The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-08-09 00:00:00

and which he promptly
.and unequivocally avowed: The
charace7 Ofthe libel may be judged of by stating, that,
after declaring that if the coercion bill was enacted, it
would be the duty of Q'CONNELL to head the people, and
that he (STEELE) would cut down the trees in his own
demesne to furnish pike handles ; he at the same time
accused Lord GREY'S administration of being leagued
with the atrocious Whitefeet for the same purpose as it
had cherished the Birmingham and other political unions.
A conviction and exemplary punishment seemed inevita-
bly to await the orator, but so deeply and thoroughly de-
tested is the Government, that upon the clearest evidence
—indeed Mr. STEELE admitted the case for the prosecu-
tion—both prisoner and jury are discharged, there being
eight of the latter for an acquittal and four for a convic-

tion.
How is this ? How happens it that the Government
have so efrectually.brought the administration of justice
into ridicule and contempt ? In London, a policeman
acting in open day, in the public streets, in the exercise
of his duty, is assassinated, and yet, with direct evidence of
the identity of the accused a jury return a verdict of
not guilty. In Ireland, the slaughter at Carrickshock,
and the various, other scenes in which human life
has been sacrificed by those engaged in the systema-
tic violation of the laws, are unavenged. At Limerick
Mr. STEELE rests his defence chiefly on the ground
that the present government are precluded from com-
plaint ; the means by which they have held their
places being the political agitation and excitement
which they would now treacherously prosecute. Leav-
ing this point to be settled by the government and its
supporters—parties worthy of each other—can any thing,
we would ask, more completely demonstrate imbecility
and incompetency thati the conduct of this very trial at
Limerick ? We speak not, of course, of the eminent
and learned Counsel for the Crown, but of the sapient
Marquis at the head of the Irish government, by whom
it is evident the proceeding was directed, it being quite
in the style of the ANGLESEY policy. "To give a tri-
umph:to neither party," six Protestants and six Roman
Catholics compoSed the jury; thus invidiously pitting
one party against the other. "To give Mr. STEELE
every advantage," for so the counsel for the prosecu-
tion states it, " the trial takes place at Limerick, where
he is best known." . Now was it likely or probable that
a fair trial could have been had at Limerick, where
the accused was indeed well known and most extensively
connected ? Is it not the fact, that one of the most im-
portant enactments of the Coercion Bill is the giving
to the Crown the right of laying the venue in any county
in Ireland, no matter where the offence may have been
committed ? In Mr. STEELE'S case the existing law,
without any reference to :the Coercion Bill, gives this
power, and probably no case can be imagined where its
exercise upon the part of the Crown was so indispensa-
bly demanded in order to secure a fair trial and attain
the ends of justice. Why not arraign Mr. STEELE at
the bar of the King's Bench ? Why not, in short, try
him in any part of Ireland but where an impartial in-
vestigation and an unbiassed verdict were scarcely to be
hoped for ? But no. The government enable Mr.
STEELE to laugh at the law—to exult in its violation—
and thousands of his deluded followers, while chairing
and cheering the seditious agitator, enjoy his proud tri-
umph. Is it any wonder that Ireland is disturbed ?