The Government has instituted proceedings against Mr. R. Pigott, publisher
of the Irishman, for publishing " unlawful and seditious libels." The libels complained of are, first, a letter from New York urging insurrection, in very vague but still unmistakable terms ; secondly, an article extracted from the Irish People of New York, but headed in Dublin "Ireland's Opportunity," urging the despatch of from 5,000 to 20,000 Irish Americans to invade the island; thirdly, a resolution of the Fenian Brotherhood, quoted from the Boston Pilot ; and fourthly, a letter from Colonel Kelly, suggest- ing that commerce could be paralyzed in Liverpool, Manchester, ,Ecc., by Greek fire, and threatening that unless Fenians are treated as prisoners of war " reprisals will be made among the heads of the British Government." Colonel Kelly's letter, we may remark, was called out by an extraordinary misapprehension of an article in the Spectator, written to urge that Englishmen should not hold Irishmen responsible for Fenianism, not, as he fancied, so to hold them. We have commented on the prosecutions elsewhere, but may say here that except in the case of Kelly's letter it will be most difficult to prove motive. It is hard, though not always unjust, to prosecute for extracts from journals beyond prosecution.
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