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THE NORTHERN STAR. SATURDAY, JUNE 3, 1843.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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TO THE GRAND JTBT OP THE COUNTY OF WESTMEATH . Gxxtlemes , —The page of history will record with indignation a late trarEaction of yours . At Midsummer AbeI 238 yon voted a service of plate to tb- ? cffieers of the "Wicklow jlilitia , for their txertions in preserving the peace cf your connty . Before I aniniadvert on yocr conduct , 1 than take a short review of some of those transactions which recommended these gentlemen to yonr jfrstitnde aad favour . These mtn of blood , from the moment they entered the Berrice of tie present Administration , ( 1 cam say that of their conut ^) foresaw that the high road to preferment , was to wade throngh Wood , to bora houses , immcla ' s v . ctims ; no matter whether guilty or innocent ,
to support the system cf terror , ptrhaps cpon the falsa chargVof the basest of asra-winB or miscreants , cilled an irf irjuer , or perhaps their own suggestion , plunge the da ^ ser into the breast of hoary and helpless age , pn . i csp-iTc , by fire and sword , numerous -wretched families of Uie means of existent * , and lite their prototypes , the bloody Cromwell and Robespierre , bnnt l&e ¦ wi d beasts > or the maroons of Jamaica , the objec ? -- > f their ytngezjice , whose greatest crime is perhaps their being Irishmen , and loving their country . Among the masy crceltiea practised by ihe officers and priTates of this regiment , I » V » H jnention Eome fc'vr , vhicifor enormity have not been exceeded by the mc * t 5 ^ c £ uinary savages that ever disgrace . 1 Laman namrt .
A lieutenant well-known by the name of the Walting-gaiiotra , at the head of a party of the regiment , Hiarchci to a place called Ganderstown , in your countj : they went to the house of an old man earned Carroll , of seventy years and upwards , and a » ked for sihsb , and bavrug premised protection sad indemnity , the old man delivered up to this monster three « ncs , ¦ which he no sooner received , than he with his o-w-n hands shot the old xian through tte heart , and then had his sons itwo young mtn batchored ; burnt *! sad destroyed their b * u £ e , corn , bay , and in short every property they possessed- The vrife ami child of one of the sons were enclosed in the bouse ¦ when ? -= i Sre to , and wonld haTe been bcmsC had not one of uie soldiers begged their liTes from the cfiieer , bet oe condition that if the bitch ( using his own werSs ) made lie := aat toise they should share tfcs same fate as the re ? : ~ f the family . This bloody transaction
happened tu > . ui two o ' clock on Monday morning , the 19 th cf June last He then pressed a car , on which the thr ^ e dtad bodies -were thrown ; and from thence vent to a Tillage called ilyvore , took into custody three nwn . named Hesry Smith , John Smith , and Michael -Itttst , under pretence of their bei-g United Irisftrn .:. - i ; and hiving tied them to the car on which the miu ^ led bodies of tha Carrolls -were placed , they were rssrebed about three miles , posting in the blood of their murdered neighbours , and at three o ' clock on the same day were shot on the fair green of Ballymore ; and so universal was the panic that a man could not be procured to inter the six dead bodies—the sad tfnee "was oWig « i * rt be done by women . The Lientenant , on the momic ? cf this deliberate and sanguinary murder , in-Tited wrc-ral gentlemen to stay and see what be called partri ige scooting . It may not be improper to remark , tkat Lord Oxmantown remonstrated with the officers on
the m . nitrous cruelty of petting these men to death , ¦ who cULt , if tried by the laws of their country , appear isDoccui . He begged and intreated to have them sent to gac \ sod prosecuted according to law ( if any proof J could Iv hrr-nght against them ) , but his hnciane efforts proTex ! frcitless—the men were murdered . On tfcc fair-day cf Ballymore tTth of June ) a poor man of irreproachable character , named Keenan , afUr selling Li * cow , had bis hsnd extended to receive tie price of her , when this valiant soldier strnck him with . bis swor-i on the ahonldei , and almost severed the arm from hia body .
A young man named Hynes , a mason , passing through the fair , on his way home , -was attacked by this ferocious savage , and in the act of begging his life upon his knees , was cut down by the Lieutenant ' s own hands , and Iff : lying for dead . A clergyman , at the imminent risk of his life , fiew to the victim to administer the last consolation of religion , when three of the militia "were ordered b ^ ck , ar . d to make use of a vulgar phrase , made a riddle of b ? 3 body -, the clergyman , however , escaped tmhcrl- The Lientenant , however , g « t Boraewhit attained cf this business ; and , by way cf apologj f _ r his convive * , alleged that some sroncs were thrnwr ., though it is a notoriens fact that no snch Ibis * hippeced .
The clerk of Mr . Dillon , cf Ballymahcn , beinc in the fair transaKiiig his employer's bciinesa , "was su Tiiymed by this Taliant soldier and his parly that his life vrns despaired ci Sixteen persons ( whose names I haTe cartfuiiy entered , were so cut , mv . meid , and ubased , that many of them are rendered miserable objects for the remainder of their liTea . So much f * r keeping the peace of ihe country . To create inhabitants for the hospital or the glare ssems to he the faTomile measure of teinqsilliz-ng a nation . A " ? iliicc callei Moyrore "was almost at the dead hc ^ nr of tt-s night set on fire , under the direction of Captain O ai'i Uie Lmnans Lieutecant , ind cur ed io the ground , except six honse . s . Captain O ,
possessing a little more hnmiEity , Eef-Tued to f •* - ; for the unparalleled distress thereby occasi-jne-l ; "Tbii * : rbis modern Nero only laughed at the progress of the deatrnctiTe element , and called hi 3 brvtber cfis * r a chicken-tsirted fdiow for his eeeming campission—for feeling a pang at the miseries he himself created , eyeing numbers of his fellow-creEtures petx £ -d with korlor at Tievring their little properties consumed , and afraid to make the least complaint , seeing that military execution wbs their inevitable fate « boc ! d they make the least murmur . Good God 2 is this the way t * make the Constitution revertd or the GoTtmment resptcte ^ i ? Hod Lord North still lived cad had ihe corn-fatce of his ilavsip , he vouLd necer recomjnoid Ike praciice ^ of iivst measures lo sore Ireland whitA lost America .
2 s ew gentlemen cf the jury , if these and * Bea like art the meritorious actions , "srhich hare rendered the £ = ntl € - Bien of the Wicklow 3 I 3 itia sa amiable in yonr eyes—1 idnsh for the country which gave me birth ; and must declare that his Majesty has not greater enemies than the men wao wonld commit , or the men who abet and enconrage sneh crimes What do yun teach the great mass -A the people to 1-fclicTe by snch conduct but that tke coercioa of a foriegn s-neay would be mercy compared to " the g-n . rons efforts . bejond the law" ( as they are called ; of our own military .
Bat , gentlemen , let ma ask you , wouH it not hBYe been more decent and even complimentary to the objects of yoar eitaem had you made a collection amongst yonrselTes for this serrice of plate , than to attempt to saddle upon an injured county a tax for the remuneration of murder , coidligration and calamity ? Shall the owners of near 500 houses destroyed by fire , and the relations of those victims sacrificed by those sanguinary instruments of oppression , be obliged to pay for emmrtiea -which irill cast an indelible stain npon a county which coaid produce a Grand Jury c&p&ble of becoming accessories to snch unheard of cruelties . Bat , gentlemen , though you hare voted the tax , it is not yet raised , bnt will , I hope , be traversed with effect —yon may thereby Lave the satisfaction of purchasing out of your own pockets , and affixing a motto suitable to the occasion , Written in blood and cemented by fire , The "wrath of heaven and the scourge of men .
Aj yoa dont seem to be well acquainted with the e&zly character of the objects of you regard , 1 shall take leave to insert an address very different from jonrs to those gentlemen—Copied from the Dublin Etching Pest , and dated 2 Sth May , 1795 : — To such of the OFFICERS of his Majesty ' s WICKLOW KE < HME 5 Tof yniAHA , as authorized the insertion of the following chef d ' csuybe of tcit and decency in the Strabane Journal , of 20 th of April , 1795 : — " Wanted for the service of the officers -who compose ihe mes 3 of his Majesty ' s Wicklow Regiment of Militia ,
TWELTE BEAUTIFUL GJRLS , who hare not inhabited the town of Straba ^ e , since the 5 th of April , 1794 . As wage is by no means the object , it is expected that none will apply -who do not produce & certificate , signed by eight respectable matrons , of-their having their YIRTUE , px ? be and tt > 'sci . i , ied . No girl will answer above the age of 18 or under that of 14— Application to be made to the regimental matron , Mrs . Catherine Smyth , Bowling Green , Strabane . —N . B . —Growing girls of the age of IS , if approved of , and highly recommended may possibly be taken . "
A"way ! no woman could descend so low ! A skipping , dancing , "worthless tribe yon are ; Pit only for yourselves—you herd together ; And "when the circling glass -warms your -rain hearts , Yon talk of beauties that you never saw , And fancy raptures that you never knew . You blast the fair with lies , because they scorn yon , Hate yon like age , like ugliness , and impotence ! Rather than make yon blest , they wonld die Virgins , And stop the propagation of mankind . ' Polite and Gallant Gentlemen , —As a native of the to * n of Strabaae , I shall make no apology for thus offering to your notice a few strictures on the above " anton and unprecedented outrage V > "the feelings of a
wspectable community . And this I mean to do , with all the honest freedom of a mind indignant at the brutality of men—who could to fax forget the dignity of then natare , as to wing a dastardly shaft at that honour , which It should be their chief pride to defend —to aim a cowardly "Wow at the happiness of that ex , to protect whom from insult , they should , were it neeenary ^ fonii a rampart of theii bodies . Pray , ye trasty guardians of ear -venerated constitution and ¦ acred religion , which of the heroes of the Grecian ox Soman Commonwealths , do ye propose to yourselves as models ? In what page of the history of those cele brated nations , have you discovered that it is m&ritoxions to blight the characters of " God's fairest crea
tion r I will explain to you the motives of yonr conduct : motives , which even your baseness will brash at , and meanness disewn . It was from a principle cf sordid and unmanly revenge , for not being invited to the tables of the riEsaa of Strabane , that you endeavoured , by scandalous insinnationB , to sully the -viitue of their wives and daughter ? , vir tue , 6 "rer which , neither your personal nor yonr intellectual charms , enabled yon to triumph . Imagine not that a red coat can metamorphose a cJowninto a MCBcenas , a Thersites into an £ . donis . g ? fo ; like gorgeous trappings upon an ass , i :
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serves but to reader elemental meanness still more contemptible . Weil indeed has it been said , " that the fcge of ehl » valry is gone . " Scarcely does it admit of belief , that at the dose of the eighteenth century , nen bearing bis Majesty ' s Commission , should have robstitnted the obscene manners of the staws for the gentlemanly conduct which ever characterises the true soldier . I here take my leavo of yon—trusting that I have infixed on yon snch a frontlet of infamy , as cannot fail to insure you a cordial reception from the inhabitants of the next tvwn that thall experience the blessing of your protection . I hare the honour to be , Gentlemen , Your most obedient , humble servant , Thomas Sinclair . 2 < th May , 17 :-5 , Nc . S , Irinity-clace , Dublin .
I shall now take leave of you for the present , Trusting that yon are or will became ashamed of your conduct The aveEging hand of God has struck one of the principal springs which heretofore set you in motion , be was called like the tyrant of Russia before that tribunal where no ascendancy will prevail , but that of virtue , truth , and justice . A Freeholder op Westmeath .
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REPEAL OF THE UNION . ^ s the agitation npo n thi s su bject progresses every new feature as it presents itself opens fresh ground for conjecture . It erer has been , and so it ever Wiii be , that questions of philosophy , of policy or of morality , will have their supporters and opponents ; the one urging on to success , and the other breathing resistance and hostility . The laTger and the more embracing the subject , the greater will be the variety of opinions
on the respective sid » a . The magnitude then of the question of Repeal will naturally lead to the conclusion that amongst its supporters ars to be found classes , communities , and even individuals , who , though united in action , are by no means indnced to take part from the same causes , nor do they look for a similar result from the success of their undertaking . Before , then , we discuss the subject on its own merits , we are bound to consider in how far the question now at issue between the two countries is relieved of that political embarrassment
in general bo fatal to the accomplishment of any great national object . The reader will see the great , the almost insurmountable difficulties by which we are surrounded in thus being called upon to caution and advise , to encourago and reason apon bo large and al ! -important a subject almost in a breath . The roiling murmurs of a nation's voice following in rapid succession after the flash of a nation's mind are pealing , and each new shock would bd well calculated to shake the nerve , or turn from hi 3 purpose , the commentator who was unaccustomed to ,
or unacquainted wuh , the portions of which the jarring elements are composed . In the thunder we recognise the nation's voice , in the lightning which precedes it we recognise the nation ' s wiL ; and , from this idea , we may gather the nation's strength . Of what avail however is strength , if ill directed It is then to the direction of that Btrength , and to a consideration of what us united effort * , if virtuously used , may accompHsh , that we shall direct the reader ' s attention . Were we to allow ourselves to argte upon the problrrcatical desires , motives , or
intentions by whica tne Repealers ( or the several :-ect ::-ti > comprising iLc main force ) are actuated , we ihocid be doing the very thing which the disturbers , tx o political dissenters , the troublesome , the dissatisfied , and unquiet , desire , and such a course would be pre-eminently calculated to produce a result diametrically opposite to that which , by union , the real advocates of the measure earnestly dfsire to , bring about . While , therefore , we shall contrast the condition of Ireland immediately antecedent to the act
of Union with her present condition while struggling for a Repeal of that measure , and although , in the coatrast , much cause for caution may be found , none for alarm need exist . It will be seen thai at the former period the . leaders in the cause of Irish liberty were strongly linked , and amicably b ; ucd v » : ih the English opposition , or tho Fox party , and it may reasonably be inferred that that po'icy which vras practised by the Whigs from 1796 to 1800 , vrirh a view to their restoration to
power , may be a ^ ain resorted same party for a similar purpose . Here , then , we have in a sentence , boldly stated the one , the only , ghost which can haunt the mind of the timid , the only argument that can be u ^ ed fcy the artful and the wily . We have shovra it bat to destroy it . There are several reasons , thereforp . which rec-ier the parallel as to the respective times incomplete . From 17 * 5 to 1800 Ireland had a Parliament , aid from 1782 to that period , when the French Revolution affrighted M the great statesman now no more , " Ireland had
progressed in domestic improvements , and great national undertakings , as no country ever advaaced before ; hence all the capabilities for achieving national greatness were developed , and Ireland gave a practical proof to the world in those days , as Belgium ha 3 in later times , that as a nation she may be rich and powerful , while as a province she must be weak and impoverished . In those years preceding the Act of Union the English opposition were sincere in their advocacy of Ireland ' s rights ; they sought no Union £ t the expense of Irish
interest ? , and , above all , uid they deprecate the means resorted to for the accomplishment of the object . At that time ako the Irish people were degraded serfs , tillers of their own estates under alien landlords , looked upon by the jaundiced eye of the State as unchristian dogs . They were unenfranchised , or rather tantalized with the poor privilege of voting for the choice of their enemies ; for though the daves had vote 3 , yet those of their own religious and political creed were ineligible to sit in the Commons' House of Parliament . Under all
these circumstances , then , it was not unlikely that a powerful Irish party , backed by the English opposition , should have considered the difference between a Whig Ministry pledged to Catholic emancipation , and a Tory Ministry bent upon resisting it , a motive sufficiently strong to arouse a great national feeling in favour of the Fox and FrrzwiLLiAH party . At tho period of which wo write Ireland might be Eaid to be wholly destitute of any national mind . Her councils were directed by
those who sought objects which were represented to the people as likely to be beneficial ; but behind those great advantages , which were placed in the foreground , it was easy to recognise the real object of the promoters of dissatisfaction ; and , although Catholic Emancipation may have been used as the rallying standard for discontent , and although the full length portrait of Irish liberty was always placed foremost in the grouping , jet was it impossible to conceal from view the bust of a Fox or
Chablemont representing eome private interest , or party anticipation . Kow , how different the state of the respective parties ; Ireland had full four years of torture , persecution , cruelty , and murder , before the Union while , since that event , she has had forty-three years of unremitting and unmitigated suffering and sorrow . She is now a nation of soberminded Irishmen , who can no longer be juggled by the fascinations or promises of the English opposition , who have registered their determination in vows as strong and deadly as are those of the Tories to preserve the contract even to the death . It is true
that an antidote was promised with the poison , and was administered in four years after in the shape of an Arm 3 Bill , " which , if not as degrading to blacksmiths , was equally calculated and as much intended to deprive the Irish people of the means of defence as the one now before Parliament ; and yet this Bill was brought in by the present opposition , and not complained of by the Irish people . Wo throw this out , not as a taunt to the leaders of the Irish , but to exhibit it as one instance of the incapacity of sections , parties , or individuals , to make the Repeal question > "OW a means of reitoriug the Wbiga to
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power . Icdeed the English Chartists who have suffered grievously at the hands of that annihilated faction have not been more lavish in their abuso of them than Mr . O'Connell has recently been . How then , we atk , can any man give him credit for shrewdness , sagacity , and foresight , and , at the same time charge him with making the repeal agitation subservient for Whig purposes 1 But for a moment supposing such intention to be even possible what ^^___
would be the result of the experiment ! Why naturally the first step in that direction would be his last move on the political stage . The sober mind of Ireland can Eee more clearly than in her intoxication ^ e was wont to do . In her calm reflection she can ponder upon her wretchedness , while her sober mind imbibes those stinging truths so continuously instilled by her leaders and whereby she learns that to be free her sons must be united ; and to be great she must be independent .
Englishmen , though often deceived , have so fond an affection for Ireland and their Irish brethren , that they have already spoken , without reoollection of the past j—and are they to form no section in this great imperial movement ? Is any politician so blind as not to Bee , eo senseless as not to understand , that without the cooperation of tho English workiDg classes the English Minister would be able to crush the Repeal agitation at will ; while , with their assistance , no power at the disposal of the strong Government can successfully resist the onward march of freedom in
Ireland ? It is true that the mere Whigs of tho present day would direct the Irish mind to those paltry pursuits to which , from 1796 to 1800 , tho same party but too successfully directed it before . Upen the recall of Earl Fhzwilliam and the appointment of his successor Earl Camden , the Irish mind was roused to a state of fre » zy not unjustified by the cruel and bloody deeds and exterminating policy of the hitter viceroy . But now how unfortunate , instead of being able to boast of a system of good national policy , the Whigs , while in opposition , can but point attention to the manner in which the
favoured fow were promoted and aggrandized at the expense of the injured many . But upon the other band if a Tory attempt is made to degrade the Irish people to the rank of slaves by depriving them of those arms which by the Bill of Rights they are entitled to possess , Whig opposition is silenced or rendered puerile and captious by being reminded of their own Bill of 1838 , framed with a similar intent . Must not then the Irish people have learned that lesson which the English Chartists have long since learned—that if their work is to be done , it must be done by themselves , for themselves .
We do not stop to answer , or even to comment upon , the hair-splitting philosophy of the Times upon the Repeal of the Union . We leave that immaculate print in full possession of all that consolation which it can derive from the registered determination of Archbishop Murray to flounder ou the top of the Saxoii muddle , rather than join in tho restoration of his country ' s rights , by just remarking that " one swallow does not make a summer , " neither does ono Archbishop make a nation . In answer to those who would urge even the possibility of a halt for Whig purposes , we
would say look to the broad sheet of Irish mind , which wo lay before you . Think of the wrongs that that gallant country has endured . Reflect upon tho little hope which the leaders hold out from the restoration of Whiggery , and from the great advantages which are described as likely to follow the acquisition of her independence . Look again to the monies subscribed , to the vows registered , to the plans propounded , to the feelings enlisted , to the different sections invited for the accomplishment of this great national object , and , then let any man ask himself where can it stop short , even by an inch ,
of the promised goal ? Will Ireland again relapse into stupor 1 Will she again recognise her full measure of justice in the religion of a placeman , a policeman , or a judge ? Will her people crawl in their sea-bound dungeon in manacles , that a chosen few may beard tho oppressor with hard words ! No ! the days of Irith folly have passed away and the light of Irish reason tells the Irish oppressor that the day 3 of his greatness are numbered . It is foit these reasons that we look upon the progress as a more than mere Irish question , more than an imperial question , a universal question . What can so
humble the crest of the haughty English Oligarchy as the fact of its "bridle arm" being cut off ? what can so humiliate the Protestant Church as the fact of its being deprived of its " whip hand ? " Will the querelous politician point out to « s any one means by which the power of the people could be more clearly developed and more profitably brought i nto action , than by the accomplismeni of the present object of the Repealers Will any man say , or for a moment suppose , that the Irish people ( in the event of the Union being
Repealed by the English Parliament ) would allow an Irish Parliament to be called together upon any other principle than that of Universal Suffrage ? Tho man who thinks so must have but a poor opinion of what the present popular mind , in the hour of tri umph , would demand as a complete measure of justice , and as a means of preserving it . We are awaro —perfectly aware—of the great and mighty influences , both foreign and domestic , which will be forced into operation for the suppression of this national movement . The mind will be fretted aud
irritated by surmise , calculations , and reports . The union of all opposing influences to hope for even a suEpensi 9 n or delay , must be as complete as the union of the Irish people appears to be for the accomplishment of the measure . Let us see then whether or no we have any right to expect that such a union can be formed out of the conflicting elements of opposition . The Queen being nothing , we naturally leave her out of the question . In the Lords is embodied the Oligarchy in its united character of Church and State , where the rents and privileges of the Lords Temporal are protected by the Lords Spiritual , upon the understanding tha' the Lords Temporal shall protect the first fruits and the tenth
fruits for their Spiritual brethren , so that at all times they may enjoy them . In the Prime Minister we fiud the most perfect embodiment of administration apart from the Oligarchy , and to this point under ordinary circumstances we should look as the mirror in which would be reflected the Tria juncla in Uno , tho Oligarchy , the Church , and the State . In the present agitation , however , we discover much to cause dissension and disunion amongst those heretofore united parties . We speak of men as machines , and without fear . And while we deprecate the policy of a party , we shall enter without bias into an impartial consideration as to how far individual character would be likely to operate upon the general councils of the body .
Upon Sir Robert Peel , then , as Prime Minister , the issue of the present struggle must much depend ; we shall therefore consider what are likely to be those influences which would operate upon him to resist or concede . The motives which might lead to resistance , would be a dreaSP of outraging the domestic faction in Ireland , who we verily believe look for another blood-letting , to be followed by another extermination of the Catholics and another partition of the soil .
Upon the other hand , the motives for concession I will be these . Firstly , tho chances iF not the cerj tainty ef defeat , and , secondly , we do not consider i Sir Robert Peel to be a cruel man , far from it . ¦ He j is ambitious of fame , and in his calculations for its J achievement he would make the existing state of the human mind his denominator , and from that he would ! learn that the time Las arrived when the triumph I of a statesman must consist in the subjugation I of his passions and in a timeiy yielding to the public [^ will of such changes as can only be resisted by brute j force . If the stri ^ lo is allowed to progress peacej afcly , who frr a moment can doubt the result ? while upon the other haud , who but must shudder at the effect wh ! i .-h an onslaught upon the Irish people would br . ve upon uve English mind , heightened amt
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exaggerated as those accounts would most probably be io the indignation of those hundreds of thousands of enthusiastic Irishmen now abiding amongst us , and whose every aspiration for tho success of their countrymen at home would find a quick response from every English working man ' s breast . In truth it is time that Ireland should be a nation governed by Irish Laws , made by Irishmen , chosen by Irishmen , and for the benefit of the Irish people ; and in this holy struggle , God forbid that the country should be threatened with a recurrence of those scenes , an account of which now lies before us , and which make our English cheeks blush while we peruse them , and of which will be found a specimen in a letter , published in our fourth page , from " A Freeholder of Westmeath , to the Grand Jury of that county . "
We ask the English reader carefully to read and calmly to reflect upon that letter . From that he will learn the manner in which the Union was forced upon the Irish people , and from it he will gathor the importance which the same faction attaches to a continuance of this unholy bond , by which Irishmen are made slaves , and Foreigners their task-masters . From that ho will learn the manner in which a love for the English Constitution has been stamped by tbo English law upon tho Irishman's back , and branded upon the Irishman ' s cheek ; and how their offspring , who witnessed the tender mercies of this protective system , must have imbibed in childhood that lovo and regard so
manifest in their present demand to be relieved from its further operation . From that he will learn , that in the dead of night the innocent , tho unoffending , and unsuspecting peasant , being first disarmed , was dragged from his bed , hung at his own door , without even the formality or semblance of a mock trial , while his cottage was sot in flames , leet the darkness of night should spare the widowed mother and her frenzied orphans the torture of witnessing the sad spectacle . We ask , then , whether Irishmen can ever have forgotten these things ! and nature and reason answer never ; for , though there is no trace of the humble cot , and though the victim has ceased to
breathe" Yet the blackness of ashes still marks whore it stood , While the wild mother scream'd o ' er her famishing brood . " If , then , our English mind , after such a perusal , forbids our English hand , under our present feelings , to etch tho portrait farther , what must be the feelings of Irishmen , against whose fathers , whose mothers , and whose country such acts were committed ? When we pause , it is high time that they should re&eot . We cannot trust ourselves to say more than that precisely tho same course which was pursued by Castlekeagh and his myrmidoms , for the purpose of effecting the Union , appears to be that which his successors are determiued to follow . Then , as nOW , A DISARMING DILI . WAS THE FIRST BLOW .
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scarcely avoid the conclusion , either that the Government is , in every respect , worse served than private persons are , or that there is some complicity . If these blunders are as the law now stands inevitable , —if it is a stark impossibility to state , in tha form of an indictment , with sufficient precision to Batisfy the judicial understandings of the judges , any accusation against a political offender , by all means , in mercy to the community , let them be freed at once from the legal cobwebs in which they are enveloped : let a law at once be enacted so simple that blunders will be impossible ; or , if that is hopeless , give the Judges , under sufficient checks , the power of correcting mere technical errors .
If the fault rests , as we presume to be the case , with some of the minor officials , let the blunderers be tniBted no longer . Bat whatever be done , let the Government and their legal advisers , in case the present indictment should be quashed for informality , take care to place themselves , beyond the reach of suspicion as to their motives , by having fresh and ( for once ) correctly drawn indictments preferred the instant that the decision of the Judges shall be made known . By this alone will they be able to atone to the country for the defaults of those whom they have trusted , and to prove that those defaults were neither directly nor indirectly sanctioned by themselves . "
Who will dare , after this , to hazard the displeasure of Goody Grandam Tempus , by not imprisoning Chartists where > he wishes it 1 S Seriously , if it was worth any body ' s while to be serious with the Times , we have never seen a more impudent attempt to bully the judges than is here made : nor have ; we often seen an attack in which mendacity , or what " plain people" call lying , is more boldly brazened out . Nobody knows better than this hired hack of the real instigators of the strike , that" Feargus O'Connor and his associates '' did no such thing a 9 " encourage'divers evil disposed
persons' to assemble together and commit various acts of violence , for the immediate purpose of putting a stop to work in the manufacturing districts , and with the ulterior . object of carrying their Charter . " We presume that the Times would in all probability class us with "the associates of Feargus O'Connor "; we havn reason to know that a copy of this paper is received , by the Times every week ; the Times is therefore perfectly aware of the part taken in the matter of the strike both by Feargus O'Connor and " . his associates "; the Times knew therefore that in writing this paragraph , he wrote a deliberate
and wilful lie . He knew perfectly that the facts were directly in the teeth of his statement ; that so far from " encouraging" those " evil-disposed persons" to " assemble and commit various acts of violence , " we discouraged , openly and boldly , not only the " various acts of violence , " but also , under the circumstances , the " assemblies" in question , irrespective of all reference to violenee ; that so far from connecting with the strike " the ulterior object of carrying the Charter " , we from first to last denounced the strike as a treacherous display of impotence , got up by the enemies of the Charter . The
Times knows perfectly that from the beginning " Feargus O'Connor and his associates" told the Chartists that the strike was a trap for them , and that none but fools or knaves would lead them into it ; he knows that we have throughout maintained the same doctrine ; that we maintain it still , and , if we needed confirmation of it , we have that confirmation , sufficient and abundant , in the ravings of the Times at the probability of our escaping from the trap after having been not led into it , but flung into it , by the combined power of folly , treachery , and cowardice . To get the "law upon Feargus
O'Connor and his associates" was a matter of some moment to the vile money-faction of which the Times is an organ and representative ; it was an object they had long , vainly but earnestly sought to compass ; and , to compass that object , THEY planned the strike ; THEY carried out the strike ; THEY hired myrmidons and emissaries to entrap the people , in the hope of so coming at " Feargus O'Connor and his associates , " and their emissaries—their mouthing myrmidons —did so far succeed iu dragging the suffering people into their meshes , as " that Government found it necessary to employ troops for putting down the diBtuibauces , and to send a special commission in
order that the offenders might be brought to justice , and " that many scores of the poor dupes are now expiating thoir offences by undergoing the penalties of tho law . " These are all " facts so notorious that no one can entertain the remotest shadow of a doubt upon them ; " and the unblushing Times , knowing these facts to be so , is most virtuously indignant with tho judges , the lawyers , and the Government , that they do not at once , like the Corn Law Repealing magistrates , who first " had them in tow , " handle the pretext impudently , and without further regard to law or ceremony , Btick " Fear « U 3 O'Connor and his associates" into gaol !
Tho "free" -booting scamps , for whom the Times acts as " Drab" and 4 v Squaller , " are absolutely wild at seeing their precious project likely , after all , to fail , because lawyers have some regard for the law , and judges some deference for justice . Let the Times " bide a wee" : we are not to be dragged into any premature developements : likelier customers than the Times have tried to bring us there and failed : we furnish no handle for enemies , whether the Times , the Times' masters , or the rimes'tool * : the argument is not yet over ; when it is , we may , perhaps , have our say upon that same " stopping of work in the manufacturing districts , " and on the " villany" by which the rimes and his masters have been enabled to connect with it the names of " Feabgus O'Connor and his associates . "
Untitled Article
- = * mischiefs which the indictment alleges to have been dona ; but that , afterwards—11 The said Feargus O'Connor , &c , together with divers other evil disposed persons to the jurors afore-Baid as yet unknown , did unlawfully , and in that county aforesaid , aid , abet , assist , comfort , support and encourage tho said evil disposed persons in this count first mentioned , to continue aad persist in the said unlawful assemblings , threats , intimidations and violence . " while , at the same time the indictment does not shew that these proceedings were persisted in at al ] i We are thus therefore clearly charged with aiding " and abetting an offence which is not shewn to have been committed .
Mr . Justice Patteson made the Attornet General feel the . " fix" that he was in , when ha said : — " The count charges that the defendants aided and assisted the evil-dispo 6 ed persons first mentioned to continue and persist in the said unlawful assemblings threats , intimidations and violence , but ft does not aver that they did continue and persist therein . Could you say , in an indictment for murder , that the * prisoner aided and assisted A . B . in committing murder , without alleging that murder was committed ?" And the only answer the Attorney-General could give to this wasthat : —
" He apprehended that if one man were charged with aiding and assisting another to do a particular act , it must be presumed that the act itself had been done . " And with all deference to the Attorney-General ' s logio we must pronounce this " presumption" of his to be a monstrous assumption . If , when one man is charged with aiding and assisting another to do a particular act , it must be always presumed that the
act itself has been done , it must follow that it is not necessary to enquire whether the act itself ' -has been done or not ; and , then , it is quite elear that circumstantial evidence without any perjury or intentional injustice might very easily lead to the conviction and punishment of parties for a supposed aiding and abetting of that which had never been done at all ; and even against the authority of the Attobnet-Genebal we venture to " presume" that the law does not contemplate any such monstrosity .
The Solicitor-General was a little more dexterous and disingenuous , bnt not a whit more successful , in his dealing with the same subject . He said -. — " The indictment did not , it was true , allege that these parties did persist and continue to do what they had done , but it was unnecessary to make such an averment . The offence committed by the defendants would have been the same whether those parties persisted or not . "
Now , no one knew better than the Solicitob-General that " the offence committed by the defendants" had nothing to do with the matter . The question before the Court was not "the offence committed by the defendants" , but the validity of the indictment ; and the matter to bo talked of , therefore was , not " the offence committed by the defendants" , but the offence charged in the indictment , The offence charged in the indictment was that of aiding and assisting these other parties to continue
and persist in the conduct described , rsow , if these parties did not " continue and persist" in this conduct , it is clear that no one could aid and assist them in doing so ; and it is clear , therefore , that the indictment ought to shew * hat they did "continue and persist" wheu it charges others with aiding and assisting them to do so . The indictment does not show this ; and we think it will require better logio than any the Crown has yet exhibited to satisfy the Judges that that objection has been answered .
In the matter of the fifth count , which is destitute of venue , the Attorney-General tried to make out that the venue in the margin was sufficient . But there was a stunner in the precedent of Minter Hart , cited by Mr . Dundas for the defendants in moving for the rule , aad in which case : — " The indictment had the words ' London to wit ' in the margin , and the offence was charged to have been committed in the parish of St . Marylebow , without at all stating that the offence was committed in London . It was held that this indictment was bad , and that the omission was not cured by the statute 7 th George IV . cap . 64 , see 20 . " This the Attorney-General met by 6 aying that : —
" There , however , the objection was taken before verdict , and while the trial was going on . It was clear , therefore , that the facts did not apply to the present case . " A piece of " law" which is effectually " settled" by Mr . Justice Patteson's reply : — " The objection was taken after plea , and how can a prisoner take an objection to the indictment after pleading over , unless he moves in arrest of jadgment ? When issue has once been joined , the trial must go on to verdict . "
And , as a strengthener of this rejoinder of the Learned Judge , we find , in the Times of Monday , a report of the proceedings of the Queen ' s Bench in the matter of the Queen p . Norr , a Devonshire magistrate , who had been convicted at Exeter of administering an illegal oath , and whose objection to the indictment came , not only after verdict , but after sentence , and was yet admitted , and the judgment set aside on the objection that the indictment did not sufficiently set forth the offenc 9 charged .
The argument of the Solicitok-General upon this point was a mere repetition of that of the Attorney-General . We apprehend that the Counsel for defence , when they come to reply , will have little difficulty in showing that for all purposes of this count , a ventse in the margin is no venue at all . When the argument will b 3 resumed we know not , as we have not , at the time of writing this , received any further intelligence than that which our readers will find in the report . But we think it probibla
that , if the CounsJ for defence do their work as well as we expect from them , both counts will be broken down . Meantime the people must remember that this further postponement will be a new drsg on the funds . Counsel will have to be feed ova again , and all expences begun de novo . They must not suffer the thing to be lost . They must " pull up . " We truly hope that this is the last disgraceful " mess" of this kind they will suffer themselves to be dragged into ; but this they are " in for , " and they must drag through it . Send up the money to
John Cleave . Since writing the above , we have learnt that Saturday ( this day ) is fixed by the Judges to hear the " reply" to tho Crown ' s " argument . "
The Northern Star. Saturday, June 3, 1843.
THE NORTHERN STAR . SATURDAY , JUNE 3 , 1843 .
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RAVINGS OF DISAPPOINTMENT . THE TIMES v . FEAKGUS O'CONNOR AND HIS ASS < 5 felATES . " Faction is ever impatient of authority , and reckless of legal trammels , when thty impede the fulfilment of its purposes . Its contempt of justice rises , the moment its will is thwarted , and is manifested , more or less plainly or covertly , as circumstances dictate . Sometimes , indeed , it shews
itself but slightly ;—good policy obtaining the advance of disappointment and impatience , and shewing the necessity of at least a shew of decent respect for the laws of its own creation—while , sometimes , on the other hand , frotfulness overcomes prudence , —tho flimsy garment of adherence to the constituted order of things is rent , and the " cloven fool" dashed through , with a vehemence suited to its origin and consanguinity .
The factious aod scandalously unfair , as well as wretchedly contemptible , proceedings now pending in the Court of Queen ' s Bench , —by which we , personally , and the Chartist public generally , have been robbed of a large amount of money , and subjected to much indignity and inconvenience—have afforded opportunity for a most impudent display of its impatience under tho restraints of law , and its anxiety for unbridled license , to tho most profligate of all tho organs and rcpresentatiTes of faction , The Times newspaper , which is absolutely furiousfoaming at the mouth—with rage , because the Judges of Queen ' s Bench pay less attention to the anticipation of its wishes than to their oaths . In his last Monday's " explosion" the " Thunderer " (' . j thus fulminates : —
" That Feargus O'Connor and his associates in Lancashire did , between the 1 st of August and the 1 st of October , last year , encourage ' divers evil disposed persons' to assemble and commit various acts of violence for the immediate purpose of putting a stop to work in the manufacturing districts , and with the ulterior object of carrying their Charter ;—that their encouragement had considerable effect , so far as that immediate purpose was concerned ;—that Government found it necessary to employ troops for putting down the disturbances , and to send a special commission in order that the offenders might be brought to justice;—that many scores of the poor dupes are now expiating their offences by undergoing the penaltias of the law for their crimes , " —are , we presume , facts so notorious , that no
one can entertain the remotest shadow of a doubt upon them , unless lie happens to be one of the Justices of her Majesty's Court of Queen ' s Bench . Those Learned Judges , who , according to a solemn legal decision , are bound to take judicial notice that a rump and dozen means a good dinner and plenty of port , ' are it seems puzzling their brains to ascertain whether or not they are obliged ( judicially that is , and in accordance with their oaths of office , not individually as sensible men i to be in such a state of interminable doubt whether the riots took place in Lancashire or in France , or some other country quite out of tbeir jurisdiction , as that , after tha minor fry have been convicted , and imprisoned or transported under sentences delivered by themselves , they must let the principal offenders off scet fret ; . "
" After all the loss of property and lift ) which has been sustained tLrough the vill . iny of the Chartist Ifflders ; after the months of suffering entailed on the turnouts through having followed their advice ; after the parade of a special commission , with its thousands of pounds lavished on tho lav ? ( fficers of the Crown , in order to insure the conviction of the offenders , the melancholy spectacle is presented of a law as powerless to punish the rich guilty , as it was severe upon the inferior tools who could not purchase legal assistance— of the course of justice being stopped where it was most of all important that it should have free way ; and this merely throuch some trumpery slip of the pen which would have disgraced an attorney ' s clerk . "
" ' Technical niceties is the gentle phrase applied to these outrages on common sense by a recent Act of Parliament . For our own parts , we are at a loss for an expression sufficiently strong to charncteriza their wickedness . " Run , Bett y , run ! and bring water , and an easy chair ; that your Mi 6 trees may faint comfortably ! If any one can bring us a finer sample of a city termagant raving herself hoarse , because the husband wont " 6 tand treat" to Whitechapel , or " stump the Browns" for Greenwich fair , we promise to endow him with all the honours of " the Thunderer " .
But Goody Thunderer" stops not here . With true woman-like comprehensiveness of anger , her explosion reaches all parties who can hear" the splash . " The understrappers of the Government law offices , the Judges , the Government , and the Legislature are all as bad as we are , to permit this contumacy ; and they are enjoined most noisily forthwith to make fiuch aTrangemtnts as may oblige Donald to * ' Come up and be hanged , and no anger the laird " . She thus continues her hodge-podge objurgation of remonstrance , threatening and command : —
" Surely do pains ought to have been spared—no expense was—to insure the due execution of the law upon Feargus O'Connor and his associates ; and yet , to judge from what toek place in tho Queen ' s Bench on Friday , the indictment against them is about to be placed io tha same category with those which were preftrred against the Monuiouth Chartists , Lord Cardigan , the St . Alban ' a bribers , and mtny others who have withia the last few years epjoyed an immunity which nothing
but official supmeness , or worse , could have procured them . With the lemenibracce of the immense bills of coats wbich were paid on the last special commiasion , it ia hard for those out of whoee pockets the money came to understand how fliws could be introduced into , or suft ^ red to remain in the indictments . What < io ihe law inicera of Uie Crown , and those who instruct tbetu , consii ^ r » o be their duty ? Plain people , anvn-amourfad of 'technical niceties / iiud remembering to tneir cost bULdry ovbnts of the last few yiars , can
Untitled Article
THE ARGUMENT . From the ravings of the Times , w « turn to the " pleadings" of the Attouney and the Solicitor-General . And though there is , certainly , less of virulence and mendacity , we discover little more of " argument , " in the one than in the other . The Learned Lawyers were very evidently " bother'd " with their case . We have seldom seen a more lame attempt at reasoning than-that exhibited by the Crown
Lawyers ; and yet we confess that we know , not how it could have been mended ; ' tis not an easy business to prove black to be white , or to shew the connection of a non sequitur . The Attorney-General laboured long and hard ; but to our unsophisticated mind his labour seemed vastly like that of a man who should run after a hare—the more ho laboured and the more clearly he seemed to be in the wrong . He first set forth the averment of the fourth count , that : —
On the 1 st day of Aug ., in the year aforesaid , and on divers other days aud times between that day and the 1 st day of October , m tho year aforesaid , and at divers places , divers evil-disposed pertons unlawfully and tumultuously assembled together and by violence , threats , and intimidations to divers other persons being then peaceable subjects of this realm , forced the said last-mentioned subjects to leave their occupationsandemployments , and thereby impeded and stopped the labour employed in the lawful and peaceable carrying on , by divers large numbers of the subjects of this realm , of certain trades , manufactures , and businesses , and thereby caused great confusion , terror , and alarm in the minds of the peaceable subjects of this realm . "
Now this averment no one denies or disputes ; although for all that appears upon tha face of it the matters talked of might have happened in Canada or in the East Indies . But the facts are undisputed . There is no question that divers parties did go about at divers times , to divers places , and stqp tho mills , — the only question is , whether " Feargus O'Connor and his associates" had any hand ia this . The Attorney General does not contend that they had any direct hand ia it ; he does not say that they were present at , or took any part in , any one of theB 9 " unlawful and tumultuous assemblies' "; he
does not attempt to show that they took any active part in the " violence , threats , and intimidations , " aud in "the impeding and stopping of labour" tpoken of ; but he tries to make out that they were concerned in it indirectly ; that they aided and abetted —assisted and encouraged—these other parties . Well , what did they aid , aud abet , and assist , and encourage them to do 1—the matters and things here charged against thtm \ Not a bit of it : there is ho such thing charged on us iu tho indictment . We are charged in the indictment—not with having aided and abetted those " ovil disposed persons" in the
Untitled Article
TRADES' UNIONS . THE STRIKE IN SCOTLAND . As democrats , we honour principle abova * things ; and next the devotees of principle . E * en if we dissent from the principle , seeing it conscientiously held , we admire the consistency and firfflj ness which adheres to it " through thick and thin . We wish to see every man in possession of hisoW rights ; and , which holden without prejudice W others' rights , we commend every man the O 0 » i the more tenaciously he maintains and defends the " ' while , surely , aa democrats , we rejoice in every struggle for tho maintainence of popular rights « n
the repelling of the power of aggression . So detf are these principles to us , that nothing wluw appertains or relates to them ; no proceeding 3 carried on in their name can fail to e * eI'e our interest . Hence , though vra haw , * s 7 «*» said not a word upon the subject , we have not be * unobservant of the struggle which has for a len # * of time agitated , < a ad has at last rent asunder , th « National Church of Scotland ; rending more tl& 400 of its Ministers aud Dkuitaries at once fro »
its oommunion . Such an event ia sure to exci great interest in the pablio mind ; the more esp cially when it appears , as in the present instancy to b « induced and pervaded by the inflexible a herenco of a large body of learned and influent * men , not merely to tho high standard of principle * but to the pure one of democratic princip le ; wbfcj it seems to be a boi < i wuhstanding of indivia ! : ft ! privilege in defence of universal right . B " a > 8
Untitled Article
4 THE NORTHERN STAR . « " - = i *¦ ; ¦ '
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), June 3, 1843, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct653/page/4/
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