the matter being there and then finally disposed of, so
that it might no longer be in the power of any malicious person wholly
unconnected with the case to prosecute them at his pleasure.

The trial was then proceeded with. The persons charged were of course
found guilty. Judge Willis was very lenient, and sentenced them to a
nominal fine of five shillings each, expressly stating as a reason for
this slight punishment that more than ample recompense had already been
obtained in the civil action.[123]

With respect to the indictments against Collins, the Judge's appeal to
the Attorney-General was not altogether without efficacy,
notwithstanding the ill blood between them. The fact is that the latter
was glad enough of any excuse for abandoning the two prosecutions
instituted by Boulton and Jarvis, feeling well assured that there was no
likelihood of securing a conviction in either case. He could subserve
his own and his friends' interests, and at the same time assume the
appearance of deferring to the suggestion from the bench. The consent of
the prosecutors having been obtained, he therefore announced in open
Court that he would proceed no further upon those indictments. He added,
however, that there were further indictments against Collins which had
emanated from the Grand Jury, and that he could not with proper
deference to them at once relinquish proceedings therein. "But I have no
objections to state," said the Attorney-General, "that I will forbear
any further action during the present Assizes, and that in proceeding or
not hereafter, I shall be governed in a great measure by the sense which
the defendant shall show of his duty and obligations as the conductor of
a public newspaper." Bail was accordingly furnished by Collins on one of
the presentments. The other was tacitly allowed to lapse; and there, for
the time, the matter ended.

The editor of the _Freeman_ certainly gave the Attorney-General no
excuse for leaving him unmolested. In each successive issue of his paper
he lashed the whole race of officials, to some of whom he applied the
most opprobrious epithets. The Government organs pursued a similar
course on their side, and characterized Collins and his friends in
language too gross for quotation. The Attorney-General probably repented
that he had not proceeded on at least one of the indictments during the
late Assizes, and resolved that another opportunity should not pass
unimproved. The autumn Assizes o