The Irish standard., 1901-11-09


jury which convicted himself, he said:
There was not, of course, single
Catholic left on this pretended jury,
nor a single Protestant who was not
we'll known to be for the Castle and
against the people" (applause). The
very same system prevails today. 1t
was not because Muffeny and Mcguire
had committed any crime that jury
was packed in Sligo to convict them,
but because they were active pioneers
in a great political and agrarian move
ment. At the time their alleged offence
was committed the United Irish
League was moving outward and on
ward from dts cradle in the West Zap
plause). The Castle hacks were not
enamored of the new movement. They
determined to destroy it. and charge
the attorney general with having de-
liberately designed and conspired with
his fellow Castle hacks to stop its
progress by using against it the cow
iury-paclling Cloud applause). Accord
ing to the attorney general. the Catho-
lie jurors of Ireland are not he believed
on their oath. They are. therefore, per-
iurers. The last census shows that
over ninety per cent of the inhabitants
of Sligo town and county are Catholics,
I,,t oil Catholics 11yo,o ox~,o1y,5 4..~.
the jury who tried Muffeny and Ma
gnire. The Catholic emancination act
was repealed. Shortly after the trial
meeting was called in Sligo to protest
against the insult to the Catholic fur
ors. The meeting was proclaimed to
Drevent discussion Of Castle methods:
hut. in accordance with our usual GUS
tom in the West, where we use procla-
nations to clean our boots Cloud ap-
plause and laughter). we held our meet
ing (applause). and ut our meeting a
long and eloquent letter was read from
Most Rev. DR.. Clancy (applause), lord
bishop Of Blphin, in which his lordslip
said that the Catholic jurors had been
ordered to stand aside because they
were Catholics, and for no other reason
(applause). That statement of his lord
ship stands unrefuted 1t is incontro-
vertibly true. Year after year since 1
have been resident in Sligo these out
RACES have been going on. The winter
assizes have been turned into shambles
with Nationalist as victims, and pack
ed iuries as butchers (applause). In
Ireland the wages of iury-paclzing is
iudgeships (applauseI, and those who
aspire to the judicial bench must first
serve an apprenticeship at the prostitr1-
tion of Justice. The Encouragement
admits that he packs iuries. They can
not. he says. get convictions unless they
exclude Catholics from the jury box.
The imputation is that Catholics would
periure themselves in order that Cath
Ollie criminals should escape the pun
ishment of their guilt. say it is
dastardly lie. Irish Catholic National
lists are more free from crime or SYM
patthy with crime than the party to
which the attorney general belongs.
These men set UP a standard of moral
ity to suit themselves and the landlord
faction in whose interest the law is
administered. At one time tenant
right was landlord wrong. That stand
ard Of morality has passed away.
Now, it is wrong to aim at a compul-
sorry sale and the breaking up of graz
ing farms. They get the sanction of
English law to these arbitrary stand
ards of right and wrong. We do not
accept their standards. When their
standards of right and wrong We're re-
pudiated in England. as they were re-
p,ldiated, they did not pack juries, be-
cause. MS an eminent judge now on
the Irish bench once said, if they dared
to pack iuries the workingmen of Eng
land. whose interests We're involved,
would seize arms and march on Lon
don (applause).
And yet jury-paclSing must go ON
to suit the political purposes of the
general and his Castle friends.
The jury packers Of Ireland are beyond
the pale Of decency, of reason. and Of
Justice. They are case,hardened. Con-
science and remorse are swallowed up
by greed of ascendancy and hatred Of
the mere Irish. This foreign faction
who Invite Catholics to Trinity College,
hut exclude them from the jury box,
lecture us about the evils of religious
animosity. ask any fair-minded man
in Ireland, Catholic or Protestant,
whether malignant ingenuity could de-
wise a more effective contrivance for
the propagation of religious rancor
than the exclusion of Catholics from
tine jury box. Yet the encouragement
says: "It is ridiculous to say that 1t
Is not absolutely necessary to use this
power" He cannot, he says, govern
ireland without packing juries Zap
plause).
He declares that he will continue to
mack iuries Are we a serious peo-
nile? Do we mean what we say when
we assert that iury-packing is an insult
to our religion, and that it is a denial
of constitutional right? There is moth
ing more certain than that we mean
it. There is nothing more certain than
that we are right in thinking as we do.