The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-30 00:00:00

THE STATE PROSECUTIONS IN IRELAND.

In the case of the Queen v. Mitchell, on Wednesday, at
Dublin, Mr. Holmes, counsel for the prisoner, applied fora
postponement of the trial on the ground of the absence of a
material witness. An affidavit was put in supporting the
application. The Court agreed that the matter should
stand over until next day, when the trial of the prisoner
proceeded, before Baron Lefroy and Judge Moore. The
attorney-general, J. Monahan, Esq. ; Mr. Henn, Q.C. ;
Mr. Whiteside. Q.C. ; and Mr. Perrin, appeared to con-
duct the prosecution ; and Mr. Holmes, Sir Colman
O'Loghlen, with Messrs. Pigot and O'Hagan, conducted
the prisoners defence. A challenge mas made to the array
on the part of Mr. Mitchell, and the matter was referred
to the jury, who, through their foreman, found that the
panel was fairly and impartially made out by the High
Sheriff and his officers. A jury was then sworn in, and
the indictment was read at length. The prisoner was in-
dicted for two distinct publications—one a speech delivered
at the Limerick soiree, and published in the United Irish-
man of the 6th of May; the other a letter addressed to
the Protestant farmers, labourers, and artisans of the
north of Ireland, published in the same journal, on the
13th of May, of which the prisoner is the proprietor and
publisher, the object of both articles being to take away
the style, honour, and royal name of our sovereign lady
the Queen ; and to compel her to change her measures.
The prisoner pleaded not guilty. The court then ad-
journed to Friday, when the case was fully gone into, Mr.
Holmes making a splendid address in favour of the pri-
soner, and contending that it was perfectly legal to recom-
mend the public to arm, on account of the oppression
exercised by the Saxons.

Mr. Henn then replied, and after Mr. Justice Moore
had charged the jury, they retired, and after about two
hours and w half consultation, returned a verdict of guilty.
Mr. Mitchell was then removed, and on Saturday morning
he was brought up to receive sentence, and on being
asked if he had any objections why it should not be
passed, he said he had ; it was because he had
been found guilty " by a packed jury; by the proceed-
ings of a partisan sherif, and by a jury which was
packed—was juggled—not by a sheriff, but by a
juggler." He was proceeding in this strain when he was
interrupted by Baron Lefroy, who then in a lengthened
address passed sentence on the prisoner of fourteen years
transportation. The learned baron, in the course of his
address, said that the jury could not have come to any
other decision, and condemned the line of defence
adopted by Mr. Holmes for the prisoner, which his lord-
ship said amounted very nearly to matter, as objectionable
as that for which the prisoner stood charged. Mr.
Mitchell was then allowed by the court to speak, when he
went on to say that he had several weeks ago promised
Lord Clarendon that his lordship should either pack a
jury to convict him, or he (Mitchell) would provoke his
lordship to a contest in another field. He was then going
on to speak of " packed juries, partisan judges, and
perjured sheriffs," when he was stopped by the court, and
told that he could only he heard within the limits of
public decorum. He then said that he retracted nothing
and repented of nothing which he had said or done, and
that hundreds were ready to follow his course, but on this
Baron Lefroy ordered him to be removed. The turnkey
then caught Mitchell by the arm, and as he was taken
away his friends crowded round him, but during the whole
time he deported himself in,perfect composure and deli-
berate self-possession. At this moment a scene of ex-
citement ensued, which, we believe, for centuries has
not been equalled in a court of justice. It was nervous
and thrilling in the' extreme. The personal friends and
adherents of Mr. Mitchell, who thronged the vicinity of
the dock, rose, and, in a rush to get a touch or a sight of
the prisoner, created a commotion at once reel less and
energetic. They seemed to have lost ail idea of the
presence of the judges or the police authorities. Gentle-
men of the bar, w.lio wore the costume, disrobed thems4ves
and entered into active resistance to the police, by %twin
several persons were taic.en into custody, amongst whom
were Messrs. Meagher, Doheny, and Richard O'Gorman,
During the .excitement that prevailed at this period',
of the proceedings, in which the crowded court seemed
completely absorbed, Baron Lefrey. rose and retired from
the bench, but Jude MIMIC seed unmoved by the I

excitement. The learned judge was evidently affected by
the distressing circumstances under which the prisoner was
placed.

After order had been restored, Mr. Doheny, a barrister,
and Mr. T. F. Meagher, were brought up in custody of
policemen, charged with creating a disturbance in court.
At first they both said, that though they did not intend to
offer any contempt to the court, they adopted every word
that Mr. Mitchel uttered. They were allowed a few mi-
nutes to consider whether they would not make an apo-
logy • but, on refusing to do so, they were removed in
custody, but after the lapse of a little time, they were
again brought up, when; on stating that they did not
mean any disrespect to the court, they were allowed to be
discharged. When the court were about to proceed with
the ordinary business, Mr. Holmes rose and said that be
begged to repeat all that he had stated the day before,
with respect to the treatment of Ireland by England, and
that perhaps under the late Act of Parliament the At-
torney-General might think it right to proceed against
him. Loud applause followed.—On Saturday afternoon
Mr. Mitchell was conveyed in irons in the prisoners van,
escorted by a party of horse police, supported by a squa-
dron of Carbineers, to the North Wall, where he was
placed on board the Sheerwater, which immediately
started for Spike Island, Cork. The proper. y of Mr.
Mitchel at the United Irishman office, has been seized by
the Crown. We have not heard of any disturbance in
Ireland. Mrs. Mitchell and her children had an interview
with Mr. Mitchel on Saturday. The scene was harrowing
in the extreme. For some time the convict preserved a
stern composure until subdued by the presence of his wife
and artless children, he bent into tenderness.