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

the cross-examination of the witness produced by the Crown ;
he had the secretary of the society on the table to interrogate
him as to the intent and object of it. One of the questions was,
- Were the members armed with pikes or muskets ?—No.
Did you ever hear anything said in the society about piker
or muskets ?—No, never in my life. Was there such a thing
as a secret Committee there ?—Never. Was not everything
conducted openly and publicly? Was there anything ever
took place which could lead you to believe that the members
intended to depose or kill the King ?—Oh, no, never."
Would I not, gentlemen, have been entitled to ask him, if he
was a witness on the table, " Had you any reason to suppose
that the members of the Loyal National Repeal Association
intended to excite disaffection towards the Government, or
to corrupt the army, to affect the administration of justice,
or to overthrew the Government ?" Why have we not the
opportunity of asking those questions, which we might have
done if we had the benefit of his testimony. Such was the
course that was taken when those prosecutions were
being carried on in England, at a time when the armies
of France were sweeping the Continent of Europe, and when
there were great dissensions at home among the people of
England. The Attorney-General and Solicitor-General of
that day put the Secretary of the Association upon the table in
order that he might prove the facts—in order that the truth
might be ascertained. The truth prevailed, and Horne Tooke was
acquitted. What more questions were put to him ?—" What
do you think was the object or intention of the greater part of
the members of that Society ?—To obtain Parliamentary re.
form." Do you think there are many among them
who meant more than what they said ?—I do
not know; I believe they meant what they said." Gen-
tlemen of the jury, I will not go further with this exa-
mination. Observe its application to the case of my clients,
the Secretary of the Repeal Association, who discharged his
official duties in the ordinary way that the officer of any public
society was bound to do? Why is he included in this indict-
ment, or why is he now called upon, after having been per-
mitted for seven months past to go on discharging the duties of
his situation, to answer here as a conspirator—as one re-
sponsible for all the acts, speeches, and publications of which
you have heard so much ? Can you on your oaths, as honest
and honourable men, say, in the face of the country, that
Mr. Ray, the official of a legal, a recognised Association, did not
discharge his duties as secretary, in accordance with the direc-
tions of those by whom he was employed; but that he ex-
ceeded his instructions, and combined in doing all those overt
acts which form the charge of conspiracy against him ?
You are called upon to say he did not do these
things with the intention of discharging his duty, consist-
ently with his principles; but that he was engaged in a pre-
concerted plot —in a settled conspiracy formed between those
gentlemen, for you are to swear upon your oath that you be-
lieved such to have been his intent before you can give a ver-
dict against him, and I am to get your answer to that plain
question out of your jury-box. Gentlemen of the jury, it may
be said that Mr. Ray went beyond the regular course of his
duty ; it may be said that he did not confine himself to attend-
ing the regular meetings of the Association in the capacity of
secretary. Gentlemen, I am ready to admit, on the part of Mr.
Ray, that wherever there was a meeting of the Association, as
of the Association itself, lie attended and officiated there as se-
cretary, and that gets rid of all questions upon the indictment
upon that head. But it may be alleged that he was present at Tara
and at Mullaghmast. Now, on that subject I have ascertained
the fact, that those were the only two country meetings at
which he was ever present. The meeting at Tara took place
the 15th of August; it was I believe chiefly an assemblage
of persons from that immediate neighbourho'od ; but a con-
siderable portion of them were from the county and city of
Dublin, many attracted there from curiosity, and many more
of course from an identity of feeling with the object for
which it was convened, and from which to give expres-
sion to their feelings on the question of repeal. Thousands
went out there in carriages, gigs, and cars to see what took
place on the 15th of August at the hill of Tara. I don't
know whether you are aware of it, but I believe the fact is
notorious, that from the number of persons who were
going out of Dublin that day, it was regarded as a
species of holiday through the city. Mr. Ray went there with
his family, with the females of his family, and in company with
the members of another gentleman's family, of whom one or
two were females. He did nothing there ; he made no speech
there ; he did not act as secretary to that meeting • and, taking
that fact! alone, you might as well have included every
other person who attended there as Mr. Ray. There can be
no doubt but thousands went there from a mere feeling of
curiosity. However, we now find Mr. Ray at Tara, and, as
far as I can see, with respect to Mr. Ray as a traverser, on that
head I have nothing requiring me to justify on his part.
He may have gone there with a sympathy for the objects
of the meeting; but does that attach to him the character
of a conspirator? I shall not go into any of the particulars
of that meeting, for its peaceable character has bees deposed to
by the magistrates and policemen who were present—they have
told that there was no riot, no breach of thepeace, no tendency
to anything like it there. To be sure Captain Despard was
examined, but what was his evidence ? Why was it given ?
I will tell you ; it was in order to give a certain colouring
to this case—a colouring of illegality to that great meeting,
and that you might draw inferences from the evidence
after obtaining a colouring for it. Well, then, Walker was
examined, and what did he prove? That he saw people
walking, heard bands playing, and saw a few flags or banners,
and that was all he saw. Was there anything illegal in that ?
Walker was examined by the Crown on all that he was supposed
to know. Well, Captain Despard, who, it will be recollected,
had no great regard or esteem fur Mr. O'Connell—for what
reason, I suppose, he knows best himself—but it was quite
clear that, from his manner and evidence, he had a very strong
feeling against Mr. O'Connell and the meeting. This Captain
Despard comes from Trim, and he swears he heard the people
say " Keep the step !" I asked him did they keep the step, and
he said they did not. I must here remark that every police-
man who was examined did, either by design or accident,
endeavour in the strongest manner to give a colouring, which
they were not warranted in giving, to the whole character
of the proceedings. Captain Despard said the people came
in marching order to the meeting, and by that word he
wanted to impress something on your minds relative to
military array. He was obliged to admit that the people
did not keep the step, nor did they know hew to keep it.
He was a military man, ant he at once committed himself in
his anxiety to colour the ease, and give a turn to the whole
proceedings, which were totally different from the facts. It
was most disingenuous in Despard to use a military term for
the purpose of throwing it into your box; but at the same
time it only proves the nature of his temper, and the bias of
his mind, and his partisanship on the subject. I will ask,
are men to be branded with being foul conspirators—are
their lives, liberties, and fortunes to be at stake in consequence
of such evidence as this that I have shown you ? The gallant
Captain Despard and Major Westenra were taken for foreigners,
" because," says the captain, " Major Westenra had a mous-
tache, and I had a curl in my lip."—( Laughter.) Well, he gets
into a conversation with some lump of a fellow from Stoneybatter
or thereabouts, who was waiting to see Mr. O'Connell pass,
and because of this conversation the meeting was stiematised
as illegal. The man told him he came from Wexford, and
therefore the meeting was illegal, and the traversers guilty of a
foul conspiracy.—( Laughter.) This alleged conversation could
have been sustained by evidence, but I think the Attorney-
General
knew nothing at all about it when he opened the case,
or if he did I think he did well to leave it out arid not contami-
nate his case, bad as it was, with such trash as I allude to. The
Attorney-General did not allude to 20,000 Shilmalier men,
who marched to Tara. Oh, no, he knew it would be really too
farcical to do so. The conversation to which he referred, if ever
such took place at all, must be treated as a cock-and-a-brill story,
or a humbug. Walker was examined before Capt. Despard, in the
country, and it was said also thathe was near him when the con-
versation took place, yet there was not a word about it, as it was
too equivocal. Oh ! but the 20,000 Wexford men could not
be forgotten by Capt. Despard. Oh, but that was done for
a purpose—to give a colouring to the case ; and well the other
side knew that. Why was not Walker asked about it? He
might have corroborated the story. It was disgraceful to bring
such a case as that forward, in order to sustain the prosecution.
Why was not Westenra produced to corroborate the story?
He was not. And well the Attorney-General knew it would
be a disgrace to the case to introduce such an episode into his
opening statement. It is not my intention to make any re-
marks relative to the other meetings, because Mr. Ray
attended only that at Tara and Mullaghmast, and I
will leave them to other hands. Why do I mention
these things but to show that you '
ought to. come coolly to
the consideration of this awful case as I am convinced you
will. I would not have mentioned -the facts related here,
but if I left them untouched it would be giving them a
weight which they are not entitled to, or which they do not
possess, and a different construction might be put on them.
The Learned Gentleman then proceeded to read the evidence
of Mr. Despard, as follows :—Walker was in coloured clothes ;
Westenra was there also, and is alive at present. as far as
I know ; a man asked him to take off his hat for O'Connell ;
he was surprised when he heard of the 20,000 Wexford
men ; and when I asked him did he believe the man, his
answer was, " I had only his word for it." I ask, is that
evidence in this case ? There was the case made by Des-
pard of the great treasonable design concocted against the
peace of the country, because he met a man who told him he
came from Wexford ! The only other meeting at which Mr.
Ras attended was that at Mullaghmast. He went there, not
in his capacity of secretary to the Association, but on an invi-
tation which was conveyed to him from the Committee. He
was at the dinner which took place in the evening ; and that
was the only place in the whole history of the transaction
that Mr. Ray made a speech or said a word. Well, let us
ace under what circumstances ho went there, and made the
speech. Everything done at that dinner was given in evi- '
dence, except that speech of Mr. Ray. In the course of the
evening certain toasts were proposed, and amongst the rest
was the " Loyal National Repeal Association." Mr. Ray
spoke to the toast, but how ? Did he volunteer to speak ? No;
he did not ; be was called on to reply to the toast as the secretary
of the Association, and he made some observations on the sub-
ject,
but of so little importance were those observations that they
were forgotten. The speech was not reported, nor was it given
in evidence on the table—it was merely stated that Mr. Ray re-
turned thanks on the part of the Association, and that was the
only time in the history of the whole transaction that Mr. Ray
made a speech. In speaking of the meeting at Mullaghmast, I
think this is the time to make a few observations with regard to
something which occurred at that meeting. I think we have
reason to complain of the mode in which the prosecution has
been conducted, and my client complains of being made a
party to what occurred there—that was the first resolu-
tion moved at the meeting, which is one of the overt 1
Acts laid as disclosing the criminal intents of the parties to
excite disaffection among her Majesty's subjects. ( The
Learned Gentleman here read the first and second resolutions
agreed to at the meeting.) You have had a great deal of
evidence laid before you as to the numerous assemblage of
persons who came together at Mullaghmast, but though nume-
rous, it was proved that this meeting, like the others, was
peaceable and orderly, and that there was not the slightest
tendency to commit a breach of the peace. But it was
deemed necessary, -as in the case of Tara, to get
some species of evidence reflecting on the character
of the meeting, and on the designs and objects of
th ise who were assembled there. I call attention to this
fast, because it is one which, I regret to say, discloses a
iagement and distorting which ought to be absent from
a trial of this description when everything should be above
board and brought forward. What do I allude to ? I allude
to the catch-penny} ballad or placard published and printed by
a p.rson named lfanvey, whom it was the bounden duly of the
CeJwil to have produced. If it were a case of common
aas mit, where there might be a struggle for a forty-shil-
ling verdict to carry damages, I would understand la hy
he was not produced, but in a State prosecution, and parti.
cularly in a State Crown prosecution, I deny that he ought
to be kept back. When the Attorney-General opened this
case, he said that seditious, infamous, and disgraceful pub•
lications were circulated by themselves and tens of thou-
sands for the purpose of exciting one nation against the
other, and that my client fabricated the document, and
had it circulated. Why should not the Attorney-General pre-
duce the petson who
.circulated them, that we might ascer-
tain where he got them, and who paid for them ? W objected
to the document, we thought it unjust to be produced in
evidence on a conspiracy, when it was sought to make each
conspirator responsible for the acts of his co-conspirators.
N't, as it to be endured that such a document, circulated by
this person, whose character was blackened as a vender of
seditious publications, in the outskirts of the meeting,: for
profit and hire, should be received in evidence, littondr,alse.pler.
he
son himself not. produced ? AI
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calling the person Who sold them to show bow be got them