The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-02-13 00:00:00

acted in open,day, in the presence Of the government,
of the magistrates, and I said nothing that I would not
expose to the universal world. I have struggled for the
restoration of the parliament of my native country.
Some have succeeded in the attempt—others have failed.
If I succeed or if I fall, it Is a glorious struggle to make
—the first land upon the earth possess that bounty and
benefit— what God and nature intended it should possess
—(partial applause.)

The Chief Justice.—Are you going into evidence Mr
Moore ?

Mr. Moore.—We intend so, my lord ; but at this late
hour there might be a difficulty in getting the witnesses
into court in its present crowded state.

The Chief Justice.—l do not wish to put you to any
inconvenience.

Mr. Moore.—Then, my lord, I think that as the case
has closed so far as the speeches are concerned, that we
might abridge the evidence much by a conference before
any of the witnesses are produced. _

The Chief Justice.—Then we will be ready to hear them
to-morrow morning.

The Court was accordingly adjourned until to-morrow
morning at ten o'clock.
Mr. O'Connell was loudly cheered while passing through
the hall, and in the vicinity of the Courts, upon his way
home.

The traversers brought their defence to a conclusion on
Tuesday by the examination of a few unimportant wit-
nesses. Mr. F. W. Conway deposed to the facts and
speeches of a repeal meeting held in the Royal Exchange
in 1810, at which Mr. O'Connell took a part. Mr. Jas.
Perry was produced to prove the system and rules of ar-
bitration adopted by the Society of Friends ; and Mr. W.
Cosgrave was examined relative to those of the Ouzel
Galley Society. Mr. Vernon, of the Stamp-office, was
called on to produce and read extracts from the late
Morning Register and the Freeman's Journal; and se-
veral other documents connected with the Repeal Asso-
ciation, and the several monster meetings, were put in
evidence, and read by the officer of the court ; aftzr which
Mr. William Morgan deposed to some particulars of the
Tullamoore meeting.

The Solicitor-General commenced his reply on 'Wed-
nesday. He observed that the eight gentlemen who had
addressed them had introduced matter not only different,
but inconsistent ; but in one respect they marvellously
concurred—the absence of the least reference to the merits
of the case. They had not, in fact, introduced one ob-
servation upon the real merits of the question, but had
carefully evaded touching upon the question which the
jury had been sworn to investigate,—namely, the exist-
ence or non-existence of the conspiracy with which they
had been charged. He denied the charge that government
had seduced the people into crime, contending that every
warning ha I been held out, and that the prosecution which
had been ultimately resolved upon was one which they had
every reason to expect, and could not have been brought
forward with effect earlier than it was. They had been
told, usque ad nauseam, that this was an attack on the
legal and constitutional rights of the people,—an attempt
to put down free discussion. It was his thorough belief
and conviction that a verdict which could have the effect
of stopping the proceedings to which those unfortunate
People had become victims, would be the most favourable
'result which could happen for them. It would not abridge
their rights, but lead to their amelioration in every respect
But it was then said the crown were prosecuting for the
purpose of putting an end to free discussion. Now, his
reply to that was—they were not prosecuting any person
for holding any particular political or religious opinions ;
be avowed at once that every one of the traversers bad
the fullest right to express, in a constitutional and legal
manner, his opinions upon any public subject whatever—
nay, more to use his best exertions, if he thought right,
to propagate them, and to have them entertained as far as
possible, by all persons in the community, and to use all
legitimate and proper means to accomplish them ; but he
denied the right of any person to attempt to bring about
that object by means which were charged in the indict.
ment. Their verdict in this case could not interfere with
the liberty of the press, or the exercise of any constitu-
tional right; nor were they prosecuting here for any pub-
lic breach of the peace, though they might have supposed
so, from a great deal of the remarks made upon evidence
on the traverser's side. No ; their charge was this,—
that Mr. O'Connell, Dr. Gray, Mr. Duffy, Mr. Barrett,
and the other traversers, had entered into an illegal con-
federacy, for the purpose of effecting changes in the con-
stitution of this country by other than constitutional
means. The learned gentleman then went on to lay down
the distinction between the legal and the popular defini-
tion of the word conspiracy, and contended that it was
abundantly proved that the traversers concurred in a
common unlawful design, in an attempt to procure, by
means of intimidation, the repeal of the act of union,
which, according to the law of this country, could not be
legally repealed, except by an act of parliament, the re-
sult of the free will of the legislature. After adverting
to the charges in the indictment respecting the army, arid
the creation of hatred and animosity amongst the queen's
subjects, he said the multitudinous assemblages were
gathered together for the purpose of intimidation, in or.
der to extort from the government what could only be
done by a free and uncontrolled act of the legislature it-
self. He said the exhibition of physical force, not the
use of it. They would see the peculiar nature of the case,
and so far as the evidence went as to the peaceable conduct
pursued at the meetings, it was a proof of the combina-
tion, for it was only by peaceable and tranquil means
that the combination and conspiracy could be successful.
It was indispensable to the success of the scheme, and it
was ridiculous to say it was not. It was contended that
the meetings were peaceable, and that no breach of the
peace, or tendency to such, had taken place; but that
fact was• the greatest proof that could be adduced of the
conspiracy, for it was agreed between them that there
should be none. From the entire nature of the case the
jury would see that the traversers sought to bring about
by illegal means what in itself was legal ; and one of the
means resorted to was physical force and intimidation.
There were two branches in the case, but it was not
necessary to prove both, as he had given evidence on
both points, and affecting the traversers. It was plain
and manifest that if one point was proved, he would
say, under the direction of the court, that would con-
sider the conspiracy entire. The jury might be less sat-
isfied with one point than they were with another, but
yet the indictment contained counts applicable to each
branch of the case. After commenting at length on
the doctrine of conspiracy, the learned gentleman said
the traversers might have spared themselves au in-
finity of trouble with respect to Mr. O'Connell's ad-
monitions for the preservation of peace and order ; for
it was the purpose and object of the meetings, and not
the demeanour of those who attended them, that left
them open to prosecution. He admitted that each of a
series of meetings might, per se, be legal ; but he pro-
nounced the repeal meetings unlawful, because it appeared
that they were held for the unlawful purpose of exhibiting
to the iegislature and people of England a demonstration
of the physical force of the country, which it was expected
would frighten and intimidate them into the concession of
the measure which they (the repealers) desired to obtain.
He proceeded at great length to defend the courseadopted.
toby dtehfee n
of the jury. He was willing to admit that Mr. 0 Con-
govern
vtehren mc
reonwt
ntsi t h
officersrespect
It or
etshpee
cptr ot
os etchuet
sot?
kai n
n dg
nell had always entertained the opinions he expressed in
1810 and 1800; but Mr. O'Connell and the other traver-
sers were now prosecuted for endeavouring to carry out
those principles in 1843, by unlawful means. The crown
was not called upon to prove the place, day, and hour,
where and when the traversers concocted the conspiracy ;
all they had to prove (and this they had proved) was, that
there was a community of purpose between those several
traversers, each of them acting in his several department
in the prosecution of the common object, and that could
not take place unless a common object existed. The
learned gentleman having commented at great length on
the speeches of the various counsel on the other side,
proceeded to explain the counts of the indictment over
again, showing how the evidence applied to each, and
which of the traversers were affected by it. He read
many of the newspaper articles and reports again ; and
having intimated, at four o'clock, that he was not yet
nearly finished with that part of his case, the court ad-
journed to Thursday.

On Thursday the court sat at the usual hour, and the
traversers and jurors having answered to their names, the
Solicitor-General resumed. In the course of his address
he read a number of passages, chiefly from the speeches of
Mr. O'Connell at the various repeal demonstrations, with
a view to show that the object of the traversers was, by
collecting large assemblages of people, to produce an im-
pression in England that such was the state of discipline
and organisation among the masses, that it would not be
safe to refuse the granting of the repeal of the union. The
learned gentleman continued to address the jury up to five
o'clock, at which hour the court rose, the address ❑ot
being concluded.

On
referred
rr
oei drda
vtyoi
ottdlhiieoe
oSt
speechesionl
gici
(t
wo rh-
ieGot M
h heurelai ledgicontinued
odoh
otHhceecarsceiharacter of Mr. Bond Hughes and Mr. Ross from
eit sso
sorfkeepltli hyy
the epithets which had been cast upon them, as if they
were government spies and informers. He then went on
to notice the intended meeting at Ciontarf, and the im-
portant and treasonable preparations for it, and concluded
his masterly and lawyerlike address by arguing that the
object of the traversers was nothing else but to accomplish
the repeal of the union by illegal means. Their common
object was to bring the government into contempt—to
neutralise the army—to disparage the administration of
justice—to create and dissension amongst the
people, and to excite discontent and disaffection amongst
them ; and all this was done for the purpose of attaining
the common object or end, namely—the repeal of the le-
gislative union between Great Britain and Ireland, and for
the attainment of which each and every one of the tra-
versers at the bar had openly avowed himself to be en-
gaged. The learned counsel concluded his reply a few
minutes before one, having occupied in its delivery the
two previous days as well. The Chief Justice then com-
menced his charge to the jury. His Lordship recapitu-
lated the various counts in the indictment, that in the view
which he was about to take of the law of conspiracy, the
court was unanimous, and in that view they coincided with
the counsel for the crown. The jury should be satisfied that
there was a concert between the traversers, for the purpose
either of doing an illegal act, or else of accomplishing a
legal design by illegal means. A conspiracy might exist
without any treachery or secrecy, which bad been insinu-
ated by Mr. Shell, Mr. Fitzgibbon, and Mr. O'Connell
himself, to be necessary to constitute that crime. They
might accompany it, but were not necessary ingredients
in it. The court had looked into the numerous cases cited
by the traversers counsel, and, in their lordship's opi-
nion, there was not one of them which supported the view
for which they were brought forward--that, in order to
substantiate a charge of conspiracy, either treachery or
secresy was necessary. In support of the opinion of the
court, his lordship referred to various decii-ions of Lord
Lenman and other judges. His lordship then laid down

Feb. 13, 1841-

several rules for the guidance of the jury, and said tb_e
very fact of the meeting to concoct the conspiracy sc:.
nor. necessary ; if the j.ry were satisfied that there vial
an illegal concert bet.e.en the traversers, the acts were
the acts of all. What was the law, the violation of O)'ICP'
they were called upon to bring into judgment agaitist the
traversers—the law as it existed—the law as it had existed
for the last forty-three years—the law 7,a her gracious
Majesty had, by her coronation oath,
bound and sworn
to maintain ? He would read for t'nem the coronation
oath—or, at least, the commencement of it—as given is
Judge Blackstone's Commentaries, 244:—" The arch-
bishop or bishop shall say, Will you solemnly promise
and swear to govern the people of this kingdom of Ent'
land, and the dominions thereto belonging, according
the statutes in psrliament agreed on. and the laws and
customs of the same? The King or Queen shall say, ~,
solemnly promise to do so." What, with regard to thatcountry and the connexion with Great Britain. were the
statutes which her Majesty was sworn by her coronatio/
Wad
heard to abide by, administer, and preserve? They '
heard a monstrous deal of assertions; they had heard a
monstrous deal of declamation ; they had heard a moil'
strous deal of complaints of grievances; they had heard
a great deal of what the law ought to be; they had hear,
the jury called upon to decide whether such a law ote
to continue, as if they had the power to alter it. Ta
lb.e.
law of this realm, as it stands by the act of union until
was repealed, was the only law that they could take into
their consideration in dealing with this ease. It was 106
law which the taueen, by her coronation oath, had swore
to preserve ; and it was idle to say that, in violative
of that law, the Queen, if she thought proper, might
depart from that law altogether, call a parliament of her
own in Ireland, of her own motion, in concert with tba
people, and set up a new law and a new constitution, for
this country, in direct violation of the act of union;
His lordship read several of the clauses of this act, and
said that the idea of saying that the Queen of Ireland
might be treated and dealt with as a Qneen of a separate
kingdom, was absurd and was seditious. Until the laW
was altered by the proper authorities—which he did not
say but it might—but while the law remained as it was 012
that subject, and as it had been during the year 1843, and
the preceding years that had intervened since the enact'
ment of the act of union—there was one Sovereign over
the kingdom who was incapable, by himself or herself,.of
treating with any class of his or her subjects, except the
legislature, with regard to new constitutions or new laws,
with respect to any part of the united kingdom ; and be
(the Chief Justice) said moreover, that whoever of the
Queen's subjects would take upon himself to inculcate or
to proclaim amongst the subjects of this part of the united
kingdom that he or anybody else abstractedly from the
legislature a power, either separately or. by himself, or
jointly with other inhabitants of the same part of the
united kingdom—that he or they, independently of the
legislature, had the power of treating with the Queen for
an abrogation of the existing law, or to put in its place a
new law such as was suggested—was or were guilty of an
offence—that was, guilty of the crime of sedition ; and if
her Majesty was pleased to condescend to treat or nego-
tiate with any person or persons separate from her parlia-
ment, for any of the purposes he had named, she had not
the power to do so without violating her coronation oath-
The Chief Justice then read several of the clauses in the
act of union, and a long charge of Mr. Justice Bayley on
meetings for the suppression of alleged grievances. A
man, continued the Chief Justice, had a right to commu-
nicate his sentiments on the subject of this grievance not
merely to friends but to strangers ; and he could make
these complaints as often as he thought fit, and might get,
by peaceable means, as many allies as he could procure,
but he should ever take care not to infringe upon the
rights and privileges of others ; and he was the more
bound to be careful of the effect of what he did, if the as-
semblies which he attended were conjugated and assem-
bled in such masses and multitudes as to excite terror and
alarm through and amongst the neighbouring people, or
amongst those who were- bound to preserve and watch
over the frame and constitution of the country—if he acts
so, it does not follow that the laws will not be infringed,
and that the meeting will be legal.
The learned judge, at five o'clock, adjourned the court.

Before proceeding with his charge to the jury on Satur-
day, the Chief Justice, in reference to some remarks
which had fallen from him on the preceding day, expla,nea
that he had not intended to reflect personally upcn Mr.
Fitzgibbon, whose public and private character he greatly
esteemed. Having made this explanation he directed the
attention of the jury to the organization of the repeal as-
sociation, and to the large funds which they had drawn
from all parts of the country and from America. By this
kind of organization, and the funds thus placed at its
disposal, that body, he contended, had been endeavouring
to carry the repeal, and not by the legal means of ad-
dresses to the Queen or to Parliament. He next directed
attention to the " plan for the renewed action of the
Irish Parliament," by which it was declared that " the
Irish people recognize her Majesty Queen of Ireland.'"
Such a position he showed to be clearly illegal, her Majesty
by the act of union, ceasing to be Queen of Ireland, and
becoming Queen of a united kingdom, from which station
she could not be removed without the consent of the le-
gislature of the united kingdom. The whole of the pro-
posals in this plan being based upon such an understand-
ing of her Majesty's powers, were therefore illegal, and
were couched, besides, in the language of demand rather
than of entreaty. He proceeded to review the proceed-
ings of the monster meetings, and selected a number of
the seditious speeches made at those meetings by Mr.
Barrett, Mr. O'Connell and others, referring plainly to
force as the ultimate weapon to be appealed to for the car-
rying of repeal. He quoted in particular the allusions
by Mr. O'Connell to Mr. Beaumont, that " The brother
of Helen O'Moore would be near his castle," which be,
contended was not a fair mode of bringing the weight eiti
publirs o
herpinio a to
Majestybear
's subjects,
ajegertes:t
particularlypolitical q
amongstrlsb
u thestioe In, was calculated directly to excite hatred al
people against the English." The Chief Justice went on
to comment upon various inflammatory speeches made at
Tara and elsewhere, in which the English government
from the time of Cromwell to the present time were ac-
cused of various butcheries, !(such as that of 300 women
at Wexford,) and in which it was also declared that Wel-
lington and Peel were about to indulge in similar acts--
The eflect of such speeches, he contended, were to exette
the people to the assumption of a hostile attitude for the
overawing of the government. The Chief Justice con-
cluded his speech, and at half-past five o'clock the issue
was sent to the jury. The latest proceedings will be
found in our fifth page.

Orders have been issued from the office of the Com-
mander of the Forces for the establishment of a military
station at Tyrrell's pass, the force to consist of forty men.
This is the first time since the rebellion of '9B that a sol-
dier has been quartered in this retired and peaceful vil-
lage.

An outrage of a wanton and most aggravated nature was
committed on Tuesday night last, on the property of Doc-
tor Pierce, situate about four miles from the town of
Tullamore, in King's County : a very fine and thriving
plantation of larch of ten or twelve years' growth was
completely broken down and utterly destroyed, not one
tree out of upwards of a thousand being left standing.
DISINTERESTED PATRIOTISM.—." Men of Ireland,'
says the Nation of Saturday—" Me❑ of Ireland, your
food is scanty, your clothing rags, your lodgings the wet
floor, your labour heavy, and your reward death. Hard
it is, no doubt, to expect much from you. But still, most
of you can pay into the treasury of your country some-
thing. Stint your meagre food, your diluted drink, your
torn covering, that you may give earnest to the world of
your fitness for a higher destiny." Such is the pathetic
appeal of the National Press to the pockets of the
People ; such the urgent call of the patriotic editor for
funds to sustain the righteous cause in which he and lit*
literary confreres are engaged.

REPEAL ASSOCIATION.—On the rising of the Court
on Monday, Mr. O'Connell forthwith adjourned to the
Corn-Exchange, where the Repeal Association was sit-
ting in full conclave—Lord French in the Chair. The
only business of any importance transacted was the aP'
pointment (on the motion of Mr. W. S. O'Brien) of " 23.
committee to watch over the proceedings of Parliament.
Mr. O'Connell, who had recently entered the room, thee
read his usual homily of peace, order and tranquility--
expressed an opinion that, as soon as the Anti-Corn La!
League produces another revolution in England, there
will be some ,qiance of the question of Repeal being ea'
tertained by the Imperial Parliament, and announced the
rent for the week to be £560 lOs 4d.—and so ended the
proceedings of the day.

ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE.—A correspondent of the
Dublin Evening Mail, writing from Strokestown, in the
county of Roscommon, under date of Feb. 3, communi-
cates the following :—" It is my painful duty to comma'
nicate to you the particulars of an outrage which took
place within a mile of this town, about 3 o'clock in the,
afternoon of yesterday, and which, I am sorry to st.l_T,
proves the dreadful state of organization and combinati
that now has extended itself to this county, and has been
brought about by the agitators of this afflicted county
AlrJohn Balfe, of Lisadum, was returning from hie
afacrcfno
mopf a CD
iaerdi nocni ohg
his
se (
or
utast the h i
d ej
auonutri
ng mentioned)
car,
b y
tyhees t
bailiff,er tt Y
servant, and herd ; he was met by four ruffians, oh°
ordered his servant to stop, which he did. One of thee')
asked--" Is this Balfe ?" and upon Mr. Balfe replYinf, it was, the fellow said, ' You are tyrannizing over
re,:
tenants, and at the same time fired a pistol-shot, wble°
took no effect ; arid the second of the fellows fired a 803:
eoAuhte
rmeetehtrenderingiithis
g dayo
f the
shot, the contents of which killed his horse. Mr. Balfe
ran away, and the fellows deliberately walked off, amongst
a set of Mr. Balfe's tenants, 30 or 40 of whom were
within a few yards of him, and witnessed the entire trans'
slightestmagistrates
above facts were elicited from several witnesses, but, as actioncourt. landlord.hwoiutassistance
took p
lacet oint htelLer
matter of course, not the slightest information that OP
likely to lead to detection was obtained.
,to investigate the matter. Tem

SINGUL
transpired in the neighbourhood of Wakefield, a few daY°
FFAIR. —A somewhat romantic affair
re
ago.
nc It appears that about eleven years since a higbilt
N table lady and gentleman, whose names we do 11°
thinkit right to mention were married in the neighbour'
hood of Halifax. In a few hours after the union, for sonie
cause or other which did not transpire, a separation bed"
tween the parties was effected by the lady's friends ; t 3
she shortly afterwards removed to a secluded spot nFa', Wakefield, where she has been living ever since having
beard nothing of her husband until last week, when the
gentleman appeared to claim his bride. It appears that
the gentleman, who had been living in \Vales had been
endeavouring for a considerable length of time to find th
lady, but without success, those of her friends who kneo,
her " whereabouts" having their own reasons for not ea,
lightening him on that point. The lady we are told ict
act less pleased than surprised ; and as soon as her a 4
rangernents were made she took her departure with D'
husband for his residence in Wales.