The Sun.
London, England, 1845-09-09 00:00:00

IRELAND.

% uAAV, SEPT. 6.13ir. O'Connell has sent a subscriptiun
,-;el:tv guweas towards the relief of the friends and sur-
vi. r;.of prrsoni who lost their lives in the unhappy eon-
at l;ai;inhassig ; and in performing this act of humanity
t-.:e Liberator seizes the opportunity of writing a long letter to
Mr. P. O'Connell, of Cork. It runs as follows :
" Derrynane Abbey, Sept. 1.

'''My dear Philip,—l enclose you the sum of twenty guineas,
in,Aidual subscription to the ' Ballinhassig Sufferers'
Fund ;' you will be so good as to transmit this money to who-
ever has the management of that fund.
".I have considered with the deepest attention the case of
the. unhappy sufferers in the Ballinhassig affair, and I deeply
deplore the very preposterous, and I would add, cruel ver-
dict, given by the majority of the jurors at the coroner's in-
quest. How they could have arrived at the conclusion of
' Justifiable Homicide ' exceeds my powers of belief. It is
r.'ally revolting to think of the flippancy with which they
brought themselves to consider that so much human blood was
innocently shed, and so many human lives innocently sacri-
ficed. If the opinion of the minority of the jury had been
adopted, the only consequence would be, that the matter
voila be thus placed in a train for further investigation—and no
man would have been punished (far what I think were compli-
, ewer' murders) unless found guilty before a judge of the land,
and by an undoubtedly impartial jury. The verdict, as it
stands, potentially prevents any further judicial inquiry.
It is not a positive estoepel, but it practically terniunates
any hope of inflicting just punishment, or of obtaining any
kind of redress.
" The Government will of course continue to decline
any further examination into the matter—they are not likely
to be discontented with the escape of the instruments of their
power.
What is then to he done ? You ask what I advise to be
done. Alas ! after the fullest consideration, I have arrived at
the result that nothing effectual can be suggested. There is
nut the least prospect of our procuring a bill of indictment to
be found for murder, it even for manslaughter—not the least;
and it is difficult to say that any other course could be open,
save that of presenting to the grand jury an indictment. At
present, therefore, I have no advice to give—and I say it with
bitter affliction of heart. I will, however, give you intimation
of the time when I can be in Cork on my way to Dublin—so
that we may arrange a consultation between me and the gentle-
men who so ably conducted the inquiry—in order to see whether
we could strike out any plan to satisfy the demands of justice
and humanity.
" 'Tis really shocking to think that the police should be
erni;loyed, with deadly weapons in their hands, to decide
up'ti the necessity of arresting persons not guilty of felo-
nious or capital offences. It is a bad system that sanctions
tho use of murderous weapons upon occasions where,
even if the imputed crime of the slain were really proved,
the utmost punishment could not exceed a small fine or a short
imprisonment. The origin of this Ballinhassi,g slaughter is to
Le traced to so silly and trivial a cause as that of a man beating
,his own horse on the head with his own hat.
s, And ),t, originating in so trifling a cause, the death-
de,,,,;ws weapons were handled, and the corpses of he husband,
the fai,te, the brother—ay, and of the wite—strewed the
ground, and their blood flowed ; but the earth has not covered
it, it remair a cr.iirg to Heaven for vengeance, and to the all-
ni,rsijui but ail...ptat Providence we leave the vindication of the
crone eorna.it!ep in the face of Heaven—' Vengeance is mine,
ataith the Lord, and I will repay.
Tjlis waist melancholy slaughter reminds us, alas ! of many
other a:..enes of ii a,sacre, front Castlepoilard to Skibbereen,
all dissitictly irat:Tatile to the fatal policy of, I will say, un-
necessarily arming ,he police with murderous weapons.
Waenever it is iterelsary to use instruments of immediate
dem:, the military should be called out. The soldiers, under
the command of their officers, always in Ireland act with
huma tidy to the people. If there 44 been sAdiers at Bailin-
hassig, ihstesai of po:iee, not a single life would have been lost,
and i.“!ace would have been perfectly preserved.
" I entertain no present hope (as you perceive) of any re-
slress ; yet we will consider of it more attentively, with this
rnelamtliiily pressure on our minds, that the slaughter at Bal
lin-
already fading from recollection, although as many
human being h
s were massacred and as much human hlood,sh d
*as in the recent insurrectionary movement at Iseinsiti, which
'tiotivulsea eetdral Europe, and threatens overthroW ?nd ealine.
000 to thrones and principalities.—Believe me to be, my
dear Phitip, most faithfully yours,
" DANIEL O'CONNELL.
" Mr. Philip O'Connell, so!iciti,r, 37, South-mall, Cerk."