THE STATE TRIALS. (From the Live pool Albion, October 2.)

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 284, 17 February 1849, Page 6

THE STATE TRI A LS. (From the Live pool Albion, October 2.)

OnThuriday the State Tiials opened at Clonmel, before llie Lord Chief Ju&tice and Mr. Justice Doherty Mr. Smith OBrien was placed at the bar. His aspect mid demeanour were peifoctly collected and calm, The counsel for the crown weie the Attorney and Solicitor Generals, Messrs. Sause, Scott, and Lynch; for the prisoner, Messrs. Whiteside and Fitzgerald, and S.r C. O'Loughlin. J3efore the indictment was read, Mr. Whiteside rose and mured to have the trial postponed, on the giound that his client had not been supplied with the jury panel anil li tof witnesses. He quoted vaiious Acts of Parliament re'ntivc to the practice on trials for high treason. The case of Fiost, at Monmouth, wa» auditioned as an instance in supportof the application. Mr. Fitzgerald followed on the same side. The Attorney General and the Solicitor General went at great length into the legal arguments in opposition. The Court ev< ntunl'y decided agaunt the application. Mr. Whiteside made some other formal motion! with the like wnnt of succes 8 . The indictment was then read. Mr. Smith OBrien having been called upon, and having p!eaded " not guilty,' 1 Mr. Whiteside moved that Jin first motion might be placed upon the record, with a view, ihould it be thought necessary, to after proceedings. The | lea was, after another lengthened argument, received. Mr. Whitet>ide applied for the panel, in order that it mi^ht be examined. This was refused. The panel Mas then calltd over, the whole array challenged, and two tr)ers appointed, the Hon. W. Callaghan and the Hon. W. Preliie, who took their seats in the jury box. Mr. Whi(e a ide rased the point wluther the panel before him Lad been justly and fauly formed between the ciown and the prisoner ; and he contended that it had been fraudulently prepared to the prejudice of the I ri&oner. lit all previous ci tes the panel had consisted of two thirds Protestants and onethiid Roman Catholics, Imt in the present cage the Roman Catholics formed but one eighth part of the panel. Several Roman Catholic ni'nessei were examined in support who stated that they had been in the habit of seiving upon juries for many years, and had not been put upon the present panel, though not one of their neighbours, Protestants, usually summoned, had been omitted. The High Sheriffs and Sub Sheriff* of the county Tippet ary were »lso examined, and stated that the Roman Calholici had not been struck off on account of their religion. The Lord Chief Justice then addressed the jury of tryers, and stated that not the slightest partiality had been evinced by the Sheriff m the preparation of the panel. The jury found against the challenge. The court adjourned at seven o'clock. On Friday proceedings were resumed at ten (/dock ; snd the court was even more crowded ihan on the previous day. Mr. Shee, of the English bar, was present. The panel having been read, Mr. ■VVhitebide, Q C, demandeJ on behalf of Mr. OBrien, tliat the juiy should be chosen by ballot, citing, to sustain his plea, the case of the Crown v. Frost, and pledging himself not to challenge any of the peisooi on the jury if his application were granttd. The Attorney-General said, that to consent would be||io acquiesce in the imputation of partiality sought to be proved against the High Sheriff. He could not consent to a departure irom the settled prac ice of the courts in both counliies. The Court therefore decided aeaiust the motion. The Clerk of the Crown then proceeded to the chal. Lnge of the jury, two gentlemen being sworn to try the challenge, One juror was set aside by reason thaj Mr. Smith O'Biien had brought before Parliament a case of grievance alleged against him as a magistrate of Li crick. Twenty jurors having been s~t aside, the prisoner here eihausted his right of challenge; but Mr. Whiteside claimed the right of challenging fiftem additional juiors peremptorily on his behalf, citing the authority iO f Lord Hale and Foster's Crown Law to prove that a man indicted for treason was en'itled to challenge perempttiily thirty- five jurors without ihowiug cause. The Attorney General, in reply, contended that the Bth George HI., in amending the adminiktration of the criminal law in Ireland, specifically stated that a prisoner on his trial for high treason bhould huve but twenty peremptory challenges. ■ Tne Court disallowed the challenge, and the Jury were then sworn to try Mr. O'Biien. The iudictment having been read, Mr. Fitzgerald applied to the Court to rerr ove from the court the witnesses for the prosecution. I he Attorney General having stated that it was necessaiy to keap in Court Mr. Hodges, the government importer, in his official capacity, Mr. Smith OBrien said, '< I should be very glod that Gen. M'Donald or any gentleman of his nation be permitted to remain in court, but 1 muit decidedly object to Mr. Hodges being allowed to stay in court. He attended all our meetings, representing himself to be merely a reporter, and present in bit capacity as •uch to take notes of the language spoken. He has now come forward and sworn that the words there uttered were seditious and treasonable, and 1 apprehend, therefore, that his character it totally different fiom tbht of an oidinary reporter or short-hand wriier, A man who is prepared to take that course I cannot conceive to be meiely a rr porter." Af.er a ftw remarks from counsel and the court, Mr. OBrien added, " As far as I am concerned I certainly cannot agree to Mr. Hodges remaining in court. He has depar ed from his chnr<--cter of areporter, and, considering the accommodation we Lave afforded him at every moetmg — treating him us a guest when he has turned a spy— l do most decidedly object to hi* remaining in court. ' The Court overruled the objection. Mr. Hodges, however, subs*, queutly retirrd. The indictment, cornicing of six counts, setting forth the treasonable practices and compassing of the prisoner was then read ; and at ten minu'es to twelve, The Attorney General rose to address the jury on behalf of the Crown, und, ma speech of two hours' dura'ion, depicted in detail the proce( dings of the pruoncr end bis confederates. Mr. H dges vths then ca'led, and deposed to having »nfot mcd Mr. Smith O Brien, at a meeting of the Confideru'irn, that he a'tended in the capacity of a GoveniiDinl repr r er. The witness during two or three luuis ilio rrad fiom bin manuscript varu us speeches m<ide by the prisoner. In his tubsuqu ut eiOfs-exami-uati«n he stated incidentally that it whs in pos»ible to report a speech corrtUly from memory alter the lapse of a m^nth. Mr. Whiteside, to "he Aitomfy General: " V\ hy do jou smile at that, Mr, Attorney ?" Attorney General : " I assure you lam not ""cijief Justice Blatkburr.e : " Then don't smile at all, if you rlfase."

Major- Geneial Mucdonald then ilep -sed to the arrest of the prisoner, and the court aijourned to nine o'clock on Saturday, the jurors being scluded in th c bill-room in (he upper part of the court-house, wbeie bed and other accommodations were provided for themThe trial procjeded on Saturday, but nothing of interast in the evidence transpired worth recording. At its rising the court adjourned to 9 o'clock on Monday morning. Arrest of three American u Sympathizers." —On the 23rd September, Mr. Anderson, Sub Inspector, arrested in (he town of Borris, in this county, three men, who had lately arrived from America to take a lending part in the rebellion. Their names are Alexander Morrison, Jamei Thornburg, and John M'Keague. On the day of their arrest they arrived from Walerford, and fortunately were deprived of the opportunity of an attempt to *' fraternize" with the population of this peaceable county by the prompt diicovery of their treasonable practices. Morrison and his colleagues are military men, who were engaged in the late Mexican war, and so far from concealing their rebellious designs, they acknowledged they came to levy war against the Sovereign — exulled in their feelings of hostility to her Majesty's Crown and Gi)vernment—and expressed their disappointment in not being affoided an oppor unity of engaging with bet Majesty's troops, with all ihe coolness of men acquainted with military strategy ! They are natives of Ulster, who had emigrated to Ameiica some years since. After their capture they were brought before Mr. C. H. Tucker, R.M., on the following day, who committed them for trial at the Carlow Assizes. The promptitude and activity of the sub-inspector, in the arrest of tlie rebel incendiaries, deserTe public approval ; and we have no doubt that the American ' heroes' who are veiling our shores in search of rebellion will meet with a similar reception in other counties. If the reader feel surprise on learning the arrest and committal to the county gaol of three Americans in the town of Borris, in this county, on Saturday, charged with treasonable practices, he will feel greater astonishment and regret on learning that thirteen young men were irrested on the following Tuesduy, in the same town, by that active officer Sub-Inspector Anderion, on information charging them with having illegally aihembled at night, under " a warran issued" by those American incendiaries, for " drilling and training purpose-. ! Their arre&t was effected at a late hjur on TuesJay night by order of Government. The accused parties were principally artisans, and persons in the employ of Mr. T. Kavanagh, and having constant work and good wages, were in Tery comfortable circumstances. In a dittrict proverbial for the loyalty and industry of the people, we deeply regret to be obliged, from a sense of public duty, to record the foregmig t ainful circumstances, the movement arising fioon youth'ul folly, a speciesof levolutionary insanity, or disaffection ; for, otherwise, it is impossible to account for such conduct on the part of men in the employment of a most benevolent family. The parties were held to bail to itand their trial at the quarter sessions. — Carloio Sentinel. Arrests in JitELAND.— The political arrests of the past week have, for ihe first time in recent Irish his tory, been extended to females. In the county of Waterford Miss Power has been arrested for harbouring her nephew, O'Mahoney, whose capture has not been effected. Nearly about the same time Mr. Killilea, the proprietor and editor of the Waterford Chro* nule, wai arrested whilst travelling in one of Bianconi's can. Mr. Killilea ii said to have been, when arrested, armed with pistols aud provided with ammunition, but made no attempt at resistance. Being brought for the night to the Bridewell at Carrick, he was next morning removed to C'onmel, Miss Power being conveyed by the same escort. Killilca's w.fe joined him on his journey to the prison, and a Dublin paper states that " Mr. Kil|il<-a gave hit arm to each of the ladies, and in that way they walked to the gaol, accompanied by the police." r I he Limerick Ohronicle gives the names of fifteen persons arreited, some of them chaiged with harbouring Richrd O 'Gorman, and others for appearing in arms and for treasonable practices. Amongst the latter class of priioncrs is ex-Quarter- Master Hanrahan, 13th Light Infantry, who was apprehended mar Slievenamon, and who is said to bave had a commission as colonel in the insurgent army in hi* pocket. Mr. Fogaity, a gentleman hitherto supposed to be unconnected with politics, and Mr. Buike, of Palhs, near BorrLoleigh, have also been arrested. Some blacksmiths »nd twenty five peasants have been committed to gaol, the latter in Waterford ; fourteen other peasants were arrestea at the village of Comragh. Another lady, a Miis O'Ryan, was arrested for harbouring O'Mahonpy, who seems to have been peculiarly unlucky in bringing ladits in o trouble ; and Mr. O'Ryan, a relative ot Miss O'Ryan't, ii also in custody. — Vbsener, Oct 2.