for which no explanation has been at-
tempted by him ? He will have obtained no advantage
signally serviceable to his party by prosecuting Mr. Bar-
rett, or Mr. Duffy, or Dr. Gray, for strong articles in
their newspapers ; or by prosecuting Mr. Steele, or Mr.
Tierney, for attending unlawful assemblies. He did
not fish with lines—if I may avail myself of an illustra-
tion' derived from the habits of my constituents at
Dungarvon—but cast a wide and firmly constructed
trammel-net, in order that by a kind of miraculous
catch he might take the great agitator-leviathan, him-
self a Member of Parliament, Tom Steele, the three edi-
tors of newspapers, and a pair of priests in one stupen-
dous hawl together. But, gentlemen, there was another
object still more important to be gained. Had the At-
torney-General prosecuted individuals for the use of
violent language, or for the attending unlawful meetings,
pitch I:Z.. I -1d be held responsible for his own
acts ; but in a proleOution for a conspiracy, which is
open to every one of the objections applicable to con-
structive treason, the acts and the speeches of one man
are given in e vidence against another, although the latter
may have been at the distance of a hundred miles when
the circumstances used against him as evidence, and of
which he had no sort of cognizance, took place. By
prosecuting Mr. O'Connell for a conspiracy, the Attor-
ney-General treats him exactly as if he were the editor
of the Freeman, the editor of the Nation, and
the editor of the Pilot newspapers. Indeed, if
five or six other editors of newspapers in the
country had been joined as traversers, for every line in
their newspapers Mr. O'Connell would be held re-
sponsible. There is one English gentleman, I believe
upon that jury. If a conspiracy. were instituted
against the Anti-Corn-law League in England, would
he not think it very hard indeed that Mr. Cobden and
Mr. Bright should be held answerable for every article
in the Chronicle, in the Globe, and in The Sun? How
large a portion of the case of the Crown depends upon
this implication of Mr. O'Connell with three Dublin
newspapers ?—He is accused of conspiring with men
who certainly never conspired with each other. For
those who know anything of newspapers are aware that
that they are mercantile speculations—the property in
them is held by shares—and that the very circumstance
of their being engaged in the same politics alienates the
proprietors from each other. They pay their addresses
to the same mistress, and cordially detest each other. I
remember to have heard Mr. Barnes, the celebrated
editor of the Times newspaper, once ask Mr. Rogers
what manner of man was a Mr. Tomkins ; to which
Mr. Rogers replied, "he was a dull dog, who read the
Morning Heron" Let us turn for a moment from the
Repeal to the anti-Repeal party. You would smile I think
at the suggestioß that Mr. Murray Mansfield and Mr.
Kemmy Sheehan should enter into a conspiracy toge-
ther ! Those gentlemen would be themselves astonished
at the imputation. Suppose them to be both members
of the Conservative Association : 'Would that circum-
stance be sufficient to sustain, in the judgment of men
aneoi clwtanlysTl
of plain sense, the charge of conspiracy upon them ?
Gentlemen, the relation in which Mr. Duffy, Mr. Barrett,
and Dr. Gray, stood to the Repeal Association, is exactly
the same as that in which Mr. Staunton, the proprietor
of the Weekly Register, stood towards the Catholic Asso-
ciation. He was paid for his advertisements, and his
newspaper contained emancipation news, and was sent to
those who desired to receive it. Mr. Staunton is now a
member of the Repeal Association ; he will tell you that
his connection with that body is precisely of the same
character as that which existed with the cele-
orypaeacrilnrocyea ct
of that
attending
cele-
brated body to which I have referred ; he will
prove to you, that over his paper Mr. O'Connell
exercises no sort of control, and that all that is
done by him in reference to his paper, is the result
of his own free and unbiassed will. The speeches made
at the Association• and public meetings were reported
s
o
iTssdnholgoCfeNtaeyrdrilgynerhfoeeetumnifoofeuafvmr:NeytbotdhosloniefusecrrapsrooFimuhref
by him in the same manner as in the other public jour-
, nals ; he is not a conspirator ; the Government have
not treated him as such. Why ? Because there were
no poems in his paper like " The Memory of the Dead,"
which, although in direct opposition to the feelings of
Mr. O'Connell, and which he had frequently expressed,
lah—s
bnpa
vedti wr
aahfnhnoci
ryact
fish:lnnigndot
ei
is now used in evidence against him. Gentlemen, I
l
ancae-rtouceeft
notions
ooii
fznnuetoesstgsrnoe aoyrrscl
Attorney-General
ueucna
actual
have said enough to you to show how formidable is this
oughtpitl
Grfuist
lawful assemblies.
conviction for conspiracy, and nothing else. He has
deviated in these particulars from English usage
' —in indictments for a conspiracy, counts for at-
' tending unlawful assemblies are in England uniformly
introduced. English juries have almost uniformly mani-
fested an aversion to find men guilty of a conspiracy.
Take Henry Hunt's case as an example. When that
case was tried England was in a perilous condition. It
had been proved before a secret committee of the House
of Commons, of which the present Earl of Derby, the
father of Lord Stanley,. was the Chairman, that large
bodies of men were disciplined at night in the neigh-
bourhood of Manchester, and made familiar with the use
of arms. An extensive organisation existed. Vast pub-
lic assemblies were held, accompanied with every revo-
lutionary incident in furtherance of a revolutionary ob-
ject—yet, an English jury would not find Henry Hunt
guilty of conspiracy, but found him guilty, on the fourth
count of the indictment, for attending an unlawful assem-
bly. Some of the Chartists were not found guilty of a
conspiracy, but were found guilty upon counts from which
the word " conspiracy" is left out. Gentlemen, the pro-
mises of Mr. Pitt, when the Union was carried, have not
been fulfilled. The prospects presented by him in his
magnificent declaration have not been realised ; but, if in
griev-
ous disappointment—if English capital has not adven-
turedso many other regards we have sustained a most
here—if Englishmen have preferred sinking their
fortunes in the rocks of Mexico rather than embark them
in speculations connected with this fine but unfortunate
country—yet, from the Union, let one advantage at all
events be derived. Let English love of justice—let
English principles—let English horror of oppression—let
English detestation of foul play—let English loathing of

constructive crime, find its way amongst us ; bat, thank I self upon a similar occasion. The hour for intimidation
God, it is not to England that lam driven exclusively I was passed. Sir Walter Scott, after detailing in-
to refer for a solitary example of the aversion of twelve : stances of the violence of Whitshed, and describing*
honest men to prosecutions for conspiracy. You remem- ' the rest of the Dean's letters, says-" Thus victoriously
ber the prosecution of Forbes, and of Handwich, and terminated the first grand struggle for the independence
other Orangemen of an inferior class, under Lord Wel- of Ireland. The eyes of the kingdom were now moved.
lesley's edannstration; they were guilty of a riot in the with one consent, upon the man by whose unbending for-
theatre, but they were charged with having entered into titude and pre-eminent talent this triumph was accom-
a great political confederacy to upset Lord Wellesley's plished. The Draper's head became the sign ; his por-
Government, and to associate him with the " exports of trait was engraved, worn upon handkerchiecs, struck
Ireland." The Protestant feeling of Ireland rose-ad- upon medals, and displayed in every possible manner as
dresses were poured in from almost every district in the Liberator of Ireland. Well might : that epithet
the country, remonstrating against a proceeding which " grand," be applied to the first grand struggle of the
was represented as hostile to the liberties of the country, people of Ireland by that immortal Scotchmitn, who was
and a great stretch of the prerogative of the Crown. himself so "grand of soul," and who, of mental loftiness,
The jury did their duty, and refused to convict the tra- as well as of the magnificence of external nature, had ei
versers. I recollect that the Irish Catholics at that perception so fine; and well might our own Grattan, who
time, heated by feelings of partisanship, were rash was so great and so good, in referring to his own achieve-
enough to wish for a conviction. Fatal mistake ! A ment, in 1782. addresses to the spirit of Swift, and to
precedent would have been created, which would soon the spirit of Molyneux, his enthusiastic invocation. And
have been converted into practice against themselves. may not I, in such a cause as this, off,r up my prayer,
Gentlemen, we are living in the midst of strong political that of the spirit by which the soul of Henry Grattan was
vicissitude. God forbid that I should even live to see itself influenced, every remnant in the bosoms of my
the time-(for I hate to see ascendancy of every kind) countrymen may not be extinguished. A prosecution.
-God forbid that I should ever live to see the time, or was not instituted against the great conspirators of 1782_
that our children should ever live to see the time, when The English Minister had been taught in the struggles
there shall be found Catholic Judges at a trial at bar between England and her colonies a lesson from ads
upon that bench, and the entire of the Government bar versity, that schoolmistress, the only one from whom
who shall be engaged in a public prosecution, shall be Ministers ever learn anything-who charges so much
Roman Catholics ; and when a Catholic crown solici- blood, so much gold, and such torrents of tears, for her
tor shall strike eleven Protestants• from the special instructions. In reading the history of that time, and
jury list, and leave twelve Roman Catholics in that box. I in tracing the gradual descent of England from the tone
re-assert it, and exclaim again, in all the sincerity of despotic dictation to the reluctant acknowledg-
of my heart, that I pray that such a spectacle never ment of disaster, and to the ignominious confession
shall be exhibited in this the first criminal court in of defeat, how many painful considerations are
the land, I know full well the tendency of power presented to us ! If in time-if the English Mi-
to abuse. We have witnessed strange things, and strange nester in time had listened to the eloquent warnings of
things we may yet behold. It is the duty, the Chatham, or to the still more oracular admonitions of
solemn duty-it is the interest, the paramount interest- Edmund Burke, what a world of woe would 'have been
of every one of us, before and above everything else, to avoided! By some fatality, England was first demented,
secure the great principles of liberty-in which we all and then was lost. Her repentance followed her per-
have an equal concern-from invasion, and to guard dition. The colonies were lost ; but Ireland was saved
against the creation of a precedent which may enable by' the timely recognition of the great principle on which
some future Attorney-General to convert the Queen's her independence was founded. No Attorney-General
Bench into a Star Chamber, and commit a further inroad was found bold enough to prosecute Flood and Grattan
upon the principles of the Constitution. Gentlemen of for a conspiracy. With what scorn would twelve Irish-
the Jury, it is my intention to show you that my client men have repudiated the presumptuous functionary by
is not guilty of any of the conspirac'es charged in the whom such an enterprise should have been attempted.
indictment • and in doing so I shall have occasion to Irishmen then felt .that they had a country ; they acted
advert to the several proceedings that have been adopted under the influence of -that instinct of nationality
by the Government, and the evidence that has been laid which, for His providential purposes, the author of nature
before you. But before I proceed to that head of the has implanted in us. We were then a nation- we
division which I have traced out for myself, I shall show were not broken into fragments by those dissensions by
the jury what the object of my client really was. I shall which we are at once enfeebled and degraded. If we
show you that that object was a legal one, and that it were eight millions of Yrotestants (and, Heaven forgive
was by legal means that he endeavoured to attain it. me, there are moments Nchen, looking at the wrongs
The Attorney-General, in a speech ofconsiderable length, done to my country, I have - been betrayed into the
but not longer than the greatness of the occasion amply guilty desire that we all were) ;
but if we were eight
justified, adverted to a great number of diversified topics, millions of Protestants, should we be used as we are .
quoted the speeches of Sir Robert Peel and of Should we see every office of dignity and emolument, et
Lord John Russell. He adverted to the report of the this country filled by the natives of the sister island'?
secret committee of the House of Lords in 1797, and he Should we see the just expenditure re,
referred to the great era of Irish parliamentary inde- provement of our country denied ? S multi we see / •
pendence, 1782. That he should have been so multifa- quit and crown rents of Ireland applied to the improve.. .
isite for the imhe
nous and discursive, Ido not complain. In a case of ment of Charing-cross or of Windsor Castle ? .Should
this incalculable importance, we should look for light we submit to the odious distinctions between Englere
wherever it can be found. I shall go somewhat farther men and Irishmen introduced into almost every c"
than the year 1782; but do not imagine that I mean to of legislation ? Should we bear with an Arms Mit. •
enter into any lengthened narration or elaborate expa- by which the Bill of Rights is set at nought _
tiation. Long tracts of time may be swiftly traversed. Should we brook the misapplication of a poor law !,
Ido not think that any writer has given a more accu- Should we allow the Parliament to proceed as if we had
rate, or more interesting account of the first struggle of' not a voice in the legislature? Should we submit to our
Ireland for the assertion of equal rights than *h. Walter present inadequate representation? Should
we alto w. a
Scott. He was a Tory. He was bred and born, per- new tariff to be introduced, without giving us
haps,
haps, in some disrelish for Ireland; but when he came slightest equivalent for the manifest loss we have ay
amongst us, his opinions underwent a material alters- tamed ? And should we not peremptorily require doe
tion. The man who could speak of Scotland in those the Imperial Parliament should hold a periodical ses'
noble lines, which were cited in the course of this sions for the transaction of Irish business in the metro-
trial, with so much passionate attachment, made a just polis of a powerful, and, as it then would be, an midi:
allowance for those who felt for the land of vided country? But we are prevented by our wretched
their birth the same just emotion.. In his life religious distinctions from co-operating for a single otos
of Swift, he says, Molyneux, the friend of Locke, and ject, by which the honour and substantial interests of ottn
of liberty published in 1698, " The case of country can be promoted. Fatal, disastrous, detestable'
Ireland being bound by acts of Parliament in England distinctions ! Detestable, because they are not only
stated," in which he showed with great force, that the repugnant to the genuine sp ant
of Christian ity, and sub.:
right of legislation, of which England made so oppres- stitute for the charities of religion the rancorous an
sive a use, was neither justifiable by the plea of con- pathies of sect ; but because they practically reduce Ps
quest, purchase, or precedent, and was only submitted to a colonial dependency, make the union a name, CO!:
to from incapacity of effectual resistance. The temper vert a nation into an appurtenance, make us the footstool
of the English House of Commons did not brook these of the Minister, the scorn of England, and the commies`
remonstrances. It was unanimously voted that these ration of the world. Ireland is the only country in
bold and pernicious assertions were calculated to shake Europe in which abominable distinctions between Pro-
the subordination and dependence of Ireland, as united testant and Catholic are permitted to continue. In Ger'
and annexed for ever to the Crown of England, and the many, where Luther translated the Scriptures ; 111
vote of the House was followed by an address to the France, where Calvin wrote the Institutes ; aye, in the
Queen, complaining that although the woollen trade land of the Dragonades and the St. Bartholomews ; in
was the staple manufacture of England, over which her the land from whence the forefathers of one of the judie
legislation was accustomed to watch with the utmost cial functionaries of this Court, and the first Ministerial
care, yet Ireland, which was dependent upon and pro- officer of the Court, were barbarously driven-the enll-
tected by England, not contented with the linen manufac- tual wrongs done by Catholic and Protestant are fors
ture, the liberty whereof was indulged to her, presumed given and forgotten, while we, madmen that we are,
also to apply her credit and capital to the weaving of her arrayed by that fell fanaticism which, driven froth
own wool and woollen cloths, to the great detriment every other country in Europe, has found a refuge
of England. Not a voice was raised in the British here, precipitate ourselves upon each other in those
House of Commons to contradict maxims equally impo- encounters of sectarian ferocity in which our
litic and tyrannical. In acting upon these commercial country, bleeding and lacerated, is trodden under foots
restrictions, wrong was heaped upon wrong, and insult and our island, which might be the noblest in the works"
was added to injury-with this advantage on the side to is miserably degraded, and her national resources un-
the aggressors, that they could intimidate the people of developed by those who counteract the designs of nature
Ireland into silence by raising, to -drown every com- and who become conspirators against the Providence of
plainant, the cry of "rebel, and Jacobite When Swift God.-(Loud cheers and clapping of heads, which con-
came to Ireland in 1714 he at first devoted himself to tinued for some seconds.) •
literary occupation ; but at length his indignation was Chief Justice-Such interruptions as that are highly
aroused by the monstrous wrongs which were inflicted indecorous, and if that conduct be repeated, I shall cer-
upon his country. He was so excited by the injustice tainly order the Court to be cleared. lam sure that you,
which he abhorred that he could not forbear from ex- yourself, Mr. Shell, are sensible of the impropriety of
claiming to his friend Delany, "Do not the villanies of such interruptions.
men eat into your flesh ?" In /720 he published a pro- Mr. Sheil-Noeene, myLord, can deprecate more than
posal for the use of Irish manufactures, and was charged Ido such modes of expressing opinion in the Court. It
with having endeavoured to create hostility between dif- is not by such means that the jury can be persuaded-
ferent classes of his Majesty's subjects, one of the lam much obliged to your Lordship for the oeservation,
charges preferred in this very indictment. At that time as it has afforded me a moment's rest.
the judges were dependent upon the Crown. They did not Chief Jusfce-Whenever you feel exhausted, Mrs .
possess that "fixity of tenure" which is a security Shell, you may sit down.
for their public virtue. They are now no longer Mr. Sheil -I thank your Lordship. (The Rig
thank God, "tenants at wit." They may be mistaken- Hon. and Learned Gentleman then proceeded.) .1°
they may be blinded by strong emotions-but corrupt the prosperity of our country, architecture has
they cannot be. The circumstances detailed in the fol- left us its magnificent attestation. This temple do-
lowing passage in the life of Swift could not by possibi- dicated to justice, stands among the witnesses, silent and
lit occur in modern times. "The storm which Swift solemn, of the glory of Ireland, to which I may appeal.
haddriven was not long in bursting. It was intimated to It is seen from afar off. It rises high above the smoke
Lord Chief Justice Whitshed by a person in great of- and din of this populous city; it is the type of that moral,
five" (this, if I remember right, was the expression used elevation, over every contaminating influence, to which
by Mr. Ross, in reference to a great unknown, who sent every man who is engaged in the sacred administratios
him here) "that Swift's pamphlet was published for the of justice can ascend. The penal laws were enacted II
purpose of setting the two kingdoms at variance ; and it slaves and relaxed by freemen. The Protestants of Ire"
was recommended that the printer should be prosecuted land had been contented to kneel to England upon the
with the uttermost rigour. Whitshed was not a person Catholic's neck.. They rose to a nobler attitude,
to neglect such a hint, and the arguments of Govern- and we were permitted to get up. In 17821
ment were so successful that the grand juries of the the Protestants of Ireland, who had acquired
political rights, communicated civil privileges , °
county and city presented the Dean's pamphlet as a
seditious, factious, and virulent libel. Waters, the their fellow-subjects. In 1793 they granted us the slew
printer, was seized and forced to give great bail ; tive franchise-a word of illustrious etymology. here
but, upon his trial, the jury, though some pains had can be no doubt that the final adjustment of the Ca
been bestowed in selecting them, brought him in not lic question upon terms satisfactory to both
guilty • and it was not until they were worn out by the would have been effected, and without • the coup-
putting
Lord Chief Justice, who detained them eleven
hours, • h i
try to that process of fearful agitation through which a
and sent them nine times to reconsider their verdict, that has passed, if the rebellion of 1798, so repeatedly
op,
they, at length, reluctantly left the matter in his hands, with a sincerity so unaffected, denounced by Mr. O'l,°'l„..
by a special verdict ; but the measures of Whitshed nell, had not marred the hopes of the country and esse,':
were too violent to he of service to the Government ; tially contributed to the Union. Mr. Pitt borrowed ,e,"`,.-
men's minds revolted against his iniquitous conduct." plan of the Union from that great soldier to whom 1-
:Sir Walter Scott then proceeded to give an account of gentry of this country are under obligations so essentiar;
the famous Draper's letters. After speaking of the first It must be acknowledged, however, that they make op
arties
'three, Sir Walter Scott says, "It was now obvious, from the zeal of their loyalty for t'he republican orig,in °
the temper of Ireland, that the true point of difference their estates. Oliver Cromwell first advised ths;
between the two countries, might safely be brought Union. He returned 400 members for England,
..3p..
before the public." In the Draper's fourth letter, ac- for Scotland, and as many for this country ; a 1,.; -
cordingly, Swift boldly treated of the Royal prerogative port of the debates in that singular assembly was 'i;
by the almost exclusive employment of natives of Eng- served by Thomas Burton, who kept a diary, en -0
land, in places of trust and emolument in Ireland ;of the stated in that book which I hold in my hand to ha
dependence of that kingdom upon England, and the been a member in the Parliaments of Oliver slit
power assumed, contrary to truth, reason, and justice, of Richard Cromwell, from 1656 to 1659. It was puhlish°-
binding her by the laws of a Parliament in which she had a few years ago from a MS. in the British Nfusell;
no representation." And, gentlemen, is it a question The members from Ireland were English soldiers,
_.„1",,,
too bold of me to ask, whether if Ireland have no had acquired estates in Ireland. You would 811 Zr;
effective representation-if the wishes and feelings of that they were cordially welcomed by their Englism...,'.l
the representatives of Ireland upon Irish questions are soCiates, for they were Englishmen, bred and born ; -.--„„
held of no account-if the Irish representation is utterly they had very materially contributed to the tranquilisar
merged in the English, and the Minister does not, by a of Ireland. I hope I use the most delicate and least 0111;
judicious policy, endeavour to counteract it-as he sive term. I acknowledge that I had anticipated as tinci
might, in the opinion of many men, at least effectually before I read the book. What was my surprise wuee-te
do-is not the practical result exactly the same as if found that these deputies from Ireland were consider'',
04
Ireland had not a single representative in Parliament ? be in some sort contaminated by the air which they '-
Gentlemen, Swift addressed the people of Ireland upon breathed in this country, and that they were most 010'.:
this great topic, in language as strong as any that courteously treated by the English Members. gee.
Daniel O'Connell has employed. "The remedy," he tleman whose name ought to be Copley,. says, " "i,' -...
says. "is wholly in your own hands. . . . By the men are foreigners." The following is the sPece".„.e •
laws of God, of nations, and of your country, you are, " Mr. Gewen said, it is not for the honour ,of the --T;
and ought to be, as free a people as your brethren in lish nation for foreigners to come and have pewertor
England." " This tract," says Sir Walter Scott," pressed this nation. They are but provinces at bests"- ,D, :riche
at once upon the real merits of the question at issue. Clarges says, on behalf of Ireland, page 114, had
and the alarm was instantly taken by the English Go- (the Irish) were united with you, and have alwaYs, ed,
vernment, the necessity of supporting whose domination an equal right with you. Ile that was King of -4111Pf.1 he
devolved upon Carteret, who was just landed, and ac- was King of Ireland or Lord. If you have not a is.
cordingly a proclamation was issued offering 300/. re- to sit here, you must in justice let them have a Pose
ward for the discovery of the author of the Draper's meat at home. How safe that will be, I question. '_l7.,,er
fourth letter, described as a wicked and malicious that sit for them are not Irish teagues; but faithful Pew
pamphlet, containing several seditious and scandalous sons." Mr. Gewen again observes-" It were .
ilia.
passages, highly reflecting upon his Majesty and his both for England and for Ireland that they had raeter-
Ministers, and tending to alienate the affections of his ments of their own. It is neither safe, juste nor heeler
good subjects in England and Ireland from each other." able to admit them. Let them rather have a salt
Sir Walter, after mentioning one or two interesting ment of their own." Mr. Antic observes-" If Y°lll,s;eore
anecdotes, says-" When the bill against the printer of as to the convenience in relation to England, much sit
the Draper's letters was about to be presented to the is to be said v, by those who serve for Scotland sh,° 1. &-
grand jury, Swift addressed to that body a paper en- here. It is one continent, and elections are easeiuseee for
tiled ` Seasonable Advice,' exhorting them to remember termined ; but Ireland differs. It is much fit the
the
the story of the Leyone mode by which the them to have Parliaments of their own. That nt, and
wolves were placed with the sheep on con- old constitution. It will be difficult to changeee'biliq
dition of parting with their shepherds and dangerous for Ireland. They are under an intl)°-1
never
mastiffs, after which they ravished the flock at pleasure. of redress Their grievances cill'ensiseed•
A few spirited verses, addressed to the citizens at large. be redressed. Elections can never be in its of
and enforcing similar topics, are subscribed by the Though they were but a province, there were c° . •i•
1 Draper's initials, and are, doubtless, Swift's own com- justice and parliaments as free as here. • • • -e'vances
position, alluding to the charge that he had gone too far pray that they may have soon to hear their grl ;hell
in leaving the discussion of Wood's projects to treat of in their own nation, seeing that they cannot Ilavee I an"
the alleged dependence of Ireland. He concludes in heard here." - Sir Thomas Stanley observes". Ire'
these lines- not to speak for Ireland, but for the English and
" If, then, oppression has not quite subdued land The members for Ire"-
en clan° t°..
At once your prudence and your gratitude- the electors are all Englishmen, who natur•- lee be g°"
If you yourselves conspire not your undoing- have votes in making -laws by which they. In,
"and pre'
And don't deserve, and won't bring down your ruin- verned ; they have fought your battles, obtaine,(Lea a"
If yet to virtue you have some pretence- served your interests, desig T. ned by the famous elf,freyer
If yet you are not lost to common sense, liament, obtained by blood, and sought fur make
Assist your patriots in your own defence; solemnly.' You may ask of me, wherefore is "
tions °"
That stupid cant, ' he went too far,' despise,
And know that to be brave is to be wise; j the
Think how he struggled for your liberty, these references ? I answer, because the institua 0 fare,
country may ,change the Government-rneaYi)Lie of a
And give him freedom while yourselves are free." undergo essential modifications ; but the st. 0 meee aF.
national character, like its language, remaillsse -geglisne
At the same time was circulated the memorable and_a t to cell:
quotation from Scripture, by a Quaker (I don't know,p to this very day there is
in the feelinvgntouire--d
gentlemen, whether his name was Robinson, but it ought men towards this country what I have
.•ee. Toward
elsewhere the instinct of donain:rPapists were
to have been)-" And the people said unto Saul, shall
Jonathan die who bath wrought thy great salvation in the Protestants of Ireland, when
feeling nrevtge
Israel. God forbid ! As the Lord liveth there shall ground to powder, the very sameto
,is'
our.
start'
of whichl we see manifestationastho tsu protertio
not one hair of his head fall to the ground, for he hath but
is not one between C
wrought with God this day ; so the people rescued but the question is between the greater
Jonathan and he died not." Thus admonished br deavours to who
:eel. :CilictintrY an keep
verse, law, and Scripture, the grand jury assembled. smaller, which the greater countryany j ande
Claraeaen
under an ignominious control. M
It was in vain that the Lord Chief Justice Whitshed, tit ; Lord ea
voted for the Union lived to repen n peer by a gtrod,
who had denounced the Dean's former tract as seditious, when designated as a into
and procured a verdict against the prisoner, exerted him- • himself, . tak be ad Go
Whig patrician, lamented the mis e
plebeia