Arizona republican., 1914-02-25
emes%. skjAA A A1AaA~ U I1ze U Great Trials
 %
 History
TRIAL OF DANIEL O'CONNELL


 orator." was man above all men who spent his life in trying to fur ther the interests of his country, and gain broad freedom for his coun- trymen. O'Connell was sprung from race the heads of which had been Celtic chiefs, and he inherited the richest of fighting Irish blood, and in a great measure it was his energy and efforts that have brought to Ireland what few liberal laws they now enjoy
 The crisis in the life of the "Libera- tor came only 8 few years before his death, when he made an attempt to have the Tory regime in his country overthroWn. In 1S41 he left England for Ireland and began organizing the Young Ireland" party succession of monster meetings were held all over the country, the ar-famed one on Tara Hill being, as is credibly asserted, at tended by no less than a quarter of a million of people
 1 Over this vast multitude OConnelPs brilliant oratory swept triumphantly. 1 The critical moment occurred on Oc- | notice was sent out for a meeting at Clontarf, near Dublin, on the eighth, and the government issued a proclaim 1 ation forbidding it. Many of the men were already on their way, and only l O'Connelfs own rapid and vigorous measures in sending out in all direc- ! tions to intercept them hindered the actual shedding of blood
 1 The next thing that England did was to arrest OConnell, as well as his son, John. on a charge of con 1 satisfaction among the liege subjects | of the queen, and with contriVing by means of intimidation and the dem
 onstration of great physical forces 1 to procure and effect changes to be
 made in the government laws, and constitution of this realm
 Bail was accepted, and on the sec
 ond of November O'Connell was in- dicted. The charge against him cov-
 cred ninetySeven feet of parchment This was sent to the grand jury, and
 after six days of deliberatiOn a true i bill was rendered against the accused l OCOnnell pleaded on the twenty
 first of November, and the fifteenth
 of January, 1S44, was fixed as the
 day for the trial to begin The day | of the opening of the trial, business
 was practically suspended ir Dublin. The attorney generals announcement
 that he had discovered a conspiracy had raised public expectation to the l hiyh C l the crush was so great as to render
 it necessary to barricade the entrance
 to the queens bench.
 On the bench sat Chief Justice Pennefather and Justices Crampton. Perrin and Burton. The flower of
 the Irish bar was retained, either for the prosecution or for the defense. But of more interest to the public than either was the jury. Every art,
 every trick had been practiced to secure jury subservient enough to
 register the decree of government.
 From first to last the trial was a justice in Ireland.
 The opening speech of the attorney general lasted two days. It contained
 no revelations, nothing. indeed, but | what all the world had read in the
 newspapers The interest, so intense
 at the beginning of the trial, speedily
 evaporated Judge, jury and audience
 all fell asleep.
 OConnell himself. who conducted
 his own defense, spoke listlessly and
 with less effect than perhaps ever in
 l,;e l,AIo To ,1x
 that he would be condemned, but that
 the sentence would be heavy one. On February 12, the jury, after q little decent delay. returned a verdict of guilty of unlawful and seditious conspiracy. Sentence was postponed
 until the beginning of the next term In the interval O'Connell, after once
 more appealing to the people not tC
 allow themselves to be tempted tC
 break the peace, but to act peaceably quietly and legally, proceeded to Lon
 don.
 } Judgment was finally delivered or
 May 3O He was sentenced to be i'm prsoned for twelve months, to pay
 fine of S10,000 and to find securit. for his good behavior during the neX
 seven years The next day he ant ! his fellow :conspirators' were remov
 ed to Richmond Bridewell, wher' ! comfortable quarters were assigned them.
 | After three months Imprisonment Z OConnell was released, but this per iod proved to be the death knell O I his power The spell by which h.
 held the people seemed to have van } ished; his health had suffered mucl from his short confinement; he wa } verging upon his seventieth year. ant
 he was alarmed and pained by tn ! growth of party in the repeal rank who scoffed at his views. Then cam \ the Irish famine, and this tragedy though he did not live to see thu whole of it. O'COnnell felt acutely. H retired from public life and decided \ on a pilgrimage to Rome, but befor \ he reached that city he died on Ma, 15 1S47, in Genoa.
 \ Kid Williams is figuring on {; trip to Australia in case he fails t