aw take its course against Mr
O'Connell--and that, let him act as he pleased, judgment would be
passed against him--still, in spite of this determination of the
government, so emphatically announced by the Irish Secretary, the
statute on which the proceedings were founded was actually suffered to
expire, without any previous steps having been taken against the state
delinquents. There has ever been that degree of mystery about this
event, which invariably rouses attention and excites curiosity; the
escape of those parties was a great triumph over the powers, or the
expressed inclinations of the government, which was well calculated to
set the public mind at work to discover the latent causes which
produced such strange and unexpected results. After an interval of
seven years, another case occurred, which was not calculated
materially to lessen the impression already made upon the public; for
although, in the following instance, the prosecution was conducted to
a successful termination, yet questions of such grave importance were
raised, and fought with such ability, vigour, and determination, that
the accomplishment of the ends of justice, if not prevented, was
certainly long delayed.

On the 17th December 1838, twelve prisoners were brought to Liverpool,
charged in execution of a sentence of transportation to Van Diemen's
Land for having been concerned in the Canadian revolt. Here the
offenders had been tried, convicted, sentenced, and actually
transported. The prosecutors, therefore, might naturally be supposed
to have got fairly _into_ port, when they saw the objects of their
tender solicitude fairly _out_ of port, on their way to the distant
land to which the offended laws of their country had consigned them.

If justice might not account her work as done, at a time when her
victims had already traversed a thousand leagues of the wide
Atlantic, when could it be expected that the law might take its course
without further let or hindrance? On the 17th of December, as has been
observed, the prisoners arrived at Liverpool, and were straightway
consigned to the care and custody of Mr Batcheldor, the governor of
the borough jail of Liverpool; by whom they were duly immured in the
stronghold of the borough, and safely placed under lock and key.
Things, however, did not long continue in this state. In a few days
twelve writs of _habeas corpus_ made their sudden and unexpected
appearance, by which Mr Batcheldor was command