Daly, have been found guilty of a malicious and wilful assault on the person of Richard Uniacke Bailey, with intent to murder. I feel it impossible to conceive a more awful or melancholy spectacle than you now exhibit. Five men, in the prime of life, in the vigour of manhood, stand at that bar to hear the sentence by which your days will be numbered and your lives cut short. I would that in the consideration of any of your cases I could discover one mitigating fact, one gleam of humanity, but I am constrained to say that the case of one and all of you presents crime of the most atrocious character, instigated by a vindictive and sanguinary spirit; in every one of your cases there was deep premeditation; and a long interval between the formation and execution of your murderous design-an interval, God knows, long enough to awaken in you some sense of pity and compassion, some degree of compunction and remorse, but all failed; you went forth to your fell and deadly purpose-a purpose, too, accomplished by means desperate that incorrigibly wicked must be the hearts of those by whom it was plotted and perpetrated. The whole course of your crimes has been marked with unrelenting cruelty, and with that cowardice which is always attendant upon a cruel and vindictive spirit. You armed yourselves with deadly weapons, you attacked your victims when they were not prepared, when they were defenceless and incapable of resistance, when they expected no danger, and you sent them with all their sins upon their heads into the presence of Almighty God. You stand there convicted, not of murder caused by sudden resentment or excitement,

or by the infirmities of our nature, but of that worst species of crime, the crime of assassination-the most horrible and hateful shape the crime of murder can assume. In the prime of manhood you all stand there branded with the character of assassins, a disgrace to yourselves, to your country, and to your nature. Oh! that the spectacle which now presents itself may work out the great ends of reformation, and the prevention of crime that those who are pursuing the course that has led to your destruction may see, in the fate which shortly awaits you, that if they will not be turned and deterred by other motives from their career of guilt, the course of the law, though slow, is sure, and that sooner or later the murderer will be tracked, detected, and brought to condign punishment. But there are other classes who ought to take a lesson of warning from your fate; there are those who have taught you to "avenge your wrongs," who have justified, palliated, and excused your crimes, and they must be responsible for the consequences-those consequences which are exhibited in your dreadful cases. Such doctrine and such teaching has been productive of such cases as yours. But there is another class upon whom I wonder that all that has occurred has made no impression. Some of you have wives-some of you have parents-some of you have children

you have friends and relatives. Have they done their duty, and warned you against the crimes that have brought you to destruction? Have they, who knew your designs, warned you against the perpetration?

Have they endeavoured to prevent them, and used their influence to save you? Sorry am I

to say that, from what I have witnessed, the friends and relatives, who ought to have been true to you, who ought to have been your protectors, have been the first to concur in bringing you to justice; for if they did not prevent, they have in some degree caused those crimes which have brought you here. Let your fate be a warning to them; and whatever may be the calamity and affliction which your death may produce to your friends and relatives, let it be a warning to save from destruction others who are traversing the same course."

His Lordship then passed upon them sentence of death in the usual form, directing all of them but Daly to be buried within the precincts of the gaol. Henry and Philip Cody and John Lonergan were executed on the 1st of March, Corboys and Daly on the 4th of the same month.

Lonergan and Daly listened to the address of the learned judge with the most distressing watchfulness, and as he announced their fate Daly raised his eyes, and appeared to be repeating to himself some short prayer. The other three unhappy men heard their doom with the same stolid indif ference that had marked their conduct during their trial.

Six men from the neighbourhood of Coodborne, in the Barony of Lower Ormond, were then charged with assaulting the dwelling-house of a man named Ralph, on the 25th of October, and stealing certain property therefrom. The jury found all the prisoners "Guilty" of the charge.

Sentence was deferred, and on their being removed from the dock four other "boys," from the same barony, were tried for an offence of the same description.

COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.

DUBLIN, May 15th.

Before LORD CHIEF JUSTICE BLACKBURNE and a Special Jury.

THE QUEEN v. WILLIAM SMITH

O'Brien.

Mr. Perrin opened the proceedings by informing the Court and Jury that the traverser at the bar, Mr. William Smith O'Brien, had been arraigned upon an ex officio information, charging him with having delivered a speech on the 15th of March, in the parish of Saint Thomas, for the purpose of exciting hatred and contempt against the Queen in Ireland, and inducing the people to rise in rebellion. The traverser had pleaded "Not Guilty."

The Attorney-General said that, as Mr. Perrin had informed them, the traverser at the bar stood there to answer a charge that he felt it to be his duty to exhibit against him-namely, that upon the 15th of March, at a meeting of the Irish Confederates, he delivered a speech of a most seditious character and tendency. They charged that in the delivery of that speech he was actuated by motives and feelings that rendered him responsible in a criminal court for his conduct upon that occasion; and that was the only matter which they had to determine, namely, as to the object, motives, and intentions with which that speech had been

delivered; because, as to the actual speech itself, he really thought it would not be denied or controverted by Mr. O'Brien or his counsel, that the tendency of the speech, and the object in delivering it, was to excite disaffection, hatred, and contempt of the Government of Her Majesty; that the tendency and object of that speech was to excite the people to rise up in rebellion against the lawful Sovereign; that another object was to induce the people to endeavour by force of arms to cause and procure changes to be made in the constitution of the country. They also said that one of the objects was to induce the military and constabulary to join in such attempt; and they further said, that another of the objects was to induce the people to believe that, if they made such attempts, they might rely upon the co-operation and assistance of the military and police. If he should be able to prove to the jury, beyond all doubt, from the speech which that gentleman had delivered, that such was the object with which it had been delivered, no doubt could remain as to what their duty would be upon that occasion: their duty would be, regardless of consequences, and in accordance with the solemn obligation of the oath which they had taken, to do justice to their country by a verdict of guilty. He entertained no doubt that he would be able to prove that the speech had the tendency which

he ascribed to it; if so, he could not persuade himself, if the jury whom he addressed-holding as they did such a stake in the country, possessed of property and station-were satisfied of the truth of the charge, that they would shrink from the honest, honourable, and conscientious discharge of their duty. Nobody was more unwilling than the humble individual who then addressed them, without the most dire necessity, to bring before a jury of his countrymen what was called a State prosecution, either for matters published in the public press or spoken by a person, than both himself and the Government of whom he was the servant; he would further say, that the Government had forborne as long they could from instituting that prosecution, and appealing to the laws of the country in consequence of the daily and perpetual violation of the laws, both by papers and the public speeches of several persons who were connected with the society of which Mr. O'Brien was, if not the leader, at least the most distinguished member. So long as the proceedings of the society were confined to the Government, or to individual members of the Government, they were determined to rest upon the consciousness of having discharged their duty honestly and honourably, according to the best of their means, for the protection of society; but when that society, of which the traverser was a member, were not content with abuse of that description, and had recourse to that with which he was then charged-namely, with an attempt to excite sedition and rebellion, and plunge the country into civil war he believed he was justified in saying that further forbearance on the part of the Go

vernment would have been in the highest degree criminal. He had mentioned already to the jury the object and intent by which they alleged Mr. O'Brien had been influenced in delivering the speech; before, however, he called their attention to the speech itself, he was justified in reminding them of the time, place, and occasion upon which the speech was delivered. It was delivered at a meeting of a body who called themselves the Irish Confederation. That society was professedly established by seceders from an association of which Mr. O'Connell was generally supposed to be the head, and was formed principally because the proceedings of that association were confined within the strict bounds of the law. Mr. O'Connell persuaded himself that he would be able, by peaceable and constitutional means, to obtain changes which he fancied would be beneficial to the country. Such objects might be properly so attempted; but it was another thing when they were attempted to be gained through the medium of rebellion. and civil war. The speech was delivered by Mr. O'Brien at a meeting of the Irish Confederation, and the purport of it, as proved by the words that fell from the lips of Mr. O'Brien himself, was, that it was the right of a nation situated as Ireland was to obtain by force of arms whatever concessions might be refused by England. The time was not less important; it was within a short fortnight after the time when monarchical institutions were overthrown in France, and a republic established in its place; but with those circumstances they had nothing to do; but he trusted they would not lend themselves to any

party whose object it was to effect a similar revolution in this country, by the intervention of a civil war. The object for which the meeting was assembled was to vote an address from the Confederation to the citizens of the French Republic. Bearing this in mind, when he should read to the jury the portion of the speech delivered by Mr. O'Brien, he asked them calmly and deliberately to lay their hands upon their hearts and say, did any of them enter tain a doubt as to the object with which the speech was delivered? As he had mentioned, a speech was delivered by Mr. Smith O'Brien, at a meeting of the Irish Confederation which was held on the 15th of March last. Mr. O'Brien, who spoke first, proposed the adoption of an address that had been agreed on by the committee of the Confederation, to be presented to the citizens of the French Republic. Mr. O'Brien commenced his speech on that evening, by stating that a communication had been received from the Aughrim Confederate Club. This address was important, inasmuch as it would be a key to the whole speech upon which he proposed to comment hereafter. This manifesto contained, amongst other language, the following expressions:-"This is our opinion, that the soil of Ireland, and every part thereof, and all profits and emoluments to be derived therefrom, belong to the Irish people, and not to the citizens of any other country whatever. We believe that the right to make laws for the Irish nation belongs to the Irish people alone, and that the legislation by the English Parliament for Ireland is an usurpation which the Irish people have a right to over

throw. We believe that the allegiance of Irishmen is due to Ireland alone, and that any one who gives his allegiance to another country is guilty of treason to his own." It would be for the jury by-and-by to declare whether by these statements Mr. Smith O'Brien did not in direct terms imply that Ireland was one of those oppressed nations whose right it was to assert their liberty by arms. He would not trespass on the time of the jury by going through the whole of Mr. O'Brien's speech, as portions of it had no immediate bearing on the charges then preferred against him, but he would merely call their attention to those parts of it which had reference to such portions as appeared to his mind clearly and beyond all doubt to show the objects and intentions of the speaker. In one place he said "Now, with respect to the landlords of this country, I have been disappointed by the course they have taken, with reference to the national affairs, during the last twelve months. There are some of them who don't seem capable of generous emotions; yet we must endeavour to win this class to us. It is not unseasonable that I should suggest to them that it is exceedingly unwise and unsafe for any of them to take part against the Irish people. I do not apprehend that my countrymen will resort to butchery or massacre; but I do think it probable that if they (the landlords) take part against the Irish people, and that the Irish nation should triumph, that then it is likely their properties will be carried to the national treasury." Now let him ask the jury, in sober earnestness, what was the object of this advice? What opportunity was to occur that