FLORENCE O,NEILL; OR,THE SIEGE OF LIMERICK.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 130, 29 October 1875, Page 6

FLORE NCE O,NEILL; OR, THE SIEGE OF LIMERICK.

Ashton's forehead ; Elliot and Lord Preston seem still cool and free from fear. Suddenly Ashton remembered the packet the latter had, said he had placed beneath his pillow, and hastens to the cabin to see if he had secured it. There it still was, in the spot Lord Preston had named, and secreting it in his breast-pocket, Ashton a gain went on deck, and signed his friends to follow him to the further end of the vessel. One short moment of intense suspense, the little bark has stopped, she has touched at Gravesend, in obedience to a peremptory command issued by the master of the larger vesselIts occupants confer a few moments together. The next moment they axe on board Ashton's little craft, and -he hno-ws his hour of trial has come. Approaching the side of the 3hip, he thrusts his right hand -within his breast-pocket, intending to drop ■veer the edge of the vessel the dangerous papers he had unconcealed on his person ; but even as he clutches the satal packet, his arm is withheld by a powerful grasp, and he and' Ms companions are commanded in the name of King "William and Queen Mary, to consider themselves under arrest. Then came the search, and in Ashton's trunk, concealed amongst his clothes, were found papers containing evidence of the "birth of the Prince of Wales. The packet he had taken from Lord Preston's pillow included letters from the Bishop of Ely, Lord Clarendon, and. other persons of rank and consideration, with proposals to King James to reinstate him on tie throne if he would undertake to provide for the security of tbe Church of England, bestow employments on Protestants preferably to Catholics, live a Catholic in religion, but reign a Protestant as to Government, and bring over with him only so much power as would be necessary for his defence, and to rid the country of the foreign power that had invaded it. Under a strong guard the unfortunate Ashton and his friends were convened back to London, as soon as the tide served. Lord Preston being sent to the Tower, Ashton and Elliot to a prison. An agonising fortnight and then Lord Preston and John Ashton were tried at Old Bailey, the indictment setting forth that they were compassing the deaths of their majesties, the king and queen. In his defence Lord Preston urged that he had no hand in hiring the vessel, that no papers were found on him, that the whole proof against him rested on mere supposition. He was, however, declared guilty. Ashton was confronted by Mrs. Pratt, she being the chief ■witness against him. Pale and care-worn, indeed, he appeared, as he stood at the dock, hoping nothing that his life would be spared, when he found himself brow-beaten by the bench and the jury, and pretty confident, from the line of defence adopted by the craven-hearted nobleman^ Lord Preston, that he was prepared to ensure his own acquittal, even if by so doing it procured Ashton's condemnation. The counsel for the prosecution then set forth that on Ashton's body were found papers containing the whole gist of the conspiracy, being a' design to alter the government by a French power and aid, adding that the letters •would ,be found, £when read, to contain a black and wicked conspiracy to 'introduce, and, by means of a Popish interest, settle our laws, liberties and properties by a French army ; and if the plot had taken effect, of course we should have had any religion and laws the French king might be pleased to impose. "When the counsel had concluded, 'Mrs. [Pratt and the other •witnesses were called, and after they had given their evidence, _ Ashton was asked if he had anything to say in his defence. A breathless silence pervaded the whole court when he began to speak. He behaved with intrepidity and composure, though several times contemned by the bench. He solemnly declared that he was ignorant of the contents of the papers that had been found on his person, complained of having been denied time to prepare for his trial, and called several persons to prove him a Protestant of exemplary piety and irreproachable morals. It was no avail ; the- papers, it was insisted, had been found in his possession, and though it was an axiom of the boasted English law that no man shall be deemed guilty till he had been tided, the judge and the jury had convicted him in their own o)>£inds from the first, the sentence of death was accordingly passed against him. Elliot was acquitted without a trial, there being no evidence against him.