or Heaven only knows how many of the counts in the indictments
against--say Mr Fauntleroy; Messrs Thistlewood, Brunt, Tidd, and Ings;
Messrs Greenacre, Courvoisier, and many others--have been defective in
law! How many hundreds are now luxuriating in Norfolk Island who have,
on this supposition, no just right to be there; and who, had they been
but _popular_ miscreants, might have collected sufficient funds from
their friends and admirers to enable them to prove this--to try a fall
with justice and show her weakness; to overhaul the proceedings against
them, detect the latent flaws therein, return in triumph to the bosom of
their families and friends, and exhibit new and greater feats of
dexterity in their art and mystery! Why should not that "_innocent_"
convict--now passing over the seas--Mr Barber, on hearing of this
decision, soon after his arrival at the distant paradise to which he is
bound, take new heart and remit instructions by the next homeward bound
ship for a writ of error, in order that he may have _his_ chance of
detecting a flaw in one of the many counts of _his_ indictment?

But, to be serious again, how stands the case in the present instance?
Of eleven counts, six must be in legal contemplation expunged from the
record: FOUR, (the first, second, third, and fourth,) because, though in
themselves sufficient in law, the findings upon them were technically
defective; and TWO, (the sixth and seventh,) because they were
technically defective in point of law, though the findings on them were
unobjectionable.

Then there remain FIVE PERFECT COUNTS WITH FIVE PERFECT FINDINGS, in the
opinion of all the judges and of all the law lords; those five _counts_
containing the gist of the whole charge against O'Connell and his
confederates--those five _findings_ establishing that the defendants
were guilty of the offences so laid to their charge. Blot out, then,
altogether from the record the six counts objectionable on the
above-mentioned grounds, how are the other five to be got rid of? Thus,
said the traversers' counsel. We have the entire record before us
containing all the eleven counts and findings, both good and bad; and we
find by the language of the record itself, that the judges, in passing
sentence, _took into consideration all the eleven counts_, as if they
had been valid counts with valid findings--for the judges expressly
inflicted punishment on each of the traversers "_for his_ OFFENCES
_aforesaid_." Is