The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-31 00:00:00

THE STATE PROSECUTIONS.

We are really at a loss to conjecture what good Sir
Robert Peel expects from the prosecution of Mr. O'Con-
nell. Be the result what it may—acquittal or punish-
ment—the influence of the acitator is sure to be aug-
mented, and the authority of the Government propor-
tionally weakened. At the date of the latest accounts,
the Court of Queen's Bench had sat eight days, but not
a single circumstance had been brought to light that was
not well known before. The foul and wicked conspiracy
of the Attorney-General, turns out to be nothing more
than an open combination to effect a change in the law,
such as has exited over and over again in all parts of
the country, and such as exists in the Complete Suf-
frage Union and An'i-Corn-law League, at present. All
that has been proved, and all, we are satisfied, that can
-be proved, against O'Connell is, that he has organised
associations, collected subscriptions, and given tickets of
membenhip to as many people as desired to repeal an
Act of Parliament that has only existed some forty
years. This he has done peaceably, and accompanied
by professions of the most unbounded loyalty.
Now, what is there in all this that has not been done
a hundred tunes over—that is not done at present ?
What greater crime has O'Connell committed than the
Reform leaders of 1831, or than the Anti-Corn-law and
Complete-Suffrage agitators of 1843? None whatever.
But the Ministry feel themselves in a difficulty, and they
try to evade the concession of justice to Ireland, by
wielding the instruments of justice to do her more
grievous wrong than she yet has suffered.
The whole course of this prosecution has been marked
by folly. It began ill in the suppression of the Clontarf
meeting, and it has gone on from bad to worse through
the blunders of the preliminary proceedings—the-unfair-
ness of the panal—and the ludicrous absurdities of the
Crown witnesse?. Come out of it what will, the Admi-
nistration must suffer.—Aberdeen Herald.

TWO SUPPLEMENTS GRATIS,
WITH THE "DISPATCH."
GREAT NATIONAL TRIAL AT DUBLIN.
The immense size of THE WEEKLY DISPATCH has,
hitherto, enabled its Proprietors on all occasions to preset, a
Copious, and, at the same time, interesting account of the events
of each week. It is, however, now found utterly impossible to
give anything like a faithful report of the Trial of Mr. O'Con-
nell and his repeal associates, without excluding a great mass of
interesting domestic and foreign intelligence ; the Proprietors,
therefore, feel that their journal, which has been for years, and
is now, honoured with more patronage than any other in ex-
istence, should be, in all respects, complete; and, with that
view, they intend to insert a summary of the proceedings
during the progress of the trial in their usual columns, and
present to their friends and subscribers
TWO SUPPLEMENTS. GRATIS.

One of these Supplements will be published on the Sunday suc-
ceeding the delivery of the Verdict, and will contain the Speeches
of Mr. O'Connell, Mr. Shell, Sir C. O'Lnghlin, the Attorney-
General, and other leading Counsel; together with the Summing
up of the Judge, the Verdict of the Jury, and other matters of im-
portance that may arise up to the latest hour, for which the
services of several short-hand writers of eminence have been
specially engaged. The second Supplement (also of the full
size of THE WEEKLY DISPATCH) will, in fact,
form the early portion of the trial, and embrace the pro-
ceedings of the commencement to that stage at which the
other begins; so that every subscriber to THE WEEKLY
DISPATCH will be in possession or a complete and faithful
report of this great national trial—a trial which must become a
matter of history, and be regarded as an event of no ordinary
importance in after time. A BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH
OF MR. O'CONNELL will precede the account of the
Trial, which will be written by a gentleman intimately ac-
quainted with the " great Agitator," and consequently one who
has treasured up many reminiscences that will render the Bio-
graphy a paper of general and absorbing interest.
The Two Supplements, forming Ninety-six Columns, will
be printed uniformly with THE DISPATCH, and contain
a quantity of matter equal to at least an octavo volume of 500
gesH
pa.
TE DISPATCH is supplied by every Newsvender in
London, and by the various Booksellers and News Agents in
the country, to whom bills for circulation will be forwarded,
with the name and address attached, on receiving a letter to
that effect, directed to Mr. Wood, Dispatch-office, 139, Fleet-
street, where orders are also received.

THE SECRET PASSION.—The author of " Shak-
speare and his Friends," and " The Youth of Shakspeare,"
two fictions which may be said to have created an entirely
new school of novel writing, and which at once received the
stamp of the highest public approbation, has again come be-
fore his admirers with a new story entitled " The Secret Pas-
sion." Without betraying the mystery of the plot, it will be
sufficient to direct our readers attention to the work to say
that it is written in quite as original and striking a style as
that which marked the author's former productions, and that
at the same time it displays equal powers of fertile invention
in the incidents as well as truth and variety. of character. It
has the additional attraction of offering a series of delineations
of the moral feelings, such as have rarely been pourtrayed by
any of the master hands who have treated of the development
of human passion through the medium of fiction.
CARDIFF.—RATHER MISTAKEN.—A certain gen-
tleman, who is well known to the commercial world in the
localities of Cardiffi Merthyr, and Newport, had a meeting
of importance to attend at one of these places on a Saturday
evening some time ago, and having finished his avocations
at a considerable distance from the place of the meeting, he
engaged a famous pony to convey him in haste to the place
of appointment. He arrived at an inn on the road not 100
miles from Newbridge, about dusk, and alighted to regale
himself with good creature comforts, and to rest his horse.
After tasting and trying a good quantity of that which the
house produced, and toying with the ladies, till both alcohol
and love made him feel rather bewildered, he was reminded
at length of the flight of time, by his gold chain and watch,
and getting up, and taking a hasty farewell of bright eyes
and rosy wine, he straightway proceeded to mount his pony ;
but lo ! when seated, he discovered that his charger was
minus saddle and bridle ! Dismounting, as well 'as he could,
and in a towering passion, he reached the bal in a twinkling,
and upbraided the landlord in a masterly style, desiring him
to come out forthwith to see the pony without bridle or
saddle. Out they went, and behold! they discovered that
our hero had actually mistaken a poor old cow for his pony,
and had been on her back, in the idea of riding, home quite
comfortably, while she was quietly eating grains from a pail
by the door. The pony was standing within a few yards,
going off in a quiet dose, from which he was roused by the
loud laughter which pealed around, on discovering the
gentleman's queer mistake.—Monmouth Merlin.
ASTLEY'S.—The attractions at this popular theatre
continue to fill the house every evening. Last night,. the
Battle of Waierloo and the Equestrian, exhibition, afforded
the ireatest delight tb ahouse crowded to the ceiling.
Lord Fitzroy Somerset, Militaif Secreta'ry of the
Commander in Chief of the army, transacted business with
Sir James Graham, at the Howe-office.

ty4 111
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SUN OFFICE, Seven o'Cloch.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.

FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF TRIS DAY.
GLOBE.—The proceedings were resumed on
Monday morning. On the Judges taking their seats,
and the members of the jury answering to their
names, Mr. John O'Connell requested to make an ob-
servation on a remark of Mr. Sheil, in his address to
the jury, which, if not explained, might compromise
his reputation, by seeming to impugn his consistency.
That considerable " sensation" should be caused
among those who heard the declaration—made in such
a place, and under circumstances such as those in which
the declarant stood—can be easily imagined. As an
abstract question, the repeal of the legislative union
may be held, and even discussed, without exposing
the person who holds and asserts it to the penalties of
the law. The point in issue between the Crown
and the traversers is, whether the means by which
they have sought to effect their object have been such
as the law allows, or such as bring them within its
penalties. This is the question to which the attention
of the jury must be confined; because it is the ques-
tion on which they are sworn to return a ver-
dict of "guilty," or " not guilty," respecting each
of the traversers. Mr. John O'Connell might, there-
fore, safely make the declaration which he did with-
out perilling his individual case ; and, if he considered
that declaration due to his consistency, he did right to
repudiate the idea which his counsel suggested, as a
mode by which the Repeal question might he compro-
mised, but in which he (the defendant) could not concur.
The adjournment of the Court on Saturday at the
close of Mr. Sheil's speech, was an act of considerate
justice on the part of the Judges to Mr. Moore, who
would otherwise have had to address the jury for his
client (the Rev. Mr. Tierney) under manifest disad-
vantages. During the protracted trial of Warren
Hastings, a similar testimony was borne to the
powers of Sheridan, then in the meridian of his fame.
At the close of Mr. Sheridan's mightiest effort within
the walls of Parliament—the speech with which he
opened the fourth charge against the impeached
party—Mr. Pitt moved an adjournment ; observ-
ing, " The wand of the enchanter is upon us ;
it is in vain to attempt an application of the judgment
to the charge before us, while under the imme-
diate influence of the fascinating power to which
we have been subjected." Read in connexion with
Mr. Sheil's speech, that of Mr. Moore, as an orato-
rical effusion, will fail to excite the same feelings of
delight. As the close reasoning of a lawyer, whose
duty it was to examine each count of the indict-
ment, and to show how futile had been the efforts of
the Crown lawyers to sustain those counts by the
evidence they had adduced, Mr. Moore's speech is
deserving of no ordinary praise, and will, we
doubt not, be highly appreciated by the bar, and
be carefully scanned by the jury. It cannot
be too frequently brought before the mind of the
public, in order to show how utterly the evidence
brought forward has failed to sustain the indictment,'
that the indictment charges " conspiracy," and this
alone, against the parties. Failing to establish " con-
spiracy, the indictment is at an end. There is no
count for attending unlawful assemblies. The
Attorney-General has not ventured to take issue
on the question, whether the meetings of the Asso-
ciation were, in the legal sense of the term, unlaw-
ful assemblies. There is no count for sedition. But
extracts from speeches are set forth which are
alleged to be seditious, in order to sustain the charge
of conspiracy. Mr. Moore's clear and forcible exposure
of the form of the prosecution, by which constructive
evidence on such a charge is sought to be substituted
for direct testimony, deserves the careful considsra-
Con of every man capable of understanding a legal
argument expressed in popular language; as we hope
and believe it will have from the jury, on whose
verdict the case will be decided. Mr. Hatchell's
address to the jury in behalf of Mr. Ray, the
Secretary of the Repeal Association, was short,
considering the length of the speeches which had
preceded it. It occupied only two hours. The skill
with which Mr. Hatchell dissected the testimony of
certain of the Crown witnesses, and exposed the dis-
crepancy of their respective statements—the suspi-
cion which he cast over the whole case for the prose-
cution, by the refusal, on the part of the Crown, to
adduce evidence which was within their control,
and essential to their case, from a fear lest the ad-
missions of facts, or contradictions of the witnesses
they did call in, in certain statements they had made,
were fine specimens of forensic power, and opened
up a new difficulty to the Solicitor-General in his
reply. The copious reference made to State trials in
this country at different periods, and his application
of the doctrine held by English Judges on those
occasions to the case then under trial, showed how
laboriously Mr. Hatchell had prepared himself for
his undertaking, and will, doubtless, convince even
the exclusive jury which the Attorney-General has
obtained, that they must be more determined to con-
vict the Repeal leaders than to return a verdict in
consistency with the Constitution, if they bring in a
verdict of guilty, on the indictment before the Court.
STANDARD.—Ihe speeches of Mr. 'Moore and
Mr. Hatchell, at the Dublin State trials, do not call
for any particular observation. We do not say this
in any disrespectful sense, for both the addresses were
able and lawyer-like; but, unlike Mr. Sheil's, they
adhered so closely to the subject matter of the
charge, that to pronounce an opinion of the
degree of success of either would be to
trespass beyond those limits to which a considera-
tion of what is due to the administration of justice
confines us, until the verdict shall have been de-
livered. The not inopportune illness of Mr. Fitz-
gibbon on Monday, abridged that day's proceedings
to the extent of enabling Mr. O'Connell to take his
place at the meeting of the Repeal A sssoeiation,
where he suggested a badge or uniform, to be worn
by Repealers. This is, perhaps, to be a practical proof
of the defence mainly relied upon by Mr. Moore and
Mr. Hatchell, within a few hours before, namely, the
absence of union and concert among the Re-
pealers. In regard to the trials the Whig journals
in England go to lengths far beyond what even
the retained advocates of the traversers have as yet
ventured. If we understand them rightly, there
can be no such thing as a political conspiracy,-no
such crime as sedition—a line of defence which,
perhaps, they may safely take, because they are
not responsible to courts, or juries, or to any
authority save common sense ; but which it
would be desperate folly to offer upon an
actual trial. Every book on Crown law tells us that
there is such an offence as political conspiracy, and
reason demonstrates that it may be the highest public
offence short of high treason, and separated from that
highest of all crimes by a very narrow and uncertain
boundary. The practice of the late Government
abundantly proved their sense of the existence of
such a crime ; and we find the very first of Whig
law authorities, the late Lord Erskine, thus de-
scribing it, and showing the perfect compatibility
of the punishment "of the offence with even his
most liberal notions of the sovereignty of the people;
we quote from his Lordship's celebrated speech upon
Hardy's trial, where he recites the law, as
laid down by the Lord Chief Baron Macdonald.
" The question is not what the people have a
right to do—for the people are undoubtedly the
foundation and origin of all governments—but the
charge is for seditiously calling upon the people,
without cause or real' n, to exercise a right which
would be sedition, supposing the right to be in them.
For though the people might have a right to do the
thing suggested, and though they are not excited to
the doing it by force and rebellion, yet as the sugges-
tion goes to unsettle the State, the propagation of such
doctrines is seditious. There is no other way un-
doubtedly of describing that charge." This quota-
tion meets the whole case of sedition and of sedi-
tious conspiracy, and it derives additional force
from the liberal opinions of Lord Erskine, and
from the occasion on which it was delivered.
We submit it to the serious attention of our Con-
temporaries, who deny the possible existence cf
political conspiracy as an illegal offence, and affect
to treat the punishment of such conspiracy as
an invasion of the primary right of freemen.
Lord Erskine plainly thought that there is such
an offence as political conspiracy, and that it may be
prosecuted and punished, leaving altogether unim-
paired " the sovereignty of the people,' of which he
was the ardent votary. In other respects the de-
fence set up by the Whig journals is foolish ,•
for while they admit what, indeed, it would
be absurd to deny, the convergence of the whole
repeal agitation to one object—namely, the repeal
of the union and to one central authority, the
organised Repeal Association, they affect to exa-
mine the practical proofs of a concerted design " to
unsettle the State," by a combined movement, as if
each of these practical proofs ended as it were in
itself : just as if, upon on indictment for riot,
to which three persons are necessary to constitute
the offence, John should insist upon being tried
without reference to the acts of James and Peter,
indicted with him, or even without reference to the
existence of such persons in rerum naturffl. In all
cases, however, of riot, riotous assembly, conspi-
racy, &c., it is the number and the community of
purpose which makes the gravamen of the charge;
these proved, the acts of each individul become the
acts of all. After all that we have written for the
last three or four years, it would be a ridiculous
prudery on our part to affect to conceal our con-
viction that the repeal agitation has been carried
on by an all but treasonable conspiracy, if, indeed,
the conspiracy has not been absolutely an act of high
treason. The only question which we are not at
liberty to touch, because the only question upon
which the jury have to decide, is -the; onnexion and
the degree of connexion of the several traverser
with that conspiracy, the character .and extent of