The Sun.
London, England, 1844-01-30 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM' TEC/. EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—The case of the prosecution termi-
nated on Friday afternoon. As if an incubus had
been suddenly removed from the physical and
mental faculties of she„Judges—who in this sympa-
thised with every individual in the Court—they
cordially assented to an application *by Mr. Moore,
one of the counsel for the defence, and adjourned the
Court until the following morning. Dulness—to
whose influence the powers of the Judges, the jury,
the bar,- and the audience, had gradually yielded
themselves while the voluminous documents
were read by the Clerk of the Crown—now
ceased to be felt. Mr. Sheil was to open the defence.
The opening speech of the Attorney-General, it will
be remembered, was to develop° revelations of secret
treasons, privy conspiracies, and incipient insurrec-
tion. It was therefore looked forward to by the
public with anxious expectation. To hear this dis-
closure of plots and treasons was an object not
Merely of curiosity, but of patriotic desire to those
who believed that any such • conspiracy existed;
while others, more prudent, who regarded those re-
ports as mere moonshine, were induced to seek ad-
mission to the Court for the purpose of witnessing an
explosion of . the statements by which the alarmists
had disturbed the public mind in Ireland. But even
this combination of motives to gain admission within
the Court to hear the Attorney-General was feeble in
its operation upon the public mind when compared
with the excitement in Dublin on Saturday morning.
The Court was crowded to suffocation. Ladies of
the highest rank and fashon occupied the places to
which the favour of the Judges and the courtesy of
the High Sheriff had obtained them an introduction
before the openinc, of the Court. The correspondents
of the different London journals agree in describing
the pressure as extreme; and the interest manifested
by persons of all grades was beyond all precedent.
If a judgment may be safely formed of its character
by the perusal of a newspaper report—which, however
excellent, must he imperfect—Mr. Sheil's speech was
worthy of the great occasion on which it was delivered.
Under ordinary circumstances, however completely
an advocate may identify himself with his client, he
can feel but comparatively little interest in the cause
itself. In the present instance, the advocate, the
client, and the cause, were not merely linked together
by professional ties, they were united by personal and
political sympathies through the long period
of the Catholic Emancipation struggle. What-
ever was essential to elevate the advocate
to the height of the great argument he
had engaged to discuss, was supplied to, and was felt
,by, Mr. Sheil. The conduct which was charged against
his client as a crime, he undertook to vindicate ; and
he did so with an eloquence in which the force of
demonstration carried conviction to the mind,
while the enthusiastic appeals of the orator held
captive the generous feelings of the heart, and
at length enlisted them on the side of the defen-
dants. The Government was denounced for con-
duct which—if the charges alleged in the indict-
ment were founded in truth—was either criminal
neglect or fatuous indifference :—The unbroken
peaceableness of the meetings—the reiterated exhor-
, tationg of Mr. O'Connell to the people to respect the
law amid its functionaries—his assurance that if a
single-unattended- magistrate appeared at any one of