Burlington free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1827-1865, 1847-04-23

contest of tyranny and suffering
Il tell you. slrrah, this wont do we must
turn back No answer.
Whish-thwack.
the horse is utterly incapable of the Journey
Whish-thwack.
Stop this instant, say, or I will make you
command you to turn back ?
There was no little grumbling at this order,
for Paddy was evidently unwilling to relinquish
the Job but there being no use in temporising. |
the machine was turned round and back we all
came to the place of starting, greatly, have no
doubt. to the satisfaction of the horse, but not
less to the affected surprise Of the proprietor, Mr.
O'Bra'agan.
What did you mean by sending ont such an
apology for horse as this the creature can
scarcely stand p
why, it went fve-and-thirty miles yesterday
We'll, shall 10; dispute the point Had NJ.
O'Bralagan no better horse than this !-surey
he had ?
Moves !; that is to say, certainly he had
another horse. but it was not car house it was
a hunter, kept for coursing, and he could not pos
sibly send it out to-day, for he intended to take
it ont with the greylounds Tomorrow
This was Mr.. Hyacnth O'Bralagan's notion
of things. II he had better horse, he resolved
it should not be forthcoming, and that was to me
the same thing as his having no horse at all.
Were there no other horses for hire in the
town 2
Not ler.'
when does the train 60 back to Dublin p
Five o'clock
Then get dinner, ready, and we shall 20 and
have look at the town
We accordingly proceeded to view the most
interesting objects Of the town. some of which
are Of great antiquity, and deserving of visit
on their own account. From the ruins of an
old religious house, which forsome time engaged
our attention, we went to look for modern
chapel, said to be worthy of the inspection of
strangers. Saunterinr therefore. through, the
town in quest of this place of public devotion,
we thought we had at length found it out A
building stood short way back from the street.
and in front Of it were lettering number oimen
and women who had come to market, while
others stood half-fng up the doorway. As
we approached the cdiice. a strange noise SEEM
ed to come from the inside it was confused
sound of voices over which one, in higher key,
sharply prevailed
How ridiculous TO take this for chapel it
is an auction room let US go in and see what is
going on
We accordingly made our way into the house,
expecting to enjoy the fun of an Irish auction
and let our surprise be judged, when | mention
that it was no more an auction room that a
chapel-it was county court--bar bench, and
all the restof the apparatus of justice.
The judges all ranged, terrible show,
consisted of three justices of peace, gentlemen
of the ncighborhood. as understood them to be
and the culprit at the bar in custody of lalf-a-
dozen armed consabulary, had all the appear
ancc of being small farmer, rough blade
enough, but thought more decent in apparc
than the bulk of the assembly who looked on thi:
curious array of power.
The case was pretty nearly over when we en-
tered and therefore we could not gather its pre-
else merits but it amounted to something like
this the accused party had been found guilty
of driving his COW across the railway, and wa'
accordingly liable to punishment under the sta
, tute. The discussion now going on respected
, the degree of punishment. mixed with the spe'
netic remarks on the Nervousness of the offence
and the culprt's audacity in challenging the
Justice of the decsion.-What burlesque or
the solemnity of justice ALI the Judges were
sp, aking at once, as if irving to talk each othe
, down. The line of defence or eXtenuaton ur
gedby the poor fellow at the bar struck me a
remarkably rcas nablc ; and what an exemplifi
cation was it of the prescriptive msusage o
Ireland . lie did not deny having crossed the
railway, but the railway was in the first place tc
blame. lie had always been in the habit OF dri
wing his cattle to the fields by road in this di
rection, and this path had been blocked up by
the railway without his consent. lie was, il
fact. done out OF road for his cows and in hi
opinion it was a very hard case Instead OF be
ing guilty of injuring the railway, the railwa.
! had be n guilty OF injuring him.
Here was exactly case for the mercfnl eX
, ercise OF authority; but Irish justice-oi-peac'
courts are not remarkable for discrimination
IL rttalfN
the crme.--One of them on the left, an oldisl
. little man, with thin white hair, and very re-
face, the lower part OF which unpleasantly pro
iectcd, was the loudest in his oblurgations, mix
| ing his severity, however, with pretended advic
and commiseration.
i You have been found guilty, said this person
4 age, OF a very great crlme--a very great Grim
indeed. You had no business, neither you no
+ your COW, on the railway. Not. mind you. tina
am, or ever hive been, friend to railways.
n always opposed the railway coming this way
4 but then that was before the railway was tn
: law of the and.--Now that the railway is esta
: blished by act of parliament, it is very difieren
n thing. 1t is our duty to respect everything e-
= tabllshed and though, rs said am no rien
i 10 railways a railways, yet when the railway
: are established railways, and haze the law o.
their side, that gives them quite new character
y it gives them IA legal standing; aud whatever
n legal must be supported by law.
say two years Imprisonment, with hard la
II bour, broke in another member of the bench :
- : here is the statute.--Whereas if any person c
: persons and he went on reading aloud from
,r book. while the red-iaced man continued hi
r. lecture.
. You see it is very serious affair IIur
d dreds might have been killed the consequence
VI might have been fearful. Don't speak to me
IS | know what you are going to say No doul
?, you have lost Your ordinary road for your cows
If bat the statute does not say ANYTHING about thai
3 The railway has stopped up the road legally
5 and all | can say is, that as law can only be me
g by law, would advise you to raise an actio
If against the law that has wrongluy, as yo
r, hink, taken away your road. Don't imagin,
however, for one moment that advise YOU to O
N to law. My advice to you is that having
ID mean as you think you have-sutiered an inur
Il from the railway you should take advice as
e your being advised-that is, legally advised a
], to the proper recourse in the premises, by whic
If mean the taking away your road You ur
e derstand, | don't advise you to do ANYTHING !;
e only advise you to take advice-yes, adyic,
., good legal advice-from some gentleman, sue
D az, for instance, this gentleman here pontin
to an attorney, as presumed him to be, sittin
n below the bench.
This harrangue finished, the little red-face
man engaged in contention about the lengt
IS OF Imprisonment for the offence. One of the il,
4. tees stuck to the statute and advocated tw
l. years (; a second though that two weeks woul
p be sufficient; aud the little red-faced man col
. II