The Irish standard., 1901-11-09
JURY PACKING IN ERIN.
A Splendid Speech bv Mr.. McHugh
on the Subject.

on the Subject.
On his release from Kilmainham Jail
where he spent six months, Mr.. P. A
McHugh. NJ. p, received grand ova-
tion from the Nationalist of Dublin at
Il meeting presided over by the lord
mayor. In replying to the lord mayors
address, Mr.. McHugh spoke in part as
follows:
The attorney general proceeded
against me by criminal information
charging me with having published a
seditious libel in my newspaper at
Sligo. In other words he charged me
with having by certain publications in
my paper endeavored to bring the adj
ministration of the law into odium and
contempt. Stripped Of all quibbling
and teolmicalitlcs THE charge against
me was that l denounced as packed
the jury which had found verdict of
guilty in the case of the crown against
Muffeny and Mcguire ut the Sligo win
ter asszes Of 1899 (applause). do not
intend to trouble you with the details
of that case and shall only refer to
the salient facts connected with the
trial of those gentlemen. 1t might be
said that the case has already occupied
a sufficient share of public attention.
and that it might without disadvantage
be allowed to drop from public MEM
Dry. l have no doubt there are GER
tain people in Ireland who hold that
view. They have their own reasons
for wishing the case forgotten. 1t may
be owing to the smallness and per-
verseness of my mind THAT I cannot
agree with them. consider the jury
packing which took place at the trial
Of NIuffeny and Mcguire at Sligo con-
sttuted one of the most glaring in
stances of the Observation-Disclosures Of
justice that ever occurred in the whole
history of criminal administration in
Ireland (Mpplause). That was the opin-
ion l formed ut the trial. 1t was for
expressing that opinion 1 was impris-
oned. repeat that opinion today; and
so long rs the system Of jury-paclling
which saw practiced at Sligo in the
case Of Muffeny and Mcguire continues
to be used in this country as cloak Of
hypocrisy and an instrument of op-
preston and injustice. so long. if have
Life and liberty. shall continue to de-
nounce it, and SO long shall I continue
to repeat the offence for which have
been imprisoned cloud applausc). My
as a mere incident in the jury-packing
controversy. 1t is simply IN incident
in the fight against English rule in
Ireland. l was charged With denoun-
cling iury-paclling in a particular in
stance I was tried by packed jury.
l was imprisoned: and, so far as am
concerned, there the matter ends; the
attorney general cannot be so stupid
as to imagine that he can, by mere
DOGGY Of few months Imprisonment,
deter serious men from critlcsing the
system Of jury-packing Of which, for
the time being. lie happens to be the
chief manipulation in Ireland (applause).
l hold that in the case of Muffeny and
Mcguire n cruel injustice and cow
arlly crime We're perpetrated in the
name of the law. L hold that jury
packing as it is practced against Irish
Nationalist in this country is an in
strumcnt Of criminal atrocity as vile
and as dastarlly rs the cup Of the
poisoner or the bomb of the anarchist
(applause). That is my view. 1t Is. I
believe, the opinion of all thinking Ir-
islmen as distinguished from the for