found
by the grand jury against him for felony. To each he handed in a plea
praying that the indictment might be quashed, on the ground that one
of the members of the jury was also a member of the town-council of the
borough of Dublin, and as such disqualified. These pleas were put in
merely to gain time, which led the attorneygeneral to enter a _nolle
prosequi_ to each, and to file ex officio information against Mr.
Mitchell. After various other artifices to obtain delay, the prisoner
was compelled to plead, and he pleaded "not guilty." The terms of the
indictment were, that the traverser endeavoured to take away the style,
honour, and royal name of our sovereign lady the queen, and to make war
against her majesty, her heirs, and successors. The trial was chiefly
remarkable for the bold and manly tone of Mr. Holmes, the prisoner's
counsel. Never did an advocate more fearlessly do his duty to his client
and his country. The judge charged against the prisoner, and the jury,
after three hours and a half's deliberation, returned with a verdict of
guilty. The sentence was transportation for fourteen years. The bearing
of the prisoner was manly and dignified throughout. He was known to be
a man of strong domestic affections, and of warm friendship, and the
sentence was received with intense dissatisfaction throughout Ireland.
The violent opinions and proceedings of Mr. Mitchell in his public
capacity could not destroy the popular partialities for him as a brave,
generous, and amiable man; it was allowed on all hands that the time
had arrived for stopping his political career, but it was hoped that
a temporary imprisonment would have satisfied the ends of justice. The
public sympathy for his amiable wife and his little children was very
strong, and it was desired by all classes that at the earliest possible
occasion which would give the government an opportunity to exercise
clemency, his sentence might be greatly mitigated.

It was allowed on all hands that the government were compelled to
prosecute. In the pages of the _United Irishman_ he had uttered the
most vehement defiance to the government, and to the lord-lieutenant
of Ireland especially. He had invoked a prosecution, and in one furious
article in the _United Irishman_ had told the viceregal government that
if it did not pack a jury and prosecute him, it was restrained only by
cowardice. What the motives of Mr. Mitchell were in thus wishing to be
made a victim it is