TRIAL OF MR. MITCHELL.

New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian, Volume V, Issue 339, 1 November 1848, Page 4

TRIAL OF MR. MITCHELL.

The trial of Mr. Mitchell of the United Irishman commenced on Thursday, 25th May, in the Commission Court, but the greater part of the day was taken up with technical objections on the part of the prisoner's counsel. The second day's trial proceeded, and in the evening shortly after seven o'clock, Mr. Justice Moore entered the court, and the jury having been called, , and asked whether they had agreed, the, foreman, amidst breathless silence handed down the verdict, — " Guilty." Upon the announcement of the verdict the prisoner's wife threw herself on the shoulder of her husband, who stood near her in the dock, in an agony of grief. Several of the prisoner's most intimate friends, including Messrs. T. F. Meagher, T. Devin Reilly, the Rev. Father Kenyon, Dr. Gray, Mr. Doheny, Mr, J. B. Dillon, &c, then came forward to the dock, and gave him a parting shake of the hand ; but, before these evidences of sympathy had been concluded, Mi. Baron Lefroy called on 'the police to clear the passage in front of the dock, stating

j that the conduct of the prisoner's friends was calculated to disturb the order and propriety of the Court. He then directed that the prisoner should "toe removed, and brought up bej fore the Court at eleven o'clock to-morrow (Saturday) morning, to hear his sentence pronounced. Baron Lefroy said, in passing sentence, we have with the utmost deliberation examined the matter, with an anxiety duly to discharge the duty which we owe on all hands — the duty which we owe the prisoner of not meting out the punishment beyond the just measure of the offence, and the duty we owe to the public that the degree of punishment should be such as to carry out the object of all punishment : which is not the mere infliction of the penalty upon the person convicted, but the prevention of crime ; that the punishment should carry with it a security to the country, as far as possible that one who has offended so perseveringly — that so deliberate a violator of the law should not be permitted to continue his course of conduct to the disturbance of its peace and prosperity. We bad to consider all this — to look at the magnitude of the crime, and to look also at the consideration that if this were not the first case brought under the act, our duty might have obliged us to carry out the penalty it awards to the utmost extent. But taking into consideration that this is the first conviction under the act — though the offence has been as clearly proved as any offence of the kind could be — the sentence of the Court is, that you be transported beyond the seas for the term of fourteen years. Mr. Mitchell said — the law has now done its part, and the Queen of England, her Crown and Government in Ireland are now secure, pursuant to Act of Parliament. I" have done my part also. Three months ago I promised Lord Clarendon and his Government in this country, that I would provoke him into his courts of justice, which places of this kind are called, and that I would force him publicly and notoriously to pack a jury against me to convict me, or else that I would walk a free man out' [ of this Court, and provoke him to a contest in another field. My lord, I knew that I was setting my life on that cast : but I knew that in either event the victory should be with me : and it is with me. I presume neither the jury nor the judges, nor any other man in this Court presume to imagine that it is a criminal who stands in this dock (Murmurs of applause, which the police endeavoured to r>epress). I have shown that her Majesty's Government sustains itself in Ireland by packed juries, by parlizan judges, by perjured sheriffs. I have acted all through this business, from the first, under a strong sense of duty. Ido not repent anything I have done, and I believe that the course I have opened is only commenced. The Roman who saw his hand burning to ashes/ before the tyrant, promised that three hundred should follow out his enterprise. Can I not promise (looking at his friends who surrounded the dock) for one, for two, aye, for hundreds ? (A loud shout here rang throagh the Court, accompanied by immense cheering, clapping of hands, and great manifestations of excitement.) Baron Lefroy — Officer remove Mr. Mitchell. The shouts were here increased, and the clamour became terrific, when two turnkeys laid hold of Mr. Mitchell to convey him to his cell. The judges left the bench, apparently filled with alarm. A body of M: Mitchells friends rushed to the dock, shook him by the hands, patted him on the head, and cheered him. There was a general move throughout the Court, and it was with difficulty the police restored order. Mr. Mitchell was then removed by the officers of the Court. After the removal of Mitchell, the judges returned into Court. Mr. Holmes, counsel for the prisoner, here rose to address the Court, when the utmost silence was observed. He said, My lords, I think I had a perfect right to use the language I did yesterday. I wish now to state that what I said yesterday, I adopt to day as my own opinion. I here avow all I have said ; and perhaps under this late Act of Parliament her Majesty's Attorney-General, if I have violated the law may think it his duty to proceed against me in that way. But if I have violated the law in anything I said, I must, with great respect to the Court, assert that I had a perfect right to say what I stated, and I now say with deliberation that the sentiments I expressed with respect to England, and her treatment of this country, are my sentiments, and I here avow them openly. Baron Lefroy : Call on the next case. The Court then proceeded with other business.

Savings Banks. — What an atrocious system of fraud and robbery has been carried on for years in the neighbouring county; by Which ;£50,000; £50,000 of the hard-earned' money of the poor and industrious, the frugal and the provident, have been carried away at one fell swoop ! How many families will be flung back again into misery and want by the frau-

dulent managers of the funds of the Tralee and Killarney Savings Banks ! Mr. Lynch has been plundering the Tralee Bank since 1837 — since when he netted about £35,000 — drawing from the pockets of the poor an annual income of £3,500 — living en prince on the fortunes of children, the provision of old age, the substance of widows, the support of orphans. Mr. Murphy of Killarney has only carried on his system for the last six years ; since when he has drawn £2,200 ayear fi ora the same sources, and brought down woe and misery on the same classes. The one man has been arrested, and there are warrants out for the other. But what satisfaction is this to the parties who are plundered ?—? — what compensation is this to public credit and to private confidence — both of which have been shattered by this system of consummate fraud and hypocrisy ? — Cork Examiner.