Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1844-10-16

The day the last steamer sailed, the.
judges had given their opinions in;the,
house Of Lords on The law of the points
submitted 10 them.s Of:ihe eleven counts.
which composed The monster indictment,
they pronounced aImore than half TO be
either informal or bad. Four Of the counts
they held 10 be informal by the finding Of
the jury, and two to be radically bad. The
bad counts are The sixth and seventh, which
charge the monster meetings, aud form the
kernel of the offence. On these points the
Judges were unanimous. Seven out of,
the nine were Of opinion that the bad and
The informal counts did nol, nethertheess,
vi,iate the judgement, while two-Mr.
Baron Parke and Mr.. Justice Cotman-
held that the whole proceedings ought to
be sci aside. The view which The major
i,y of The judges took Of the proceedings
has been severely criticised, and, gaused
by the standard of common sense, il GER
tainly seems extraordinary. One good
count in the Indictment, say they. was
sufficien. 10 uphold The judgement. because
The Irish Judges were presumed to know
and which were The bad and which were
the good counts, and 10 have sentenced The
traversers accordingly. =
The legal fiction cannot, however, be
sustained, for this excellent reason, that the
Irish Judges on the trial declared emphat;
ically, those counts to be good which the
majority Of the English judges hold to be
bad. lfa2t g !. /.
This was the state of matters at the sail
ing of The last steamer. When the House
met again on Wednesday. the discussion
was confined to The law peers----the Chan.
cellor, Lords Brongham, Cotlenham,
Campbell and Denman. The two first
named lawyers were for sustaining the
Judgement of the .Court below" the
other three for reversing il. Lord Dem
man, the Chief Justice Of the English
Queens Bench, delivered an elaborate
opinion, in which he strongly denounced
The illegality Of The whole proceedings.
and characterized the treatment which the
traversers had received in the matter of
lie Jury list. as a 'mockery, a delnslon,
and suare!" Ultimately, the Lord
Chancellor put The question, when the
judgement was reversed by majority of
one of the law Lcrds-,hree 10 two. Some
of the lay peers wished, in This emigeucy.
TO rush lolhe assistance ofthe government,
but they were restrained by Lord Wharn-
cliffe, who showed them that bad as was
the reversal octhe Judgement, their inter-
ference by voting would be worse-more
damaging to The constitution and 10 The
peerage.
This result came upon every one so
unexpectedly-t,e opinion Of the majority
of The Judges delivered on the previous
Monday against the traversers, having
been universally regarded as decisive of
the ques'ion-that the world could not not
credit the announcements The sensation
which the news produced in London aud
The other equalied in modern days, and
when it crossed the.cliannel aud reached
Dublin, men could not credit its truth:
Gradually, however, the incredulily dis
appearing was succeeded by the most un-
bounded expressions Of joy.
With respect 10 the future, public a,len-
ton is again directed exclusively 10 the
conduct ofO'Connell. In him all the in-
terests OF the day IS entered. The hrsr
great speech which he made at The Repeal
Association on the 9th inst. may be par
doned because Of its exullation. The
reversal ofthe judgement has placed him
in position the most triumphant, and he
now starts again on vantage ground, warn
ed by the quicksauds from which he has
SO narrowly escaped. He seems disposed
10 act more cautiously in future. He does
not give up repeal, bul he will accept of
federal parliament as an "instalment."