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 O' Connell's Last Case. diets he was only fighting fire with fire, and placing the defence as near on a level with the prosecution as was possible. There was another reason why O'Connell fought as he did; the most trivial offence was punished by long transportation or

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on the occasion of the trial of the so-called Doneraille conspirators. An unpopular Irish justice of the peace had been murdered, and in the investigation the Crown professed to have unearthed a con spiracy to kill a number of oppressive local

DANIEL O CONNELL.

death, in fact, as one judge declared on the bench, it "was cheaper for the government to hang a man than to keep him in prison." O'Connell was strongly opposed to the death penalty for any crime. O'Connell's last appearance in court was

magnates. One hundred and fifty persons were indicted, and were to be tried in three batches of fifty each. In the defence of the first batch O'Connell was not engaged, and they were all convicted and sentenced, lads of fifteen and old men of