12 FEBRUARY 1831, Page 9

The Government prosecutions against the Irish agitators will soon come

to an issue. Mr. 0.CONNELL and the other traversers having sought to withdraw their pleas of demurrer, and to plead guilty to all the counts of the indictment against them, the Court has made the following order : "Let the demurrers be withdrawn, and the plea of Not Guilty be en- tered—the traversers undertaking to accept notice and go to trial in the Sittings after Term, and conditioning, in case of a. verdict of Guilty, to submit to a judgment instanter—not to move in arrest of judgment, nor for a new trial; the traversers at the same time being bound to appear personally." Both parties, say the Dublin letters, claim the victory. If justice finally prevail, we care not which party gains the victory or loses it. It is obvious, however, that in the mean time, O'CoNNELL, and not the Attorney-General, is the defeated man : he is kept in Dublin, contrary not only to his expressed wish, but to his express boast ; and he has bound himself, if judgment go against him, to submit to it implicitly. Such a result to his legal objections could not have been anticipated by himself nor by any one that trusted in him. Had he pleaded not guilty at once, he would have been in a much better position than he is.