A FAILURE OF JUSTICE

The probable course of the trials of the Belfast rioters at Omagh may be speculated on from the result of the trial of Mr. Arthur Donnelly, of Lurgan, who was charged with the high crime and misdemeanour of defending his house last June from a howling mob of loyalist ruffians filled with the amiable desire to sack and burn it. The trial came off on Tuesday, 7th December. That there was no case was plainly felt by the Crown, for the Attorney-General was as gentle as a sucking dove in his statement for the prosecution, and Mr. Justice Lawson, in his address to the jury, went as nearly telling them that Mr. Donnelly was justified in what he did on the occasion as judicial usage would permit. The evidence of the witnesses, and especially the police, showed that it was a most outrageous riot, and that Mr. Donnelly's premises and person were in the most imminent danger; yet the jury were discharged without being able to agree to a verdict! What would the Orange Press in Dublin, and the worse than Orange Times, say if the circumstances of the case had been reversed? We know, or we can guess.

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