Chapter XVIII, of Cassells Illustrated History of England, Volume 7 page 4

At length, then, after all his marvellous doublings, O'Connell was hunted into the meshes of the law. He was convicted of sedition, having pleaded guilty, but was not called up for judgment. This was made a charge against the government; with how little reason may be seen from the account of the matter given by lord Cloncurry. The time at which he should have been called up for judgment did not arrive till within a month or two of the expiration cf the statute under which he was convicted, and which he called the "Algerine Act." Under these circumstances, lord Cloncurry strongly urged upon the viceroy the prudence of letting him escape altogether, as his incarceration for a few weeks, when he must be liberated with the expiring act, "would only have the appearance of impotent malice, and, while it might have created dangerous popular excitement, would but have added to his exasperation, and have given him a triumph upon the event of his liberation that must so speedily follow."