The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1853-07-26 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

DEATH OF THE COUNTESS OF BANTRY.—in noticing the demise of the Countess of Bantry, the Cark Comtitutiort says :—" In the neighbourhood in which she lived the removal of this excellent lady will be a general loss. An active promoter of every work of benevolence and utility, she was endeared to a large class of the population,, and she will be followed to the grave by the rezretS of many whose struggles she assisted, and whose sufferings she relieved. Her ladyship was the third daughter of the late, and niece of the present, Marquis of Themond." CAPITAL CONVICTION FOR MURDER,—,OII Thursday, Alexander Mullen received sentence of death at Tyrone Assizes for the barbarous murder of his aunt, a woman of nearly 70 years of age. The wretch effected his object by cutting her throat. They had had some intemperate words, but the murder was not committed for some time afterwards, and when the poor old creature.was quite off her guard.. Judge Torrens, in passing serit ence, held the 20th e f out nohopeof Auguste fe rthe mitigationex eocef tpieun.uish mente and named THE LIBERTY OF TIIE PREaS.—The result of the extraordinary case, which has occupied the assize court, at Athy, in which the notorious Birch sued the Dublin Freeman's lovrna7 for an alleged libel, must be gratifying. to every man in the empire who values an independent and honourable press, as it is a relief to every mac' woman and child in Ireland, not so entirely destitute aS to be beyond the incidence of blackmail. The jury returned a verdict for the defendant on all the counts. They pronounced, in effect, that it was but a wholesome exerelse of the liberty of the press to comment upon the plaintiff's conduct as the several papers had done. " The press," said Judge Crampton in his admirable charge, "is a noble engine. It is an engine of immense peeqr and value ; and I only add, that the noblest things In nature are those which do the greatest mischief when they are abused." As an incident in the transaction another wreath has been added to Lord Clarendon 's Civic Crown. We envy not his feelings when he shall read Mr. Justice Crampton's withering remarks upon his motives, his measures, and his associates paper, " Lord Clarendon said he did not read Mr. Birch's and was not therefore aware of the nature of the articles published in it. However, the work was done for Lord Clarendon by Mr. Birch, and was paid for. If I employ a man to do work for me, and if without any communication with me he does other work, and that I adopt Sad pay for it, I cannot afterwards be heard saying I did not employ him to do it. The letter from Mr. Corry Con-,, nellan, telling Mr. Birch that the morale of tile cases. o! the great Communist leaders in France might be appliel to Mitchel and Co., appears to me to have been pres,seu too far. That and the other letters from Mr. Conneilan to Mr. Birch show that Mr. Birch was, as ho told you, in intimate communication with the governor of tll.° country and his secretary. They also show that services were highly appreciated. Ultimately he was paid for them. Observe, then, how the case stenos with regard to the first count. It is unquestionably ! libel ; but in answer thereto there is a plea alleging tbase two facts—first, that Birch was unscrupulous in the conduct and management of his paper; and secondly, tbat _ he was employed by Lord Clarendon for wages to write 11 support of government, and that in pursuance of tFeue agreement he wrote the various libels sot forth in first plea. if those libels were written entirely out of his own head—if they were the voluntary effusions 0f..11/1 malicious mind, having no connexion whatever sc.."c. government, why you ought not to take them into 'of count at all ; but if they were written for the purP°"the supporting the government, and were paid for by ,r government, my opinion is that there are grounds fu your arriving at the conclusion that the first plea I? and taine 1." The jury agreed with the Learned judgb/ir. found accordingly as to both master awl man.'" Evening Mail,