scaffold. Which of the two notices is most likely to prevail? The returns to Parliament on Mr Jackson's motion have already answered. The offered rewards and proclamation system appears to have been a mere mockery-"spent thunderbolts" all. JURY. ducted on the present fashion. Other extracts inform us of the amazement and dismay expressed by even Whig or Liberal judges; and one, of a procession of priests, to congratulate and convey in triumph from the gaol a culprit who had good friends on the jury. "The murderers of those unfortunate victims now enjoy impunity, and are pro. ceeding in their career of crime, in defiance of the law, which, secure of an acquittal, they hold in utter contempt. In vain does the blood of our slaughtered Protestants cry to heaven for vengeance -in vain are remonstrances and entreaties from the loyal and good in the country made to our wicked and imbecile rulers on their fatal policy in permitting the pri soner to nominate his own jury in cases of murder, thereby rendering that great palladium of British justice, 'trial by jury' in Ireland (as now in Canada), not alone a mere mockery, but also a protection of crime. "It may not be here amiss to detail again for the public the particulars of the trial of Michael Kenney, at the last Summer Assizes of this town, for the murder as bailiff to Lord Lorton, ill-fated William Morrisson succeeded. On this trial being brought on, and the jury about to be sworn, the prisoner, Michael Kenney (as was his right), set aside the first twenty names, "For the first time," the Government in Ireland, by an abandonment of its necessary prerogative, declared that culprits should be enabled to pack their juries, and be tried, it may be, by their accomplices. This protection to crime would seem to be a concession wrung from Ministers in the Litchfield House negotiations. During the administration of Earl Grey, Mr O'Connell's partisans wished to have the principle of the ballot adopted in the casting of juries. The Government resisted, and the Liberal solicitor-general of the day for Ireland declared that from juries so formed true verdicts could not be expected. Failing in the more moderate purpose convinced that Parliament would never sanction any thing so wicked and absurd, Mr O'Connell obtains, through of Hugh Moorehead, to whose situation, the law-officers whom he was able to raise into power, a concession infinitely more pernicious to equity and law than, in his most extravagant anticipations, he could dare to hope from Parliament, the relinquishment, on the part of the crown, of their right to object-at least, the discontinuance of the exercise of such a right-while the culprit retained and exercised his. Taking into account the classes from which petit juries are now selected, this was giving the prisoner power to pack them. Mr O'Connell announced the triumph in a letter to his constituents and the people of Ireland in general, April 28, 1835:-" Perrin and O'Loghlin fill the highest ministerial offices of the law. None but a maniac can now apprehend that a jury will be packed, or that partisans will be selected to try him ;"-that is to say, he can now select his own partisans; and, having made an arrangement with one or two friends, perhaps accomplices, he may look on, as many a culprit has looked, with impudent composure, while the strongest evidence is given against him. In consequence, crime has increased enormously. We subjoin one passage, to show how painfully upright men feel the mockery of justice in trials con The prisoner composed of as respectable persons as this statement of the prisoner on the day he was identified by the deceased Moorehead.' PROTESTANTISM. "For the first time," the Government has proclaimed that, as a condition of its place, it must strike a heavy blow at Protestantism. The spirit in which the Government regard Protestants, we will not infer from that odious abuse of patronage, which has disgusted every man acquainted with the reputation of those who have been promoted and those who have been passed by. This may be party tactique carried out to an extreme. We shall offer two instances, selected from a very great number, which, we imagine, no party feeling can palliate. The first we shall state in the words of a clergyman of the Church of England, and wish much that some member of Parliament would enquire whether the legal functionary who so grossly misbehaved has been dismissed from office, and at what time the dismissal took place; or if the Irish Government has contented itself with a friendly rebuke, of that kind which is understood to be precursory of promotion. Extract from a Memorial to the Lord-Lieutenant, from Rev. J. Galbraith, Vicar of Tuam, August 12, 1838. "These facts were taken in evidence by two stipendiary magistrates, who at tended at Tuam, by your Excellency's order; they daily forwarded to your Excellency the evidence as it was taken down; and it is stated that you were so satisfied of the unprovoked attack on the minister of the Established Church, that the crown solicitor was ordered to attend at Tuam, and take informations against the offenders. This he did, AND THE CROWN UNDERTOOK THE PROSECUTION. And now, my Lord, it might be fairly expected that the law would be vindicated, and that Protestants would at length find that the free exercise of their religion was their right, not exclusively, but equally with favoured neighbours. Mark, my Lord, the offence, and the mode of proceeding against it. First, three Roman Catholic priests place themselves at the head of a large number of persons attending the funeral of a Protestant gentleman, they read a Latin service through the streets, in defiance of the statute. And how is this noticed by the crown? In no way-no penalty, no reproof. Secondly, a riotous mob, who followed these priests, interrupt the Protestant curate in the discharge of his duty. Are they indicted for this interruption contrary to No! Both those tangible 66 a statute? offences are overlooked, and bills are sent before a grand jury of the county of Galway against one of the priests and others, "for a riot;" observe, my Lord, 5 for a riot"-not for causing a riot. And what follows? The grand jury necessarily cannot find against the priest for a riot; against those alone who had actually he said, but did not. They find true bills rioted; and here your Excellency might suppose, if you did not know it to be otherwise, that some light punishment would mark the crime; but no, the counsel for the crown think differently; with their approbation the rioters, upon pleading guilty, are discharged, and when a remonstrance was made by me to the leading counsel, his reply was this, "I think it not advisable to bring before the public sec tarian differences." Our second instance we take from the "proclamations." It is unnecessary to remind the reader that value is altogether comparative, and that a sagacious people, as the Irish undeniably are, will judge of the real desire and intention of their governments as to discovery of crime, by the price at which they are willing to pur chase it. We feel it well to premise, that, in the outrage in the first proclamation-the " turf burning"- -a highy respectable Roman Catholic was a sufferer-in the house burning, no less respectable Protestants only were injured. "FEB. 19.-On the morning of the 13th instant, about the hour of two o'clock, a very large stack of turf, the property of Mr James Grey, residing near Coal Island, and Mr John Hughes, residing at Dungannon, parish of Clonoe, in the county of Tyrone, tile and brick manufacturers, was maliciously set on fire by some person or persons unknown, and totally consumedFifty Pounds. 66 By his Excellency's command, "T. DRUMMOND." "AUGUST 3.-Between the hours of two and three o'clock on the morning of the 22d ult., the house of Mr Zachariah Ledger, of Killbreedy, parish of Bruree, and county of Limerick, was attacked by seven or eight armed men, who set fire to it and burned it to the ground, together with property to a considerable amount, for which outrage two men have been apprehended and fully identified.-Fifty pounds, &c. who "attacked" and "burned a house to the ground!!" The stack of turf, to be sure, it is said, was "a very large one." The dimensions of the house are not specified. Another thing is not specific, which, though not directly noticed, may have had a serious influence upon the proclamation:-It is not mentioned (as is related in the well-known story of the culprit who implored a royal pardon for having thrown a man's hat into the river, but omitted to state the superfluous fact that the wearer's head was in it) that, at the time when Mr Ledger's house was set on fire, between two and three o'clock in the morning, its owner, a brave Protest. ant gentleman, with two stout sons and two good friends, were sleeping in it. The Geraldine's well-known apology for burning a church,-"I thought the bishop was there," diverted from him the anger of an English monarch. Why may not the good intentions of the house-burners have had a similar effect in propitiating the favour of the Irish executive ? "Burn every thing English except the coals," was an aphorism of Swift. The conclave in Dublin Castle seem to have embodied the spirit of it in their proclamation. The crime for which they offer a reward is that of attacking and destroying "a house," a crime which, however it is considered, was of far greater magnitude than that of burning even a Roman Catholic's turf stack; BUT THEY WHO BURNED THE HOUSE MEANT TO TAKE THE LIVES OF THREE PROTESTANTS,Englishmen, perhaps; and this, though not "put in the bill," may have had its influence in diminishing the charges, of causing their offence to be seen through the proper medium, and distanced into an equality with that to which "the very large turf stack" fell a victim. ceeded even in making prisoners. Mr Leger must have been a person of very conciliatory habits, for he was assisted by some of his Roman Catholic neighbours, who came to his relief, and were mainly instrumental in making the prisoners, whom he, at the Spring Assizes, prosecuted to conviction. Believing his Roman Catholic friends entitled to the reward for their apprehension, he applied for it; and with much difficulty, and after long delays, procured for two, out of the eight, a bounty of fifty shillings each, which, on his remonstrating, he was informed-but it is better to cite the words read by Mr Dartnell from the Under-Secretary of the Irish Government, "I am directed to observe that the sum already paid as a reward to the persons who seemed instrumental in saving your lives, cannot be augmented." Protestant!" has sometimes been a "Five pounds for the head of a cry sets another value on them, "five in Irish party fights ;-the Castle pounds for three." Mr Dartnell has explained this most flagitious transaction, if his information, which we have no reason to doubt, is correct. The repeated attacks on Mr Leger were owing to his having been denounced from the altar by a priest. How could the Government dare to protect one thus banned? It is, perhaps, unnecessary to observe that, in the second attack, when he was roused from deep sleep to defend his life, by flakes of fire from his burning roof falling on his face, he had no Roman Catholic friends to succour him, the significant shabbiness of the fifty-shilling affair had effectually warned them off. Mr Leger heart and brave sons; and, as the may thank God, who gave him a stout following extract will show, he may be thankful that the registration of his good muskets was not informal :— - "A Paternal Government.-It is but a From a very able speech delivered by Mr Dartnell of Limerick, at a meeting to revive the Orange institution, we learn that this proclamation few days since we recorded the particulars was the second notice given by the Irish Government of the price at which they estimated Protestant life. Mr Ledger had been attacked on a former occasion, in the course of last year, when his house was entered by an armed party. He and his two sons made a most gallant resistance; and, although dreadfully wounded, they repulsed their assailants, and suc VOL. XLV. NO. CCLXXXI. of an attack on the house of Mr Holmes in the Glen of Aherlow, county of Tipperary, and the gallant defence made by his son, a young lad. In consequence of the outrage, a chief constable of police from a neighbouring station was, last week, directed to repair to the spot-to investigate the circumstances? no;-to obtain some clue to the apprehension of the perpetrators of the outrage? no ;—to offer a reward for their apprehension ?- no; but "For the first time," the Government has as its non-official, but absolute dictator and counsellor, the individual who was also consulted as counsel by the Ribbon Society, and who is bound by the most solemn engagements, and, we add, by motives of personal interest, to effect, if in his power, a repeal of the union. It is, we own, a very unlikely thing, that any government would, knowingly, favour a treasonable society; but, with whatever views, the Irish government has certainly served the interests of the Ribbon Society. Promotion has been given to constabulary officers, who made either their ignorance or their duplicity manifest, by expressing doubts of the existence of such a confederation. We are informed, that individuals connected with the Irish Government have uttered wilful untruths for the purpose of preventing Parliamentary enquiry; and while they thus leave treason free to mature its plans, they diminish the available force for the defence of the country and support of law, by disarming the yeomanry; and they inform loyal subjects of the crown, that if they are in danger, and require the protection of the police, it is not to be granted to them unless they can pay for it.' Want of protection caused many to join the treasonable societies of the last century, until the Orange institution was formed, to give a security which the laws without its aid had not been able to afford. Our Government now constrain the Orangemen to dissolve their societies, and then say, that whoever is in danger must pay for protection, if he require it. Government measures are often more mischievous in their supposed significancy than in their direct tendency or intention. The amount in "shillings" which came into the Police Treasury since the order was made, cannot be a very material item in the receipts of that establishment, and has not to any considerable extent diminished the burden of taxation; but the "order" may have had its effect in another direction-it was issued in the autumn of 1837, and, before the summer of 1838, as the evidence of Mr Atkinson has proved, the Ribbon Society had detachments told off from its militia, organised under the name of Polishers, and placed under orders to bring all whom terror and injury would overcome, within the lines of the conspiracy. We are done. Our task is not ended, although our limits are overrun. To the wise we think we have spoken sufficiently plain. The outrages in Ireland are not "desultory and driftless." Injuries to person and property are visitations of war. Threats, assassinations, are warnings of judicial vengeance or acts of military execution. In short, the "Agrarian system," as the conspiracy is daintily styled, is a rebellion which is, at little other expense than the destruction of its adversaries, and the utter debasement and demoralization of its instruments, safely and surely working out its ends. It has the aid and counsel of Roman Catholic priests. It has the advantage, great though indirect, of Government connivance, if not co-operation. It has not yet the cordial support of the Irish people. It retains multitudes in its service by no other influence than of brute force and ter ror. It may in its present, the "precursory" stage, be arrested and defeated. If the day of grace is suffered to pass away, the "new æra" for Ireland, of which Priest Laffan spoke, will expand itself into a new and most disastrous æra for the British empire. "Circular. His Excellency has established the rule, that it is only in cases of urgent necessity that protection is to be afforded to individuals, by placing men of the force in their premises. When individuals receive such protection, they will, in future, be obliged to provide the men with lodging, bedding, and fuel; and to pay for each man a sum not exceeding one shilling per night," &c. &c. "Constabulary Office, September 7, 1837.” SOME ACCOUNT OF HIMSELF. BY THE IRISH OYSTER-EATER. FASCICULUS THE SEVENTH. "I never uses a hanimal so, But if I had a donkey what wouldn't go, EQUESTRIAN reader, have you ever done any thing in horse flesh? We do not desire to be construed to enquire whether you may possibly be engaged in the cat's-meat line, or to insinuate that you are a costermonger, but simply, in the ordinary accepta tion, of the bargain and sale of that noble animal, the horse. Are you on the turf? Then I need not explain, to your erudite comprehension, the art and mystery to give and take the long odds knowingly, to make a "book," to "handicap," and to "hedge." You know a thing-or, it may be, two; you can stick the best friend you have in the world in the sale of a charger, or of a thoroughbred mare "to carry a lady;" you are aware of the trivial distinction between sweepstakes and beefsteaks-in short, you are "up to ginger." Enough; I know you, as the pickpocket said to the dealer in handkerchiefs! "I say, Tim, what's the name of the day of the week?" "Auction day," replied Timothy, whose conceptions of the Roman hebdomadal nomenclature were less vivid than those arising immediately out of his learned profession. "Auction day," repeated Timothy, with emphasis, rubbing, as he said it, a couple of curbs in the hollow of his left hand, with the palm of his right. "Busy day, d'ye think?" Timothy redoubled the friction of his palms, as if to intimate, by that particular hieroglyphic, what a very busy day auction day was likely to be. It was in the sporting coffeeroom of the Connaught Rangers' Imperial Hotel, in St Stephen's Green, that this remarkable conversation took place, on the I love to be particular about dates on the fourteenth day of ; and this reminds me that I am bound, in courtesy, to indulge the ignorant reader in a digression of and concerning St Stephen's Green. St Stephen's Green is the most Costermonger's Song. spacious square in Europe-or, for all I know of to the contrary, any where else having in the middle a large green meadow, cut as artificially as possible into disagreeable promenades, and surrounded on all sides with a visible horizon of bricks and mortar. In the centre of the green meadow is a pedestal on the top of the pedestal the image of a horse-and on the top of the horse, a likeness of a kingly crown rides on the whole apparatus, bearing the same relation to the space wherein it is enclosed, as a midge might be supposed to bear to an elephant. This the Dublin architeets do for effect. By the same rule, a colossal monument to the undying Nelson is hemmed in by a long-winded double row of brick and mortar; and when the great pyramid comes to Dublin, it is to be deposited, by the same rule, in the canal docks-all for effect! There is no great uniformity in the structures that circumscribe the amplitude of St Stephen's Green; on the contrary, they possess, in an eminent degree, all that picturesqueness of effect which is ever the result of variety. You build your house four stories high, a friend to the right pushes his edifice up to six, while your neighbour to the left sits down modestly contented with three. Here, you see a neat Magdalene Asylum, with, under its left wing, a battered old house of too good reputation; there, a gorgeous palace rises from a terrace of steps as long and as lofty as Jacob's ladder; next door to it, the original cabbage shop. This is the town mansion of his Grace the Archbishop of Dublin; that, of Flanagan the tripe-scourer. Here domiciles the gripe-gut Chancellor Hannibal, whose jolter-headed progeny have at last, we congratulate tax-payers, attained to all the public plunder which it is intended to bestow upon them, for the sake of the man who "never had nor made a friend ;" and there-which is |