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

IRELAND.

THE STATE TRIALS
(THIRD DAY-BY EXPRESS.)

(FROM OUR OWN REPORTERS.)

DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 17
COLRT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.

ITHE QUEEN V. DANIEL O'CONNELL AND OTHERS.
The Court was again thronged this morning to hear
the continuation of the Attorney-General's opening
speech.
At five minutes past their Lordships took their seats
on the bench.
Mr. O'Connell and his son, John O'Connell, attired in
the bar costume, were in punctual attendance.
The Clerk of the Crown called the Traversers, who se-
verally answered to their names.
The Jury having been called over,
Mr. Rigby (one of the Jurors) rose, and addressing the
Court, said he felt it duo to himself to observe to their
Lordships, when he was asked yesterday how many Chris-
tian names were inscribed upon the door-label of his house,
he replied that the inscription was " J. J. Rigby." On re-
turning home, however, last night, he was greatly sur-
prised to find that there was only " John Rigby " on
the door. When he made the assertion yesterday he
was under the impression that the. fact was precisely as
he had stated it ; but, having found it otherwise, he
thought it necessary to make the present explanation; for
he did not wish that any misconception concerning any-
thing which he had inadvertently stated should exist in
the minds of his fellow-citizens.—(Loud laughter.)
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL then rose to resume his ad-
dress to the Court and Grand Jury. He said that on the
6th of August, 1843, a Repeal meeting had been held in
the town of Baltinglass, in the county of Wicklow. At
that meeting three of the traversers were present—
namely, Daniel O'Connell, Thomas Steele, and Dr.
Gray. The meeting was attended by an enormous
multitude, whose numbers were generally calculated
at one hundred and fifty thousand ; Mr,
O'Connell addressed the populace, and amongst
other observations, used words to the following effect:—
" And I am to be told that the Parliament which by

force and fraud was extorted from us, is never to re-
vive again, and that Ireland alone is to be condemned to
perpetual serfdom. I deny it. I call on you all to
deny it with me, and to give me your universal promise
that Ireland shall be a nation." yes, he called on them
to give their universal pledge tb at Ireland should be
a nation—and this addressed to the unthinking popu-

lace—to a multitude of 150 thousand souls ! At
a subsequent period of the same day Mr. O'Connell
made a second harangue, in which, he used such expres-
sions as these—" If I want you again will you not be
ready at my word ?—(Cries Yes, to be sure we
will.') Let any man who is determined to meet me
again on a future occasion, wilam I shall require his
presence for a peaceable purpose, hold up his hands."
And the report then went on to state that thousands of
hands were upraised, amid loud demonstrations of ap-
plause ; and, therefore, Mr. O'Connell expressed a wish
that that cheer might rend the ears of Bog-trotting
Fenton,' that he might be taught to understand
that was the true state of popular feeling in Ire-

land." It was well now to inquire what was the effect
which had been produced upon the minds of those who
had listened to this exciting anh most inflammatory
address, and eloquent evidence of this effect might be
gathered from the various results; which fell from the
lips of seueral of the peasantry after the conclu-
sion of the speech. One man was heard to declare
"we are determined to get repeal, for we are all
sober now, and we will not be pelt down as we were
in '98." Another said, " let us wait with patience
for a few months ; the time is nearer than you
think. Ireland was trampled on, but she shall be no
longer so." Others exclaimed that they would turn out
and die for repeal ; but they were afraid the sea-side
fellows would not stand to them, and that Father Lalor
told them it was too far gone now, and that they would
not get it without bloodshed. Some among the lower order
were heard to say, " that unless repeal was granted
there wouldn't be a blow of work done in Ireland, and that
the people would rise to a man." Others contradicted it
bo saying, that " the only way they wanted to get their
rights was by peace, but that if they did not, foreign
Powers would strike the blow." That was the way the
people of this country were instructed by those agitators,
who were destructive of its peace and prosperity—this
was the effect of those instructions and exhortations to
keep the peace—" The time is nearer than you think ;"

that accounts for the manner in which the remarks were
understood. " I I want you again, won't you be
ready at my word." These were the expectations
of a future day, of receiving that intimation for
which they were prepared, when the organisation
was completed in every portion of Ireland—when
the Repeal Wardens had done their work, and every
part of the country was, in the language of Mr. Duffy,
ready for revolt. A dinner took place on the same
day at Baltinglass, at which three of the Traversers,
Mr. O'Connell, Mr. Steele, and Doctor Gray were
present. Mr. O'Connell, on that occasion, said—" Re-
momber, my motto is, whoever commits a crime gives
strength to the enemy;" that is the doctrine which
I have preached everywhere, and I will soon have
three millions of men to preach and practice it, and
no statesman that ever lived could resist a popula-

tion of that kind ; but we must persevere. I intend to
go on with these meetings until such time as every part
of tlreland shall have " pronounced," as they say in
Spain, or shall have declared its adhesion to our cause.
The revolution in Spain was brought about by the mili-
tary and the tyrant Espartero was turned from power by
the spirit of the army cmd of the nation. The sergeants of
the Spanish army are a fine set of mcn, but those of the
British army are the finest, the bravest, the most intelli-
gent and trustworthy anywhere. In every other service
the sergeants are made officers of, but in the :British
service they have not yet learned to that act of justice.
If our cause go on,' that means if we get Repeal, ' we
will do them that act of justice. The Government will
alter their plans, and appoint sergeants to commissions
for fear they would pronounce, and I give them
a truce to do so from this spot.' He makes use of
thot language calculated to inflame the non-
commissioned officers of the British army against
the Government ; to represent them as treated with
injustice, and to persuade them that that injustice
would be remedied and removed as the Repeal advanced,
and they would find when he (the Attorney-Ge-
neral came to some publications just now con-
nected with the British army, that it was part
of the object of these persons who are charged
with this conspiracy, of having organised the popula-
tion, to create discontent among the army, and
thereby render the Government powerless against
that organisation. In another part of his (Mr.
O'Connell's) address he stated—" I have thrown
out more than once, and I now repeat, that a pre-
servative Association should be formed to preserve every-
thing that is worth preserving, and to obliterate every-
thing that ought to be obliterated. Every member
of that Association should find or produce 1001. ; and
I will take to provide against their being committed
to the meshes of the law, and that there shall be
no opportunity of indicting or prosecuting them. I
trust that before Christmas comes we will have
that Association sitting in Dublin, and drawing up
Bills which they will call on the British Parliament
to approve of, and if they refuse to do so then re-
spectfully calling on her Majesty to summon her
Parliament together in Ireland again." This was the
dictation used to tho organised hundreds of thousands

who assembled. To call on the British Parliament to
pass these bills which had gone through the Preserva-
tive Society, and if they did not obey that dictation
of the Preservative Society that they would call
on her Majesty and hand her over the sceptre of
this country on such terms as that Preservative Society
thought fit. He thought it would not ;be necessary
now to advert to anything that intervened between the
date he had last mentioned, the 6th of August, and the
12th of August, and, as he stated yesterday, he
had abstained a good deal from commenting on
he general state of organisation through the country,
and the effect of those multitudinous meetings, because
it would be more closely pointed out in the language of
one of the traversers. He should now beg to call their
attention to a very important publication by Mr. Duffy
in the Nation of the 12th of August, six days after the
meetingl at: Baltinglass, and he thought they would
find that publication of importance, as throwing light
upon the objects of those engaged in the conspiracy for
which they were now indicted. The article was headed,
" The March of Nationality," and was as follows:—
"How beautiful our country is ! How full of cautious
energy. How sure a hope lies under her anxiety. How
fiercely she springs upon what 'tis right to strike. How
temperately she avoids all needless bye-battles. And 'tis
beautiful—lovely, with that piercing beauty that pains the
heart which worships—to see her calming down, and
soothing, and repressing her hungry and bruised children,
while she prepares for them retribution and relief. Her
brow is pale—most pale ; and well that peaceful mien be-
comes her. Oh ! 'tis well to see her preparing for the
strife without rude boasting or hot noise. It becomes the
heiress of suffering centuries. It becomes a memory laden
with a thousand transient glories and baffled hopes. It
were unseemly in her, for whom an army of unrevenged
martyrs garrisons her soil ; it were unseemly in her,
whose children feel such pangs and woe ; and most un-
wise and unbecoming would it be for her, with so trying
and so vast a contest before her, to wear one rude or
reckless look.

" Let us see what has been done, and what remains.
What were we a year ago ? The squabbling and
1 impotent serfs of England. Hero a master mind,
and there a heart prophetic with enthusiasm, foresaw the
time when a people, owning all that gives the power to
bo a nation, would scorn to serve. They foretold that
eight millions—with all that enforces independence upon
man, with the oldest and most varied history in
.Europe,
with the deepest wrongs, and having their old wronger for
their present tyrant—a home marked apart by the ocean,
with limitless misery and limitless resources, were destined
to be admirable and strong among the nations of the
earth. But now—oh ! joy and praise !—apathy and
distrust have fled. The storm of nationality has rent
tho cloudy pall which closed around us : even now it
scatters the dark masses, and lends us glimpses of serene
liberty.

" We ask those who still hesitate, to remember what
has been done in a year.
" The Repeal rent was fifty or a hundred pounds a
week—it is now, on an average, fifteen hundred. The
enrolled Repealers were scarcely a couple of hundred
thousand—they are now running towards two mil-
lions. It had then half-a-dozen Protestant mem-
bers—it has now thousands, from the wealthiest
of the gentry to the most stern of the democ-
racy. The entire Catholic hierarchy and priesthood
have given it open support of tacit assent. There is no
one worth naming in Ireland actively hostile to it. Most
of the :counties of Leinater and Munster, and some in
Ulster and Connaught, have come in masses together to
declare that they are ready to make any sacrifice—
money, repose, or life—to achieve their independence.
" There is Nothing recorded in history like this dis-
play. The numbers of these meetings were unequalled in
any population. The time, and labour, and loss suf-
fered by the people, in their long marches to them—
were never before voluntarily borne, save in the excite-
ment of war. But the order observed in coming and
going—the organisation necessary to produce such order
the serious good temper—the absence of riot or vice
—madeeach of these meetings a strange and formidable
event."

That was not his (tho Attorney-General's) language—it
was the language of one of the accused parties, " that the
absence of riot, or vice, made those meetings a strange and
formidable event." It was true, that at those meetings
Mr. O'Connell preached peace ; it was true that he wished
the meetings to obey his injunctions to disperse peaceably:
every person must rejoice that his iujunctions were
obeyed, that they had up to this time been saved the
misery that would result if the active course was
taken by the people; but the absence of riot, or the
commission of actual violence, however they rejoiced
at it, did not take away the illegality of those
those meetings, because the intention was to organise
the country throughout, that they should be peaceable
until the organisation was complete ; but still at the
time those meetings took place, that very absence from
riot, in tho words of Mr. Duffy, made each of those
meetings " strange and formidable event."

SUMMARY of the STATE TRIALS.
(THIRD DAY.)

DUBLIN, WEDNESDAY, JAN. 17.

The Court sat at ten o'clock this morning. The
traversers and the jury having been called, all an-
swered their names, so that there was no delay.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL immediately commenced
his address, at the point at which he broke off on the
preceding evening. He first proceeded to state
the details of the meeting at Baitinglass on
the 15th of August. He read extracts at
great length, from the speeches of Mr. O'Connell,
at this meeting, and others, subsequently held in dif-
ferent places. The nature of these speeches are, of
course, already known, having appeared in the public
journals. He, throughout, endeavoured to show that
Mr. O'Connell and the traversers had acted precisely
in the satoe manner as the persons engaged ;in the
insurrectionary movements in 1797 and 179841 e dwelt
more particularly on this, in his elaborate endeavour to
prove a systematic attempt to corrupt the alleigance
of the arn sy ; he cited Mr. O'Connell's well-known
allusion to the disparity of the condition of the non-
commissioned officers in the British army, and in the
armies of other States, with respect to their prospects
of promol it)n. He read a letter which appeared in
the Pilot of the 28th of August, headed the " Duty
of a Sold ie r," in connection with this charge ; he
read other articles from the same paper, referring to
the adva o 1 ages of the pike over the musket and
bayonet, particularly when used by night.
From this. he passed to the question of the establish-
ment of ;h e Arbitration Courts, and then entered on
the speec'he s made at the great Mullaghmast meeting.
He detailed the crowning of Mr. O'Connell with the
cap made iin imitation of the old crown of Ireland, and
pointed out the effects which such acts and speeches
were to have on an ignorant multitude, though
to some there might be something of the ridi-
culous ir I them. The far greater portion
of his ad( irilss to-day consisted in the reading of do-
cuments, g athered from the reports, articles, and cor-
responde net 3 of the Repeal papers.

Mr. O'Ci mnell sat with his Counsel as before, in
legal coFsta me, and was busied throughout the day
with books and papers. For some time he sat next
to Mr. S hei 1, M.P., on the bench immediately under
the Judwes. Mr. Sheil seemed to be watching the
points of the 3 Attorney-General with great attention.
It may bet considered certain that he lets nothing
escape him—

There .i 5 a general impression that the conviction
of O'Coruaell by this jury is certain. Had all Dublin
been pick.ed, it is said that twelve men so well dis-
posed to carry out the views of the Crown could
hardly hove been found. It is remarked that the
names of the: Jury are all English.
The A ttor ney-General concluded at a few minutes
after four .o't lock. The witnesses will be examined
to-morrow.

SPIRIT',' of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM: '1 'HE EVENING PAPERS OF THIS DAY.
GLOBE . -The Irish State Prosecutions have at
length ads ra•siced to that stage which commences their
real intere at. to the public. The traversers have been
given in el tar ge to the jury. The Attorney-General has
delivered ri : part—only a part—of his opening speech :
that part o cei Tying more than five hours ! Yet so little
way did th o I earned functionary make in the narrative
of facts ho • in idertook to establish, and in applying the
law to the use facts, that a feeling of weariness imper-
ceptibly cre pt. over the Court and Jury. Utter hopelessness
of a terrain atic ,n, within any imaginable period, of a trial,
the opening; t he facts of which required so long and
laboured a, sF eech from the prosecutor, was manifestly
the sickenin g sensation of every person In Court. The
prosiness o t the Attorney-General's exordium seems
to have thi co wn a wet blanket over the ardour of the
most sangu in, 3 for that result which can alone save
the Govern cm, ent from discomfiture and disgrace.
The Post— s journal which will not be suspected
of any pr ed ilections in favour of O'Connell or
his projects-^j :n au analysis of the opening proceed-
ings, and de.ses iptive of the impression produced on the
auditory by tt e Attorney-General's speech, says :
"We must col ffess that though we did not expect a
very striking s peech from the Irish Attorney-General,
we are rather disappointed at the five hours' oration
of the day be ore yesterday. It was a heavy affair,
and was felt tt ) be so by tho auditory. One passage,