The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-08 00:00:00

THE SIX-MILE BRIDGE AFFAIR.

THE conduct of the Irish ATTORNEY-GENERAL
with reference to the affair at Six-mile-Bridge isl
deserving of the severest reprehension, and we ares
glad to see that it is to be brought before the atten-
tion of Parliament, who will not perform their
manifest duty unless they institute a searching
inquiry into his conduct on this occasion. There
must certainly be little encouragement for British
troops to do their duty, when the effect of
their resistance to a seditious mob, led on by priestly
firebrands,
is to subject them to a trial on the charge of
wilful murder, promoted by the Law Officer of the
Crown. In the case of the soldiers who protected
the voters at Ennis, on their way to exercise their
rights, and who were so violently assaultod that
they were compelled to fire in self-defence, a coro-
ner's jury of Irishmen returned a verdict of wilful
murder, which an English Court of Law would
have instantly quashed. Not so, however, in Ire-
land, where they were not only subject to have the
finding on the inquisition pressed to trial, but the
ATTORNEY-GENERAL preferred bills of indictment
for the same offence; and though, after a charge
from the Judge, in which his bias towards the
rioters was palpably evident, the Grand Jury had the
courage and patriotism to ignore the bills

yet the

ATTORNEY-GENERAL persisted in having the men
arraigned on the inquisition, and then took credit
to himself for not preferring any evidence against
them, lie was particular in pointing out that he
had acted altogether on his own responsibility.
But what must be the moral effect of such proceed-
ings on the part of the acknowledged representative
of the government ? It
must be clear to the dullest
of Irish comprehensions, that encouragement, is
given, as far as can be dared to brutaltvnieoule,nocne and
intimidation, practised under Romish influence and
that even HER MAJESTY'S soldiers, and a ;worn
justice of the peace, are liable to be •.1
the
hazard of their lives, for performing their manifest
duty, even when driven to the extremity of acting
in self-defence. Nor is this the whole of the
ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S offence, for he has made
the acquittal of the soldiers by the Grand Jury a
pretext for withdrawing the prosecution of the
Romish Priests, who were notoriously the instiga-
tors of the riot, and were criminally liable for the
consequences. He has thereby betrayed the animus
of the whole proceeding, and left no reason to
doubt that in his hands the offences of Romanists
are permitted to pass with impunity, while those
whose duty is to preserve the peace have to suffer
for their fidelity. It is sowing the wind, and for
which one day they must reap the whirlwind, But,
in the meantime, the country suffers, and the dis-
graceful scenes, through which alone the Romish
Brigade were able to make such a show of parlia-
mentary strength, receive the virtual sanction of the
ruling powers. It is well known that the Ministry
have failed in their endeavours to buy more than
the three Irish members to whom they gave places,
and this extraordinary conduct, on the part of the
Irish ATTORNEY-GENERAL, may be a bid for the
votes of the remainder.