Feb. 



THE NEWSPAPER 



[1844. 



of the witnesses and the caption as parts of the indictment ; but 

 considering these attempts also as made s^dy for delay, he resisted 

 them, and the Court decided in his favour. Then came a set of nine 

 pleas in abatement, asrain for delay. 'on the ground that the witnesses 

 had not been sworn before the Grand Jury. The pleas of abatement 

 ■were rejected, and the Crown demurrers allowed; and after over- 

 coming every delay which the ingenuity of fifteen counsel could 

 suggest, he succeeded in extorting from the traversers a ~!ea 

 of not guilty. As a public officer, he admitted that his con- 

 duct was freely open to question and examination ; but he 

 fearlessly challenged any other result than that he had con- 

 scientiously fulfilled his duty both to the Crown and the 

 country. Nay, he who was accused of pressing for a convic- 

 tion taid assented to an application for delay, on the allega- 

 tion of the imperfection of the Jury list for 1843; but if the con- 

 sent for the Crown had been given to the production of the new 

 Jury list for 1844, before it had, in fact, any legal existence, he felt 

 confident that it* production in an incomplete state would have been 

 made a pretext for the postponement of the trials. Sir T. Wilde 

 had affirmed that the Knglish Attorney- General would have con- 

 sented to the quashing of the Jury panel on the ground of the 

 omissions ; and he insinuated that this would have been done from 

 a regard to honour and character. But he threw back the insinua- 

 tion ; Irish law officers were inspired by as nice a sense of honour as 

 English. The Jury list for 1844 was not only a nullity at the time 

 of the application, but its quashing could not have been sanctioned 

 by the Court, for the case of the Queen against O'Connell was not 

 the only one to be tried during the current year. Whis? aspirants for 

 office might, in Westminster Hall, whisper to Sir T. Wilde, that 

 the Irish Attorney -General had exceeded his duty; but had he 

 attempted to violate the statute, by amending the Jury panel for 

 1844, or have gone back on that for 1H ;:*, and thus have caused the 

 postponement of the trials till January 1 845, there was no species of 

 obloquy to winch he would not have been subjected. Mr. Justice 

 Perrin, though censuring the negligence in making up the lists, 

 acquitted the legal manager on the part of the Crown of all imputation 

 of participation or fraud. There had certainly been much un- 

 necessary delay and negligence manifested by the clerks of the 

 peace in the Staking up of the Jury lists — a negligence from which 

 lie, as the law officer of the Crown, had suffered us much inconve- 

 nience as the traversers; and, therefore, in refusing to assent to the 

 quashing of the Jury panel for 1844, he only did his duty, by pre- 

 venting, in the existing state of Ireland, the postponement of the 

 trials till ]845. Great complaint was made of the striking off of 

 11 Ko: itholics from tkc balloted list of 43. Nine of those 



were proved in- utably to belong to the Repeal Association. Its 

 books would show their names to those who were anxious to ascer- 

 tain them ; and there was pood reason for believing that the 11 were 

 in reality only io. Sir T. Wilde had said that if the trial had been 

 by common Jury the Attorney- General could not have dared to 

 challenge ad infinitum. He was surprised to hear an ex-!aw officer 

 of the Crown deny its prerogative. He, as Attorney-General, would 

 have dared to challenge every Repealer that presented himself. Mr. 

 Sheil, in a case of trial for murder, had set aside 36 Jurors. 29 of 

 whom were Prote its— to this day he had never heard why these 

 Protestants had been set aside -yet the parties who had done so, 

 said that he could not have dared to assert the rijrht of challenge 

 which belonged to the Crown. Mr. Sergeant Murphy had accused 

 him of actinic with severity to the traversers, by Compelling their 

 constant attendance In Court during the Trials. He denied this; 

 he had never acted so ungenerously; with the exception of two 

 days, Mr, O'Connell had hardly ever been present 10 minutes at a 

 time; and the only instance in which he had interfered, with the 

 exception of the formality of the first day, was, when they had 

 gone to the Repeal Association in order to make the pending 

 trials the .subject of comment. Sir T. Wilde had affirmed that 

 the indictment should have been one for hieh treason ; he was sur- 

 prised to hear his mitigated form of indictment, reducing high trea- 

 son to misdeme mour, adduced as an evidence of his having strain* 

 the law, Bui Sir T. Wilde had gone farther : he had laid down that 

 " overawing the Legislature," M in the case of Lord George Gordon, 

 required I actu l presence of a mob in Palace-yard, and was not 



applicable to multitudinous armed meetings at a distance* That 



miarht be House of Commons law— it would not do for the Judges. 

 In the form of the indictment, he had followed verbatim et literatim 

 the one adopted by Sir l\ Wilde hi elfin the case of Frost, Vincent, 

 and other tnd he distinctly denied that the Chief Justice had acted 

 with the partiality attributed to him. Adverting to the challenge 

 which he had sent to .Mr. Fitsgibbon he said, " I was misled by a 

 feeling of irritation which ought not to have governed any act of mine, 

 circumstanced as I was. I permitted myself, the court having ad- 

 journed for a few minutes, immediately after insulting language had 

 been applied to me, to take a step which I deeply repret. JJut this 

 I can say, than I am sure there is not a gentleman in this house who 

 would uot make allowance for a person accinp under the impression 

 that an improper charge had been brought against Ium. I wish to 

 be understood, when 1 advert to Mr. Fittgibbon's name, that I shall 

 not say one syllable to hurt bis feelings. He is absent, but I believe 

 if he were present he would admi: that language had escaped him 

 inadvertently. Entertaining those views, I shall not say one syllabic 

 that can inculpate him. I take the blame upon myself, and can 

 only say further that I considered— I cannot say whether rightly 

 or wrongly — that I had had a gross insult passed upon me. 

 Whatever my character may he— and I think I may appeal to my 

 political opponents— I may at least say that during the whole of my 

 life in Ireland I have kept up a character for personal honour and 

 integrity. Conceiving that an imputation had been thrown out 

 against what I considered to be my personal honour, in a feeling of 

 excitement during the adjournment of the Court for two or three 

 minutes I penned that note. If the Court had never adjourned it 

 would never have happened at all, because it would have all passed 

 oif in a few minutes. I wrote the note out of Court; it was suggested 

 that 1 wrote it in Court, but that was uot so ; I wrote it in a chamber 

 adjoining the Court, and I thought that the Judi;e and Jury and all 

 were out of Court : not that that indeed makes much difference, nor 

 do I urge it as an excuse— far from it. I admit I acted with 

 impropriety ; hut under the circumstances, with a strong feeling that 

 a personal insult had been passed upon me, I do think that gentlemen 

 of generous feeling will be inclined to make some allowance- I shall 

 ado nothing more m ith respectto this, except that I am willing to say, as 

 Mr. PttSgtobon is absent, that I believe I was mistaken in the con- 

 struction 1 put on his language- I onlv advert to it because if I did 

 not it might be supposed from my silence that I am a person not 

 willing to admit when I am wrong, and I am by no means desirous 

 to be subject to such an imputation. M During this explanation the 

 learned gentleman was frequently interrupted by loud cheers from 

 both sides of the House, and he concluded by denying that he had at 

 any time in anv speech that he might have spoken said anything 

 which could fairly be construed as offensive to his Roman Catholic 

 lellow-subjects, seeing that u;» t > 1829 he had been a warm friend of 

 Catholic emancipate »u.— The House then again adjourned. 



Thursday.— A petition addressed " To the Kepresentatives in 

 the Commons House of Parliament of the 930,000 British Subjects 

 who at present possess the right of exercUtng the Elective 

 Franchise," by Mr. S. CaAirroau, was withdrawn on account of 

 its disrespectful heading*,— The motions that stood in tnc way of 

 the adjourned . late vera severally postponed. — To a question 

 pat by Sir Gkougs Grbv on the occupation of Otaheite, Sir R. 

 Peel repeated whnt h id been sa;d by the Earl of Aberdeen in 

 the House of Lords, and added, that he bad received official 

 despatches front the British aathorittee in Otaheite, and that he 



had re mi to believe the tiansaction had taken place without 

 the previous sanction or under tne infraction of the French 

 Government.— Mr. Miles brought in a bill to amend the laws 

 relative to master and servant*, which was read a first time.— 

 The adjourned debate on the urate of Ireland was opened by 

 Mr. Maurick O'C'onxjsll, followed by Mr. Hkli.kw, Mr. Hi/mk, 

 and Mr. C. Powkm,, in aapport of Lord J. LiaaeU*i motion ; and 



by Mr. Grboorv, Mr. Lidokm*. Mr. G. A« Hamilton-, and sir 

 H. Douglas, against it.— Mr. Siikii. then proceeded M address 

 the House in reply to the Irish Attorney -General. He began by 

 explaining the charge made against him or having on the trial of 



Mr. Fierce struck off 29 Protestants from the jury list, and read 



his soeech made on that occasion as Counsel for the Crown, to 

 show the humanity of his prosecution. He then proceeded to 

 comment on the conduct of the ^Government. He condemned 

 them for not having summoned Mr. Blake, a Roman Catholic, to 

 Vhl Privv Council, and for having summoned Mr, Sho- ' 

 accused them of not having prosecuted th~ - • ■ He 



ac -..v . i -■"— — * mm0 authors of the 



semuous speeches, writings, anu poems, as they had been spoken 

 or published, with the intent of waiting until they could accu- 

 mulate a charge that would crush certain men whose conviction 

 they desired— with having contrived a conspiracy and connived at 

 the inflammatory compositions in the newspapers, for the purpose 

 of urging that conspiracy to a head. He charged Mr. Ketnmis with 

 having wilfully neglected to correct the error in Mr. Bond Hughes's 

 sworn information respecting Mr- Barrett, and with having shame- 

 fully kept even the fact of the error from the Attorney General. He 

 adverted at great length to all the legal and technical points con- 

 nected with the trials, the motions'for postponement, the challenge 

 of the arruy and the Jury panel. It was boasted that Government had, 

 on the ground of fairness, preferred a special to a common jury, be- 

 cause on a common jury the Crown would have had an unlimited 

 right to challenge. Remarking on this pretence, Sir T. Wilde had 

 said that the Crown, controlled by public opinion, would not have 

 dared to have challenged without limit, to which the Irish Attorney- 

 General had replied that he would have dared. But a common jury 

 struck under the revision of a sheriff, a man of honour, Mr. Latouche, 

 would have presented Protestants and Catholics indiscriminately, 

 not Repealers— men of substance and respectability, in whom confi- 

 dence might have been reposed. The Irish Attorney General denied 

 having spoken harshly of his Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, but the 

 reported speech contained the passage in which he declared his belief 

 that Roman Catholics had no regard for the sanctity of an oath. 

 The Catholics of England were neither Repealers nor allies of Daniel 

 O'Connell ; but what effect had their proceedings upon them ? Even 

 the Earl of Shrewsbury expressed his indignation that the Act of 

 Emancipation was repealed, so far as the jury-box was concerned : 

 Catholics, admitted to the Legislature and the bench, to posts of 

 honour and trust, were denied admission on a jury. Yet Lord Eliot 

 still professed his impartiality: like Mr. Baring's free- trade it was in 

 the " abstract. " The Protestant Operative Society of Dublin had 

 addressed Lord de Grey, denouncing in very strong language the 

 ir.ass as idolatrous, and Roman Catholic doctrines as blasphemous — 

 did the Lord Lieutenant resent this insult to his own impar- 

 tiality, and the feelings of his fellow-subjects? No, he caused an 

 acknowledgment to be returned that the address was "warmly 

 received." It did not become hira to speak of the Lord Chief Justice, 

 because he was counsel '• on the other side.' ' Rut Lord Stanley, who 

 had been so indignant with the commentaries on the charge of the 

 Chief Justice, forgot his own motion on Chief Baron Smith. Passing 

 from this, he asked what would be the moral effect of the verdict? 

 sir J. Graham might yet in his cooler moments repent the phrase 

 "convicted conspirators;" but the speech of Lord Stanley would 

 not add to that moral weight — would be remembered in Ireland, and 

 perhaps in Canada- Ireland was not to be governed by force, but by 

 Protestant charges, juries, ami verdicts; but would these not require 

 Protestant bayonets to sustain them? There might be minor mat- 

 ters of detail, but the great question after all was that of the two 

 churches in Ireland— the one without a revenue but with a congrega- 

 tion, the other without a congregation but with a revenue. They 

 were not to touch the Church because, according to Mr. Shaw, it was 

 built on Christian truth. On which bank of the Tweed was Protest- 

 ant Christian truth to be found ? On the one side it was presented in a 

 black surplice and white band ; on the other enthroned in an archi- 

 episcopal stall and glowing like that celebrated Babylonian " lady," 

 towards whom under the auspices of Dr. Pusey its affections were 

 beginning to return. At all events their Christian truth had not been 

 very successful in Ireland. His religion, indigenous to the Irish 

 mind, had flourished in spite of the blast, and was still rising and 

 spreading ; theirs, though nursed in a magniScenc conserva- 

 tory, was still a sickly exotic How had they dealt with the 

 Church in Canada — nay, in England itself? Had tiiey not vir- 

 tually confessed by their new Factories Bill that the national 

 Church was incapable of undertaking the education of the 

 national mind. Oh, thero was no parallel to that Church in Europe ! 

 — except in Poland! The Right Hon. member then adverted to 

 the general foreign policy of the Government, using it as a text for 

 warning against leaving Ireland in its present condition. He trusted 

 they would be able to crush all insurrection, for a civil war in 

 Ireland would evoke the wildest and most demoniac passions, which 

 would spare neither age nor sex. He, however, was not without 

 hope that Ireland would at last 'cease to be the arena of factious 

 contests, and that at length they would offer up their common anti- 

 pathies to the good genius of their country. What he had witnessed 

 since his return to England, had satisfied him that the great mass of 

 the community In this country were influenced by a friendly feeling 

 towards Ireland. He had heard most admirable sentiments ex- 

 pressed by Hon. Gentlemen connected with Government, both by 

 office and by friendship ; and he had also seen evidence that the 

 English nation could, with a generous promptitude, forgive the man 

 who had done wrong, if they thought that he had done wrong, and 

 the moment that they thought oppression had been done him. fly to 

 his saccour, and receive him with infinite kindness. That that 

 feeling should be appreciated by his country wm his most sincere 

 desire; that it might be the means of producing gradually a 

 national reconciliation— not only uniting the two countries by such a 

 slender ligament as an Act of Parliament could supply — but socially, 

 politically, morally, and indissolubly uniting them, was the prayer of 

 one who was conscious of many faults, but who, whatever might be 

 his faults, never was and never would be reckless of the interests of 

 his country — who was devotedly attached to his beloved country, 

 and who was so far from desiring a dismemberment of the empire, 

 that he now offered up a prayer, as fervent as any that ever passed 

 the lips, or came from the heart of man, that the greatness of that 

 empire might be invulnerable, and that the power and the glory, and, 

 above all, the liberty of England might endure fur ever. — On the 

 motion of the Attokney-Gkner/Vl the debate was again adjourned. 

 Friday,— The second reading of the Newoury and Greac West- 

 ern Railway Hill was postponed for a fortnight to allow tiie com- 

 peting line from the Snath Western Railway to be considered at 

 the same time.— The Poor Law Amendment Bill was rend a se- 

 cond time, after an announcement from Sir J. Graham that he 

 intends after Easter to move for a committee to inquire into the 

 operation of the (iilbert Unions. — 1 he order of the day forgoing 



Into committee of supply was postponed.— The adjourned debate 

 was resumed by sir FaxuBftics Pollock, the Attorney- 



General, who, after expressing the satisfaction with which 

 he hart heard the speech of rhe Irish Attorney-General the 

 other evening proceeded to thank the Hou^e for the manner in 

 which it had approved of his conduct on several trials in whicri 



he had been officially concerned. He then detailed the parti- 

 culars of these trials, particularly those in the Midland Counties 

 and in Wales, and concluded bv a consideration of the numerotttf 

 le^al points mooted in the previous discussion.— Mr. O'Cdmxki.l 

 and Sir R. Pkkl followed, and at half-past 3 ihe Hou&e divided, 

 negativing the motion by a majority of lui. 



meeting was called at the instance of the Co miM » 



the Essex Society, who had invited the mZ " * 

 deputies from the other societies throughout the Win? ° f 

 & nd though limited in strictness to a conference o H ' 

 ties, ft? rule as to admission was relaxed in fav 0! ^ 

 Members of filament, and gentlemen interested ' 

 agriculture. Mr. Balccr of Writtle, chairman of t^ 

 Essex Society, was called to the chair. There were f ro * 

 two to three hundred persons [present, amongst who** 

 were the following :— Viscount Sandon, M.P., Ge ner !J 

 Lygon, M.P., Sir J. T. Tyrrell, Bart M M.P., Mr. R 0l J 

 M.P., Mr. Q. Dick, M.P., Sir J. Trollope, Bart MP 

 Mr. Tellowes, M.P., Mr. Thornhill, M.P., Sir B. W 

 Bridges, Bart., Sir J. Chetwode, M.P., Mr. Eaton, M P * 

 Mr. Plumptre, M.P., Mr. Darby, M.P., Sir G.BurrdL 

 Bart, M.P., Sir G. Chetwynd, Bart., M.P., Sir E. Derin^ 



CITY. 



Monet/ Market, Friday. — Consols closed at 97 J; 

 Red. Three per Cents., 98.^ to£ ; Three-and-Ualf per 



Cents., I03£; New Tbree-*nd-H«lf per Cent*, 102£; 

 Bank Stock, 195-6; Exchequer Bill*. 69#. to 71s. preiu. 



/Metropolis anO its fcTicinun. 



Central Protection Society.— On Saturday a meeting of 

 | tenant-farmers, deputies from the several Agricultural 

 Protection Societies, was hel ! at Freemason*' Tavern, to 

 form a Central Association in London, to be called " The 

 | Agricultural Protection Society of Great Britain. " The 



Bart., M.P., Colonel Rushbrook, M.P., Mr. Lush 



mgtoo, 



M.P., Mr. Allix, M.P., General Sir J. Watson, K.C.b' 

 Colonel Torrens, &c. A series of resolutions, moved bv 

 Mr. Oswald Copland and seconded by Mr. W. F. Hobbs 

 was then adopted, and it was resolved that a provisional 

 committee be appointed, to wait upon the Duke of Rich- 

 mond with a copy of the resolutions, and to request his 

 Grace, if he approved of their object, to accept the office of 

 President of the Association. The deputation then pro- 

 ceeded to the residence of the Duke of Richmond in Port- 

 land-place, where were assembled the Duke of Buckingham 

 the Duke of Leeds, Lord Worsley, Lord Beaumont, Mr. 

 Pusev, M.P., Mr. Mi!es,M.P..Mr. Palmer, MP., Mr. Cay! 

 ley, M.P., Mr. Denison, M.P.,and several other noblemen 

 and gentlemen connected with agriculture. An animated 

 discussion took place on the part of the landlords and the 

 tenant-farmers, in the course of which the Duke of ^Rich- 

 mond, having examined the resolutions agreed to at the 

 meeting of the tenant-farmers, expressed his anxious de- 

 sire that the tenant-farmers should have a very full repre- 

 sentation in the management of the society's affairs. 

 The resolutions were then modified as follows, nnd 

 unanimously passed : — " 1. That a society, called' The 

 Agricultural Protection Society for the United Kingdom 

 of Great Britain and Ireland/ be now formed, for the 

 purpose of upholding, by constitutional means, protection 

 to British Agriculture. 2. That the object of the society 

 is to maintain protection for British Agriculture not less 

 than that at present existing. 3. That the society shall, 

 through the press, repel the imputations, and point out 

 the inconsistencies, contained in the statements of those 

 who oppose such protection. 4. That party politics shall 

 not enter into the proceedings of this society, and that 

 the society shall on no account interfere in any election 

 for a member to serve in Parliament. 5. That the affairs 

 of this society shall be managed by a president, vice- 

 president, 4 trustees, and a committee of 40 members* 

 whereof 20 shall always be tenant-farmers, and that chair- 

 men and vice-chairmen of provincial societies connected 

 with this society shall be ex officio members of the com- 

 mittee, and that the said committee shall have power to 

 add to their number. G. That the Duke of Richmond 

 be requested to act as President of this society. 7. That 

 the Duke of Buckingham and Chandos be requested to 

 act as Vice-President of this society." The Duke of 

 Richmond having accepted the office of President of the 

 society, and the Duke of Buckingham that of Vice-Presi- 

 dent, the meeting proceeded to the election of the four 

 trustees and the 40 members to act as a Committee, la 

 the course of the meeting it was announced, that in con- 

 sequence of some doubts which had existed as to the le- 

 gality of such a society as that which was in contempla- 

 tion, the Essex Society had submitted the matter for the 

 opinion of counsel. The case and opinion ran thus :-• 

 "An Association has been recently formed in the county of 

 Essex called ' The Essex Agricultural Protection Society, 

 the constitution and objects of which society will De 

 seen by the printed declaration and rules accompanying this 

 case. It is intended also to form a Central Agricultural Pro- 

 tection Society in London, for the purpose of correspond- 

 ing with, and directing the operations of, the societies or. 

 a similar nature in the different parts of the country. The 

 k Essex Agricultural Protection Society' will luve consider- 

 able funds at its dispoial, which are intended chiefly to be 

 expended in publications advocating the principles or pro- 

 tection to the interests of British Agriculture. The Com- 

 mittee of the ' Essex Agricultural Protection Society *isa 

 to be advised by counsel for the guidance of the society . 

 1st. Whether there is anything illegal in thus arnlMting 

 the different country or other local societies on the pro- 

 posed central society? 2d. Whether there is ^anvtuing 

 illegal iu thus forming corresponding societies ? o • 

 there is, what course or mode or extent of co-operati 

 would be legal and what illegal ?" To this Mr. Ha" re 



turned the following opinion :— " The 39th George 



JU 



c. 70, which I suppose has raised a doubt as to the leg ^ 

 of the associations in question, has not any application . 

 the subject. The * Essex Agricultural Protection bocie J 

 contemplates a legal object, and seeks to attain it oy 8 

 means. Its object is to protect the most im P orUn ^ 

 terests in the country, and its means are the concen tr 

 of Agricultural intelligence, the diffusion of Agncu i 

 information, and the constitutional appeal to the beij ; » 

 ture by petition in protection of the civil and poi 

 interests of the petitioners. I am of opinion that it i 

 undoubted right of any number of her Majesty s s«°J 

 to combine for the purpose of attaining such an obje j 

 such means ; and if for the purpose of giving vita ity ^ 

 energy to such a combination, they form local alld . C (neDrf 

 corresponding societies, such societies are, in my jo g 1 ^ 

 legal." The following gentlemen were theu H PP°^ r ( f 

 ace as the provisional committee: — Mr. **• . R \[, 

 Writtle), Essex; Mr. Bloxam, Shropshire; Sir D. 

 Brydges, East Kent ; Mr. J. Rust, Huntingdon; » ■ 





