king resides, makes no difference in the case, as the realm of Ireland is a part of the dominions of the king. As the levying war against the king cannot be done without endangering the life of the king, it is high treason to levy such war; and to overturn by force the government of this kingdom, is a compassing or imagining the death of the king, and also constitutes the crime of high treason. The indict ment fully states the several overt acts to support the two principal counts in the indictment.

The learned judge expounded to the jury the several overt acts stated in the indictment, and said, if the jury were fully satisfied by the evidences that have been produced, that the prisoner did become a United Irishman for the purpose of overturning, by force, the government of this kingdom; and, to carry it into effect, he did assemble with others about the means of arming men for said purpose, and carrying on said rebellion; if on these, or any other overt acts, laid in the indictment, you, gentlemen of the jury, by the evidences you have heard, should be of opinion that any one of the overt acts is fully proved on the prisoner, it is sufficient to warrant your finding the prisoner guilty. You need go no further, if you find him guilty of any one of the overt acts laid in the indictment.

Now, gentlemen of the jury, it may be necessary to explain to you what the law is upon the subject of high treason. A great deal has been said by the learned counsel for the pri soner in this case, that, by the law of England, two witnesses are, in England, required to prove an overt act of high treason. By the common law of England, in cases of murder, if the jury shall believe the fact proved, one witness is sufficient, as in the case of Sir John Pennington. The common law of England, and the common law of Ireland, is the same, and though the Irish legislature never thought proper to expressly state it, I beg leave to say, I am most firmly of opi nion, that the evidence of one single witness is sufficient to prove an overt act of high treason!

You, gentlemen of the jury, are to judge by the conduct of Bond, whether he was not connected with the Society of United Irishmen, who met in his house on the 12th of March. There was found on the prisoner at the bar, a paper purporting to be an address to the Society of United Irishmen; it was read in evidence, and will be material for your consideration; you will determine whether you believe Bond was a member of the Society of United Irishmen, and was in the habit of acting with them in their conspiracies, and this you will judge of from the evidence, parol and written, which has been produced before you in the course of this trial. If you believe the evidence of Reynolds, he told you that Bond was a United Irishman in February, 1797, and afterwards told Reynolds he wished him to be a colonel, i. e. colonel of the army for the county of Kildare under the Society of United Irishmen—and, by written evidence, it appears, the intent of that society was, to overturn the constitution of this kingdom by force.

Gentlemen of the jury, upon the whole of this case, you will judge of the verdict you may give, by the evidences which have been adduced before you-you will judge of it as men of sense; you are to determine, on your consciences, whether you do believe that Oliver Bond, the prisoner at the bar, was a member of the Society of United Irishmen, or not. If you have any reasonable doubt upon your minds, you must acquit the prisoner. The whole is left to your judgment.

The jury returned a verdict of GUILTY.

Mr. Bond being asked what he had to say why judgment of death should not be awarded, he tendered a paper purporting to have been the dying declaration of M'Cann (who was lately executed) that he was innocent. The court rejected the paper, as being contrary to known practice.

Mr. Justice Day then pronounced the usual sentence of death against him in cases of high treason, and the prisoner was conducted back to gaol.

COUNSEL for the crown:-The Solicitor-General, Mr. Prime Serjeant, Messrs. Saurin, O'Grady, Mayne, Webber, and Ridgeway.

COUNSEL for the prisoner:-Messrs. Curran and Ponsonby.

OLIVER BOND

Was the son of a dissenting minister in the north of IreLand, and connected by blood, not only with many of the middle classes of the people, but also with those who figure in the first style of rank and fashion. His value, however, did not arise from respectable relationships, but from his own personal merits-his public and private worth as a member of society, as a merchant, a friend, a husband, and a parent; candid, generous, and charitable-no other individual stood higher in the estimation of his fellow citizens.

Such, in a few words, was the man who unfortunately became a United Irishman, and, of course, became suspected of an inclination to the crime of republicanism. But Mr. Bond did not suffer by the hands of the common executioner; so highly were the public interested in his favour, that even those who were adverse to his political opinions joined in the most earnest solicitations to government, to change or mitigate the sentence of death; so powerful and so general were the intercessions in his favour, that government did hesitate. Conferences were held, and negotiations* entered into between the castle agents and the leaders of the United Irishmen: the

* By one of these negotiations, a number of the prisoners had made an agreement with government to transport themselves to the United States -when they were informed by Mr. Marsden, one of the under secretaries, "that the American ambassador to the court of St. James's, had objected to their going to that country." By this very unexpected interference, these gentlemen were prevented from making America the place of their asylum, and of bringing property with them to a very large amount.

first were to put a stop to the cruel proceedings of the courts martial, the executions, the burnings, the whippings, &c. that then covered the land—the latter, to cease all further efforts on their side, and either to receive pardons, or to banish themselves from the country.

During these negotiations, Mr. Bond was respited from time to time, when, on the morning of the 6th of September, he was found dead in his chamber. In times of suspicion and distrust, the sudden death of a man who was so universally beloved on one side, and so much feared on the other, it is not wonderful that it should be ascribed to "foul play." Since the first edition, we have heard so many accounts, which go to assert that Mr. Bond came unfairly by his death, that we think it best to leave the matter in the same state of uncertainty in which we found it.

**As doubts have arisen respecting these negotiations, and it having been said, that no such interference ever took place, the following letters will put that matter beyond a doubt. We copy them from the original documents, and leave them to the judgment of the reader.

COPY OF A LETTER FROM MR. RUFUS KING, THE AMERICAN MINISTER AT THE COURT OF LONDON, TO MR. HENRY JACKSON, ONE OF THE IRISH STATE PRISONERS.

"SIR,

"Brighton, Aug. 28, 1799.

"I ought to inform you, that I really have no authority to give or refuse permission to you or any other foreigner to go

to the United States; the admission and residence of strangers in that country being a matter that, by a late law, exclusively belongs to the president. It is true that the government of this country in the course of the last year, in consequence of my interference, gave me an assurance that a particular description of persons in Ireland, who it was understood were going to the United States, should not be allowed to proceed without our consent: this restraint would doubtless be withdrawn in favour of individuals against whose emigration I should not object; and I conclude, that it is upon this supposition, that you have taken the trouble to communicate to me your desire to go and reside in the United States. Without presuming to form an opinion on the subject of the late disturbances in Ireland, I entertain a distinct one in relation to the political situation of my own country. In common with others, we have felt the influence of the changes that have successively taken place in France, and, unfortunately, a portion of our inhabitants has erroneously supposed that our civil and political institutions, as well as our national policy, might be improved by a close imitation of the models of France. This opinion, the propagation of which was made the duty, and became the chief employment, of the French agents resident among us, created a more considerable division among our people, and required a greater watchfulness and activity from the government, than could beforehand have been apprehended. I am sorry to make the remark, and shall stand in need of your candour in doing so, that a large proportion of the emigrants from Ireland, and especially in our middle states, has, upon this occasion, arranged itself on the side of the malcontents. I ought to except from this remark, most of the enlightened and well educated Irishmen, who reside among us, and, with a few exceptions, I might confine it to the indigent and illiterate, who, entertaining an attachment to freedom, are unable justly to appreciate those salutary restraints without which it degenerates into anarchy. It would be injustice to say that the Irish emigrants are more