New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-02-13
AFTER THE STATE TRIALS.
nopr1 .p VIEWS OF THE RESULT.


POPULAR VIEWS OF THE RESULT.
TACK OF INTEREST IN WHAT WAS A FoREGoNE con-
cIusroN-rHE FEELING In IRELAND-wHo
FOOTED THE BiLLsf-LAND LEAGUE COMMENTS
UPON THE PRESS.
,.,ow THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRTBUSE'l
LONDON. Jan. 2s.-Odd as it may sound, 1t is
,svertheless true that the conclusion Of the Irish
state Trials excited much less interest in London
than it did in New-York The want of attention
here was due partly to the fact that the disagree
ment Of the jury was fOregone conclusion; partly
TO the other fact that the news came in the midst
OF Parliamentary struggle which was much more
serious than the trials. The Government had long
ceased to expect q conviction. The Parneilltes
moved heaven Tor the other place. and earth 10 Sc
cure an acquitta but that also was not to be hau.
Your own remark on the matter. which with othei
comments was telegraphed over here to London
paper expresses in q compact way the real tIuth.
Only, if 1 may be allowed to say so, should dis
tribute the observation into two parts and say that
it is in ireland that the result is regarded as
defeat for the Government, and in England that
men recognize ii as fresh proof OF the necessity
for pressing coercion with more vigor than ever.
sec no reason for changing the opinion expressed
In the beginning. The Government did not insti-
tute this prosecution because they expected con-
yiction. The criminal information against Mr.
Parnell and his people was filed for two reasons.
First because their legal advisers assured the Gov
eminent that the acts and sayings which formed
the basis OF the proceedings were clearly unlawful
The Judges on the bench, whose imDartiality no
body disputes. have given their sanction in unmis-
taxable terms to that opinion, and no lawyer of
repute questions its soundness. 1 dare say MIR.
Parnell himself is of that opinion; and probably
rlories in il, and in the inefcacy OF law capable
of being violated with impunlty under system
which confdes the determination of crimnalty to
a Jury in whose eyes mere crimlnality IS not an
offence Secondly, because Mr. Forster felt bound
to exhaust all the powers in his hands and all tho
existing processes Of law, before Offering his ulti-
matum to his colleagues and to Parliament. If he
had not arrested Mr.. Parnell, he would have been
told in the House and in the Radical Anelo-1rsh
press that he had shown no disposition to avail HIM
self of such powers as he had and that until he
had done that he had established no case for ex-
traordinary powers Mr. Forster was therefore in a
dilemma from which, awkward as 1t was, there
was no escape. He never expected success. but he
was obliged to make the attempt.
In Ireland, of course, there were many rcjoicnGs
ever the disagreement Of the jury. The Irish
papers publish columns OF accounts OF bonires
and PROFESSIONS and music aud speeches. The Land
League made the most Of Its triumph. Its organi-
cation is quito extensive enough to enable its
SORT Whether it was the Land League also which
in Dublin undertook TO mob two jurors suspected of
forming the minority for conviction, cannot say.
The police saved these unhappy wretches from
having the immediate penalty of their offence.
The attempt to sack their places of business and to
pitch the owners into the Lifey, was thwarted by
a hireling police acting as the mnous of
the Saxon despot. All this might have been
foretold, and was foretold. 1t is no slight
testimony to the courage and sincerity OF the
two Jurors who refused to acquiesce In verdict
of acquitsa They had been warned over and over
again of what would happen to them. They obeyed
the dictates of their conscences at the risk OF their
lives. Their lives for the moment are safe; were
saved more strictly speaking, at the moment of the
first attack But they are men of business, and it
seems to be understood that they will be driven
from business. 1t is true that MIR. Davitt. ut a
meeting of the Land League in Dublin advised his
fellow Leaguers to abstain from any annoyance OF
those who are called the malcontent" jurors. Mr..
Dayitt, let us hope, was sincere, but lie and his
comrades have been equally sincere in deprecating
outrage and intimidation as q means of promoting
Land Leagueism Ill many parts of Ireland. MIR.
Forsters catalogue of agrarian outrages has told
Ms what comes of such recommendations. And MIR.
Justice Fitzgerald has told what jury trials are
good for in the present state of Ireland. For both
reasons it is true that this miscarriage OF justice
strengthens the conviction in England that an
Irish iury can no more be depended on TO give an
honest verdict in an agrarian case than witnesses
can be depended Oh to testify or victims TO prose-
cute In each case terror Overmasters conscience.
The Irish papers make great point Of the aban
dormant by the Crown Of the nineteenth count.
That count says one of the leading organs of the
League. opened up the whole land question, and
the trayersers accepted the challenger phrase
OF itself sufficiently eignicant-and IN its wrath 1t
let's in a CLEAN OF light upon the baked purposes
OF the accused They had "at an enormous OK
pensen collected the history of the Irish land ques-
ton for nearly forty years They had summoned
witnesses from all parts of Ireland to beaI testimony
10 the iniquities of the landlords TO the fiGhtfu
clearances which before the Land Act had turned
smiling valleys into bowling wildcrnesses" to
smurderous rackrents," aud all the rest OF It, THIS
Is nothing but frank confession of the intent OF
the defence TO protract the trials to an intolcrabe
lenath and disclosure of the means by which the
scheme, more or less openly avowed before was to
have been carried out. 1t is also an instructive
comment on MI. Sulhvans question in the House
last night, whether the Government mean TO afford
the defendants sn opportunity OF securing more
mccessful result by new trial. 1t is the question
NJ costs that vexes the souls Of Mr.. Sullivan and his
friends. The expenses have undoubtedly been, as
they say, enormous; and great part OF them have
been thrown away because the Government aid
cot choose to conduct an investigation into the IRISH
land ouestion and the wickedness of Irish landlords
before Jury of Dublin gIocers. These expenses do
cot. indeed, come out OF Mr.. PaInelps pocket;
which unlike the pockets Of most of the traversers
Is supposed to have something in it. They are paid
by the League. OF by some form OF public subscrip-
ton, under the name of the Parnell Defence Fund
whether flowing nominally into the Golfers OF the
League OF not. matters nothing. The League has