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

indeed, bad something in it which excited laughter ;
but the Attorney-General appears to have been
offended when his hearers were amused." The
Attorney-General is manifestly encumbered by
the vastness of the question with which he has to deal.
Seeking to secure his object, he spreads his legal
net so widely as to include every meeting of the
Repeaters, and every speech delivered at those meet-
ings, together with newspaper reports of the proceed-
ings, and even doggrel ditties published in certain
journals, the proprietors and conductors of which are
included in the indictment. This variety and mass of
matter, by which he proposes to connect the several parties
with the alleged conspiracy, will be found too unwieldy
for him to manage with effect. The multitude of facts
with which the memories of the jury will be charged
will clog their judgments. One juryman will deem
this important ; another will reject the fact so important
in the estimation of his fellow, as proving nothing, and
will put forth that which he has marked as emphatic ;
while a third will consider those facts as of no im-
portance when compared with others which he thinks
pregnant with suspicion ; but, taken alone, as by
no means amounting to legal proof of that which
requires to be strengthened by concurring circumstances.
The conspiracy charged by the indictment is to be made
out by constructive acts performed by the traversers.
Those acts--whether committed in concert, or apart—
must be shown to have been done in furtherance of a
common purpose ; and that purpose contrary to law.
The part of the Attorney-General's opening speech
(so far as we are in possession of it) which
is most worthy of attention, was that in which
he applied himself to the law as bearing upon
the " conspiracy" charged in the indictment. We
cannot agree with those of our Contemporaries
who would restrict the proof, requisite for establishing
conspiracy, to what is necessary to establish " a common
design ;" and " a common design having been esta-
blished, that then the acts of one of the conspirators
will affect the others who are engaged in the same con-
spiracy." We think " the common design," or purpose,
must be first shown to have been an illegal purpose ab
initio. The confederation called " the Loyal Repeal
Association"—meetings of which were held at the
several places alleged, and at which the parties indicted
took active parts in various ways—was formed to obtain
the repeal of an Act of the Legislature. The question
is not, we presume, whether a dissolution of the legis-
lative union between the two countries would be bene-
ficial, or detrimental, to Ireland or to the empire ; but
whether—the Union being effected by an Act of Par-
liament—to confederate, and meet, in whatever num-
bers, for the purpose of petitioning the Legislature to
dissolve that Union by a repeal of the statute on which
it rests, can be deemed, ipso facto, an illegal confede-
racy ; and those who constituted the council, or chief
actors, of that confederacy, be—in the legal sense
of the term—" conspirators." The language used
by the speakers at those meetings, in their harangues
delivered to the multitudes who attended them, may
have been, and possibly was, violent and inflam-
matory. This would constitute sedition in the indivi-
duals using the language, but it would not implicate
others. The same reasoning would apply to the other
overt acts. If the evidence establish the overt acts,
as charged, against one or more of the accused
parties, they are doubtless within the law. Each
must bear his own burden. But the offence will not
amount to "conspiracy." Unless there be proved
to have existed an agreement between the parties to
commit those illegal acts, in concert, for the purpose of
effecting a lawful (however inexpedient) object by such
unlawful means, the charge of conspiracy must fail.
The overt acts charged in the indictment are spread
over a wide extent of time : they were committed
openly, at sundry dates, and in divers manners : the
Government was constantly invited to take special
notice of what was said and done at the " monster
meetings ;" and yet those whose special duty it was to
guard the public safety, looked on with indifference, as
though there were no danger ! Is it not rather late to
turn round now, and say—" We allowed you to proceed
during an entire year in a course which perilled the
peace of the country, and the security of the
Throne ; and when we saw that no breach of
the public order resulted from those immense as-
semblages, we will now charge upon you every ima-
ginable mischief as the purpose for which you confe-
derated and convened 2" Is not the Government fairly
chargeable with having encouraged proceedings of which
it was fully aware, but took no step to suppress ? A
proclamation such as was issued against the intended
Clontarf meeting, would have prevented the meetings
which preceded it. Was it not, then, a criminal neglect
on the part of the Government to abstain from doing that
in March which they did in October ? Were they not
participators in the acts for which they now seek to visit
the actors with punishment ?
STANDARD.—The last shaft in Mr. O'Connell's
quiver having been expended, the State trials are at
length proceeding with little chance of further interrup-
tion. The number and frivolousness of the objec-
tions which have been urged by him and his ac-
complices show clearly how little dependence they
can place on the merits of their respective cases.
After an exhibition of audacity on the part
of two of the Repeal conspirators such as
has rarely been attempted under similar circumstances,
the non-appearance in Court at the proper hour of Duffy
and Barrett, and the reception of excuses from one
or two members of the panel, on the ground of ill-
health, the Clerk of the Crown gave the traversers in
charge, and the Attorney-General commenced his
address, and e,,ecinued speaking until half-past four,
when the Court adjourned, and the jury were permitted,
under certain restrictions, to return to their respective
homes. At that hour the Attorney-General had not only
not concluded his address, but had not, it was understood,
arrived at the most important part of his revelations. It
has been objected to the Learned Gentleman's speech by one
of our Contemporaries, that itis "heavy" and uninteresting;
but when we remember that the public of England and
Ireland have been familiar, for the last three months,
with nearly the whole of the facts it details, and
that it is necessarily encumbered by numerous ex-
tracts from the seditious harangues and writings of the
traversers, it is not singular that the Attorney-General
should have been unable to render his address as inte-
resting to his auditory as he might have done under dif-
ferent circumstances. It displays, however, the more sub-
stantial recommendation of being a clear and lucid narra-
tive of the facts he proposes to give in evidence, preceded
by an able exposition of the law as applicable to the
offences charged against the traversers ; referring to
numerous precedents in support of his opinion. Having
explained that a confederacy becomes a criminal
by conspiracyy unlawful nl vhwfeufnl
u t
act, more persons combine to
d accomplish a lawful ob-
ject aid referred to the case
of the , Cato-street conspirators in support of his
assertion that a party Joining in the design
an
u two
means, or
or
adopts and renders himself responsible for the
acts of his accomplices, Loth before and after
he has joined them, the Attorney-General alluded to the
indictment against Frost and other Chartists on which
he was not tried, because he had been previously con-
victed of treason ; Vincent End Edwards having been
found proceeded to show that
that occasion were en-
tirelylleged against the Irish
traversers
Judgehis argument by an im-
portant Bayley's judgment in
the on d o
vge
similarur guilty ty
acts up ocn
to h
a i
charged
; those
e ods ande
on
a
lie
extract ;
an action brought by Hunt against the Captain of the
Manchester Yeomanry, in which his Lordship not only
illustratingfrom
defined all meetings of persons assembled to sow sedition,
and bring into contempt the Constitution as unlawful,
but also the extent to which the leaders or chairmen
of such meetings are responsible. This opinion was af-
terwards confirmed by Lord Tenterden, whose judgment
Mr. Smith has pressed into his service. He exposed
with great ability the fallacy of the pretext, that because
the various " monster meetings" called together by Mr.
O'Connell dispersed peaceably at his bidding, they were
not formidable, or dangerous to the public peace, their
object being clearly to overawe the Executive, and hold
out a menace of prospective mischief should their de-
mands not be complied with. The pacific demeanour
of O'Connell's mobs has been simulated for the
express purpose of enabling him to complete their
organisation with impunity, and it is impossible not
to recognise the correctness of Judge Bayley's con-
viction that " men with rebellion in their hearts
will occasionally employ language recommending
peace, order, tranquillity, and obedience to the
laws." After a careful precis of public events in
Ireland from the concession of the Reform Bill
to the present time, the Attorney-General passed in
review the various associations which had been
organised for political purposes since that period,
having for their object the repeal of the Union ;
their denunciation by the Governments of Lord Grey
and Lord Melbourne, as well as in the speech from
the Throne, and the coercive measures which were
finally adopted to repress them. He then laid bare
the whole machinery of the Repeal Association, its pro-
vincial inspectors, wardens, collectors, and police, the
cards which are circulated, the devices they bear, and
the arrangements by which journals of the most
inflammatory character were circulated throughout
the body. Among the foremost of these incendiary
publications he referred to the Nation and the Pilot, and
selected articles in prose and verse from their
columns, including extracts from various speeches
of O'Connell, Steele, and others, at Repeal meetings,
which had been reported in their columns. To in-
vest such details with novelty, in an address re-
stricted to the simplest and closest narrative of
events, would exceed the powers of any Attorney-
General,
and we are accordingly not surprised that
Mr. Smith should have failed to imbue them with
that quality. But if a careful application of his facts,
and an able exposition of the law in regard to them,
may be considered as entitling him to the grati-
tude of his countrymen, he has, undoubtedly earned
it. The continuation of the Attorney-General's ad-
dress was looked for with great interest, as it
was expected that it would announce the acqui-
sition of evidence which, albeit new, is said to be of
a description to surprise no one who has been a
reader of Irish newspapers for the last few months.
Meanwhile, it is pleasant to bo furnished with so com-
plete and practical an illustration of the absurdity of
the predictions of our Whig-Radical Contemporaries,
as the present tranquil state of Dublin may be con -
sidered to supply; a repose which would suffer no
interruption were Mr. O'Connell already convicted, and
suffering the penalty which might be considered his
due. Some curiosity attaches to the rumoured disclo-
sures which Wednesday was to bring forth, but with this
exception, the Irish public appear wholly indifferent, as
it regards the results of these trials ; and the only parties
in this country who feel any anxiety on the subject aro
the Whigs and their journalists, who rely upon such an
issue as will enable them to nurse into activity their
own little conspiracy against Sir Robert Peel's Go-
verment.

FROM TEE MORNINC PAPERS OF TIIIB DAY.
TIMES.—The French Legitimatists betray considerable
signs of confusion under the attack which has been made
npon them by the sago Government of Louis Philippe,

as any party will do when skilfully pressed from with-
out, and unsupported by any definite object or clear and I
understood principle of coherency within. The
rents of the Duke de Bordeaux have at present neither
the one nor the other. They have no definite object ;!for
it is impossible that they can nourish any real expectation
of replacing " Henry V." on the throne of France.
They have no coherency of principle, else we should
hear of no coquetting with Republicanism. The more
able among them must repudiate the one—the more
honest must abhor the other. With the influence of the
nobility extinct, with the commercial and trading classes
wholly given to the dynasty of Louis Philippe, with the
students and artisans rank republicans, the army devoted
to the power which pays it, and even the clergy,
in whose cause the elder dynasty fell, and among
whom, therefore, the spark of old-fashioned loyalty
might be expected at least to linger—with even the
clergy in its younger and more vigorous part, too deeply
tinged with the wild doctrines of Lamennais to present
any firm basis for Royalist principles—with all these
things against them, it is, indeed, difficult to suppose that
any man of ordinary forethought, who mixes with the
world, or who even reads the daily papers, should cherish
the hope of a second restoration. There are no visible
materials for success—no locus standi—no point of con-
tact between Royalism and the French people—no body
of ancient and familiar prejudice—no national want to
which legitimacy is the necessary correlative—no still
existing remains of a feudal interest—there is nothing,
we will not say to encourage the expectation, but even to
keep alive the most distant hope of the most modified
triumph. The revolution of the last century, of which
the present state of France is a development, was not
the mere prostration of a party, it was the extermination
of a whole mass of principles with every thing that ad-
hered to them. The entire soil which had been im-
pregnated with the traditionary feelings and ideas of
Royalism was swept away in a torrent of blood, and
the dry stone left bare below. We have now a
fresh formation to deal with—a new people, held
together (so long as it is held together), not by
habitual regard for any form of authority, but by a ra-
tional dislike of anarchy—owning no allegiance and
experiencing no reverence towards ancient associations
regarding those who still cling to such romantic
ideas as intruders into a century which does not belong
to them—relics of a bygone age, whose uncongenial pre-
sence might perhaps be mischievous to modern institu-
tions, if it were not so palpably impotent. No mind has
sprung from the ruins of the 18th century—no able
enthusiast has survived the storm in which it passed
away, capable of transmitting its feelings or of infusing
its prejudices in the succeeding generation. The dynasty
of the Restoration—representative as it was of the line
of ancient monarchs—stood amidst young France, during
its short existence of fifteen years, like an alien con-
queror, maintaining itself by the mere advantage of pos-
session against an unfriendly and unapproachable popula-
tion. No impregnation of principles—no amalgamation of
interests, had taken place. The Bourbon race was torn up
and thrown aside after a short trial, and almost without
an effort, like a sapless slip which has not put out
a single fibre to grasp the chilly and barren soil which
surrounded it. Such as it was such it remained, ignorant
of and unintelligible to its generation. Is it conceivable
that it should regain the position of power which, when
in possession, it was wholly unable to preserve := France,
it is true, contains elements of confusion in plenty.
Visionary aspirations—rude and dangerous theories—a
rankling jealousy of restraint, not confined in its expres-
sion to the closet or the parlour, but avowed and acted
on with a certain individual recklessness which marks a
wild reality—these are, indeed, omens of change—omens
which make us dread the moment when the vigilant eye
and firm hand by which they are at present kept in
check shall be removed. But amidst all these aspirations,
and theories, and jealousies, what spot of firm ground
can the Logitimatist place his foot upon ? There is none.
Even wore the French Henriquiste, like the Spanish
illodercalo, to purchase a momentary triumph by a coali-
tion with his own bitterest enemies, nothing short of the
genius of Napoleon or the sagacity of Louis Philippe
could retain the dangerous supremacy. King Henry V.
would not hold his ground a week, and this his wiser
friends well know. It is this necessary hopelessness—
this absence of any real and practicable purpose—
which makes it, and must ever make it, impossible
that the French Legitimatists should form a compact
and united party ; and it is this necessary want of
unity which has been exposed by the Ministerial attack,
The Duke de Fitzjames declares, in the Quotidienne, his
readiness to repeat before a French jury the bold expres-
sions uttered in Belgrave-square. M. de Larey tells the
Chamber of Deputies that his oath of allegiance binds
him to " obey the laws of the country and no more."
Meanwhile the abler M. Berryer, representing, we
should suspect, a more considerable portion of those who
once composed the Royalist party, disclaims the notion
of a plot against the existing Government, appeals to
" the loyalty and sincerity which the Legitimatist party
had evinced during the last thirteen years," and assures
the Chamber that " the Legitimatist leaders who went
to London told the Duke de Bordeaux salutary truths on
the condition of the country, and the past faults of his
family," and now only desired " to serve France, to ex-
ercise their political rights, to avoid everything tending to
kindle civil war, and to unite with the rest of their fellow,
countrymen in repelling foreign invasion, even were
it undertaken in the interest of their own cause." Some
at least of these leaders would scarcely thank
M. Berryer for his disclaimer, Those who saluted the
Duke of Bordeaux as the " King of the future," can
scarcely be disposed to relish that able orator's protest
against civil war, and his unthankful rejection of the
Irish brigade, to whose possible services Mr. O'Con-
nell seems to ascribe so much present offers on
the young Prince's fortunes. But whether M. Berryer
refers to the liberal efforts of the Hibernian potentate
(who might be supposed to have enough on his hands at
home, without carrying his operations across the Chan-
nel), or to the less avowed, though perhaps more sub-
stantial friendship of the Courts of Eastern Europe, he
is certainly right in supposing that neither by internal
conflict nor external aid can " the heir of a long series
of Kings" hope to occupy to any purpose the throne of
his progenitors. If he will but thoroughly impress that
conclusion upon his party, he will do France a service,
save them from a most mischievous delusion, and earn
forgiveness for many such silly expeditions as that to
Belgrave-square.

ADVERTISER—The State trials did not after all
commence until Tuesday. Monday was spent in arguing
for and against a motion made by the traversers'
counsel, having for its object to set aside the jury, as
illegally constituted. The motion was refused by the
Court, Mr. Justice Perrin dissenting from his three
brother Judges. But though the decision of tho Court
was adverse to the parties arraigned, the discussion
raised on the question has proved, in a moral sense, most
damaging to the prosecution. Mr. Fitzgibbon demon-
strated to the satisfaction of every one, except the
Court and the Attorney-General, that it was an act of
manifest unfairness, if not decidedly illegal, to try the
traversers with a jury constituted as is the jury empa-
nelled to try Mr. O'Connell and his alleged co-con-
spirators. This is the universal impression without the
walls of the Court, and the impression is shared by
one of the most enlightened Judges, either in the
Dublin Queen's Bench, or in any other Court in the
empire. Were there, therefore, no other damaging
circumstance connected with these ill-advised prosecu-
tions, this fact alone would be sufficient to divest a
conviction, supposing it to take place, of all moral in-
fluence. But when, in addition to the more than
suspicious circumstances under which the sixty-three
names were omitted from the list, we remember the
various previous mishaps and ugly occurrences connected
with these proceedings, we unhesitatingly say, that of
all the ill-judged measures of the present Government,
this will be found to be the most injudicious and most
injurious. Even, as just remarked, assuming a convic-
tion to take place, we cannot conceive the possibility of
Sir Robert Peel ever allowing the parties to be brought
up for judgment. The public mind already revolts
against these prosecutions ; should they be followed by
the infliction of punishment (always assuming a convic-
tion to ensue), a feeling of indignation will be created in
the public mind which will overwhelm and destroy the
Government of Sir Robert Peel. If there be one thing
more than another which the people of England hold to
be essential to the integrity of the national character, it is,
that no suspicions attach to the proceedings in our judicial
courts. Englishmen of all classes, and of all shades of
political feeling and opinion, abhor anything in our courts
of law which could be construed into an act of harshness
or unfairness. In the present case, should a conviction
take place and punishment follow, public sympathy
in favour of the traversers will become alarmingly strong
and general—alarmingly so, we mean, for the Govern-
ment. Even those who are most opposed to Mr.
O'Connell, would, in the supposed case, consider him a
political martyr. Need we say what would be the pro-
bable effects in Ireland should O'Connell ever come to be
so considered ? We will not attempt to describe these
effects ; we leave our readers to exercise their own ima-
gination on the subject. Sir Robert Peel must by this
time be convinced that, even supposing a conviction were
ensured, no eclat whatever could accompany that result.
Whatever moral weight might have attached to these
trials, under other circumstances, none whatever can
attach to them after what has occurred. Theirs has
been a strange eventful history indeed. It seems as if
Fate and the Irish Attorney-General were sworn
enemies, and that Fate had resolved to punish the
Learned Gentleman in every imaginable way. We do
not know if Mr. Smith be given to cursing ; but if he be,
he must have given many a hearty curse to the mis-
haps and mortifications which he has had to encounter
in every successive stage of these proceedings. Next to
the learned official, Sir Robert Peel is to be pitied. We
are inclined to think that others, of whose names we
have heard but little in connection with these trials, have
had much more to do with them than the Premier. Be
this as it may, the odium rests exclusively on him. The
guilt and responsibility of the whole matter, so far as
public opinion and public feeling are concerned, attach
to Sir Robert. No one knows this better than himself.
If there be one act of his ministerial life which he
regrets more deeply than another, it is, we are sure, that
of ever having sanctioned these prosecutions.
His usual caution and worldly wisdom must have
forsaken him, when he gave his consent to the in-
stitution of proceedings against Mr. O'Connell and
the other parties associated with him in this in-
dictment. The difficulty with the Premier now is, how
to get out of the predicament into which he has brought
himself, without making his Government the laughing
stock of the civilised world, and drawing on himself the
contempt of friends as well as foes. He is indeed in a
pretty pickle. He is afraid to retrace his steps ; he
wants the moral courage to undo what he has done, by
putting an end to the proceedings. And yet he cannot
look forward to a conviction, even supposing he were
certain to obtain it, without fear and trembling. His
only hope, we take it, lies in the possible circumstance
of some legal defect being yet discovered in the proceed-
ings, which will have the effect of stopping them, and
consequently relieving him from the position of painful
perplexity in which. he is placed. He will be a lucky
man if he be suffered to escape in that way. If he has ;

friends, this is the time for their prayers. He has
much need that one and all of them earnestly pray that
Heaven may send him a safe atliverance.
POST.—Whatever may be the ultimate result of the
State trials in Ireland (the result, for so far, has unques-
tionably been most salutary), the grand debateable point
will still remain—namely, the cause of Ireland's back-
wardness in all that should distinguish civilised life. We
shall still have to inquire how it happens that under the
" liberal and enlightened" Government of Great Britain
—with laws similar to those of England—with a soil
generally superior, and a climate certainly not inferior,
so large a portion of the population of Ireland continues,
from year to year, in a state of beggary and barbarism.
Our readers know that we have often glanced at this
question, and that our opinion is, that it is mere delusion
to suppose that the evils of Ireland are to be cured by
such political changes as her agitators contend for. The
schemes of Whig economists and Reformers are not less
delusive. The very long article of the Edinburgh Review,
however ingenious in its speculations, and bold in its recom-
mendations of sweeping political and ecclesiastical
change, we regard as just so much trash, so far as re-
gards the practical amelioration of the state of the
people. What signifies it to the tillers of the ground—
the savage and half-destitute millions--whether the
establishment of the Anglo-Catholic Church be territo-
rial or congregational ? How would the condition of
the peasantry be affected, either for better or worse, by
the endowment of Maynooth, or the mortgaging of the
lands of the Established Church for behoof of the fund
of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners ? That which the
people want is a more comfortable way of living, and
that (except in the north) is at present forbidden
by the bad habits of the people—by the circum-
stances under which the land is overburdened by
a pauper tenantry—circumstances which exist in de-
fiance of the law, and which nothing can cure but
some system of close superintendence to compel an
observance of the law. At present there is a close
and watchful superintendence, but it is that of the Ro-
man Catholic clergy, who do not respect the law, and
who very often have an interest in making arrange-
ments, or causing arrangements to be made, which are
at variance with the dispositions which the law, if exe-
cuted, would have made. In short, without denying
that, in many respects the Roman Catholic priest is
often found to be the friendly adviser, and the comfort
and stay of the poor people in their affliction, it must be
admitted (by those who know and respect the truth)
that as a superintendent and guide in civil and social
affairs, he often leads the people into courses unfavour-
able to social advancement. Our own belief is that poli-
tical reforms on a large scale will do nothing for the re-
moval of Ireland's social grievances, and that this
can only be brought about by the establishment of
a superintendence as close as that of the Romig'
priest, but devoted to very different objects, and
carried on in strict conformity with the law. On a
former occasion, when speaking of the circumstances
under which land is held by the swarming population,
we cited the evidence of the late Judge Forster, whose
knowledge of the country, and whose integrity no one
could doubt, whatever might be thought of his some-
what heavy and pedantic manner. He said that the oc-
cupiers of the soil were barbarised by a habit of gavel
kind, and by tenancy in common and at will. This
is what every one who has practical acquaintance
with the subject must be convinced of. The con-
tinual subdisivion of the land is the monstrous evil.
Not that we are advocates for the huge holdings of
land which are common in England, We think
there are evils in farms of three thousand acres, as
well as in farms of ten, seven, and three acres, which
may often be found in Ireland. The possession of any
portion of land—a mere potato garden—seems to the
Irish peasant a justification for taking to himself a wife,
and producing a family. He knows there is a rent to be
paid, but he trusts something to his pig, and much to
Providence, for the means of paying the rent. In the
meantime, the potato garden (provided the crop do
not fail) will give him enough of the lowest kind of
food to sustain life ; but if the crop should fail, then
God help him and the children, for there is literally
nothing between them and downright starvation.
They know all this well enough, if they would
but exercise their reason, and be guided by what
they know. But they will not. It is not their habit.
They are ready to encounter any risk, however dreadful,
for the sake of setting up for themselves with a bit of
land. They ought not to be allowed to do this. If the
law were respected, they would find it impossible to ob-
tain the land ; but it is not respected. Men who have
not any legal right to divide and distribute their holdings,
nevertheless do divide and distribute them, and the hordes
of peasant paupers increase. Twenty years ago all this
was clearly explained to committees of both Houses of
Parliament, but the public have forgot all about these
Parliamentary inquiries, and now there are new inquiries
into the very same thing.

IRELAND.

THE STATE TRIALS.
FROM OUR OWN REPORTERS.)
DUBLIN, TUESDAY, JAN. 16.

The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (in continuation from
our Third Edition) said—The law they would
take from the Court and not from him. Conspiracy
was a crime created when persons combined or agreed
to do some illegal act, or conspired to do a legal act
by unlawful means. Such was the law laid down by
Lord Denman, Mr. Justice Parke, and Mr. Justice
Pattison in the 4th volume of Barnewall and Alder-
son, page 349. The same principle was laid down in
this Court in the case of Forbes, reported by Mr.
Greaves. The same doctrine was laid down in the
case of the Queen v. Murphy, in the 9th volume of
Carrington and Payne, page 310, by Mr. Justice
Coleridge. If they believed that the several defendants
had been engaged in a common design to obtain the
objects they had in view by the means pointed out in
the indictment, in that case the acts and words of any
one became evidence against the others, though they
had not committed those acts or spoken the words
themselves. The Learned Counsel quoted 6th Term
Reports, page 527, Watson's case, reported in the se-
cond volume of Howard's State Trials in support of
this position. In the case reported in 9th Carrington
and Payne, page 275, a case not unlike the present,
two defendants were found guilty. The same view was
held in the case of the King v. Redhead, otherwise
Yorke, reported in the 25th volume of the State
Trials, page 1,004. There was a very important case
in the 3d volume of Starkie's Nisi Prius, page 76,
namely the case of Redford v. Birley, to which he
wished particularly to call the attention of the Court
and Jury. It was an action of trespass brought against
some persons who dispersed a meeting in Manchester.
The trial took place before Mr. Justice Holroyd, and
a verdict was given for the defendants, thereby esta-
blishing the illegality of the meeting. The case was
then brought by motion before the full Court, consist-
ing of Lord Tenterden, Mr. Justice Bayley, Mr.
Justice Holroyd, and the present Lord Wyn-
ford. They refused the motion, and established
the law as laid down at the trial by Mr. Justice
Holroyd. In the course of their judgment they gave
their opinions with regard to unlawful assemblies.
(The Learned Gentleman then read the opinions of
Mr. Justice Holroyd and Mr. Justice Bayley relative
to what was an unlawful assembly.) On a motion
being made for a new trial in the same case, in banco,
Lord Tenterden, in giving judgment, said the cir-
cumstance of the professed object of the meeting being
peaceable, was not to be taken into account, for unless
that was its professed object the meeting could not be
held. The real object of the meeting was the matter
to be regarded. Again, said his Lordship, others
might go to the meeting intending mischief at some fu-
ture period, when those who had been drilled up to that
time without arms had arrived at a further stage of
military discipline. They would be told in the course
of the defence that those meetings had ended peace-
ably. Why the intention was that they should dis-
perse peaceably. That was one of the most danger-
ous purposes of those meetings. If they had not done
so, the conspiracy would have been broken up earlier.
Besides, the hour of action had not yet arrived. As
one of the traversers had said, the hour of England's
infirmity was Ireland's opportunity. The time to call
upon them had not yet come. The part of the con-
spiracy was to effect a complete organisation from
north to south, from east to west, before the
signal for action was given. Therefore it
was that the meetings had dispersed peaceably.
Others might go to these meetings, too, as Lord
Tenterden had said, intending mischief at some future
period, when those who had been up to that time
drilled without arms had arrived at a further stage of
military discipline. But he (the Attorney-General)
denied that these meetings were peaceable, or any-
thing like peaceable, since they were assembled under
the control of one man, who might give them one
order or another order, as he chose. Such assemblies
were, he would show by high legal authority from
the Bench, inconsistent with the law of the land.
Lord Wynford, in giving his judgment, said it ap-
peared to him that the meeting was not innocent,
and if it were not, what, his Lordship said, was it ?
They had, he said, the key to it in the evidence of
one of the witnesses; their object was, by exhibiting
their numbers, to induce others to join them, that they
might thus be able to overcome the Government.
Now, such he would prove was the course adopted
with respect to the meetings now in question. There
was another case, which he would cite, as applicable
in the present instance; it was the case of the Queen
v. Holland, Carrington and Payne p. 460, an indict-
ment for seditious libel. The subject of it was on a
resolution to the effect that the people of Birmingham
were the best judges of their own right to meet in the
Bull-ring, and were the best judges of their own
power and resources to obtain justice. Justice Little-
dale, in summing up, said it was no sedition to
say that they were the best judges of their right to
meet in the Bull-ring or anywhere else, but that the
words " the best judges of their own power
and resources to obtain justice," were seditious.
There was one remaining authority which
he would lay before the Court, it was that
laid down in 4 Alderson, p. 178, in the case of the
Queen v. Burdett, and it illustrated strongly the
principle whieh he (the Attorney-General) had al-
ready laid down, viz., that the act of one conspirator
was, in point of law, the act of all. The Right Hon.
Gentleman having read the case went on to say that
having called attention to the law applicable to the

greater portion of that extraordinary case,
ha won
ld
now proceed to open the facts of it. It might first,
however, be convenient to advert to the position of
the repeal question at the time of the constitution of
the Repeal Association. The Right llon. Gentleman
here gave a short history of the various societies/
their r.s.snes, objects, &c., which had been formed 11
Mr. O'Connell, from the period of Catholic Emanci-
pation in 1829 down to the formation of the presen:
Repeal Association early in the year 1840. Or"
Association had changed its name twice, and in Juifi
1840, it received the name of the Loyal Nations;
Repeal Association of Ireland, which name it still
retained. The general nature of the constitution was
that it consisted of associates, members, and voltor
teers. The bond of union between those various
parties was with the view that some such as the assn•
ciaties should be liable to a very small subscription,
in order that the organisation might be effected
among the poorer classes. Accordingly the associates
paid ls. on obtaining his card of admission. Those
cards, one of which he now held in his hand, an'
swered all the purposes, without coming within the
express words of the Act against passports or signs.
Parties holding them would by exhibiting them shove
f;
who were connected with the Association, and
what extent the organisation was effected. At the
top of this card was a shamrock, with the words-'
" Roman Catholic, Protestant, Dissenter." Near the
bottom was the date 1782, also a view of the presens
Bonk of Ireland, with the words, " It was, it shall bet:
The next class consisted of "members" who an/
scribed 20s. An " associate" also, who collected at,n
paid in 205., was entitled to a member's card. VI
one corner of this card was the word " Clontari;
with the date 23d of April, 1014 ; on the opposite
t
side the words " Benburb, sth of June, 1645 ;'
the bottom an Irish word, which, being transinte,,,b
signified " The mouth of the Yellow Ford,"
lof April, 1598; also the word " Limerick," AuVia,„;,
162. These names and dates were those of pin%
and times at which the Irish were successful 1..
battle either over the Danes or the English, or,
they were now called, the " Saxon foreigner." Sued
were the cards of an association which, in peace ni.n
tranquillity, never, forsooth, meditated exciting clls:i
content and difference between different classes "d
her Majesty's subjects. Those cards were foot
and engraved thus with the view of endeavouring to
rake up transactions of centuries past, and therel'i
he
exciting hatred against the " Saxon foreigner." -s Tbs
battle of Clontarf was fought against the Danes
the Irish under Brian Boru.—(Laughter.) He CntO
not see what it was that excited laughter. Belreo
those trials were concluded it would be seen
The
there was anything but cause for laughter. to
Learned Gentleman here went at great length Ont
the history of the battles referred to, and then sv.e_.,
on to show that one of the chief means of spreadro;
the doctrines of the Association was the transraiasithe
of repeal newspapers to districts according t°
amount of rent collected in each, and contended this
the press was the most powerful means of disseinto
nating the seditious doctrines which he attributed
the Association throughout the country, and refer;
to the effects produced in France during the Rev°4l,
tion by the newspaper L' Anti du Pelirthe
and in Ireland, about the year 1798, by
well-known newspaper called the Press. He wt.
next call attention to an address to the repealsw_,o,
dens, which had been published in the Nation ne"tbs
paper. The Right Hon. Gentleman having readiso,
address, proceeded to show that the perfect orgallsss
tion of the repeal-wardens had its origin in that ao—of
tnent. They had all heard of the Jacobin Club
France and its affiliated societies. No one ever olblit
templated the consequences that flowed frost[ s toe
Society. Yet it overthrew the Government of
time, and was succeeded by a despotism that aolleti
the country for many years. Having further peoa
out the evils of this organisation, he said he snt)ios
now come to the first meeting of the Repeal As,alres
tion, which was held on the 4th of Feb., 1843. "-!•;;0,
of the traversers were present, Mr. Ray, Mr. 0 u„,,,
nen, and Mr. Duffy. A statement of accounts' 'of
was read by Mr. Ray, many of them consist/10J
the distribution of these very newspapers 11°_,bilt
alluded to. At that meeting was also produced 'ncis
was now judiciously called a diploma. It was a
somely engraved document, and by it it would aPreas
that it was considered possible that the repeal.ssevar,,,,l'hei
might have other duties than their ostensible (Hies.
would hear one of the traversers inquiring wilt 10
people could not follow a repeal-warden as well as lose,
was called by the name of a sergeant. The Bight 00
Gentleman also quoted a very long extract fronibich
speech of Mr. O'Connell at the same meeting, in ":ers.
he spoke of the relation of EL,-tand with foreigra roLov
of the internal distress of Eniicard, of her aPP'"aot
strength and real weakness, and P;king if that viastote
the time for Ireland. He also alluded to the ousiolicl
made by Napoleon in not sending an army no 111,45/1
instead of to Egypt, to the martial character of the '-sod
aeople, to the military advantages of the couTtry,
concluding with expressing .his conviction that if Re tiTrr
were to pour out her vast strength upon the soil 01 we*
land, the people might, if they were true to theelsener
drive the invaders into the sea. He (the .fittor" i$
General) contended that though Russia was nani`-,411
was England that was intended, she being fre(loe;(3A
ipoken of as the oppressor of Ireland. He would 30.
bring under their notice a publication, of sithielljefi
Barrett, one of the traversers, was the editor, cap,
the Pilot, one of the papers which the lr
peal Association so industriously circulated shroabot
out the country. Mr. Barrett had taken s 0
in all these proceedings, and had endeavoure cite
tar as he could, by means of his newspaper, to e%,,/.0
dissatisfaction. The publication he should quote ~00
dated the 10th of March, 1843, and contains's' ac,l.artek,
of a repeal meeting held at Washington, Unii;ed o_,"„t
At that meeting Mr. Tyler, the son of the Rresittierbela
the United States, was present, and he should rem` /10:k
an extract from his speech on that occasion. srbe,;,,,biy
and Learned Gentleman then read the passage, 191.7,-0,1
the well-known one concluding with these woreti--;_iood;
libation of freedom must sometimes be quaffed is ,ulscile%
He further read the remarks contained in a 1e,,,0b
article on the subject of the same meeting. The aros
of Mr. Tyler was called " a bold and state onst;oos
speech." These were the publications which LI te 'llO-
connected with this Association thought they were
tified in circulating, so that they might be mad bp
many persons as possible ; this was the poison. !toll
was infused into the minds of the Irish people, a atwo D 9
obedient to the laws if they were permitted to 'be sarly
these mischievous agitators, who, for the sake .of Yior,ing
ing out their own purposes, deluded an ur
people. This was one of the means by which, whatis
of the late Ministers of the Crown called a rev olutlt; tkie
the empire was to be established, which would..les,d,:o-1,
forming of a republic in Ireland, of which Mr.. O'i'vftra
would be the chief. He used the language oil' one Dye
late Ministers of the Crown. The next step in 'tire Coinee
racy to which he should call their attention, we s t he tie
ing of large bodies of persons from great dist; ui se°' ref,
orders issued to them, that they might bec or ae.kh-orOPt
tomed to assemble in these great bodies, not • W"'",
in their hands, because everything was to be 101:1"
and tranquil till the organisation was con ts:Ple:tnen.l9;,{
when that time arrived—when that organi
complete—when the hour of England's infit ftnitl ed tb
have arrived, then would the people have acquit total
habit of meeting and marching at the word of C 0 :Sii;
in military array. There was nothing nevir "nirae,id
would be found, that for every stage of thi co,tl64ecir
there was precedent. The same course was ; aCi°rf big
1797, before the Rebellion. This was a m atterfnf
tory. lie then quoted a passage from the R kper'f-COr:,
Committee of Secresy, appointed by the Ho of,efrop„,
mons to inquire into the causes of the r bel-000ei
which the assembling of the people in this It tar intoost,4e"
various pretences, was described. The fill '-ISra
meeting was held at Trim, on the 16th o F 31,sreWsrtee;
Three of the traversers, Mr. O'Connell, 'gr. .1- gill
and Mr. Steele, were present. A dinn ' W.,59
the same day, at which Mr. Barrett ret, one to
te"
for the toast of " the people." He urged th a prof' re 00
tranquil, to be well organised, and when they Wjs.t tba.
Ireland had only to stamp its foot to be free. lOOll
same dinner Mr. O'Connell spoke. He quoted
extract from the speech then made, whicl 2 enntSilli
declaration that nothing could be hoped ft )r ROO tlr
an English Parliament. It was -a remarlt :able fact,
during the whole of last session not a sin/ rlepetitwle;
presented from Ireland in favour of th Dwell, the;,
repeal. This was not to be wondered at, when 9„-;iisn,
meetings the people were told that nothing r but 'le tel
was to be expected from it. But now th,s weig eel is
that, since these prosecutions, there had sPrulTsois
great demand for parchments. These me sting,'
not well be held without some pretext, and it w`1000:1,
pretended that they were held for d
tutional purpose of petitioning. He tr'h
tbof
hided to the establishment of the paper wh'cietore
were aware was called the Nation, the pr orlr' of
which was Mr. Duffy. This was also 010,,slie/ s
papers circulated by the Association. Now 1 543 Ice I,°o
the saying had passed into a proverb, " I w 11.1
[bat
the making of the laws of the country if y o -001
me the making of its ballads." It was singult tr /jot coo
writing of seditious poetry, as a principle, was
to as
nib,„o3
tied out for the first time in this country. -11. tiv
circumstance was mentioned in the Report of ta'o 1010
mittee of Secresy, already alluded to, and it vr peabs
again thought advisable to poison the minds of t
by such seditious songs. This poetry had 100( /* of to,
lished in a small volume, entitled the " Spirif o
Nation," and from this work he should read one 'ye doi,
it being the song called the " Memory of the
.0 f
The Hon. and Learned Gontleman then read it

lows :

Who fears to speak of Ninety-Eight ?
Who blushes at the name ?
When cowards mock the patriots' fate,
Who hangs his head for shame ?
He's all a knave, or half a slave,
Who slights his country thus;
But a true man, like you, man,
Will fill your glass with us.
We drink the memory of the brave,
The faithful and the few—
Some lie far off beyond the wave,
Some sleep in Ireland, too;
All—all are gone—but still lives on
The fame of those who died;
All true men, like you, men,
Remember them with pride.

Some on the shores of distant lands
Their weary hearts have laid,
And by the stranger's heedless hands
Their lonely graves were made;