^20 ANNUAL. REGISTER, 1814. 



burglary, committed by the two 

 other criminals, in the house of 

 Mr. Sutton. They were convicted, 

 and have suffered the punishment 

 due to their crime. But was this 

 a case for exciting public alarm, 

 or spreading national disquietude, 

 or for causing the ordinary course 

 of the circuit to be inverted, and 

 leading every person to apprehend 

 machinations and conspiracies of 

 the most deep and desperate kind ? 

 From Kilkenny the Commission 

 proceeded to Clonmel. There I 

 presided in the Crown Court ; the 

 Calendar presented a sad list of 

 crimes, one hundred and twenty 

 names appeared upon the face of 

 the Crown Book. There were 

 several government prosecutions, 

 conducted by able gentlemen of 

 the bar, and by the Crown soli- 

 citor ; at the appointment, and by 

 tbe direction of the Government, 

 who had been alarmed for the 

 peace of the country. Yet, not- 

 withstanding all this formidable 

 array of crime, and this multitude 

 of prisoners, I had the good for- 

 tune to discharge the gaol of that 

 county in two days and a half. 

 Two persons only were capitally 

 convicted, at that Assizes. One 

 of them was neither the subject 

 df a public prosecution, nor of a 

 private one. It was a case upon 

 Lord Ellenborough's Act, for as- 

 saulting with weapons (in that case 

 with a pitch-fork) with an inten- 

 tion to kill, maim, or disfigure. 

 The unfortunate man had been out 

 upon bail ; and, supposing that 

 he had made his peace with his 

 prosecutor, had surrendered him- 

 self, not ap[)rehending any prose- 

 cution. The bail had forfeited 

 their recognizance at the assizes 

 preceding, and 1 mention this 



fact, lest it might be imagined 

 that the conductors of the Crown 

 prosecutions had slumbered on 

 their post, or had been remiss in 

 their duty. I do believe they 

 knew nothing of the prosecutor's 

 intention to appear. The prisoner 

 was compelled to come in by the 

 magistrate who had bailed him, 

 and who had been at the preced- 

 ing Assizes, fined one hundred 

 pounds for thus bailing a person, 

 charged with a capital felony. 

 The prisoner had the benefit of 

 able Counsel ; his trial was not 

 hurried on ; a Jury of his Country, 

 under the superintendancfe of a 

 Judge (I hope not devoid of hu- 

 manity), found him guilty. But, 

 let me ask, what had all this to do 

 with public disturbances ? A peo- 

 ple, ferocious in their habits, and 

 violent in their animosities, when 

 intoxicated with whiskey, formed 

 into factions amongst themselves, 

 classed by barbarous appellations, 

 may bruise each other with sticks, 

 or even slay each other with mortal 

 weapons ; but 1 would ask any 

 man, what connection could the 

 conviction of that criminal (under 

 Lord Ellenborough's Act) have 

 with associations against law, or- 

 der, and the government ? 



There was a second conviction 

 at Clonmel, in a case of rape and 

 forcible abduction. The prosecu- 

 trix was the principal witness in 

 support of that conviction ; but 

 the credit due to her testimony 

 has been so materially affected by 

 facts since disclosed, that I thought 

 it my duty to name a distant day 

 for the execution of the sentence, 

 in order to afford time for the 

 respectable Gentlemen, who have 

 interfered on behalf of the pri- 

 soner, to bring his case fairly and 



