V. MOORE, J.-I fully concur in the decision to which Baron THE QUEEN Lefroy has come. I will not lay down the broad abstraet prin- J. MITCHEL. ciple that in no case a copy of the indictment should be granted, Securities Act. but having seen a copy of the indictment in this case, I do not see Crown and any sufficient reason why in the exercise of the discretion of the Government court a copy of it should be furnished to the prisoner's counsel, and on an appeal to our discretion, the worst argument that can Copy of indictbe used is the threat, that a large portion of time will be consumed ment refused. in reading the indictment, so as to enable a short-hand writer to take a note of it. As regards the application for a copy of former panels, I cannot see what connexion exists between the panel of the present sheriff and those prepared by former sheriffs, and I am bound to presume that in the present instance the sheriff has acted in the discharge of his duty, as the law allows him. The prisoner being then put forward to the bar : The indictment was, at the request of Sir Colman O'Loghlen, read out slowly, and at full length, so as to enable a short-hand writer to take a note of it. The reading of the indictment having been concluded, the prisoner was again called on to plead, upon which Sir Colman O'Loghlen requested as a matter of favour that Mr. Mitchel might not be compelled to plead until to-morrow, as he meant to move that the indictment be quashed, on the ground that it charged two distinct felonies, which might have been made the subject of separate indictments. He was not then prepared to argue the question; but the case of Young, in error, v. The King (3 T. R. 89, 106), was an authority in favour of the objection upon which he meant to rely. The Attorney-General assented to the prisoner's not being called upon to plead until the following day, upon the understanding that the motion to quash the indictment should be proceeded with the first thing on that day. Sir Colman O'Loghlen.-We apply for a bill of particulars as regards the two last counts, the charges in which are of a most general kind. The Attorney-General gave an undertaking that the charges contained in those counts (the 9th and 10th), should be confined to the matters specified in the previous counts of the indictment. May 23. Sir Colman O'Loghlen (with whom was J. E. Pigot and J. O'Hagan.)-I have now on behalf of Mr. Mitchel to move that the indictment in this case be quashed, as it charges the prisoner with two distinct felonies:-compassing to deprive and depose the Queen from the style, honour, and royal name of the Imperial crown of the United Kingdom; and compassing to levy war, in order by force and constraint to V. THE QUEEN Compel Her Majesty to change her measures and counsels. (a) The practice is, when the objection is taken before plea, to quash the indictment, and when after plea, to put the prosecutor J. MITCHEL. Crown and Indictment. 1st count. (a) The indictment, which is the first which has been framed under the statute 11 Vict. c. 12, "An Act for the better Security of the Crown and Government of the United Kingdom," was as follows: FIRST COUNT.-County of the City of Dublin, to wit.-The jurors for our Lady the Queen upon their oath present, that John Mitchel, late of Ontario Terrace, in the county of Dublin, gentleman, after the passing of an Act of Parliament made and passed in the eleventh year of the reign of our Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria, entitled "An Aet for the better Security of the Crown and Government of the United Kingdom," to wit, on the sixth day of May, in the eleventh year of the reign of our said Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria, with force and arms, at the parish of Saint Thomas, in the county of the city of Dublin, within the United Kingdom, feloniously did compass, imagine, invent, devise, and intend to deprive and depose our said Lady the Queen from the style, honour, and royal name of the Imperial crown of the United Kingdom, and the said felonious compassing, imagination, invention, device, and intention, he the said John Mitchel then and there feloniously did express, utter, and declare by then and there feloniously publishing a certain printing in a certain public newspaper called The United Irishman, of which said public newspaper he, the said John Mitchel then and there was the proprietor, which said printing is as follows, that is to say, Mr. Mitchel (meaning the said John Mitchel) having been loudly called, then rose amidst a hurricane of applause, and said-Mr. Chairman and citizens of Limerick, my first duty is to thank you, which I do cordially and sincerely, for the generous reception you have this night given to those who have been selected for prosecution by the British Governmenta reception which, notwithstanding what has occurred outside that door, must be called a triumphant one-(hear, hear.) I have seen nothing in all this mob violence to make me despond for a moment. The people are the true source of legitimate power; that howling multitude outside are a thousand times preferable to the howling legislators of England who yelled against Smith O'Brien-(cheers.) I am no drawing-room democrat, who can discourse of the powers and virtues of the people only while they are smiling and cheering around me. Mob-law itself, in Ireland, is far better than Government law-that well-ordered and civilised system that slays its millions of human beings within the year. I tell you that rather than endure one other year of British dominion, I would take a provisional government selected out of the men that are bellowing there in the street-(loud cheers). Sir, I fear that I am unfortunately the cause of your meeting this night being disturbed-(no, no.) I think, however, the matter arises out of a misapprehension. There is a great difference surely between bearing testimony to one's approval of a man's general conduct, and identifying oneself with all his acts (hear.) It is one thing to offer encouragement and support to a person singled out by government (which is the enemy of us all) as the especial object of its vengeance; and it is quite another thing to adopt for your own every particular sentiment, saying, and doing, of the individual in question. This difference I feel bound to note and acknowledge to-night; and I do so with alacrity and with gratitude, You need not fear, my friends, that I will misinterpret the compliment that has been paid me, in inviting me to your city on this occasion. You need not fear that I have accepted your invitation in order that I might thrust any particular opinions of my own down your throats (hear, hear), or in order to induce a belief that there is between me and your distinguished guests-Smith O'Brien and Thomas Meagher-a more thorough identification than there is or needs to be. We don't want this thorough identification-(hear.) Some of the things I have done and written these gentlemen have both condemned, as believing either that they were wrong in themselves, or that the time had not come for them. And I cannot be even with my friends in this matter-I am not able to repudiate any of their public acts. Can I repudiate, for instance, the last speech of Mr. O'Brien in the British Parliament-one of the noblest, clearest statements of Ireland's case the very haughtiest, grandest defiance flung in the face of Ireland's enemies that ever yet fell from the lips of man ?-(loud cheers.) Or can I condemn the alternative put by Mr. Meagher, who says, when the last constitutional appeal shall be made, and shall fail-"Then up with the barricades, and invoke the God of Battles?-(great cheering.) Can I repudiate this-who hold that constitutional appeals are long since closed against us, and that we have even now no resource, except-when we have the means and the pluck to do it the barricades and the God of Battles?-(hear, hear, and loud cheers.) No; all the seditions and treasons of these gentlemen I adopt and accept, and I ask for more- -(hear, hear.) Whatever has been done or said by the most disaffected person in all Ireland against the existence of the party which calls itself the Government-nothing can go too far for me. Whatever public treasons there are in this land, I have stomach for them all-(loud cheering.) But, sir, have we not had iu Ireland somewhat too much of this adopting and avowing, or also repudiating and disavowing what has been said or done by others? Might we not, perhaps, v. to his election. I admit that the objection is not available in THE QUEEN arrest of judgment, and that it is not the ordinary practice to quash indictments for serious offences such as treasons. But in J. MITCHEL. Crown and act with advantage less as parties, and more as mere men, each of us on his own indi- Government vidual responsibility ?-(hear, hear.) For myself, though an active member of the Irish Securities Act. Confederation, I declare that I do not belong to the Young Ireland party, or to any party. I have found myself unsuited to party ties and trammels together; I have been found not to Indictment. draw quietly either in single or double harness-(hear, hear, and laughter.) I very soon quarrelled with the old Repeal Association; and as for the Confederation, it has once or 1st count. twice nearly quarrelled with me. Not many weeks ago the council of the Confederation, headed by Smith O'Brien and Mr. Meagher, thought it necessary to disavow my proceedings. Very well; what harm came of it? I merely retorted in the most good-humoured way in the world, by setting them at defiance; and things went on afterwards more smoothly than ever(cheers and laughter.) In short, I have long felt that I belong to a party of one member-a party whose basis of action is to think and act for itself—whose one fundamental rule is to speak its mind-(cheers.) Its secretary, committee, librarian, and treasurer are all one in the same person; and in its proceedings, I assure you, there reigns the most unbroken unanimity(continued laughter.) Seriously, sir, I know no other way of ensuring both honest unanimity, and independent co-operation, than this very way of mine; and with these views and sentiments, you may be sure I am not likely to misconceive the motive of your kindness in asking me to join your party to-night. I am here, I believe, as your guest on one account alone. You will say whether I state it truly. I am here not as a Jacobin (which I am not), nor as a Communist (which I am not), nor even as a Republican (which I am)-(loud cheers); but simply and merely because I am a bitter and irreconcilable eneiny to the British Government-(hear, hear.) Will you forgive me for speaking so much about myself, on this the first time I have had the honour to address an audience in the south of Ireland-(hear, hear.) I assure you it is not my habit; nor would I do so to-night, but that I found myself, on my arrival in Limerick to-day, in a rather singular position. I found some twenty or thirty poor fellows who had risen very early in the morning for no other purpose but to hoot me as I came into town. I have no ill-will, I assure you, against those who hooted, nor even against those who set them on to hoot-(hear.) I believe it all arose ont of some expressions in my paper, The United Irishman-(loud cheers for The United Irishman), which were construed as disrespectful to the memory of one whom-whatever I may think of him-most Catholics revere as their Emancipator. I think the passage did not really convey the gross and degrading imputation on O'Connell's memory that has been spelled out of it; but at any rate I must acknowledged that the feeling on the part of these people against me is not an unnatural one, and that is merely an exaggerated and perverted example of a sentiment creditable in itself-(hear.) But, sir, while I admit this, I must also insist on my right to hold and to express, on all public questions and on the characters of public men, the opinions which I have honestly formed-(cheers.) I established that paper in order to assert and vindicate this right, as well as all other rights of Irishmen, and especially the rights of labouring people like my friends who hooted me this morning. And I must inform them that I value the hootings of a mob just as little as the indictment of an Attorney-General-(hear, hear, and cheers.) And further, that I had rather never be invited to a public assembly, nor appear in a public place, nor sit at good men's feasts,—I had rather be overwhelmed by state prosecutions, and by the execration of my countrymen, all at once, than yield or waive the privilege of saying what I think for a single hour-(hear, hear, and great cheering.) Enough now about these personal matters. As to the position of our great cause, I think it is full of peril as well as full of hope. In proportion as the Irish nation has been gathering up strength and spirit to rid its soil of their enemies, those enemies have also been collecting their strength and hardening their hearts to hold our country in our despite. It is fortunate, I think, that those who have taken a forward part in rousing our people to these hopes and efforts are the first to bear the brunt of the danger. It is better that they should be called to encounter it in the courts of justice first, than that it should fall on a people not yet prepared in the field. But while we meet the enemy in the Queen's Bench, we have a right to call upon you to sustain us by a firm and universal avowal of your opinion. On the constituents of Smith O'Brien especially devolves this duty. While the British Parliament calls his exertions "treason" and "felony," it is for his constituents to declare that in all this treason and felony he is doing his duty by them-(cheers.) And more than this; it is your duty further to prepare systematically to sustain him, if it come to that, in arms-(loud and enthusiastic cheering.) May I presume to address the women of Limerick-(hear, hear, and loud cheers.) It is the first time I have ever been in the presence of the daughters of those heroines who held the breach against King Williain; and they will understand me when I say, that no Irishwoman ought so much as to speak to a man who has not provided himself with arms-(loud cheering.) No lady is too delicate for the culinary operation of casting V. J. MITCHEL. Crown and Indictment. now, THE QUEEN Young v. The King (3 T. R. 106), Buller, J., when speaking of an objection similar to the present, says, as to the remaining objection, that is founded on a point which once embarrassed me a bullets (laughter.) No band is too white to make up cartridges (cheers); and I hope, if it be needful to come to the last resort, that the citizens of Limerick, male and female, will not Securities Act. disgrace their paternal and maternal ancestors-(hear, hear, and cheers.) Before sitting down I wish to contradict one calumny. It has been said of me-Lord Clarendon has had it posted up over Dublin-that I have been inciting the people to plunder and massacre; that my object is to raise a hasty and immature insurrection; that I want to plunder houses, to rob banks, to break into shops and stores. Need I refute this outrageous calumny ?-(cries of "no, no," and cheers.) Who ever heard me stimulate my countrymen to civil war against their own flesh and blood? My friends, we have no enemies here save the British Government and their abettors. A war of assassination and plunder against our countrymen would be a wound to our own vitals-(hear and cheers.) I shall say no more of this; but again heartily thanking you for your kindness, I conclude by urging you once more to stand by and sustain Smith O'Brien against his enemies and yours—to sustain him, not for his sake, but for your 1st count. own. If yet you are not lost to common sense, And know that to be brave is to be wise. Mr. Mitchel (meaning the said John Mitchel) sat down amidst protracted cheering. And the said felonious compassing, imagination, invention, device, and intention, he the said John Mitchel afterwards, to wit, on the thirteenth day of May, in the eleventh year of the reign of our said Lady the Queen, to wit, at the parish aforesaid, in the county of the city of Dublin aforesaid, did further feloniously express, utter, and declare, by then and there feloniously publishing a certain other printing in one other number of the said public newspaper called The United Irishman, which is as follows; that is to say, THE TIMES ON REBELLIONS. The Times appears to have been labouring under the impression that Mr. Mitchel (meaning the said John Mitchel) had given himself out for a "hero," and the leader of a rebellion, and further, that the three prosecuted confederates went to Limerick to fight a pitched battle, instead of to attend a peaceful evening party. Now the fact is, the editor of The United Irishman (meaning the said John Mitchel) is no hero at all, and never said he was. He (meaning the said John Mitchel) has only endeavoured to persuade his countrymen that they will never gain their liberties, except by fighting for them; and that the only arguments the English Government will understand are the points of pikes-that's all. And he (meaning the said John Mitchel) continues to preach this saving doctrine, and will continue so to do until a considerable number of his countrymen agree with him (meaning the said John Mitchel), and then he hopes to aid in enforcing the arguments practicallythat all. As to the "sneaking away" of Mr. Mitchel and Mr. Meagher, or either of them, "under the protection of police," or any protection, it is merely an untruth, and the writer in The Times who wrote it, and the editors of Saunders and The Mail who, we find, have copied it, knew it to be an untruth. And, in another part of the said last-mentioned number of the said public paper called Letter to the Protestant Farmers, Labourers, and Artizans of the North of Ireland. My Friends, Since I wrote my first letter to you, many kind and flattering addresses have been made to you by exceedingly genteel and very rich noblemen and gentlemen. Those of you, especially, who are Orangemen, seem to have somehow got into high favour with this genteel class, which must make you feel rather strange, I think:-you have not been used to much recognition and encouragement of late years from British Viceroys, or the noble and right worshipful Grand Masters. They rather avoided you; seemed, indeed, as many thought, somewhat ashamed of you and your old anniversaries. Once upon a time no Irish nobleman or British minister dared make light of the colours of Aughrim and the Boyne. But can you divine any cause for the sudden change of late? Do you understand why the whig, Lord Clarendon, calls you so many names of endearment, and the Earl of Enniskillen tenderly. entreats you as a father his only child? Can these men want anything from you. Let us see what the drift of their addresses generally is. Lord Clarendon, the English governor, congratulates you on your "loyalty," and your "attachment to the Constitution," and seems to calculate, though I know not why, upon a continuance of those exalted sentiments in the North. Lord Enniskillen, the Irish nobleman, for his part, cautions you earnestly against Popery and Papists, and points out how completely you would be overborne and swamped by Catholic majorities in all public affairs. He V. J. MITCHEL. Securities Act. Indictment. 1st count. greal deal. Some years have elapsed since I looked into it; but THE QUEEN I believe I can state pretty accurately how it stands. In misdemeanours the case in Burrow shows that it no objection to an Crown and My Lord Enniskillen does not say a word to you about, what is, after all, the main concern, Government the tenure of your furms, not one word. It is about your Protestant interest he is uneasy. is apprehensive, not lest you should be evicted by landlords, and sent to the poor-house, but lest purgatory and seven sacraments should be thrust down your throats. This is simply a Protestant pious fraud of his Lordship's, merely a right worshipful humbug. Lord Enniskillen, and every other commonly informed man, knows that there is now no Protestant interest at all; that there is absolutely nothing left for Protestant and Catholic to quarrel for: even the Church establishment is not a Catholic and Protestant question, inasmuch as all dissenters, and all plebeian churchmen, are as much concerned to put an end to that nuisance as Catholics are. Lord Enniskillen knows, too (or, if he do not, he is the very stupidest Grand Master in Ulster), that an ascendancy of one sect over another is from henceforth impossible, the fierce religious zeal that animated our fathers on both sides is utterly dead and gone;-I do not know whether this is for our advantage or not; but, at any rate, it is gone: nobody in all Europe would now so much as understand it, and if any man talks to you now of religious sects, when the matter in hand relates to civil and political rights, to administration of government, and distribution of property, depend on it, though he wear a coronet on his head, he means to cheat you. In fact, religious hatred has been kept alive in Ireland longer than anywhere else in Christendom, just for the simple reason that Irish landlords and British statesmen found their own account in it: and so soon as Irish landlordism and British dominion are finally rooted out of the country, it will be heard of no longer in Ireland, any more than it is in France or Belgium now. If you have still any doubt whether Lord Enniskillen meant to cheat you, I only ask you to remember, first, that he has written you a long and paternal letter, upon the state of the country, and has not once alluded to your tenant-right; and, second, that he belongs to that class of persons from whom alone can come any danger to your tenant-right,-which is your life and property. As for Lord Clarendon and his friendly addresses, exhorting to "loyalty" and attachment to institutions of the country, I need hardly tell you that he is a cheat. What institutions of the country are there to be attached to? That all who pay taxes should have a voice in the outlay of those taxes is not one of our institutions,-that those who create the whole wealth of the State by their labour should get leave to live, like Christians, on the fruits of that labour, -this is not amongst the institutions of the country. Tenant-right is not an institution of the country. No; out-door relief is our main institution at present-our Magna Charta—our Bill of Rights. A high-paid Church and a low-fed people, are institutions; stipendiary clergymen, packed juries, a monstrous army and navy, which we pay, not to defend, but to coerce us, these are institutions of the country. Indian meal, too, strange to say, though it grows four thousand miles off, has come to be an institution of this country. Are these the "venerable institutions" you are expected to shoulder your muskets to defend ? But, then," Protestants have always been loyal men." Have they? And what do they mean by "loyalty?" I have never found that, in the north of Ireland, this word had any meaning at all, except that we, Protestants, hated the Papists, and despised the French; this, I think, if you will examine it, is the true theory of "loyalty" in Ulster. I can bardly fancy any of my countrymen so brutally stupid as to really prefer high taxes to low taxes, to be really proud of the honour of supporting "the Prince ALBERT" and his lady, and their children, and all the endless list of cousins and uncles that they have, in magnificent idleness, at the sole expense of half-starved labouring people. I should like to meet the northern farmer, or labouring man, who would tell me, in so many words, that he prefers dear government to cheap government; that he likes the House of Brunswick better than his own house; that he would rather have the affairs of the country managed by foreign noblemen and gentlemen than by himself and his neighbours; that he is content to pay, equip, and arm an enormous army, and give the command of it to those foreign noblemen, and to be disarmed himself, or liable to be disarmed, as you are, my friends, at any moment. I should like to see the face of the Ulsterman, who would say plainly that he deems himself unfit to have a voice in the management of his own affairs, the ontlay of his own taxes, or the government of his own country. If any of you will admit this, I own he is a loyal man, and attached to our venerable institutions; and I wish him joy of his loyalty, and a good appetite for his yellow meal. Now, Lord Clarendon and Lord Enniskillen want you to say all this. The Irish noble and the British statesman want the very same thing: they are both a tale. The Grand Master knows that, if you stick by your loyalty and uphold British connexion, you secure to him his coronet, his influence, and his rental;-discharged of tenant-right, and all plebeian claims. And Lord Clarendon knows, on his side, that if you uphold landlordism and abandon tenant-right, and |