The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-13 00:00:00

MR. O'CONNELL.

The reception given to Mr. O'Connell at Birmingham
is a sign of the times. It indicates the wonderful
change which has been wrought within the last few
weeks in the public mind of England. Six months
ago Mr. O'Connell was not popular in this country,
however much idolised in his own. We enter into
no speculations as to the causes of this. The causes
of the change which has since taken place can be
mistaken by no one. They are clear as the sum-
mer sun, They lie on the surface. The State trials
" have done it all." Persecution has made the " Con-
spirator" what he is in England. The triumph which
attends his appearance in the metropolis, and his pro-
gress through the provinces, is the result of a general
conviction that he is the victim of a tyrannical Govern-
ment ; for it is one of the most marked attributes of the
English character, to feel and express sympathy with
those who are treated with harshness or injustice.
From mere personal considerations, therefore, had
there been no other, Mr. O'Connell could have con-
fidently relied on a cordial reception in England,
after the efforts which a Tory Government has made
to crush him. But there are other and higher con-
siderations than any of a pure personal nature,
mixed up with the extraordinary enthusiasm with
which the "Conspirator" is everywhere received in
this country. In his person, and in the persons of
his co-" conspirators," a deadly blow has been
aimed at some of the most cherished principles of the
Constitution. The right of free discussion, and of
holding public meetings, was violently assailed by the
recent proceedings in Ireland. The integrity of
trial by jury too, was grossly attacked by the mode
in which Ministers conducted the State prosecutions.
O'Connell has not had a fair trial. Legal forms
were trampled upon by the Attorney-General. And
he who filled the principal seat on the Bench, sacri-
ficed the sacred impartiality and dignified gravity of
the judge to the one-sided views and vehement partisan •
ship of the advocate. A more objectionable charge
never proceeded from judicial lips. In every flee the
leanings of the judge were so visible as to render it im-
possible for any one to mistake them. Mr. Justice Pen-
nefather was with the Government and against the
traversers. With such a jury and such a judge, need
we wonder at the result? No feeling of amazement was
expressed when the verdict was returned; no such feel-
ing was, or could be, entertained.
Now, in all this the people of England not only see
the gross injustice to Mr. 0 Connell, and a flagrant
contravention of the law of the land as regards the
manner in which State prosecutions ought to
be conducted, but they discover the most ample
ground for apprehension in reference to themselves.
If the Constitution is to be set at defiance in Ireland,
why not in England ? If the rights and liberties of
the subject are to be outraged in the person of Mr.
O'Connell, what more more natural than that they should
be equally set at nought in the person of Mr. Cobden ?
If it were right to put down the Repeal agitation in
Ireland before any breach of the public peace could be
laid to its charge, it is equally right that the Corn-
law agitation should be crushed in England. If it was
constitutional to issue a proclamation against the meet-
ing of Clontarf, it must be equally in accordance
with our rights and liberties that a proclamation should
be issued against the League meetings in Covent-garden.
If it was right to proceed against the eight individuals
lately arraigned in the Queen's Bench of Dub.
lin, it must be equally proper to proceed against
the Council of the League in the Queen's Bench
in London. If Mr. O'Connell and his co-tra-
versers were "conspirators," so are Messrs. Cobden,
Bright, Wilson, &c. If the former were guilty of " con-