IRELAND.

The state trials at Dublin commenced on Monday, with the case of Mr Smith O'Brien. Mr. O'Brien's friends assembled in strength, and marched in orderly procession with him to the entrance of the Four Courts. On his entering and taking his place at the side-bar, he was greeted with cheers by a large portion of the general audience, and by many of the young barristers who crowded the professional benches. On the other hand, numerous opponents of the Young Irelanders raised a counter-cla- mour of disapproval. The pleadings were opened by Mr. Perrin; who explained, that the in- dictment charged the utterance of a seditious speech at a meeting of the Confederation Society, held on the 15th of March last. The speech of Mr. Monahan, the Attorney-General, was remarkable for brevity and mo- deration.

He had abstained from a state prosecution so long, he observed, that the charge was actually made against Government of allowing sedition to gain a certain pitch of success in order toput it down more effectually at last. Such unjusti- fiable conduct be disclaimed in strong terms. It was as much as anything to purge itself from this imputation, that Government had at last made an appeal to a jury. Turning personally to Mr. O'Brien, Mr. Monahan told him impres: sively—" You are yourself alone to blame for being now at the bar of violated justice; for you had a long and solemn warning of the intent of the Crown to preserve its dignity." The Attorney-General commented on the successive pas- sages charged as seditious in the indictment; seemingly with strong effect on the

bury, in regard to those in particular which suggested the formation of the Irish rigade in the United States. Mr. Hodges, the Government short-hand reporter, read over his notes of the proceedings and speeches at the Confederate meeting; Mr. Smith O'Brien engaging to interfere if he disagreed in recollection on any point reported. All the facts were at last admitted, exoept the Youghal address' • the document in comment upon which Mr. O'Brien had made his speech. The same copy that was read at the meeting of the Confederates was put in evidence.

A Juryman (Mr. Taylor) here interfered- " When you left the Music Hall, did you see any attack upon life or property ?" Mr. Hodges—" I did not."

Juror—" Then, as far as you could see, you don't know of any bad result having 0..erirred in consequence of that speech? " Mr. Hodges—"N°." Edward Bannon, a Police-Inspector, present at the meeting, was exa- mined as to his understanding of those parts of Mr. O'Brien's address in which he recommended fraternity between the People and Police. Witness understood them to be inducements to the Police to swerve from their fide- lity to the Crown. A second Juror pat the same question to Bannon that Mr. Taylor put to Mr. Hodges; and received the same answer.

Mr. Butt, Q. C., defended Mr. O'Brien. In commencing, he glanced at the station of his client; at his ancient family and lineage—a lineage so noble that the Lord-Lieutenant, who now prosecuted him, was proud to claim relationship to his family; at the great stake in pre-

peace which his large possessions gave him; and at his acknowledged "od faith and personal worth. He told the Jury that they could not be free non prejudice already incurred: addresses had been got up to excite the public mind; the town had been filled with soldiers, in imaginary precaution against dis- turbance; and the impression had been encouraged that a bloody insurrection was imminent. His only instruction was, neither to retract nor disavow the prosecuted speech; his only duty, to satisfy them that under the cir- cumstances that speech was not seditious. The indictment untruly charged Mr. O'Brien with trying to upset the authority of the Queen and inciting to re- bellion; but it contained not a word of the real crime, if any, which Mr. Smith O'Brien had been guilty of,—namely, an honest endeavour to bring the Union into contempt. The speech asserted the right of the People of Ireland alone to make laws for Ireland: that had been the doctrine of Flanker, Buahe, and Saurin; and were the opinion of those illustrious Irishmen now to be branded as sedi- tious? The address quoted in the speech also said, " We believe in the right of au oppressed nation to assert its liberties by arms." That was the fundamental assertion of the English Revolution of 1688; it was the truth for questioning which Sacheverell had been tried and found guilty ; and it was the doctrine laid down by Paley and by Locke; and the same now taught by our professors to the students in the college-halls of our universities. It was the rale of law for vio- lating which James the Second had been driven from the throne; which was em- bodied in the Bill of Rights of 1688; and which would ,justify resistance at this day if the Queen of this day were rash enough to infringe the sacred rights of citizens. He therefore admitted and justified the advice to the Irish nation to assume an attitude of ability to vindicate its liberties if assailed. But Mr. O'Brien had dis- claimed Republicanism, and Mr. Butt then and there repeated that disclaimer for him. He was a firm supporter of the Queen's throne, and would die on the scaf- fold sooner than deny his loyalty. His aim had not been against the Queen's au- thority, but against the present constitution of Parliament and in favour of the old constitution. He had spoken for an Irish Parliament, as Lord Minto had lately asked for a Sicilian Parliament; he had asked foreign nations for their sym- pathy—not for their invasion by Irish brigades—as Lord Palmerston had expres- sed his sympathy and interest in the liberty of the people of Spain; and he had advised arming in vindication of their rights, as the same Minister had declared to the Governmenttof _ Portugel test the people there would rise and assert by arms tsar right to a freeParliament which their Sovereign would net "Voluntarily grant. Mr. Butt reviewed the policy of Government since the Union, and declared that it had been uniformly characterized by a contempt for Irishmen: he alluded to a declaration of Mr. Macaulay, that Repeal could not be granted even if Ireland were unanimous as it would not be for-England's weal; and he quoted late wri- finp in the Times ridiculing Irish courts of justice, and articles in the Examiner by Mr. Thomas Carlyle, scoffing at the Irish gentry. He besought the Jury to

'm that the day of insult to Ireland had gone by; and to tell the British ter that he is a traitor to his Queen who advises her to found the British power in Ireland on any basis other than the affections of the Irish people.

Mr. Butt was interrupted by applause more than once: as he sat down a greater manifestation than before was made. The Chief Justice ordered one person into custody for load and repeated cheering; but the audience refused to the end to remain quite silent.

Sergeant Warren replied to Mr. Butt; with frequent ejaculations and un- favourable interruptions from the audience.

The Chief Justice summed up at much length; not quite in the tone of an English Tindal or Pattison, still with marked calmness and fairness of comment. He impressed particularly on the Jury, that their discretion was quite uncontrolled by the authority of the Judge; and referred them solely to their own sense of integrity and of the obligations of their oaths, as the guides under which they must arrive at a verdict.

The Jury retired at half-past six. At ten they were summoned to the presence of the Judge; and it was found that they were not unanimous. They returned to their room of deliberation, and were locked up for the night; asking in vain for refreshments and comforts. Next day, at the sitting of the Court, it was announced by the Foreman that there was still no agreement, nor any prospect of one. The Attorney-General intimated his opinion that the Jury should no longer be detained. The Chief Justice concurred, and ordered their discharge.

On Tuesday, Mr. Meagher was tried for his speech at the meeting of the Confederates held on the 17th of March.

In that speech, Mr. Meagher spoke of the proposed election of the Council of Three Hundred, and of a Deputation to be chosen therefrom who should go to the foot of the Queen and petition for Repeal. He thought the demand of such a deputation would be influentiaL But he continued—" If this demand be refusea, then, I say, let the Irish Deputies pack up their court-dresses, as Benjamin Franklin did when repulsed from the Court of George the Third; and then and there let theca take solemn oath, that next time they demand admission to the Court of St. James's, it shall be through the accredited ambassador of an Irish Republic." * • * " I say it deliberately, it would then be our duty to fight,

and desperately." * * • If the constitution open to ns no path to "freedom— if the Union will be maintained in spite of the will of the Irish people—if the Government of Ireland insist on being a Government of dragoons, of bombardiers of detectives, of light infantry—then I say, tip _with the barricades, and invoke

the God of Battles." " Should we fail, the country will not be worse than it is now."

The opening speech of the Attorney-General was as commendable in spirit as his speech on Monday; but it was spoken with evident doubt as to its effect. As before, the leanings of some of the Jury were revealed early in the trial by questions put to witnesses. Mr. Butt repeated much of his oration of the preceding day; speaking with more confidence iu general principles, but with increased effort to keep the Jury independent of the influence of the Judge. He insisted so muck on their duty to disregard religious prejudices, that one of the Jury (M11. Ferrell) was provoked to interfere- " I would rather, Mr. Butt, you did not refer to religions distinctions. I don't think you are doing a service. I protest when I was going into the box I thought the defendant was of a different persuasion. I would rather not hear any reli- gious distinctions introduced into the case; I would rather let it stand upon its own merits. We are all of us unanimous upon that point." Mr. Walshe (another Juror)—" I offer no opinion; but we are not unanimous." (Laughter.) As Mr. Butt sat down, the applause of the day before was renewed, but in a fashion which baffled the Judge's efforts to discover individual offend- ers—by loud and continued stamping and scuffling of the feet. Sergeant Warren replied. The Chief Justice, in summing up, said that the language of the tra- verser must be judged by its ordinary and obvious meaning, as understood by its hearers: he thought that meaning was clearly seditious in the pre- sent case; but the Jury would judge for themselves. On Wednesday morning, the Foreman announced that no agreement wee to be hoped for.

Mr. Ferrell (one of the Jurors)—" We are all agreed, my Lord, but one, and he is a Roman Catholic." [The fact is; says the report in the Times, eleven of the Jury were in favour of a conviction, and but one for an acquittal, and that one Mr. Walshe. 1 The Chief Justice—" Then you are discharged, gentlemen."

It is stated that fresh trials will take place in the sittings after next term.'

Mr. Mitchel was arrested on Saturday evening, under the Crown and Government Security Act, for felonious writings in the United Irishman of the 6th and 19th instant. He was taken before a Magistrate on sworn in- formations, and committed to Newgate, to await his trial by the next commission, which sits today. On Wednesday an application was made by Sir Coleman O'Loghlen to obtain Mr. Mitchel's liberation on bail but the Chief Justice refused to consent, unless on an undertaking that there should in the mean time be no repetition of such articles as those for which Mr. Mitchel is now prosecuted. Sir Coleman was not instructed to engage so far, and the application was refused.

The accounts of the Irish crops are much more favourable than they were a few days ago: the reports of disease in the potatoes are not renewed!,