afty, all included in one indictment,
eventually escaped the penalty due to their crimes; but, among the
multitude of cases which were then tried, this was, we believe, the
only instance even of partial failure. In spite of this single
miscarriage of the government, the great object of these proceedings
was completely answered; the end of all punishment was attained; the
vengeance which the law then took had all the effect which the most
condign punishment of these few men could have accomplished; the
constitutional maxim of "_poena ad paucos, metus ad omnes_," has been
amply illustrated by these proceedings; Chartism has been suppressed,
by the temperate application of the constitutional means which were
then resorted to for the correction of its violence, and the
prevention of its seditious schemes.

We must not omit to mention the instances of signal and complete
success which have been, from time to time, exhibited in other
prosecutions against Feargus O'Connor and different members of the
Chartist body, within the period of which we speak. On none of these
occasions has the course of justice been hindered, or even turned
aside; but the defendants have, we believe, without exception, paid
the penalty of their crimes by enduring the punishments awarded by the
court.

The recent trials of the Rebecca rioters were also signally successful
and effective; and the prejudices of a Welsh jury, which some feared
would prove a fatal stumblingblock, were overcome by the dispassionate
appeal to their better judgment then made by the officers of the
crown.

From a review of the cases, it therefore appears, that the failures of
a state prosecution have been comparatively few; and that the crown
has met with even more than the average success which the "glorious
uncertainty of the law" in general permits to those who tempt its
waywardness, and risk the perils of defeat. The welfare and interest
of the nation, however, lie in the _general_ results of these
proceedings, rather than the _particular event_ of an individual
trial. Therefore, though we should assume that a part only of what was
intended has been accomplished, still if that portion produces the
same general results as were hoped for from the successful
accomplishment of the whole, the object of the government has been
attained. Now, it may be observed, that, with perhaps the single
exception of the case of Mr O'Connell in 1831, the end and object of
all state prosec