He got
a servant boy and a cart; but on going again to where Sullivan was
lying, he found life was extinct. The jury having consulted, the foreman
announced their verdict in these terms: "From the multitude of deaths
which have taken place in the locality, and the number of inquests which
have already been held, without any good resulting, he thought, with his
fellow-jurors, that they ought to bring in a general verdict,
inculpating Lord John Russell, as the head of the Government. That
Minister had the power of keeping the people alive, and he would not do
so. Notwithstanding the fatal consequences which had attended his
policy, he had expressed his determination to persevere in the same
course, and therefore he (the foreman) thought that he was guilty of
this death and of the rest. He would bring in no other verdict but one
of _wilful murder_ against Lord John Russell." The Rev. Mr. Barry
suggested that the verdict should simply record the immediate cause of
death--starvation; and the jury might append their opinion as to how far
it was attributable to the neglect of Lord John Russell in yielding to
the interests of a class of greedy monopolists. The foreman said he
wished it should be remembered that the opinion which he had expressed
with reference to the conduct of the Government was that of men upon
their oaths.
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