28 DECEMBER 1867, Page 2

The examinations of the Fenians Desmond, English, Mullaney, and O'Keefe

for blowing up the Clerkenwell House of Detention have not Yet been very satisfactory. -Vaughan, a deserter from H.M.'s 58th Regiment and a Fenian, is the principal witness against them, and according to him, they certainly had formed a plan to blow up the wall of the exercising yard, and one of them, just before the explosion, asked him to pray for him if he was blown up. But there is a Father O'Connor introduced into the story, the only Father O'Connor in England is paralytic, and the notion of Catholic priests joining or being permitted to join the society is a new feature in its organization requiring proof. Remands have been granted for further evidence, and it will be well for the public to suspend its full judgment until the whole of the facts are before it. How does it happen that the police cannot trace the barrel or the powder? Thirty-six gallons of gun- powder is not a quantity to be purchased incidentally for rook shooting.