COLLEGE OF THE SACRED HEART ^2SS1 m I n 1 1 1 I I m I 1 I, > g^ GIFT OF Ar chbishop Gushing .; y^C/.tiUA. THE SPEECHES THE RIGHT HONORABLE JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN. WITH MEMOIR AND HISTORICAL NOTICES, THOMAS DAVIS, ESa, M.R.LA. BARRISTER-AT-LAW. jfourtft BUitiott. Butlin : JAMES. DUFFY AND SONS, 15 Wellington Quay, AND 1 Paternoster ilo^Y, London. ^' \0 3453 BC^TON COUEGE UBRARY a«STNUT HILL, MA MAR 1 6 1987, PREFACE. In 1807, a few of Curran's bar speeches were published. Tho edition, three thousand copies, was sold rapidly, and a second edition followed, in which some of his parliamentary speeches were added. In 1811, soon after his judgment in Merry v. Power, Stockdale publisiied a third edition, containing tliat Judgment j but otherwise unimproved from the second. In 1843, a collection was published with ten speeches, not in any former edition, and a short memoir written by the present editor , but* the writer of that memoir did not edit the speeches. They were printed, without correction, or notes, or arrangement, from Stockdale's volume, and the pamphlet reports, and they were struck off without having been ever seen by the writer of the memoir. The present edition is arranged chronologically, with a singlo exception. It contains six of Curran*s bar speeches, and thirty- three of his parliamentary speeches, not in an^ former edition, and no pains have been spared to get the best reports. The iUuatrative matter may. be thought too ample. With most of the parliamentary speeches, some account Is given of the state of politics connected with the question, and of the progress and result of the debate. Prefixed to, or following, each of the legal speeches will be found, the facts and events of the case, and, in many instanoos, short biographies of (Jurran's clients Vl FREFACa. It WAS hoped by this to communicate to the reader some of th<. aiiiiute interest felt by a cotemporary, and to supply a better illustration of Curran's march through life, than could be given in a short memoir. Great attention has been paid to fiTir>g precise dates. Some documents, as the briefs in Sheares* case, dictated by John Sheares, being inaccessible to the public, have been largely quoted. To the historian of Curran's time, whenever he arises, some of these things may be useful. There are, doubtless, many errors in the volume ; but as this really is the first attempt to illustrate and correct Curran's speeches, and as it has been made amid the anxieties and occu- pations of political life, perhaps they will be corrected and not cavilled at Any correction however, no matter how offered, will l9e wtlcjome, T.3X CONTENTS. Memoir of Jolin Philpot Curran Flood's Reform Bill, Nov. 29, 1783, privilege of Commons on ^Money Bills, Dec. 16, 1783, Retrenchment, Feb. 14, 1785, Militia v. Volunteers, Feb, 14, 1785, On Attachments, Feb. 24, 1785, Orde's Commercial Propositions, Juno 30, 1785, ' . The Same, July 23, 1785, The Same, Aug. 11, 1785, .... The Same, Aug. 12, 1785, The Same, Aug. 16, 1785, .... The Portugal Trade, March 11, 1786, Pensions, March IS, 1786, .* . , * Outrages in the South, Jan. 19, 1787, . The Kingdom of Kerry, Jan. 23, 1787^ Right Boy Bill, Feb. 19, 1787, . The Same, Feb. 2D, 1787, . Limitation of Pensions, March 12, 1787, Tithes, March, 13, 1787, . . . , Navigation Act, March 20, 1787 Contraband Traie, Feb. 19, 1788, . Madnesss of George III., Feb. 6, 1789, Regency, Feb. 11, 1789, . . . The Same, Feb. 20, 1789, Disfranchisement of Excise Officers, April 21, 17^0 num. 41 i\ 41 46 48 52 53 54 56 56 61 6T 6£ 70 73 76 79 81 82 6a 90 Ml Viii CONTENTS PAGR Dublin Police, April 25, 1789, . . -94 Stamp Officer's Salaries, Feb. 4, 1790 , 9"' Pensions, Feb. 11, 1790, . . . . .101 Election of Lord Mayor of Dublin — Before the Privy Council, on bebalf of the Corporation — July 10, 179o.« . . 103 Government Corruption, Feb. 12, 1791, . .131 Catholic Emancipation, Feb. 18, 1792, . . . 138 Esran v, Kiadillan, (Seduction,) for Defendant, . . . 14S War with France, Jan. 11, 1793, . . . .147 Parliamentary Reform, Feb. 9, 1793, . . . .152 For Archibald Hamilton Kowan, (Libel), Jan, 29, 1794, . 153 The Same (to set aside Verdict,) Feb. 4, 1794, . 182 For Drogheda Defenders (High Treason.) April 23, 1794, "^ . 190 For Northern Star (Libel), May 28, 1794, . . 205 For Doctor Drennan (Libel), June 25, 1794, . . 196 For Rev. William Jackson (High Treason), April 23,;i795, . 211 Catholic Emancipation, May 4, 1795, . . 233 State of the Nation, May 15, 1795, ... 236 For Dublin Defenders (High Treason) Dec. 22, 1795, 221 Indemnity Bill, Feb. 3, 1796, . . . . '. 243 Channel Trade, Feb. 15, 1796, . . . .244 Insurrection Bill, Feb. 25, 1796, . . . .246 French War, Oct. 13, 1796, . • . . .248 Suspension of the Habeas Corpus, Oct. 14, 1796, . . 254 Catholic Emancipation, Oct. 17, 1796 . . 256 Hoche's Expedition, Jan. 6, 1797, . . ' . • 261 Internal Defence, Feb. 24, 1787, . . . . 264 Disarming of Ulster, March 20, 1797, .... 266 Last Speech in the Irish Commons (on Parliamentary Reform), May 15, 1797, ...... 270 For Peter Finnerty (Libel), Dec. 22, 1797, . . .276 For Patrick Finney (High Treason), Jan. 16, 1798, . 299 For Henry Sheares (High Treason), July 4, 179S, , .315 The Same, Julv 12, 1798, ... .827 Ffir Oliver Bond CHigh Treason)? July 24, 1798, . . 341 OONTEMk. Tor Lady Pamela Fitzgerald and her Cliildi-en — At the Bar of the Irisli House of Commons — August 20, 1798, . 355 ?or Napper Tandy (Outlawry), May 19, 1800, . . . 362 Against Sir Heury Hayes (Abduction of Misa Pike), April 13, 1801, * 370 flerey v. Major Sirr (Assault and False Imprisonment), fc Plaintiff, May 17, 1802, . . . . . b«4 For Owen Kirwan (High Treason), Sept. 1, 1803, . . 395 Against Ensign John Costley (Conspiracy to Murder), Feb. 23, 1804, . . . . . . . 406 VlassY V. Headfort (Criminal Conversation), for Plaintiff, July 27, 1804, ...... 411 Forjudge Johnson (Habeas Corpus), Feb. 4, 1805, . 424 Merry v. Power (Decision when Master of the Roils), . 457 Wowry Election, Oct. 17,1812, . Jfi- MEMOIR or TH£ UIGHT HONORABLE JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN Ir the north-vrest. comer of the coimty of Cork stands the little town of Newmarket It ii In a land of moors and streams. Just^north of it slope the Ure hills, part of the upjmt »lilch sweeps forty miles across from LiscarroU to Tra.ee, and far south of it, over the ral ley of the Biackwater, frown the mountains of Moskeny, changing as they approach Kil lamey, into predpitous peaks. A brook tnmhles on each side of it to the Avendala river Md, b, few miles oflT, the Avendala and Alio, and a dozer other trihntaries swell the tide o the Biackwater. In old times the town belonged to the M'Auliffes, a small but roaolute clan. One of "Hiei coatles was close by. They ranged their conlined pikemen and hardy kerne under the t»anners of M'Carha or Desmond, and shared the fktd of their suierains in the days oi Queen Eli2abetlL Then much was changed. To the M'AuliflFes succeeded the Aldworths, an Anglo-Saxon family. ' A grant and char ter from James L, confirmed by Charles IL. made them owners of a great estate and lordi of a manor ofS2,(K)0 acres. Among their pari vilegea was the right to hold a market on every Thursday, and, on this account, the town came to be called Newmarket. The castle o' M'AuUlTo fell to ruin— it is to this day empty and plctureaque. The Aldworths built stiH nearer the town a great substantial " Newmarket House," and surrounded it with aim, and beech, and sycamore, and made a straight avenue of ash trees, which grew to be giant«— for the family, though hospitable and good, were not so extravagant as their neighbours— • ibridge succeeded the ford, and the parish church of Clonfert rose over the western brook. Some gentry of both races grew up around the town, and it went on improving, until seve- ral snug houses and a lot of cabins were clustered in it. Two roads — one from Mallow to Tralee, and the other from Charlevillo to KtUamey — crossed in the town, and, therefore act a few horsemen and footmen, fish-joulters and tinkers, lords and pedlars, going between Cork and Keiry, passed through Newmarket. In this town Curran was bom and bred. John Philpot Curran was the son of a Judge ! It happened in this way. EmIt in th^ last century, " One Curran. from the North," settled in the town, and had a son J.cnee. who learned reading, writing, and cyphering, certainly, and it is said, some Greek aaa latin. The son of a ITorth-cftuntry Protestant, thus instracted, Jsxnx Currm waa patr> fczed by the Aldworth family, and was finally appointed by them Seneschal of tkoir Uadot 9f Newmarket. As ^jiisochal h^ iiaci j'lrLsdictioa to ths valne of tor.-j iiiUUng^ %bA thP* the father of Curran was a judije Tliia James Corran was an ugly man, for he bore a coarse likeness to his son, and 'tis coi- taln ho WJ^ aii ordinary souL Nevertheless, a judge and a scholar, he had honour in liis native place, and vron the hand of Sarah Philpot. She was of gentle tlood, and, what is more to our piu-pose, she had a deep, fresh, womanly irregular mind ; it was like the cletf river of her to^ra, that came gushing and flashing and discoursing from the lonely mou)i- tains— from the outlaw's and the fairy's home — doijvn to the village. She had, under ari exalted piety, a waste of passions and traditions lying gi-and and gloomy in her soul, and Ihence, a bright human love of her son came pouring out on him, and making hin. gro ftt her feet. Well, then, did he place on her toml) in NeviTuarket tlus inscription :- vHESK LIES THJi BODY OF SAliAH CUHRAN; She was marked hy Many Years; many Talents, many Virtues, few Failings, no Crime. This frail Memorial was placed here by a Son whom she loved,* On the 24th of July, 1750, when people in Newmarket were talking of Lucas's Popi:* plots, the Dublin Society, the war, and the Cork assizes, the house in which Seneschal Corran lived was agitated by the going in and out of midwife, nurse, and neighbours, and at a prosperous moment, his -n ife was delivered of her eldest bom, who, some days sdtet, was christened John Philpot. He grew up a light-limbed, short, brown boy, with an eye like a live coaL He had a sensitive heart, loved his little brothers and sister ; but he loved his mother best, and well he mighL She doated on him, and petted him, and taught him much. She soothed '^^rn with soft lullabies that sent the passions of his countiy into Ms young heart ; she flooded him with the stories and memories of the neighbourhood, she nursed up in him love» and truth, and earnestness, by her precept and her example, and she taught him his Bible. His father's position threw him into contact with high and low, informed him of the ways of all the people in the country, and must have sharpened his sagacity. There were in these days, too, more marked customs than there are now. Thrice ia tlui autumn, and once in the summer in came cattle and pigs, horse dealers and frieze-dealers, cheese and hens, match-makers and pedlars, to the fair of Ne-vvmarket, and Curran got hie toys and his share of the bustle and life with the rest. He was an early attendant at dances and wakes, and there he might gloat over traditions about the unfinished palace of Kan turk, and the hapless love of Catherine Ny Cormick ; he might hear the old strollers and rapparees tell of "William's wars, and the piper blow his meiTy jigs by the wild notes to which Alister M'Donnell marched to battle at Knocknanois, and the wilder ones with which the women mourned over his coi-pse. Such was the atmosphere in which he lived— the hiHs and the streams, his father's coorv the flairs and markets, and merry-makings, and his mother's lap. He learned much pas- sion and sharpness, and some vices, too. He went early to school, and it is said had a Kanturk boy, young Telverton (afterwaras Chief Baron Lord Avonmore) and Day his school-fellows ; but he ■rt'as a vehement boy, «bnder of fun than books. One mommg he was playing marbles in the bail -alley, and playing tricks too (for he was wild with winning taws) when in strolled a large, white-haired, kind looking old man Seeing the young marble winner the centre of fun, and as hearty as his own laugh ; the olq man was attracted by him, began a gossip, and finally, by a few cakes induced him to ge home to the Rectory This man was Mr. Boyse, who used to preach as earnestly as if ho wore pastor of the thousands of Roman CathoUcs who surrounded him, instead of minist«g> fag to the Aldworths, Aliens, Cmxans, and a few more. Mr. Boyse taught him reading, grammar, and the rudiments of the classics, " all he could." • She died in a yea; or two after he had become Maator of tha (UiSs, JOHN r. (JUKKAN, XUl Carran thriyed under his care, and never forgot him. Once leturaliig home to Ely Place, from a day of triumphant toil in court, he found a patriarch seated familiarlf Jt his drawing-room fire. It was his benefactor. Curran grasped him; "You are right, sir," he said, '• you are right ; the chimney-piece is yours— the pictures are yours— th« house is yours ; you gave me all I have— my friend, my father!" That night Boyse went nith the member for Filbeggan to " the old house in College Green." Curran was not "all -worli and no play" at Boyse's. He dashed out often— God blest ■'ji I One of his freaks was this : — A show was in the tOTim, and the string-pnUer being J, young Curran got leave to " manage." He went on properly enough for a while with the courtship and quarrels of Punch and Judy, but gradually made that matron tell her husband all the cosherings of Newmarket, and ended by quizzing the priest 1 Twas a bol4 trick, for which he and the show-box were tumbled into the gutter. Whether he did thJ< in Irish or English does not appear, for he spoke both languages before he could read either Still these were bursts; he was a willing pupil at Boyse's, and that kind, modest man, finding he could teach him no more, gave him a good man's advice, and sent him to Uiddle- ton school, partly at his own expense. One Carey kept this schooL He was a passabL man, who knew Greek and Latin welL In that flat-land town he worked up classics tot Trinity College. Ho was to enter tht Church, for his mother hoped "John would be a bishop." There he learned to love the sweet-Toiced romances of Virgil, the cold and exquisite lyrics of Horace, and the living deeds and men cf Homer, He carried much of them in his head, and generally ono of them in his pocket ever after. He used to read Homer once a year, and Phillips says he saw him reading the ^Eneid in a Holyhead packet, when every one else was deadly rick. How far the gaieties of Horace and Ovid, nt the example of JEne&s, influenced his natiir ally fine qualities as a wit and a lover, it in easy to guess ; but we see little other effect o^ Diese classics in Ms life. To be sure thcro are AOts of his classical punu to be found Ii. O'Regan and Phillips— some quotations in hl« speech for Judge Johnson— and a poem on a plate warmer, giving a history of •' The Decline told Fall" of the Heathen Gods. Bat except the likeness between the exordium of hie ioftmce of Rowan and Cicero's of Milo, there il little of classic influence observable la liis ^K)6di88.'.. Surely, he owes more to the wakes, and his mother's stories about ghosts and heroes, and to the Bible and Sterne, than to aB the classics ; and he got stiU more from his loving and ambitions sphit— from the changefiJ climate of his country, and from the restless tiaie^ wliich troubled him to action. Yet books of all kinds, English, French, and Latin, helped to give articulation to those laughs, and sighs, and curses. For 'tis in thesehis eloquence consists. He was sufiaciently ground at Middleton, to get a Sizarship in Trinity College. This traa on 16th June, 1767, when, therefore, he was not quite 17 years old. His tutor was Doctor Dobbin, who did nothing' for him. Asa Sizar he had free rooms and commonfl In College, and, thus rewarded, lie read a littlo (unlike most yonng men about hlm>— got a Scholarship in 1770— and began reading for a Fellowship. He was then and ever aa tamest, though not a monotonous student of men and booEs. ' Being designed for the Church, he studied divinity, and got aUttle of the mannerism d V\s intended profession, as we see in a prosy letter of consolation, written to his dear frien% * Dick Stack,"* in 1770. In his time he wrote two sermoni. One was written for this Dick Stack, to preach before the- Judges of Assize, at Cork. The other was preached ir. College Chapel, as a punishment, and in it he gloriously mimicked the Censor, Docto* Patrick Duigenan !— an eruption worthy of him who satirized Newmarket, when twelte "ears old- We cannot look at the College pulpit without fancying we see the giggling ey<» •Bd hear the solemn voice of that wild boy. Besides the classics and the Bible, he was fondest of Sterne, and of Rousseau's Eloisfc 5e liked metaphysical discussions, too, and they led him to a bargain vitU a fidaad,.th« the:i rare, of men supposing that they can leave their minds geuenliy i^j^orar.t t5d withoTJt accompli sbraeuts cr knowledge of life, provided they havd ree** JOHN P. CURKAN. i;.} tflron^ piles oi law books ; -mcaa. hearts, who piclar oOid to worthiness—Mockiieada, wM> oat aaguaif to see that plenty of skill is of more value than plenty of tools. It was not 80 with Corran. Besides his legal studies, he mastered the cliief Engliah slid French •writors, and s&vr what \ras going on about him in every court and the&tre, club &nd cellar in London- Inclination, probably, more than design led him to this, and yet he y>»i BM much of a self-teacher as ever lived- His health had been bad, and hia body weak. By cold baths, violent exercise, and attention to air and diet, he became robust ; and tliis, not- withstanding those excesses in drinking wMch were xmiversal at the time. His oratories training was as severe as any Greek ever underwent. Hisvoice was so bad that he was called at school "stuttering Jack Cmran," and hii manner was awkward and meaningless. By watching himself— by the daily habit oi declaiming Junius, Bolingbroke, and Shakespeai-e, before a looking-glass— and by constani artendance at debating societies, he turned his shilll and stumbling brogue into a fiexiblev •ustained, and divinely modulated voice ; his action became free and forcible, and he acquired perfect readiness in thinking and speaking on his legs. flia first essay in a debating society was in The Devils, of Temple-bar. It amounted tc s*ying, " Mr. Chairman," when he trembled, forgot, grew pale, grew red, grew hot, and Bonk down In a frights He attended the more regularly for a fortnight, and learned to saj " aye" or "no," boldly and distinctly. One night he went there with Apjohn and Duhigg- after & dinner of mutton, with extra punch- A ragged, greasy blockhead, at whose ana- chronisms he smiled, attack&i him as " Orator Mum." Curran, excited by wrath and whis- key, got up, and " dressed him better than he ever had been in his life." Loud applause, and a cold supper from the President, rewarded his vigour and confirmed It. Thencefor- ward he was a constant speake. at The Devils, The Robin Hood, and The Brown Bear. At tfaisdast he was known as " the little Jesuit of St. Omer," fi-om wearing a brown coat out" side a black, and making pro-Catholic speeches. He used sometimes get into black melancholy about Ireland and Newmarket Still oftener he suffered for want of money, and even thought of going to America. During his second year in London, he married Miss Creagh, daughter of Doctor Eiciiard Creagh, of Newmarket, a cousin of his. With her he got a woman he loved, though she fceems to have been lazy, and rather conceited- Her little fortune, and some money sent byhis family, supported him till 1775, when he was called to the bar. Curran's life has been made a long joke by the pleasant puerilities of his early biogi-^ phers. Even his son's excellent book has over-much of this vice. What avails it- us tc know the capital puns he made in College, or the smart epigrams he said to Macklia ; 05 at least, they should take a small place in large biographies, instead of the chief place iu sketches. These things are the empty shells of his deep-sea mind— idle things for triflers to classify But for men who, though in the ranks of life, are anxious to order their mindc by the stand of some commanding spirit — or for governing minds, who want to commune with hL» spirit in brotherly sjTnpathy and instruction— to such men, the puns are rubbish, aad !iie jokes chafC Pause then, oh ! reader, while, on the first day of Michaelmas Term, 1775, this John Pbilpot CmTan, the married man, aged twenty-five, is putting on Iiis wig, or bowing to the Benchers, ere he sit down a candidate for briefs. Pause, reader, and recal what this young brown la^vyer had iu him. The hills of DuhaUow had laid lines of beauty and shades of wildness on his eye and soul he had been shapened by the position of his family — ennobled by the force of his mother's mind — instructed in Irish traditions and music Knowing these, and such lore as Boyse couiwl teach liim, heileft Newmarket. This wild, fanciful, earnest boy then picked up daasics, experience, and ambition at iliddleton, and was ennobled by generous companions, refined hf study and society, and made fiery by love and pleasure in College. In London, amid his melancholy and mildness, he had a strong resolve to be great and good. His melancholy grew glorious, then, as-sun-lit clouds; and poverty sustained hii ambition against depression or dissipation. He was too proud-Jto live, or shine, or lovo upon the toleration of mankind. Ee'learnod to labour, becaose he longed to enjoy, lie scvi M£MOIi; OF continued to labooi- for litbour's own gieat sake— for labour is practical power. iSls datUi were great— his passions intense— his means nothing, save intellect. He knew that hi* soul was a treasury whcreAsith to give and to buy; a tongue, wherewith to win or persuade ^a light to illumine — an army to conquer — a spirit to worsnip and be worshipped. Noblj he prepared it in Fife, and passion, and hard tlioaght, even more than in books; and yet thfe znan is called idle and careless. He worked hard during his Apprenticeship ; but nov he iB a Master. Thus trained, accomplished, strong, passionate, and surrounded by competitors, he cani« to the bar. Well may his son say, that "instead of being surprised at his eminent success, the wonder would have been if such a man had failed." Even when he was called, he was known and prized, not as a 'flashy and unblushing dedaimer, but is an earnest and self-relying man, able to judge character and use know- ledge. His first brief was in a trivial Chancery motion, and the Devils' Club scene occurred over acain. His imagination so mastered him, that when Lord lifford bid him speak louder^ he became sUent, blushed, dropped his brief, and allowed a friend to finish the motion. Phillips describes him as having attended the Cork assizes, and " walked the hall term after term, without either profit or professional reputation." At this time Curran lodged in Eedmond's-hill, a street betT^-een Cuffe-street and Digges- street. The neighbourhood was one frequented by his profession. The Solicitor-GeneraJ lived in Cuffe-street, the Judge of the Prerogative in Bride-street, and Commissioners df Bankrupts were plenty as paving stones in Digges-street, as any one taking up that histo. rical novel " an old almanaclc," can see. Mr. Phillips caUs the place Hog-hill (there nevei was such a place in Dublin) 1 and makes a melo-dramatic picture of dirty lodgings, • starving wife, and a dunning landlady ; and then brings Curran home to And his flivi brief, " with twenty gold guineas, and the name of old Bob Lyons on the back of it !" Perhaps Mr. Lyons did, on Arthur Wolfe's recommendation, send twenty guineas and brief, in " Onnsby v. "WjTine, election petition," to Coimsellor CmTan's lodgings, and find- ing Curran a pleasant companion, asked him to Sligo,* for Lyons was in good business, ». hospitable sharp fellow, and had his office in Tork-street, near Curran's lodgings. But Curran made eighty-two guineas his first year, between one and two hundred the second, *nd increased more rapidly every year after. With this, and what his wife had, he could not have been starving, though certainly he was not rich- He rose rapidly and surely ; and his reputation among his intimates was higher than with the public— a sign of a genuine man. At last this matured genius foimd a great public opportunity, and used it. A cruei VTong had been done by one so high as to awe down aU advocates, and corrupt the foon ^ains of justice — there was need of an avenger, and he came. The Cork summer assizes of 17S0 are memorable, for there this Protestant lawyei appeared as voluntary counsel for a Roman Catholic priest against a Protestant noblemauj Was there ever such audacity ? To be sure, Lord Doneraile had acted like a ruffian. He had seduced a country girl. Shortly after, her brother broke some rule of his church. und was censured oy his bishop. The paramour sought Lord Doneraile's interference is her brother's favour. It was promptly given. Accompanied by a relative of his, a Mr. St. I^eger, ex-captain of dragoons, his lordship rode to the cabin in which Father Neale, the oarish priest, lived. Father Neale was an aged man, and a just and holy clergyman, but a very poor one. He was kneeling In prayer, when Doneraile's voice at the door ordered him Out Book In hand, with bare and hoary head and tottering step he obeyed, and heard al "-da lordship's stirrup a command to remove the censure from the convenient miscreant, whose sister Lord DoneraUe favoured. The priest was half a slave ; he muttered excoaes, * Lyons had a jolly house there on the fierce coast, amid a secluded Lish race, irttora Cumin naixed witli and learned fro*» JOliS r. CLKRAA'. xvL "he -wished to -aiul but for the bishop he would remove the censure,"— "bat he leai nn,t half a slave; he refused to break the iiiles to which he had sworn. A shower of hloiw f:om his lordship's horsewhip drove the old priest stumbling and bleeding into his hovel And yet every lawyer on the circuit had refused to act as counsel for this priest againrt tiiat lord, when John Curran volimteered to plead his caua& Reader ! think over all this, and you will get at something of the man and the country then. He did all that mortal could do, and more tlian any lawyer now or then woold- He grappled -with the baseness of Lord DoneraUe, and dragged his character out on the table. He left his instructions, and described Captain St Leger as " a renegade soldier," and •' drummed-out dragoon." He heaped every scorn on Lord Doneraile's witnesses from tlieir own story. He seemed to forget that he was speaking to tyrants— he treated the juiy as men ; he spoke as a man— >lrtuous, and believing others so. That jury, so adjured by genius, forgot penal laws, lordships, and ascendancyj remembered GrOd and their oaths and garre a verdict for Father Neale. Yeiily those thirty guineas damages were a conquest from the powers of darkaeas— the first spoils of emancipation. On accoimt of this trial, Cmran fought a duel with Captain St Leger, and endured the hostility of the Doneraile family; but, in exchange, he obtained the admiration and trust of his countrymen, and a glorified conscience. If he wanted more, he received it a few weeks after, in the dying and solemn blessing of Father Neale. He hajl been five years at the bar, and now he was famous with the public Byt he had been recognised long before. It is proef enough of this, that he was prior of the St Patrick's Society in 1779. The reader looking at the note below, will see that the wisest, best, and most bxiUiant spirits of the island were there,* and that Curran was their honoured fi lend. .♦UST OP MEIIBEBS 0* VMSi 51, PATBICK'S SOOIKrT. nmder. — fBany Teiverton, iLP., afterwards Lord "Viscount Avonmore, Lord Chief Baron. AbboL — fWiUiam Doyle, Master in Chancery, Pr/or.— fJohn Philpot Curran, afterwards M.P., Privy Councillor, and Master of the Rolls. Prcecentor.—Rer. Wm. Day, S.r.T.C.D Bursar. — Ed^^ard Hudson, M.D. Saerittan. — ^ti^ot)ert Johnson, M.P., afterwards a Judge. Armn, the Earl o£ ♦fiarry, James, Painter, uerer joined. fBrown, Arthur, M.P., and F.T.C.D. tBurgh.Walter Hussey, RlgHt Hon., and M.P.; after- wards Chief Baron. *Barton, Beresford, K.C. Carhampton, Earl o£ Caldbeck, WiTiam, K.C. ChrttnDexlajTie, W. Tanker- viUe. iLP. ; afterwards a Judge. Chailemont, Earl of Corry, Bt Hon. Isaac, M.P. ; afterwards Chancellor of the Exchequer. Oaly, RightHon. Denis, "NLP. ^Day, Robert, M.P. ; after- wards a Judge. tOobbs, Robert. Doyle, John, M.P., afterwards a General in the Army, and a Baronet Daukin, JameSi tDuquery, Henry, M.P. tEramet, Temple. JFinucane, Matthew, after- wards a Judget tFitton, Elchard. tPorbes, John, :^LP. +Frankland, Richard, K.C. tGrattan, Rt Hon. H., M.P. fHacket, Thomas. tHardy, Francis, M.P. (Lord Charlemont's biographer.) Harstonge, Sir Henry, Bai-t, and M.P. tHerbert, Richard, M.P. tHunt, John. fHossey, Dudley, SLP. and Recorder of Dublin. Jebb, Frederic, MD. Kingsborough, Lord Visct, M.P. tMocawen, -% JMartin, Richard, M.P. jMetge, Peter, M.P. ; after- wards a Judge. Momington, Earl oL tMuloch, Thomas. Newenham, Sir Edward, M.P Ogle, Rt Hon. George, MP. ''O'Leary, Rev. Arthur. TO'Neill, Charles, K.C., M.P Palliser, Rev. Dr. Chaplain. tPoUock, Joseph. tPonsonby, Rt. Hon. George ,M.P., afterwards Chiuw celior of Ireland. fPrestoa, William- Ross, Lieut-Colonel, M.P tSheridan, Charles Francif M.P., Secretary at War. tSmith, Sir Michael, Bart M.P., afterwards Master of tlie Rolls. tStawell, William. Stack, Rev. Richard, F.T.C.D Tov>"nshend, Marquess ot (Electedi, professed, «u Joined on his visit to Du»>. lin, after his Vice-royalty. fWolfe, Arthur, ILP., after- wards Lord y isco unt Kil- warden. Chief Justice o» tbe King's Bencti. [Thns e Honorarv Membora tlius marked ft) were Barrist«n.l £nn MEMOm OF from the title -nugarly given them, " >li)nai of thft Screw,"* people suppose tn*t tnis vm a .jere drinking club. Perhaps the names are answer anough. It was an imion of strong •ouls, brought together, like electric cloixls, by affinity, and fiasliius as they joined. They met, and shone, and warmed. They had great pasaions, and generoiis accomplishmenta, and they, like all that was g(X)d in Ireland, were heaving for want of freedom. They wer« en of wit and pleasure, living in a luxurious state of society, and probably did wild and Mceasive things. This vtas reconcileablfc (in such a tiale of society) with every virtue oi Dead aud heart. This was the sanniest period, though not the grandest, of Curran's life. He was sur- ounded by w'v&e and loving friends, and he saw his country striding to independence, »nd owing ill wealth, in kno^vledge, and, better than all, in internal union. He was not an idle, though he was not a distinguished party during these events. He stood In the ranks of the Volunteers, armed as free men should ever be, to gain or guard their rights. Hu censure was dreaded by every corrupt judge and savage lawyer, and his counsel sought by Avonmore, Flood, and Grattan. At a special election in 17S3, he entered the Ho'ose of Commons. He sat for Kilbeggan, a borough belonging to Mr. Longfield, but he satuncom- promised ; he sat as Henry Flood's colleague; he Aras returned imder the guardian guns o. >lie Volmiteers, to enforce legislative independenca At the general election, in the spring f 1790, he came in for Rathcormac, and sat for it till the mad secession in 1797. His parliamentary speeches reported are few and short. The first mentioned is on Flood's Reform Bill, in November, 1783. The next is introductory of a resolution, declaring the exclusive right of the Commons to oilginate Money Bills— »n important resolution not iikcly to be trusted to a bad def-Aifir. ITie report of it seems like a newspaper sketch j still v\e see in it a sound historical argument. His appeal to the House to guard a right which iiras the palladium of liberty to a virtTioas, and of corruption to a vicious Commons, was bold and original. His speech in the House, on the 24th February, 1786, on the debate ou the Abuse of Atachments by the King's Bench, led to a duel with Fitzgibbon, then^ttomey-GreneraL Fitrgibbon had once been an intinsate of Cumin's, whose first brief-bag was a gift from iohn Fitzgibbon, "for good luck." But they were unlike : as the strong hard granite and •he soft flashing wave. Fitzgibbon having, though a plebeian, taken the government side, -jiive it all the support that masculine talents, clear rhetoric, personal courage, and utter want of consc ence enabled. Curran, the enthnsiastic, the pure, the Irish, went with the people for Ube ty. They were not fiiends in 1786 ; and Fitzgibbon, it is said, liad brought the Duchess oi Rutland to hear him chastise the member for Eilbeggan. The fiery Cork man heard this, ^""^ would not wait for him. Fitzgibbon had fallen asleep, and Curran, oa rising, attacked ^™ as a " guilty spirit." Fltigibbon answved Atlth " puny babbler," and Cuiran retorted "^ *^ invective feebly resembling part c* Jrattan's against Flood. They * The Mouka °' ^^* Order of Saint Patrick, commonly called the Monks of the Screw ^.Tsembled at tb *^^^ Convent, m Saint Kevin-street, Dablin, on and after September the aid, 1279 Cui-ran tvxote th • Charier Song, of which PhillJps givea t pift :— THE MONKS OF THE SCREW. When Saint Patrick ow order created, ) And caUed us the Moi. ^s of tlie bcrew -(Sood rules he revealed t. our Abbot, To guide us in what we ahouid do iJiit tirst he replemshed his i antair With liquor the best in the sky ; >jid he swore, by the word ol his bamtship, - That fountain should never nm diy I My children, be chaste— till you're tetnptea While sober, be \vise and discreet ; And humble your bodies with fasting . Whene'er you have nothing to eai- Then be not a gla.ss in the Convent, Except on a festival found ; And this rule to enforce, I ordain it A festival all the year round ! The SocietT dwindled awa^ towards the end of the year 1785. according to Hntdy. 17?^ >* printed in'" Curran'a Men oirs, by his Son," is an eiTor, pioljably, of the ptincttr. a^changed shots, wten Fltzgibton did his best to bring CuiTan dowii, but failed, ai dthey wei'e deadly foes ever after, unless death has made them " intimates" again. The lirst of Curran's speeches displaying any remarkable ability, is a short one made oa Jrde's Commercial Propositions. That on Catholic Emancipatisn, at p. 138, is perhaps the only one worthy of his reputa tion. In it, is the prophetic denimciation of an union with England as involving the " emi- gration of every man of consequence ;" as " the participation of British taxes without Bri- tish trade, and the extinction of the Irish name as a people." These sentiments he evei : poke and acted up to, and bore to his grave. He used to accomit for the inferiority of these to his bar speeches, by saying they were Ciade after the fatigue of court, and were badly reported, as he neglected them^ and the reporters were government tools. But Curran was surely less qualified for Parliamen; than for the Bar. His education was forensic, not senatoriaL The court did not require as "the House" did, a minute investigation of the state and history of the country, a oaa*- tery of economic details, a power of foreseeing and organizing great political movements. His oratory, too, became too personal, both in reproof and exhortation, to be relished. He n 'jst have felt this, and neglected parliament. f.re. JOH>' P. CURRAN XXI Keilson, and it occupied itselt clucfly v/ith French politics. Tlie " Svening Star^ appeared la Dublin soon after, but the "■Press"' did not commence till 28th September, 1797. In Marcli, 1792, the Catholic Committee, or rather Convention (for it was a body of dele- gbtes) met, and Tone was named Its secretary. The agitation by means of these societies beC&me most vigorous. The stirring progress of the French Revolution, and the organiza- tion of the political societies in England and Scotland aided them- The United Ii-ishmen Increased ii: numbers, the Catholics in confidence, and the Volunteer Corps began to restore their array, and improve their discipline. The ministiy grew alarmed; or in Tone'. words — " The solid strength of the people was their union. In December the Catholics had thimdered out their demanda, the imperious, because unanimous, requisition of S,000,OOC of men ; they were supported by all the spirit and intelligence of the Dissenters. Dumou • iier WHS in Brabaii: — Holland was prostrate before him ; even London, to the impetuous .ardour of the French, did not appear at an immeasurable distance ; the stocks were trem- bling ; war stemed inentable ; the minister was embarrassed ; and under those circumstances It was idle to think that he would risk the domestic peace of Ireland to maintain a system of monopoly \itterly useless to his ^^ews." The Rehef Bill was passed in April, 1793, admitting Catholics to the franchise, the bar, the university, and to aU the rights of property ; but excluding them from Parliament, from State Offices, and fi-om all, indeed, that the Bill of 1829 conceded- It was a victory- that encouraged, not a conquest that satisfied them- Th«y continued their exertions for complete emancipation, and the United Irishmen grew more vehement and strong. Meantime another conquest had repined- In December, 1792, a proclamation was issue- iigainst seditious associations. The United Irish Society rightly supposed it to be direete against the Volunteers, and they answered it in a publication which w» must return to. * A Volunteer Convention, said to represent 1,250,000 people, met at Dungannon on the loth February, 1793, passed resolutions in favour of Emancipation and Reform, and named aper- •nnanent committee. This, doubtless, assisted the carrying of the Relief Bill ; but it made the ministry resold .0 crush the Protestants, while it conciliated the Catholics. The reply of the United Irislv gnen to its proclamation was prosecuted ; another proclamation, forbidding military socie- ties, drilling, and the -whole machinery of the Volunteers, without naming them, waj issued on the 11th March, and the same Parliament which passed the Rehef Bill, passed tlie Ali n Act — the MiUtia, Foreign Correspondence, Gimpowder aj»l Convention Acta— ir fact, a fuil code of coercion. Now the struggle became serious. Many, perhaps a maj.Tritj' of the United Irishmen turned their thoughts to force ; and as Keogh and the leading Cathohcs were United, bucIi a tendency was more formidable than even the anger of the Volunteers had been- We have probably said enough to enable the reader, though otherwise ignorant of the liistory of the time, to understand the state of affairs when Curran's speeches for the United Irishmen commenced. The first of these speeches was deUvered at the bar of the King's Bench, on the 29th January, 1794, for Archibald Hamilton Rowan- We have stated that the United Irish Society had answered the government proclama- rion against seditious meetings. That answer was written by Dr. Drennau, and was *, Vnost brilliant and frantic document. Had tha people been ready for it, nothing coulc liave been better, otherwise it was most mischievous. It will be found at p. 154. Rowan, the chairman when the address was voted, was prosecuted for this as a libel, as also was Drennan. Drennan was acquitted on a point of form. We possess only one fragment c4 Curran's defence of him ; but the speech for Rowan was amply and well reported- It heart every mark of labour ; and yet if we were to trust the back of CuiTan's brief on the occa Son, never was a speech more completely improvised. " Liberty of the Press," " Univer sal Emancipation," and half a dozen sentences besides, are written carelessly along it They may, however, have been only merles to recal a prepared oration- The opening ot 1he opeech is too exactly like Cicero's exordium in Milo's case not to have been an imitar tioa ; and the ever-memorable passage oo Universal Emancipation cannot claim originality of thought, tliougi !t Is oertainly uaiivaUed ia rhetorical finish- But his viadicatioa Hii MEMOIR OP the Volunteers (beginning at p. 161), and the liberty of the press (frem p. 174), arc all hi^ own, and unapproached hj anything in Cicero or Erskine. Rowan was convicted, and heavily sentenced, but he escaped to Fi-ance.» The agitation continued. The United Irish Society was cha.nged into a secret ace /secretly organized body, and it made much progress. The Catholics still laboured ; Franct had conquered; and her government aroused by the Sani-CuUoties resolutions of Belfast, «Bid by the suggestions of some Irish patriots^ bethouglit herself of assisting the discoa- ented Irish to effect a separation. Accordingly the Kev. William Jackson was sent there as an agent, and put himself in communication vnth Tone. But he was betrayed by one Cockayne, arrested and arraigned for treasoiL Curran v.&s his leading counsel, but he ceeded none. He died in the dock of arsenic he had taken the night before. Another glimmer of conciliation broke in. Lord FitzAvilliam came here early in 1795, ftlth, 'twas said, a carte-blanche to carry Emancipation and Reform, and expel the under- takers and ascendancy party from oflace. Curran was to have been Solicitor-GeneraL Had this policy been carried out, we would have been saved the horrors of 1798, and the con- quest of 1800. Perchance the United Irish party would have continued their labours, and a war would have followed; but it would have been a national, not a ci\'il war, and it« result would have been separation, not prov-ineialism. Lord Fitz^vllliam was not rapiC saough; he allowed the Bereafords to rally their friends, and when he came to dismiss one of them, whom he could not retain consistently with his policy, he was met by a court opposition, having the bigot and lunatic King at its head. Beresford was kept in — Fita jrdliam recalled— Emancipation and Reform spumed- and coercion resumed. This was a triumph for the separation party. An Libi Republic now became the oalf ollfect of the United Irish ; and such being the case, the bulk of the Presbyterians of Down, Antrim, and Tyrone joined, as did multitudes of Protestants and Catholics in Leinster. At this time the Catholics of the North were Defenders or Ribbonmen. Both sides madrt ready for the worst. " The Union" was turned into a military confederation. An Insur- rection Act passed, making it death for any one to take an oath of association ; another soiawing the Lord Lieutenant to proclaim counties, in which case no one could go out at night ; and magistrates obtained the power of breaking into houses, and transporting tc the navy all persons whom they suspected. Other acts, granting indemnity for magistrates gnUty of any illegality— giving the Lord Lieutenant the power of arrest without bail- licensing the introduction of foreign troops, and establishing the Yeomanry Corps— followed !n quick succession. Government were in possession of iniormation from 1786 out ; but they thought it more politic to wait until they could ruin every one likely to join. But they were near over- leaping. Tone had gone to America after Jackson's axrest, and thence he went to France. With only a few ginneas, a few introductions, and but httle French, so transcendent were his abilities and zeal, that he brought a noble French fleet, and sixteen thousand veteran*. with Hoche at their head, oat of Brest, in 1796. Had Heche's frigate Christmassed, at Tone's ship did, in Bantry Bay, in 1796, the United Directory would have been the Irish ilinistry in a month after. Again, in 1797, the Mihtia offered to seize Dublin, and were forbidden. Long delay and long coercion disarmed and disunited the people, and the insur- iSction of the 23rd of May, 1798, was partial and ineffective. During all this time, Curran was engaged for the United Irish prisoners in every great 43ce. The first regularly reported speech is that made in defence of Finnerty, on the 22nd ?f December, 1797. To enable the reader to understand this consummate oration, we must premise some facta. In September, 1796, William Orr, a Presbyteriap farmer, was arrested, with many others* %a a United Irishman, bat was not tried till the 16tn September, 1797. One of the witnesses against him was aftenvards proved to hare perjured- himse'if ; and some of the jurymen wconed by long disagreement, had got drunk in their room, and in this state brought in the • OmxmnoQd's Ufe of Row^n is net & oeelen nor dis^greeahlo book ; but that ii all to tesiddofls. JOHN P. CUKRAN. JQlW vwdict of " Guilty." Aflfidavits of the fuct of drunkermeas -were made by three jnroy next diiy, upon •whicli Curran vainly moved an arrest of judgment All the facts were lalS before Government ; yet, after two or three cruel respites, Orr was hanged at Carrickfer gns, on the 14th October. He -na; a fine, handsome, gallant man— died true to his char acter and his country ; and over his grave William Drennan uttered a lament of the itrttt iery beauty. No wonder he was looked on as a martyr. ''^^His name appeared on medals end flags, and in every patriot aong ; and, even in 1798, John Sheares could find no more vitnes3 was James O'Brien, a man who, by his own confession, had taken the United Oath, and had been guilty of many less equivocal crimes. Curran's cross-examination of hira was equalled by his after address to the jury :— He tore O'Brien to pieces on the table; he put him together again, an image of the foulest -treaohery, of the fiercest love of blood, and of the most loathsome peijury. The jury refused to convict on the oath of this coiner and stabber, who came there to assassinate men with the word of God, and they acquitted the prisoners. O'Brien was still dear to the Castle, and continued in its pay; but about two years after, he committed a murder so Indiscreetly, that he could not be any longer shielded. He was tried; and though Curran, who prosecuted, made « very temperate speech, he war found guilty, and hanged. Alas 1 Curran prevailed no more. The Government wonld not go back, nor the people cither. The Yeomanry consisted of the Tory gentry and their dependants. They were undisciplined and unprincipled ; and not being checked by the people, who waited for com- mand, they soon became a legal banditti, who brought local knowledge and old feelings to aid their crimes, llo viUany but was perpetrated by them. The house of whomsoever an of them disliked or suspected was surrounded at night : — If he were not at home it wa* burned ; if found, he might consider himself lucky in being sent to serve in the navy, after being whipped or pitch-capped, instead of being half-hanged or whole-hanged, as the leisure fc facilities of the officer allowed. Still, stiU, still the Directory waited for foreign aid !— and waited in vain. One victory would have brought them more arms and officers from abroad or at home han any negociation. The Directory consisted! of Thomas Emmet, Arthur O'Connor, Oliver Bond, Doctor MacNevin, and Richard M'Corraick, Lord Edward was named Commander-in-Chief; and it length in March, in 1798, a rising was determined on, chiefly at the wish of Lord Edward, ftr Thomas Emmet wiehed to wait till the arrival of French troops, or, at least, of Fi-enct Officers t We must refer the reader to Dr. Madden's comprehensive work for the minutia.* of the events that followed. Suffice it here, that, on the 12th of March, fom-teen United Delegates mot at Oliver Bond's house, 13, Bridge- street, Dublin,^ and were arrested there on the " i3formation of RejTiolds, the accursed. Many other arrests, chiefly of Northerns, had taker *It appears xn *hfi indictment vusn "77 t Madden's Memoir o' Rmmet. tXIT MEMOm OF place 'prenouaif. Emmet, MacNevin, and other cUefis were taken on tnj stiut ilo/ u £Iiose'%ho attended the meeting at Bond's, and on the infurmat-oa of the same man, ^ wboac JtMmo," says Doctor Madden, "eounds like a calamity." Other arrests followed :- -On the iStli May, Lord Edward was arrested ; on the 2l8t the Sheareses were taken; and on the ttrd was the rising. Wo would not willingly follow the crash and waste of that explosion ; we would rather k)llow the armed man striking in the open field for liberty, whether he won or lost But Rhia is r.ot for us. Let us come to thd dungeon, and survey the court ; the public scaffold need* no painter. An insurrection, which had not at its head one able tactician, and few men acquainted with the elements of war, or even the topography and statistics of the country, could hardly succeed. And yet it had almost conquered- Within twelve days from the first rising, tht people of Wexford had cleared their county, with the exception of Boss and Duncannon, two places imfit to resist a skilful attack. Sinular successes attended the Kildare insor- rectlon. This was aU that mere valour could do. The 'eaders were brave, especiUly ti?- few priests who fought. But all were ignorant to the last degree. No organization — ^no commissariat — ^no unity of action — no foreign aid- were attempted. To such men, victory brought drunkeonnesa, waste, disputes, and want Defeat could hardly bring Worse. Antrim and Down did not rise for a fortnight ; and there, after similar blunders, and a shorter struggle, the Presbyterians were crushed. The Wexford men protracted the war, partly from a vague hope of foreign assistance, but still more from despair, for they could not trust the faith of their persecutors ; and no' a few of these heroic men died on the plains of Me&tb, In an effort to force their way int\ Ulster. • It is said that fifty thousand insurgents and twenty thousand of the English party were sain. The amount seems exaggerated, as the details certainly were. The soldier having done his own work, and that of the assassin and brigand, too— thi avUian began to labour. The General's sword yielded to the bow-string of the Attorney- General Courts-martial hanged those taken in battle ; and now com-ts civil slaughtered the prisoners. Most unaccountably, the insurgents did not retaliate ; if they had a rifht to rise, they were entitled to the rights of war, and were weak, racked, and impolitic in neglecting to enforce them. An.insurgent chief should have shi,t the peasants who liftx,d their hands against property or person, without order; but he was equally bound to guard Uiem against any but a,soldief3 hazards, by retaliating every execution, coolly, judicially, uid uniformly. But aone of the older leaders of the United Irish were touched till after the insurrection was defeated. Then, yi July, 1798, might you have seen the prison hovered round by anxious and mouming>relatives, wliom the guards of power repelled. Then might you have seen the crimson-clad judge— aiid the packed jury — and the ferocious prosecutor — and the military gangs from the Castle crush around the dock, wherein wtre the fearless and the true, and threaten, Avith voiceand gesture, that little dark man who defended khe prisoners. He scowled back upon their thi'eats. " You may assassinate me," said he, when their bayonets were/levelled at Tiip breast, "but you shall not intimidate me !"♦ de- could better have hoped to drive the stars from heaven by their violence, than force JohB Curran by threats to smTender one hair of his clients head. They were not mere clients for whom he pleaded, to win fees and reputation. They were dear friends, for whose safety he would have coined his blood; they were brother patriots who had striven, by means which he thought desperate, or unsuited to him, to free their country. He was no hireling or adventurer. He came inspired by love, mercy, *u3tice, and genius, and commissioned by heaven to walk on the waters with these patrioti, and lend them his hand when they were sinking. He. pleaded for some v^'ho, neverthelesi, S '? pape 34?,. vrcre alaughtered; bat was his pleading Tain, therefore? Did lie not convert man.v a shaken conscience — Btifltain many a frightened eonl ? Did he not keep the life of genius. If not of hope in the country ? Did he not help to terrify the Government into that compro- mise they so ill kept ? Surely, he did all this at the time; and his speeches now and for e\-er will remain less as models of eloquence than as examples of patriotism and undjinf exhortations to justice and liberty. The first trial after the insurrection was that of Henry and John Sheares. They wer two Cork gentlemen, harristers by profession, both men of liberal education, but of ven unequal rdiaracters. Henry, the eldest, was mild, changeful, and weak; John was fiery and firm, and of much greater abilities, Tliey had worked the United system in place* having little connexion witn the Executive Directory ; but when some of the members a that Dii-ectory were seized on the 12th of Marcli, the Sheareaes stepped into the dangerout posts, and shared the same fate in ten days after. On the> nrrest, a rough draft of a proclamation, written by John Sheares, was found hi the writing-aesk of Henry, who knew nothing of it. It was paraded in the front of the attack, and Captain Armstrong was the main force of the prosecution. This frightful "WTetch had sought the acquaintance of the Sheareses— made It — encou*» aged their projects — assisted them with military hints— professed tender love for them— mixed with their family— and used to dandle Henry Sheares's children. We hear the techr nical monster denies this little fact, though he admits 'all the rest He shared their hospitality— urged on their schemes— came to condole with them in pri- son — and then assassinated them ■with his oath. They were first arraigned on the 4th of July, at the Green-street Commission ; but legal difficulties occurred, and legal arguments, which wiil be found herein, and it was the 12tli of July when they were tried. The case for the Crown closed at midnight. Cunan applied for time ; he had been racked by the contests and horrid excitement of a day in which hs uad to resist the royal bloodhounds, to cross-examine a demon, and gaze on the Shearese* —the one trembling for his brother, the Tther for himself The delay Avas refused, and Cm-ran opened his address with an earnest solemnity, which makes this part of tluB speech the most moving he ever uttered. '^- But we cannot pause to criticise. He closed atday- Eght That bright siimmer sun danced'into the black court while Carleton sentenced these atrong men to die, and Icng ere he set aa ttje morrow they were swinging, without life, on the gallows. On the 17th ef July, M'Cann was tiled, defended by Curran, condemned, and executed. Byrne shared the same fate in a few days after ; but Curran's speeches in their defence were suppressed by Government. On the 23rd of July, OUver Bond was tried and convicted. Curran's speecli for 'h\m is preserved. The chief topic in it was the character and testimony of Reynolds ; a man witfi more crimes than Ai-mstrong, but not of so.-deep a dye. He appears to have been a poi soner and robber, but he was a man of family, a gentleman, and the Government ^took care to make him a rich man. £6000 and a consulship rewarded his virtues, but could' not Increase his dignity. Bond died of apoplexy or assassination ; and shortly after, a compromise was made », hereby the Government agreed to banish the rest of the prisoners upon getting generat l^jformation as to the Union. They got the information, and then sent the prisoners t' L'ort Geoige — prisoners stilL Curran, during this period, lived at The Priory, near Dundrum, and used to drive intt town in a gig. He was in daily expectation of being shot. The trials ceased, and he went to England, but all was not over. Humbert landed at Killala ; the victory of Castlebar and the defeat at CoUooney conclude*. fjb war, and caused a renewal of tae military and civil massacres. Bartholomew Teeliug Jumberfs aid -de-camp, smTendered with the French, and Tone was taken prisoner oi board a French ship. Tone passed as a Frenchman, till Sir George Hill, an old companion, ran him down. He was tried by a court martial in barracks ; his defence is unrivalled for plain wise eloquence. ills last request, a soldier's death, -wp.' refused. He was sentenced to be hanaed. but n« or XSn MEMOIR OF !he Government anticipated tlie executioner. His throat ^^as cut In prTson. The vonnd, though mortal, did not produce immediate death, and In that state, they rere going tc Dang him, when Cnrran came into court and obtained a habeas corpus. It was too late Tone perished in a few days. This was Curran's last struggle in 1798. But his griefs had not ended- The Government, with arms victorious over the insurgents, advanced against the libertiee Sf the peopiC ; a vanguard of villains, armed with gold and titles preceded them ; terror wa» n their march, and falsehood pioneered the way. The Union was canied. There -nevQ three other cases connected with the insurrection, in which Cnrran appeared to save or avenge. The first v/^as his plea at the bar of the House of Commone for the widow and orphans of Lord Edward The Government, malcontent that death should have secured the rebel's retreat, struck at those he left behind. They attainted him as a traitor for Cmran pleaded without effect, and they seized the fortunes of those dearest to him. Did they hope to disturb his shade by cruelty to those he loved ? Curran spoke rather a!» a Judge than a counsel. " Sir," said he to the Speaker, " I have no defensive evidence have no case 1 it is impossible I should : I have often of late gone to the dungeon of the cap i tive, but never have I gone to the grave of the dead, to receive instructions for his defence,* nor in truth have I ever before been at the trial of a dead man ! I offer, therefore, no e\idence upon this inquiry : against the perilous example of which I do protest on behalf of the public, and against the cruelty and injustice of which I do protest in the name oi the dead father, whose memory is sought to be di'=>">noured ; and of his infant orphans, whose bread is sought to be taken away." How gloriously he pleaded ! With what potent 8coni< he flung aside the foulness of Reynolds. How profoundly, how nobly he disproved the policy of penal laws, and the prudence of Cruelty 1 What imagery and -wisdom united, afl he described law and victim, each growing fiercer in the conflict, till the penalty could go no further, and the fugitive turned on his breathless pursuer. Does that man live who docs not envy the Geraldines that beautifully true description of their blood, " nobler than the royalty which first ennobled it, that, like a rich stream, rose till it ran and hid its foun- tain ?" Justice, humanity, and eloquence spoke idly to this red-handed government. They ic^slated Fitzgerald into a traitor, and then stooped to the mean barbarity of stripping his bfant's cradle. An act, called an act of most gracious pardon, passed in October, 1798, but it excepted tvevy class of insurgents above the lowest, and by name attainted a crowd of leaders. Sapper Tandy, the old commander of the Dublin Volunteer Artillery, was one of them. He was on the Continent, and after a fruitless effort to join Humbert, returned then and resided at Hamburgh. Fifteen days before he was bound to surrender, he was seized there, cast, ironed, into prison, and thenoe broughi; to Ireland. Curran chiefly relied on this technicality, that his time for snrrendering had not expired when he was seized. Nomi- nally on thi,s ground, Tandy was acquitted; but he owed his escape to an advocate mort eloquent than Curran. Tandy held a French commission, and had been seized on a neutral state, contrary to the law of nations, and Napoleon said, "if Tandy were hanged, he would ha ngtwo English officers for him, and so, " like case like rule," as the Chief Justice says. Ths reasoning was simple and conclusive, and Tandy was released- Would to God it had beei used in time to save poor Tone ! The case, of Herey «. Major Sirr, which was tried In 1802, was one of those petty reactions igaiait the^msolonce of petty tyrants wherewith vanquished men console themsel ves. Sirr had imprisoned dnd tortured hundreds — one too many. Hevey brought an action against Dim, and Curran stated Hevey's case with a galvanic energy, pouring out all the resourca, of persuasion, wit, and deepest pathos, tiU the jury were captivated into giving a verdic* against the Castlo minion. Doubtless, with all this, the Government could have defeateu Hevey. They could have packed the jury to the right leveL The desire to appear legal to England, or the fear of returning energy in Ireland, or some dim notion that Napoleon was )eginning to see that there was waiting for him an ally more useful than Italy or Germany •ould give, or aU combined, induced the-n ro tolerate this one act of retributt m. Theii oieiunity laws prevented the example fir.m ^ein^ inconvenient- JOjm p. CTTRKAN. xixu Still Were was a storm muftering at)rcad, and a convulsion preranrr at home. Thomas Addia Emmet was released in 1802, tnd went on the Continent. He and his younger brother, Robert, met at Amsterdam. Both adhered to their principles. Robert retumel home, and communicated with several men of influence in Ireland. He obtained plenty of promises. All parties longed for redress, and perhaps for vengeance. The people were willing t? sacrifice every thing for these objecta, yet were depressed so much that it yould have required the efTorts of many leaders, or of many weU-used years to restore the'r confidence. The upper ranks of the United were even more dispirited than the lower. ft «as neither customary nor safe for any man then, nor though many a year after, tc profess liberal or manly principles. The most vile and slavish doctrines echoea in Court, Church, 'Change and drawing-room. Agitation was as desperate as insurrection, and more dangerous. Emmet had been absent. He thought the country ready ; he only remembered the spirit of 179?> "If I get ten counties to rise," said he to Keogh, who still continued bis safe counsfvwith the discontented, "ought I go on?" "Yoa ought," said Keogh, "if you get ^ve, and you -srill succeed." Robert went on, but every bank broke under Us feet. And though he was ardent and rapid as the mountain deer, he fell at last an easy prey. Napoleon was too busy, and money ^^'as scajoe, and merchants cautious, Presbj-terlans irritated by the lies about Wesfor', from his rank as Prior of the Monks of St. Patrick. He used to spend his autumns here, after the Cork assizes, and his genius and pleasantry made his hospitahty be well tried. Lord Avonmore, his friend, was a native of the to^^^l. His society, and thai of the Creaghs and Kellers, would have been enough for a less enjoying and more fastidiour. man than Curran was. Of this place he had only a terminable lease, and in latter life ho TBldom visited Newmarket He was a great changer of his town residence. From RedmondVhill he went to Fade- Itreet, thence, ui 1780 or 1781, to 12, Ely-place, afterwards called No. 4. In 1807, he took a house in Harcourt-street, and finally took the house No. 80, Stephen's -green. South, in vhich Judge Burton now resides.* From 1790, however, his town house was a mere place of business. In that year he took af-lnce called Holly Park, in the county of Dublin, and soon after changed its name to the Criory. The Priory contams about tlurty-five acres, and lies on the road to White Church, about a mil? beyond Rathfamham, on the side of a moderately large hill, facing DnWin. iJrom it, there la a beauteous view of the city, Vith the plains of Fingal on one side, and its fcay and varied shores on the other. The house is a comfortable plain building, with a warm shi-ubbeiy, a garden, and a few fields about it. At the opposite side of the road is ibrlay, the residence of the Latouches, and the country all round consists of wood^ demesnes Hio place suited Mm periectly His habits there •were vor/ blm*il9 and uniform. He waat to bed about one, and rose at seven o'clock, smd spent a couple of Jiours dressing and lounging about Immediately after breakfajct te nscnl generally to ride or drivo fe. his gig ♦ Judge Burton was, we have heard, a clerk to an English Solicitor. Being in Ireland about some suit he became professionally known to Curran, who induce u him to stpp her» Cnrran. it is said, gave Mr. Burton £500 a-year to note his briefs, during his, Mr. B.'s legi aonciate. It is needless to add, that Mr. Burton's profound knowledge and untouch^ aouoar justified Curran's predilection £or him. jom> p. cc;kka>. xxix to DuLlia. During term time, when he was a practising la%\-yer or a judge, tlus vvas of course necessary, as a matter of business ; and, after he left the beach, he consinued to gj Ib to hear news, and see his old friends — hanging, as it Would seem, on men's heaiis, and faopii g, like a lover, for some good tidings stilL PimctuaUy at five o'clock he came up the avenue, often with his watch in hand ; for though irregular in other things, he was childishly exact in his dinner-hour, and would not have waited for Washington. When h^did not go into town, he was fond of walking with a friend among the shaded ^oads about Rathfarnham and Dundrum : or oftener still he spent iiis hours in sauntering or strolling all alone through the garden and shrubbery of his little place. In one of these fields he had buried his little daughter Gertrude,* and upon her dear grave ha used »ften lie do^vn and weep, and wish to be with her. She had died in 1792, when his hojei were high, and his home untainted- Of late years he grew close. He had been a man more irregular than lavish in money matters. Strange to say, he, the first lawyer at the bar, did not continue to keep a regular fee book, and excused himself by saying, the money came in so fast, he could not enter it His irregularity continued, for, at the time when, it is said, he was miserly, he left his pecuniary concerns to be managed by a friend. He felt the weakness growing on him, and hated himself for it. His closeness must, however, have been over-rated by his friends and himself, or he would have died a richer man than he did. He seldom dined without having some to share with him a meal that was occasionallf too frugal. We have heard of his bringing Grattan and several others out to dine, when he had nothing useable but cold corned bee^ and that one of the guests took to the kitchen and manufactured a dish of " bubble and squeak," which the party, assisted by plenty ov good wine, declared to be capital Cutrau, when roused, used to run over Joke§ of every kind, good, had, and indifferent. So epigram too delicate, no mimicry too broad, no pan too little, and no metaphor too boli for him. In fact he wanted to be happy, and to make others so, and he rattled aM'ay, not for a BoswelL to note, but for mere enjojTuent. These after-dinner sittings were seldom prolonged verj- late, but they made up in vehemence what they wanted in duration. Cur- ran played the violin and violoncello, and when the fit took him, played with great feeling and nature ; but if asked to show off, he was timid and stiff in his performance. The same difference was observable in talking over any of his own speeches or writings. Often, after his company had left him, he 'used to walk about the room, soliloquizing aioud, until he got into very high or very low spirita This habit of soliloquy he had fallen into when s young speaker. He never wrote his speeches, and hardly ever wrote even passages of them. There is no orator, living or dead, of whom this can be said to the same extentt Curran's avoidance of written speeches was deliberate. He thought that lo foresight could enable you to calculate beforehand how to shape your discourse exactly, and he felt in himself the rare power of doing, on the spur of the occasion, whatever his genius, I" allowed repose, could have planned. But though he wrote none of his speeches, he gene- rally prepared ihem with the meat intense and passionate care. Walking about his grounds , ta his driving into and out from Dublin, and in those stray hours which intervened between flxe departure of his guests and the coming of the welcomer guest, sleep, he most frequently bethought himself how to shape his coming speech most persuasively ; and then, and In iralking in the hall, or when rambling over his violoncello, his happiest and iriost glorious * On a Oiamond'Shaped flag is the inscription—" Here Ues the body of Gertrude Curran. ♦burth daughter of John PhUpot Curran, who departed this life October the 6tli, 1792, age ttvelve years." She Ues under a Uttle group of limes, ash, and laburnums, in a very safe antroubled looking spot. t When we say orators, we do not mean public talkers, but men whose speeches ar< great combinations of reasoning or plausibility, fancy or passion, and owe their success tc the literary excellence and oratorical address, and not to other circumstances. This makes^ the cratoroccasionaUy r&nir 'lelow the iteticUlass man of business and character. ^23 MZMOIR OF thoughts used to come. He had a fine and well-practised memory, and it canned for haa ^o court the frame and topics, and leading illustrations of his speech, but no more. The speech was an original effort upon these previous materials, and what the events in court addec to them. His notes were mere catch words, as we mentioned in Kowaa's case ; nor were they needed, as the speeche* for Finnerty and the Sheareses prove. His library was small, but very good, especially in classics. He says in one of his lettew Jiat he was lond of metaphysical and theological studies, but he appears not to have had. rettled opinions on these subjects. From his letters one would say, that Sterne was a xreater favourite than Berkley or VirgiL and tire Bible supplies his speeches witli more Castrations than any book, save nature's. Alas, for poor Curran I his country's dishonour was not his only cause of woe. Just * the time sorrow for Ireland most pressed him down, his wife, the companion of twenty-fiT»' years, deserted him for a man whom he had long welcomed as a friend— the Eev. Mr. Sandys. It has been said that Corran was dissipated, that he was apt " to hang up his merri- aient with his hat when he came home," and that he ought not to have so trusted a man of ilr. Sandys' character. We hare neither leisure nor inclination to inquire whether he ■was too confiding, too careless, or too self-indulgent ; Btiffice it, the separation took place under circumstances of peculiar pain, not only to him, but to his children. Curran reco- vered but trifling damages in an action against Mr. Sandys, and this certainly shows that he was to some extent faulty. The occurrences of this trial estranged him from many of his old friends. This event is said to have ^ven a most cruel interest to his speech in the case of Massy and Headfort. His speech against Lord Headfort is beyond comparison the most persimsive pleading ever uttered in a case not involving national interests or public passions. By his ability and his personal sympathy for the case, he made it a great contest between virtue and vice. The safety of the juror's family, the character of the country, the fate of society Itself, seem to depend on their making an example of this " hoary criminaL" How he .eads them over the whole chronicle of dishonour, yet never compromises their dignity or his o-\vn for one instant Hio reply to the palliations offered by Lord Headfort's counsel sends them back in coals of fire. He represents the judge as interposing to prevent the victim's flight with her seducer, and puts in his mouth every argument that reason, passion, mercy, and Scripture could give to prevent this crime. He warns him that he cannot marry this fugitive ; for, between him and the marriage altar, there are two sepulchres to pass. He tears away the miserable pretext of love from an indulgence which woidd as surely cause the ruin, as it proved the dishonour, of its object; and under his burning eloquence he makes the lordly sinner blacken into a selfish, cowardly violator of hospitality, and ?, traitor to public morals. This was Cunran'slast great achievement at the bar. In 1806, on Pitt's death. Fox and the "Wliigs came in. It had been settled for seventeen *ears before, that when they should come in, Ponsonby was to have the first, and Curran flie second, legal appointment Ponsonby was made Chancellor ; Curran was entitled to the Chief Justiceship if it could be vacates, stod if not, to the Attorney-Generalshipi He got neither, but was put off with the Mastership of the Roils, encumbered by the officers of Sir Michael Smith ; for Mr. Ponsonby had agreed to leave these officers in, or pension them aefore Sir Michael would retire. Curran v/as not consulted en this, and very naturally ^fnsed to be bound by it, and dismissed the offlcera This led to a quarrel between him and Ponsonby which was never healed. Both parties seem to have acted %vith just inten fions. Curran explained the facts in a letter to Grattan, and to that published letter no %ply was given, nor could any. Ponsonby very honourably nrovided for these people cut of his own estate. Curran was unsuited to the technicalities and minute business of the Rolls. He fidge of his character, sometimes exercised over his seared' and trusting spirit. Even from amid the excitements of London and Paris, where he was cberished anl honoured, he looked back to Ireland and wept bitterly. In a letter to Mr. Lubfe, he says— ** Everything I see disgusts and depresses me ; I look back at the streaming of blood M so many years ; and every thing every where relapsed into its former degradation. France rechained— Spain again saddled for the priests— and Ireland, like a bastinadoed elepiiant. kneehng to receive the paltry rider : and what makes the idea the more catting, her fiatP the work of her own ifnoranr -d ' furv. She has completely lost all sympathy here, and TOIIN P. CURRAN. •iL^Qflli I St J no jroapect for bor, except', a vindictive oppression and an endlessly increasing taxa- iion. God give us, not happiness, but natience !" Tiie same letter nas most plaintive and beautifol tliouglits on tiie value of hearty lorlcg Intercourso among friends, and the "dull hsllovmess rf " general" society —that -wTetchoa theat. His account of Enslish society Is bitterenough too " Since my amval here, my spirits have been wretchedly low: though trea,wd with greaij cindness, I find nothing to my mind- I find heads without tliinking, and hearts without Btrlrtjs, and a phraseology sailing in ballast «very one piping, but few dancing. England U not a place for society ; it is too cold, too vain, without pride enough to be humble, droflned in dull fantastical formality, Tulgarised by rank without talent, and talent fool- ishly recommending itself by weight rather than by fashion— • perpetual war between the disappointed pretensions of talent and the stupid overweening 'of affected patronage; means without enjoyment, pursuits without an object, society without conversation or intercourse : perhaps they manage this better in France— a few days, I think, will enable me to decide.' This feeling about England confirmed him in refusing to enter the.Imperial Parliament, which he had 'been repeatedly urged to do. Thank God he refused to be handed in by a corrupt patron, to exhibit a gonius Impotent to convince, and able only tc excite and gratify that hard-hearted senate. His letters from Paris continue to express tho £Am€ view of IrUh affairs, and display the > 5o assert the privileges of the people of Ireland, represented in tWb house of commons ? and I say, every party, and every description of men in this house is equally concerned in supporting it. I say it is the eole and exclusive right of the commons of Ireland to originate and frame money bills in such manner as they shall think proper ; and the Tfesolution I intend to propose is only to vindicate this privilege froir ie encroachments of a neighbouring assembly, which has lately by cer- • In our transition from the artificial prosperity given by the Irish Manufacture pledge of 17S&-9, to the genuine prosperity con3eqi«:;* on ind(?x>endence ttiera waa some dis tress, and much complaint in DTi^n. PRIVILEGE OF COMMOxVS ON MO>;EY BILLS. 89 tain resolutions, invaded this right, this palladium of the constitution, which I trust every man in the house will think himself bound to defend. I am son-y to say that the constitution of Ireland is so young, that I need not go back to a vety remote period to prove that the exclusive right of originating and miming money bills, has always resided in this house ; but, for thirty years back, it certainly has, and in England, from whence we derive our constitution, it always has been the prao- ice. The peers and the crown possess an undoubted right of rejecting mch bills in toto, but in the commons alone resides the power of origi- oating or framing them ; the very mode of giving the royal assent to such bills, demonstrates that the commons alone are the source from ■»vhich they flow. His !Majesty thanks his faithful commons, accepts their benevolence, and wOls it to be so, and this mode obtains both in Britain and here. To whom should tlie people of Ireland look for the redress of grievances, for the encouragement of arts, for the promotion of commerce, but to their representatives in this house ? What power- ful engine has this house, by which it can obtain the redress of griev. ances, the encouragement of arts, or the promotion of commerce, but by including those objects in the bill of supply ? If the right be once given up, or wrested from the commons, they cease to be the patrong and representatives of the people ; another assembly will assume that power ; the people will learn to look for that encouragement and sup- port from the aristocratic, which they now receive from the democratic branch of the state : this house will become a very cypher, and its mem- bers, instead of possessing the power of encouraging arts, rewarding merit, or, in a word, of serving the country, will become the humble solicitors of another assembly. From the reign of Henry the Third, the power of annexing the redress of grievances to money bills, has been the constitutional privi- lege of the commons of England ; the practice of inserting such clauses as the commons have deemed proper, has obtained in Ireland for more than thirty years, and, to any person acquainted with our constitutionj must, ftt the slightest view, appear to be then- inherent right. I cannot, therefore, suppose this house will be silent when this privilege is invaded by another assembly. No man entertains a higher opinion of that assembly than I do ; and I am persuaded that so great is their lordship^ wisdom, that when this matter is duly considered by them, they will sec Uie impropriety of two resolutions which appear upon their journals of the fourth of the present month, to this effect : " That all grants for the encouragement of particular manufactures, arts, and inventions, or for the construction or carrying on of any public or other works, ougb» to be made in separate acts ; and that the practice of annexing sue?" grants to bills of aid or supply, for the support of his Majesty's govern ment, is unparliamentary, and tends to the destruction of the constittt lion." " That this house will reject any bill of aid or supply to whici such clasQses shall be annexed." That the illustrious assembly to which I allude has passed such resolutions, is notorious, and cannot be denied ; they are inserted in its journals, and have been seen by many members of this hooso. The formality^ therefore* of appointing a committee to 40 PRITILEaB OF COMMONS OH MONET BILLS. inspect their lordships* journals h unnecessary, and all that remains for the commons is to vindicate their own privileges by a mild and tempe- rate resolution, which I shall propose to the house ; for, even admitting chat sometimes a house of commons has erred in making improper s^rauts, we should rather reform ourselves, &nd determine not to eiT "^•ain, than submit to have a monitor over us. If I were addressing a house of commons, the most virtuous or the nost corrupt, I should expect to be supported in this measure ; for I vould say to a virtuous house of commons — the privilege of originating and framing money bills is the palladium of your liberty, the great engine to restrain oppression, to redress grievances, or to encourage merit : I would say to a corrupt house of commons — it is the palladium of your corruption, the security of the wages of your venality, the means by which you may obtain the reward of your prostitution ; or if I were addressing a house containing botii descriptions, both kinds of argu- ment would be applicable ; but to the house before which I stand, sm ely the arguments which I have first used, the arguments of virtue and of honour, will be sufficient ; to them, therefore, I shall trust. I lament that a learned and right honourable member,* with whom I once had the happiness of living on terms of friendship, is now absent | because I think I might rely upon his supporting the resolution I intend to propose ; that support would, perhaps, renew the intercourse or our "jriendship, which has lately been iuterrup^jed. And I must beg the jadulgence of the house to say, that that friendship vr&s upon the foot r.g of perfect equality, not imposed by obligation on the one side, oi uound by gratitude on the other ; for I thank God; when that friendshij Commenced, I v/as above receiving obligation from any man, and, there fore, our friendship, as it was more pure and disinterested, as it depended r>n a sympathy of minds and congeniality of sentiments, I trusted would Have endured the longer. I think myself bound to make this public declaration, as it has gone forth from this house, that I am a man of 'ngratitude, and to declare, that for any difference of opinion with my iearned and right honourable friend, I cannot be taxed with ingratitude ; for that I never received any obligation from him, but lived on a foot- ing of perfect equaHty, save only so far as his great talents and erudi- tion outwent mine. I confess my obligation to the house for this indulgence of speaking H few words foreign to the debate, but which every man must think I owed to my own character ; and that I may detain gentlemen no longer, I shall briefly move : — " That it is the sole and undoubted privilege of the commons of Ire- and to originate all bills of supply and grants of public money, in such manner and with such clauses as they shall tliink proper." — Debates, vol. ii.,pp. 333,4,5. Mr. Parsons seconded the motion, and, after a short debate, it wa? rresratived, by 6S to XL Curran theu moved that a Committee to examine the Lords* Joiimt.s « appointeil. vUidi motion was also rejected- * Barry Yelverton. The reference ia thus interpreted by Leonard MacNafiy, In a noK- CEtlie passage, in a copy of the 1811 edition of Curran's Speeches, no-w in my posseairioa. Tfils copy was a present" to MacNally from Cxurtun. in^i 'trntains sere-U n/jtea by the fo^ lU/sr, which T shall use. UtTKhA-CHMENT. il RETRENCHMENT. February lUh, 1785. ■ Tn the 14tli of February, on the motion for a Committee of Supply, Flood, in an admlraClc debating speech, moved, as an amendment — "That an immediate and effectual retrench- aent of our expenses is necessary." Curran supported the amendment, which was losi fhe foUov^-lng fragment of hLs speech remains : — I am surprised g-entlemeu will press the order of the day before they agree to a resolution wh'ch is to be dii-ectory to the committee of supply The question is, in fact, is economy to take place or not ? for I laugh 9t men who say it is for the order of tlie day. I hope ministers wil cot be found formidable only in numbers, and tremble at argument ; the iM3ople cannot be easily satisfied that they have got great adyantages ')y giving up the protection of their trade in hopes of an extension of it, mless the parliament, who are bound in honour to do so, declare thf.t no new tax or heav}' burthens are to be laid upon them. One gentle- man says it is now too late to look for economy ; the same gentleman says it is too early, and thus we are bandied about between too late and too early, and notliing effectual is to be done. I therefore hope ministers will not have their strength in numbers, but will advance some argument why economy should not take effect. — Debates, vol. iv. p. 217. The amendment was lost. MK.ITIA V. VOLUNTEERS. On the same day Mr. Gardiner moved a grant of £20,000 for clothing the militia. Tit motion was levelled at The Vohmteers, and was therefore violently debated. Cuttm' opposed it, and we give his reported speech : — I would not, at first, have kno^-n that the question was undoubtedly ministerial, had I not perceived, on the first stir of it, the little advocate- drawing out liis brief from Ms pocket, prepared to support it. I air the more warranted m this expression of calling it a brief, as it is evi- dent the instructions are false. The high character and honour of The Volunteers, is a reason why the right honourable gentleman should not persist in a motion which will not add to his honour ; I wish him tc consider, that what he may gain in splendour he may lose in respect and I adjure him not to lose the favom-able wish of the people. Thfi honourable gentleman has been unsuccessful in a motion, in which ho liad my support ; and I confess that I wish him to be unsuccessful or. the present question, as it is one which is injurious to the nation, di» honourable to The Volunteers, these great saviours of their country and increases the influence of the crown, which has been already mucbs too much, increased. It is probable that the right honourable gentle- * Th "^U^t Honourable Lulci G-"-t3irftr— Lord Moimtjoy by th'< Ualoiv «iU ON ATTACHMENTS. matt andertook this mirxisterial busiuess in liope ot being rewarded, by being raised to a higher rank. — Debates, vol. iv., pp. 232, 3. This last ftYhurion cannier' a wrangle with Gardiner, ana then Fitzgihbon, the Attonjay general, spoke a few words, whicn we print, as characteristic of his insolence : — " Sir, having heard such an nnintelligihle rhapsody of words, in which the honom able aaember has stated tlie danger of embodying a militia of gentlemen, in which he "tias ipplanded the zeal of the loM-est order of the people, and called upon them to contlc.v.e Iheir noble exertions — in which he has poured forth a studied panegj-ric on the volunteers -«nd in which he has uttered a general miscellany of all sorts of things, I will pass by ull "hat he has said, roakhigthe gieatest allowance for his mtemperance, because he Is laboui- jig in the cause of his constituents; and so constitutional a representative of the people rnght to have the p^i^'ilege of saying whatever he thuiks fit. But as I feel myself in a Jery different situation from that honourable member, I shall even intrust the defence o! tlie cotmtry to gentlemen, with the King's commission in their pockets, rather than to his ftteoda, the teggars in the streets." — Debates, voL iv., pp. 233, 4. Unlbrttmately, Grattan went viith the government, and the motion was carried by 189 J0 6& ON ATTACHIVIENTS February 24th, 1785. Sembwed efforts were made in 1784 for Reform. In consequence ot a requisition, Henry EeHlj, Esq., Sheiiff of the coimty of Dublin, summoned his baili-wick to the court-house of Kilmainham, for the 2oth cf October, 1784, to elect members to a national congress. For Ihis Mr. Reilly was attached by the Iving's Bench, on a ero^rn motion, and, on the 24th of February, 1785, the Pdght Hon William Bro^vnlow moved a vote of censvu-e on the judges of that CO) ut, for the attcchment. I hope I may say a few words on this great subject, without disturb- jug the sleep of any right honourable member [the Attorney-General* had fallen asleep on his seat] : and yet, perhaps, I ought rather to envy than blame the tranquillity of the right honourable gentleman. I do not feel myself so happily tempered, as to be lulled to repose by the storms that shake the land. If they invite rest to any, that rest ought not to be lavished on the guilty spirit. I nerer more strongly felt the necessity of a perfect union with Britain, of standing or falling with her in fortune and constitution, than on this occasion. She is the parent, the archetype of Irish liberty, which she has preserved inviolate in its grand points, while among us it has been violated and debased. I now call upon the house to consider the trust reposed in them as the Great Inque'st of the people. I respect judges higtily ; they ought to be respected, and feel theii dignity and freedom from reprehension, while they do what judges ought Co do ; but their stations should not screen them, when they pass the limit of their duty. Whether they did or not, is the question. This booae is the judge of those judges ; and it would betray the people to * John Pltzgibbon, He was made Solicitor-General on the 9th of November, 17S3, and on the 20th of December, 1783, succeeded Yelvertou as Attomey-GeneraL This lattei office he retained till he was raised to the Chancellorship, on the 12th of Angtl8l^l789 thus making way for Arthur Wolfe, ^fter'■^•ards i-ord KUwarden. tyranny, and abdicate their representation, if it do not act with probity and firmness. In their proceedings against Reilly, I think they have transgressed the law, and made a precedent, which, while it remains, is siibrcrsive of the trial by jury, and, of course, of liberty. I regard the constitution, \ regard the judges, three of that court at least : and, for their sakes, i. shall endeavour to undo what they hare done. The question is, whether that court has really pimiflhed its own offiv 261 for a real contempt ; or whether it has abused that power, for tho Olegal end of punishing a supposed offence agamst the state, by a sum* mary proceeding, without a trial by jury ? The question is plain, whether as a point of constitution, or as of law , but I shall first consider it in the former view. When I feel the con- stitution rocking over my head, my first anxiety is to explore the foundation, to see if the great arches that support the fabric have fallen in ; but I find them firm, on the solid and massy principle of Common Law. The principle of legal liberty is, that offence, and trial, and pun- ishment, should be fixed ; it is sense, it is Magna Charta — a trial by jury, as to fact, an appeal to judges as to law. I admit Attachment an exception to the general rule, as founded in necessity, for the support of courts, in administering justice, by a sum mary control over their officers acting under them ; buc the necessity that gave rise to it is also the limit. If it were extended farther, it would reach to all criminal cases not capital ; and, in the room of a jury, crimes would be created by a judge, the party accused by him, found guilty by him, punished by the utter loss of his liberty and property for Ife, by indefinite fine and imprisonment, without remedy or appeal If he did not answer he was guilty ; even if he did, the court might think, or say it thought, the answer evasive, and so convict him for ini])Uted prevarication . The power of Attachment is wisely confined by the British law.s, and ]>ractised within that limit. The crown lawyers have not produced 9 single case where the Kmg's Bench in England have gone beyond it They have ranged through the annals of history ; through every reiga .»f folly and of blood ; through the proud domination of the Tudors, ani ihe blockhead despotism of the Stuarts, without finding a single case ta iupport their doctrine. I consider the ofiice of sheriff as judicial and ministerial. Reilljr'g •^flence did not fall within any summary control, in either capacity. It '^s not a judicial act, it was not colore officii. An act colore officii must either be an act done by the actual exercise of an abused or ar usurped authority — neither of which can it be called ; for where the siieriff" summons his county, he does it by command, by authority, under pain of fine and imprisonment to those who disobey. Was the appointment of a meeting any such actiYe exertion of autho- rity ? Does any man suppose he was obliged to attend ? that he would koi fined if he refused to attend? No. Did the sheriff hold out any iuch colourable authority ? Clearly not. The contrary : he explained the purposf* "^ the intended meeting; he stated at whose instance ho 44 ON ATTAOHMEJNTS. appointed such meeting ; aud thereby showed to every man in his setutt that he was not affecting to conyene them by colour of any compulaiTe authority. If, then, there was any guilt in the sheriff's conduct, it was not pan- Tshable by Attachment. They who argue froM its enormity, are guilt) )f a shabby attempt to mislead men from the question, which is noi whether he ought to be punished at all, but whether he had been pun- (ulied according to la^. You have heard no man adduce a single case to support their asser- tion ; but we have the uniform practice of the Iving's Bench in England jn our favour, the uniform practice, both there aud here, during these last years. Had they not meetings there and here ? Did not the crown receive petitions and addresses from such assemblies ? Why, during that time, was there no motion for an Attachment in either kingdom .' If an English Attorney- General had attempted such a daring outrage on public Hberty and law, he must have found some friend to warn him not to debase the court, and make it appear to all mankind as the odious engme of arbitrary power ; not to put it into so unnatural a situation, as that of standing between the people and the crown, or between the people and their representatives. I warn him not to bring public hatred on the government, by tho adoption of an illegal prosecution. If he show himself afraid of pro- ceeding against offenders by the ordinary mode, then offenders will be exalted by arbitrary persecution of them ; they will become suffering patriots, from being mere petty offenders ; their cries will become popu lar. Let him be warned how he leads the court into an illegality, whicl; the commons can never endure. No honest representative can sacri- fice his fame and his duty, by voting in support of a proceeding sub- rersive of liberty. I should shrink from the reproach of the most insignificant of my constituents, if that constituent could say to me — " When thou sawest the thief of the constitution, thou consentedst onto him." Such would be the caution suggested to an English Attorney-Gene-, ral ; and, accordingly, we find no instance of his ever venturing on such a measure. Without case, then, or precedent, or principle, what is the support jf such a conduct here ? — the distinction of a judge ? And what is that distinction ? It is different in different men : it is different in the lame man at different times ; it is the folly of a fool and the fear of i coward ; it is the infamy of the young, and the dotage of age : in the best man it is very weakues.^ that human nature is subject to ; and in •.he worst, it is very vice. Will you then tell the people that you have riosen this glorious distinction in the place of fixed laws, fixed offences, tUid fixed punishments, and in the place of that great barrier between ^he prerogative and the people — Trial by Jury ? But it is objected that the resolution is a censure on the judges, and acharge of corruption: — I deny it, and I appeal to your own acts. Mr. Cnrran then culled to the clerk, who read froni the journals a rote of censtire passed apon Mr. Justice Robinson, for Imposing; a fine illegally la a county, vrhen on cix'cuit« ■»HtJ? mit view w evidence. ON ATTACHMENTS. 46 Was your resolution founded on any corruption of that judge ? Ko you would, if so, have addressed to remove him. I called for the resolution, therefore, not to charge liim with guilt — I am persuaded hf acted merely through error ; but to vindicate him, to vindicate you, and to exhort you to be consistent. You thought a much smaller violation of the law was deserving your reprobation. Do not abandon your- lelves and your country to slavery, by suffering so mach a grosser ancf more dangerous transgression of the constitution, to become a prece- dent for ever. In tenderness even to the judges, interpose. Their regret, which I am sure they now feel on reflection, cannot undo what t!iey have done : their hands cannot wash away what is wi'itten in their records ; but you may repair whatever has been injured : — if your friend had unwillingly plunged a dagger into the breast of a stranger. would you prove his innocence by letting the victim bleed to death ? The constitution has been wounded deeply, but, I am persuaded, inno- cently ; it is you only, who, by neglecting to interpose, can make the consequences fatal, and the wound ripen into murder. I would wish, I own, that the liberty of Ireland should be supported by her o^vn children ; but if she is scorned and rejected by them, when her all is at stake, I will implore the assistance even of two strangers ' I will call on the right honourable Secretary to support the principles of the British constitution. Let him not render his administration odious to the people of L-eland, by applying his influence in this house, to the ruin of their personal freedom. Let him not give a pretence to the enemies of his friend in a sister country, to say that the son of the illustrious Chatham is disgracing the memory of his great father ; that the trophies cf his Irish administration are the introduction of an inquisition among us, and the extinction of a trial by jury ; let them not say that the pulse of the constitution beats only in the heart of the empire, but that it is dead in the extremities. Ml'. Cui-i-ao concluded with declaring his hearty concurrence in the fesolution proposed. Tlie Attorney-General (Fitzgibbon), in a speech of luucli personality, cpposod Cun-m's motion. Mr. Curran, in reply — I thank the right honourable gentleman for '•estoring me to my good humour, and for ha\ing, with great liberality and parliamentary decency, answered my arguments with personality. Some expressions cannot heat me, when coining from persons of a certain distinction. I shall not interrupt the right honourable gentle* man in the fifth repetition of his speech. I shall prevent his argumenfe by telling him that he has not in one instance alluded to Mr. Reilly. The right honourable gentleman said I had declared the judges guilty ^ but I said no such thing. I said, if any judge was to act m the manner I mentioned, it "\^ould be an aggravation of his guilt. The right hon. j^entleman has said, that the house of commons had no right to inves- tigate the conduct of judges ; if so, I ask the learned Sergeant why be sits in that chair ? I ask why the resolution has been just veac I'rom the journals ? The gentleman has called me a babbler ; I cannot think that v.'as meant o,i a diiJi^racG. becanst^* iii another Parliameot' 46 viKDE'S (jOMMERCIAr. rKOPUSlTlONS. cefore I had the honour of a seat in this house, but wheu 1 was in the gallery, I heard a young lawyer named Babbler. I do not recollect that there were sponsors at the baptismal font ; nor was there any occasion, as the infant had promised and vowed so many things in hi.s own name. Indeed I find it difficult to reply, for I am not accustomed to pronounce panegyrics on myself ; I do not know well how to do it \ but since I cannot tell you what I am, I shall tell you what I am not : — I am not a man whose respect in person and character depends upon the importance of his office ; I am not a young man who thrusts himself Into the foreground of a picture, which ought to be occupied by a bettei i^ure ; I am not a man who replies with inyective, when sinking mndei the weight of argument ; I am not a man who denied the necessity oi a p? rliamentary reform, at the time he proved the expediency of it, by reviling his own constituents, the parish clerk, the sexton, and tho gTave-digger ; and if there be any man who can apply what I am not to himself, I leave him to think of it in the committee, and to contemplate It when he goes home. — Debates, vol. iv., pp. 402—10. The resolution was negatived by 143 to 71. ORDE'S COMMEIiCIAL PE OPOSITIOXS. June 30tJi, 1785. ./as tne interest of Ireland to be subordinate to England, when her parliament bad ceased to be so? Thi3 Mr. Pitt tried to adjudicate against, by deceit, in 17S5, and failing, he resolved to reach the same end by abolishing om* parliament, and this he unhappilv accom- jlished m 1800. ' Tliere is no political even* from 1782 to the Union, of greater importance than the dls" cnssion of Orde's Propositions. In Grattan's Memoirs, vol. iii., and in Seward's Collectanee Poliiica, valuable elements of a judgment on this niatxtv will be found. I tried to sum uf Ojo history of the transaction in the CUixen aisvgaziue for September, 1841, in reviewing Grattan s Memoirs. On looking over that pai.er, I find 1 cannot condense the description » the propositions and their fate, given there, ro I shall shnply copy it:— " Partly from a b-jhef that protection alon*- woidd secure a beginning to trade, and partly tut of retribution on England an atten^pfwia made, in April, 17S4, to impose severe cnport duties on manufactures Mr Gardinov's motion for that pm-pose M'as negatired ia pai-liament by nearly four to o&« ? -t that vbo Ccmmoxis were the enemies of protectioa, but the creatures of England " In 3Iay in the same year, 1''84, «, proi^ ai of Mr. Griffith's, for inquiry on the commef' cial intercom-se bet'tvcen Biitain and Iielan 1, Mas taken out of his hands by government He desired to show that Irish trade should be j)rotected from English competition : the opposite was the direction given to the inquityby the adopting parents; he sought to jiquire how Ireland might be served even at the expense of England ; they, how England might be pampered on the spoil of Ireland Accordinglv, they solved it in their own way, and on the 7th of February, 1785, m Orde, the Chief Secretary, announced, and on tho 11th moved the eleven propositions on trade, commonly called the Irish propositions, to distinguish them from the twenty proposed as amendments thereon by Pitt, a few monthr after, called the English propositions, though, in fact, both were English in contrivance and purport. There were four principles estabUshed in the Irish propositions :— 1st, that thi taxes upon all goods, foreign and domestic, passmg between the tT\-o countries, should bf equaL Secondly, that taxes on foreigTi goods should always be higher than on the sarr/ 'n-ticlfcs produced in either island. Thirdly, that these regulations sbould be unalterabla Fourthly, that the surplus of the herecUtarv revenue (hearth tax, and certain ciustomB ani excises, over £656,000 a year) should be paid over to the EngUsh treasury, for tlie support of the Imperial (EngUsh ?) navy. The first prmciple went tc -lace a country wUh immense capital, great skill, and old trade, nn the. same footini.' with one without any of tlvcse, oud ORUE's COAlMEliCIAi. PKOFG3rJ3Li:NS. 47 fliereforo went to ruin the latter, unless private came forward, ls it had don oef jro, ami snppH'ing the defects of the law, rescued the countiy from the alien, the aristocrat, auil the placeman. The second article sacrificed the realities of Frenclu Spanish, and American trade, then increasing, to (the profits ?) of English competition. The third and founh -R-sra sdumptions of a power beyond law-making ; they abdicated legislation. The last, espe- cially, paid for English strength— that is, Irish miser>- ; and purchased protection, that is, sla-veiy, at a priceVhich, as Grattan afterwards said, might amount to any sliare of the natioi'.al reTenue, to which a tricking financier wished to raise it. To pay black mail was to ay Ireland at the mercy of England, yet not secure her against other foreign states by any listing or effectual means. An old treaty, or the convenience of a conqueror, are no snl>- stitutes for the safety, of which national pride and home passions and interests are the true 5Tiiirdians. Your own s'-vord is a better protection than another's shield ; for if he Iw jndangered, you are left unarmed and imdefended. Besides, between nations, guardlan- ?liip means plimder ; and the ward is an impoverished drudge. Yet this plan was proffered IS a boon, and, what is stranger stUl, it was paid for as such — £140,000 of new taxes were isked for, and vot«i in return for the prospective favours of the minister. Flood almost alone opposed it ; he asked for time to let himself— to let the nation refiect on the proposi- tions : he exposed some of the propositions ; he expressed confidence in only a few." * . * " On the 2-2nd of February, Pitt, in a speech full of hopes for this countrj^ moved the refiolution which declared that Ireland should be allowed the advantages (i.e. competition) of British commerce as soon as she had ' iiTCvocably' gi-anted to England an 'aid' {i.e. tribute) for general defence. Thus we were promised an equivocal boon at the cost of indepen- ience. Such was the generosity of Pitt, and it was too much for the opposition, too much for North and the Tories, too much for Fox and the 'Whigs. They Avere In opposition, and chey saw in English jealousy to Ireland a sm-e resource against the ' heaven-bom minis- ter.' He, to be sure, had not done good to Ireland, but he gi-avely promised to serve hei; and this was suspicious, at the least, especially when coming from one who still had a cha- racter. None of the leaders cared for Irelancl, nor were they bigotted against her; bu6 they flimg her in each other's faces." * * .'* . * "•"Fox obtained adjournments; and all England 'spoke out,'' from iTancashire to London, ft*ora Gloucester to Yorlc During the twenty years of Pitt's supremp.cy,.the liberal oppo- ■ition had his apostacy from principle, Ms suppression of opinion m England, his hostility to freedom aU over the globe, his bloody and constant wars, — all these had they, and what «ame nearer still to the soul (stomach ?) of England^ they had hi3 exhausting taxation to bring against him ; yet he repelled them mthout difficulty, even led by Fox, when armed with" these grievances. In 17S5 the opposition united under a more exciting banner-cry 'jealousy of Ireland,' and England rallied beneath their flag. Pitt was heme back, but ha was skilfQl and unscrtipulous ; he saw his danger, and sounded a parley; he submitted t tc. Jnact (register) aU navigation laws passed or to be passed by England ; (by articles 5 anc" 8) to impose all colonial duties that England did; (by 6 and 7) to adopt the same system ir custom houses that England did ; and finally, (by 17 and 18) to recognise all patents aus. copyrights granted to England." The propositions were retiumed thus changed, and on Thursday, the 30th of June, 178.5 the iiight Honourable Thomas Orde moved the adjournment of the house til! Tue.s^lay foit sight Against this Curran spoke as follows :— 1 can easily excuse some inconsistencies in tlie conduct of the right honourable Secretary [Orde] ; for some accidents hare befallen him. When we met last, "he desired us to adjourn for three weeks ; we did so ; and now he wants above a fortnight more ; but will that help for ward the business before the house ? Will it expedite the Drog-vess of 48 uRDE S COMMERCIAL ruOPOSlTIOxNb. the bill, to say, " Let us wait till the packet comes in from England, and perhaps we shall have some news about the propositions V* Did the British minister act in this manner ? No : when he postponed, from time to time, the consideration of the propositions, he did not postpone the other business of the house : he did not say, let it wait till the packet comes from Dublin. This the Irish minister is forced to do : I say forced, for I am sure it is not his inclination ; it must di&. tress him greatly, and I sincerely feel for, and pity his distress. When we had the eleven propositions before us, we were charmed with them. Why ? — because we did not understand them ! Yes, the endearing word reciprocity rang at every corner of the streets. We flien thought that the right honourable gentleman laid the propositions before us by authority : but the English minister reprobates them as 80on as they get to England, and the whole nation reprobates them. Thus, on one hand we must conclude, that the English minister tells the Ii'ish minister to propose an adjustment, and, when it goes back, alters every part ; or, that the L'ish minister proposed it without any authority at all. I am inclined to believe the latter ; for it would add to the gentleman's distress to suppose the former. Now let us mark another inconsistency into which the right honour-> n/ble gentleman is driven, no doubt against his will. Time to deliberate W^as refused us, when we had something to deliberate upon ; and now when we aro told we have notliing before us to consider, we are to Lave a fortnight's recess, to enable us to think about nothing. And time, indeed, it will take, before we can think to any purpose. It wiU fake time for the propositions to go through, and, perhaps, to be again altered in the house of lords. It wUl take time for them to be re-con- sidered in the British commons. It will take time for them to come over here. It will take time for us to consider them, though that time is lilcely to be very short. It will take time to send them back to Eng- land. It will take time for them to be returned to us agaiu ; and the ' 'ime will be required to carry them into execution. But a rumour hath gone abroad, of a studied design to delay the discussion of this business until there shall be no members in town, A. way with such a suspicion ; I think too honourably of the righl :ionourable gentleman ; though I should be glad to hear liim say there is not even an idea of the base design of forcing them dowr\ jnv throats, Julr/ 2Zrd, 1785. ?.lR Secretary Orde ha\i:.fr this day moved that the house do adjourn to Tuesday se'nnighL with a proviso that the father delay of a week or more might be needed, Mr. Curran roso and spoke to the following effect : — Sir. the adjournrae.it proposed is disgraceful to parliament, and dis- graceful to the nation I must explain myself by stathig a few facts, though they relate to a subject that I own I cannot approach but with reluctance. The right honourable gentleman, early in the session, produced a set of p'-opv tuitions- w^'j'.^h he said he was authorised to ORDE'r, COMMERCIAL PROrOSITIONS, 4C' present to us, as a system of final and permanent commercial adjust, ment between the two kingdoms. As a compensation for the expecte'-^ advantages of this system, we were called upon to impose <£ 140,000 a-year on this exhausted country. Unequal to our strength, and enormous as the burden was, we submitted ; we were willing to straL every nerve in the common cause, and to stand or fall with the fate oi die British empire. But Avhat is the event ? I feel how much beneath us it would be to attend to the unauthenticated rumom'S of what maj be said or done in another kingdom ; but it would be a ridiculous affectation in us not to know that the right honourable gentleman's system has been reprobated by those under whose authority he was supposed to act, and that he himself has been deserted and disavowed I cannot, for my own part, but pity the calamity of a man who R exposed to the contempt of the two countries as an egregious dupe, oi to their indignation as a gross impostor ; for even he himself nov: abandons every hope of those propositions returning to this house ii) the form they left it. On the contrary, he now only hopes that he may be able to bring something forward that may deserve our approbation on some future day. He requests an adjournment for ten days, and he promises that he will give a week's notice when the yet undis- covered something is to be proposed, which something he promises shall be agreeable to this nation, and authorised by the En^lisl minister. On what his confidence of this is founded I know not ; ujiess he argues, that because he has been disavowed and exposed in his pasr tonduct by his employers, he may rely c.u their supporting him ii future. But however the right honourable gentleman may fail m Irawing instruction from experience or calamity, we ought to be more wise ; we should learn caution from disappointment. We relied on the right honourable gentleman's assurances — we found them fallacious : we have oppressed the people with a load of taxes, as a compensation for a commercial adjustment ; — we have not got *hat adjustment : we confided in our skill in negotiation, and we ...it rendered ridiculous by that confidence. "We looked abroad for the resources of Irish commerce, and we find that they are to be sought *br only at home, in the industry of the people, in the honesty of par- daiLcnt, and in our learning that negotiation must inevitably bring derision on ourselves, and ruin on our constituents. But you are asked to depend on the right honourable gentleman's regard for his own reputation. When the interest of the people is at stake, can we be honest in reposing on so despicable a security ? Suppose this greav pledge of the right honourable gentleman's character should chance tc become forfeited, where will you look for it ? When he sails for Eng- land, is it too large to carry with him ? Or, if you would discover in what parish of Great Britain it maybe found, will the sacrifice be an atonement to a people who have akeady been betrayed by trusting to so contemptible a pledge ? See, then, what we do by consenting to this short adjournment : w& Ivave been abused alreiuly a^id we neslect every other duty, in order tc 60 ORDE'rf COMMERCIAL PROPOSITIONS. solicit a repetition of that abuse. If this something should arriro at all, it will be proposed when the business of the country will engage every county member at the assizes ; for, as to his week's notice, it either cannot reach him in time, or, if it should, he cannot possibly obey it. Is it, then, our wish to have a new subject, of such moment as a contract that is to bind us for ever, concluded in half a house, and without even a single representative for a county in the number ? Is it wise to trust to half the house, in a negotiation in which the wisdoir of the whole has been already defeated ? But what is the necessity that induces us to acquiesce in 'x measure of so much danger and disgrace ? Is this nation brought to so abject a con- dition by her representatives, as to have no refuge from ruin but in the immediate assistance of Great Britain ? Sir, I do not so far despair of the public weal ; oppressed as we were, we found a resource for our constitution in the spirit of the people : abused as we now find ourselres, our commerce cannot fail of a resource in our virtue and industry, if we do not suffer ourselves to be diverted from those great and infallible resources, by a sUly hope from negotia- tion, for which we are not adapted, and in which we can never succeed. And if this great hope stUl is left, why fill the public raind with alarin and dismay? Shall we teach the people to thinkj that something instantly must be done, to save them from destruction ? Suppose that something should not, cannot be done, may not the attempt, instead o* uniting the two countries, involve them as its consequence, in discord, and dissension ? If your compliance with the right honourable gentleman's requisition do not sink th6 people into despair of their own situation, does it not expose the honour and integrity of this house to suspicion and distrust ? For, what can they tsuppose we intend by this delay ? The right honourable gentleman may find it worth his while to secure his continu- ance in office by an exjjedient. however temporary and ineffectual : but, su", if we are supposed to concur in such a design, our character is gone with the people ; for, if we are honest, it can be of no moment to us whether tins secretary or that minister shaU continue in ofl&ce or not. I know it has been rumoured that the right honoui'able gentleman may take advantage of a thin house, to impose upon this country the new set of resolutions that have passed the commons of Great Britain. \ do not suspect any such thing, nor would I encourage such a grouncU less apprehension. I do not think it would be easy to find a man whc would stand within the low-water mark of our shore, and read wwo of those resolutions above his breath, without feeUng some uneasinest for his personal safety ; neither can I think if a foreign usurpation should come crested to our bar, and demand from the treachery ot this house a surrender of that constitution which l>as been established by the virtue of the nation, that we would answer such a requisition h\ rvords. But, sir, though the people should not apprehend such extreme perfidy from us, they will be justly alarmed, if they see us act with needeiiE OKDE'S COMMKflCIAl^ TKOPOSITIONS. 5 ^^ prccipitafaon ; after -what is past, we cannot be surprised at not meeting ffith the most favourable interpretations of our conduct. On great objects, the magnitude of the ideas to be compared may cause some confusion in the minds of ordinary men ; they will therefore pxamine our conduct bj analogy to the more frequent occurrences of common life ; such cases happen every day. Will you permit me to suppose a very familiar one, by which our present situation may be illustrated to a common mind. I will suppose then, sir, that an old friend that you loved, just reco- vering from a disease, in which he had been wasted almost to death, should prevail upon you to take the trouble of buying him a horse for the establishment of his health ; and I the more freely presume to re- present you for a moment in an office so little corresponding with the dignity of your station, from a consciousness that my fancy cannot put you in any place, to which you will not be followed by my utmost respect. I will, therefore, suppose that you send for a horse-joCkey, who does not come himself but sends his foreman. Says the foreman, Sir, I know what you want ; my master has a horse that will exactly match your friend ; he is descended from Rabelias' famous Johannea CabaUus, that got a doctor of physic's degree from the College of EJieims ; but your friend must pay his price. My master knows he has no money at present, and will therefore accept his note for the amount of what "he shall be able to earn while he lives ; allowing him, however, such moderate subsistence as may prevent him from perishing. If you are satisfied, I will step for the horse and bring him instantly, with the bridle and saddle, which you shall have into the bargain. But friend, say you, are you sure that you are authorised to make this bargain : What, sir, cries the foreman, would you doubt my honj ir ? Sir, I can find three hundred gentlemen who never saw me befoi e, and yet have gone bail for me at the first view of my face. Besides, air, you have a greater pledge ; my honour, sir, my renown is at stake. Well, sir, you agree — the note is passed ; the foreman leaves you, and returns with- (mt the horse. What, sir, where is the horse ? Why, in truth, sir, answers he, I am sorry for this little disappointment, ?>ut my mistress has taken a fancy to the horse, so your friend cannot have him. But we have a nice little mare that will match him better ; as to the saddle; ue must do without that, for little master insists on keeping it : how- ever, your friend has been so poor a fellow, that he must have too thick a skin to be much fretted by riding barebacked ; besides the mare is so low that his feet w^ill reach the ground when he rides her ; and still fur, tlier to accommodate him^ my master insists on having a chain locked to her feet, of which lock my master is to hare a key, to lock or unlock, as he pleases ; and your friend shall also have a key, so formed that he cannot imlock the chain, but with which he may double-lock it, if he thinks fit. What, sirrah ! do you think I'll betray my old friend to such a fraud ? Why really, sir, you are impertinent, and your friend is too peevish ; it was only the other day that he charged my master with ha\iDg stolen his cloak, and grew angry, and got a ferrule and spike to bis stafi. Why, sir, you see how good-humouredly my master fir&T« back aii OttDE-S CuilMEBCIAL FliOl'OSlTIO^s. file cloak. Sir, ray master scorng to breaK his word, and so do I ; mt Day character is your security. Now, as to the mare, you are too haEity Ui objecting to her, for I am not sure that you can get her : all I ask Q; you now is, to wait a few hours m the sti eet, that I may try if something may not be done ; but let me say one word to you in confidence — I am to get two guineas, if I can bring your friend to be satisfied with what we can do for him ; now, if you assist me in this, you shall hare half tlie money ; for to teU you the truth, if I fail in my undertaking, I shall cither be discharged entirely, or degraded to my former place of helper n the stable. Now, Mr. Speaker, as I do not presume to judge of your feelings by my own, I cannot be sure that you would beat the foreman, or abuse him as an impudent, lying impostor ; I rather think you would for i moment be lost in reflecting, and not without a pang, how the rectitude of your heart, and the tenderness of your head, had exposed you to be the dupe of improbity and folly. But, sir, I know you would leave the ./retch who had deceired you, or the fool who was deceived by his mas- ter, and you would return to your friend. And methinks you would say to him, we have been deceived in the course we have adopted ; for, ii j good friend, you must look to the exertions of your own strength, for the establishment of your health. You have great stamina still remain- ing — ^rely upon them, and they will support yon. Let no man persuade you to take the ferrule or spike from your staff. It will guard your doak. Neither quarrel with the jockey, for he cannot recover the con- tents of the note, as you have not the horse ; and he may yet see the policy of using you honestly, and deserving to be your friend. If so embrace him, and let your staff be lifted in defence of your common ^fety, and in the meantime, let it be always in readiness to defend yourself. Such, sir, is the advice you would offer to your friend, and which I woula now offer to tliis house. There is no ground for despairing ; let us not, therefore, alarm the people. If a closer connexion with Great Britain is not now practicable, it may be practicable hereafter but we shall ruin every hope of that kind by precipitation. I do there- fore conjure gentlemen not to run the risk of forcing us, at a week's notice, to enter on a subject on which evexj man in the nation ought to [e allowed the moat unlimited time for deliberation. I do conjm-e them jiot to assent to a measure that can serve nobody but the proposer of it 5 that must expose the members of this house to the distrust of their con- stituents, and which may, in its consequences, endanger the harmony ol two kingdoms, whose interests and fortunes ought never to be separated. ^Debates, vol. v., pp. 299—304. The adjom-ninent was Iiowevcr, cnn-icd. August llth, 1785. Ir. Cnrran entered the house late, and spolie to the following effect :— He demanded of the secretary what was become of the eleven pro positions of the Irish parliament, as of them only? '^^^t parliament could orde's commercial propositions. 53 ;ti'eat. He had no fear, he said, that the house would be so base, ttte nation so supine, as to suffer any others to be the grounds of a treaty ; and as to the fourth resolution of the British parliament, he understood too ivell what the conduct of the house would be, was anything to be founded Ml it, to fear from that quarter. But he again desired to know what ;;7as become of the eleven propositions, as it was impossible to negotiate, until the fate of them was known. He said, though it seemed to be the present fashion to urge the house forward, without giving the least time for reflection or consideration, yet he would not suppose the house would, in this instance, precipitate itself into the absurdities of an address, without knowing upon what ground ; much less could he fear that it would fall into the greatest of all absurdities, the negotiating by a bill — binding themselves, and leaving the other parties at liberty However, as to-morrow was so near, he would listen to what the right lonourable Secretary had to offer, convinced that no man would dare to uring forward anything founded on the British resolutions. — Debates. Tol. v., p. 328. August I2th, 1785. On tblfl da/ Orde moved his bill, and was opposed by Grattau and Flood, In speeches ol umineat force and brilliancy. Curran's speech is short, and his exhanstion seems to have beea esccsei^e : — T am too much exhausted to say much at this hour [six o'clock] on the subject. My zeal has survived my strength. I wish my present state of mind and body may not be ominous of the condition to which Ireland would be reduced, if this bill should become a law. I cannot therefore, yield even to my weakness — it is a subject which might ani- mate the dead. [He then took a view of the progress of the arrange- ment, and arraigned the insidious conduct of the administration.*] In Ireland it was proposed by the minister ; in England it was reprobated by the snme minister. I have known children learn to play at cards, by playing the right hand against the left ; I never before heard of a negotiation being carried on in that way. A bill is not a mode of negotiating ; our law speaks only to ourselves — binds only ourselves ; it is absurd, therefore, to let the bill proceed. The commercial part is out of the question ; for this bill portends a surrender of the consti- tution and liberty of Ireland. If we should attempt so base an act, it would be void, as to the people. We may abdicate our representation, but the right remains with the people, and can be surrendered only by them. We may ratify our own infamy ; we cannot ratify their slavery. I fear the British minister is mistaken in the temper of Ireland, and judges of it by former times. Formerly the business here was cajrried on by purchase of majorities. There was a time when the most infa^ mous measure was sure of being supported by as infamous a majority but things have changed. The people are enlightened and roug they will not bear a surrender of their rights, which would be tiie con- • So In tho crlcjaal report. D 54 orde's commeecial propositions. r^equeuse, if they submitted to this bill. It contains a covenant to enact such laws as England should think proper ; that would annihilate the parliament of Ii-eland. The people here must go to the bar of the Eng- lish house of commons for relief; and for a circuitous trade to England we are accepting a circuitous constitution. It is different totally from the cases to which it has been compared, the settlement of 1779, or the Methuen treaty ; there all was specific and defined, here all is future and uncertain. A power to bind exter- nally, would involve a power also of binding internally. This law gives the power to Great Britain, of judging what would be a breach of the compact, of construing it ; in fact, of taxing us as she pleased; whUe it gives her new strength to enforce our obedience. In such an event, we must either sink into utter slavery, or the people must wade to a re-assumption of their rights through blood, or be obliged to takt refuge in a union, which would be the annihilation of Ireland, and what , I suspect, the minister is driving at. Even the Irish minister no 'longer pretends to use his former language on this subject; formerly we were lost in a foolish admiration on the long impedimented march of oratorio pomp, with which the Secretary displayed the magnanimity Df Great Britain. That kind of eloquence, I suppose, was formed upon some model, but I suspect that the light of political wisdom is more easOy reflected than the heat of eloquence ; yet we were in raptmes even with the oratory of the honourable gentleman. However, he now has descended to an humble style ; he talks no more of reciprocity, no nore jf emporium. [He then went into general observations, to show that this treaty would give no soHd advantages to Ireland, but was a revocation of the grant of 1779.] He said — I love the liberty of Ireland, and shall there- fore vote against the bill, as subversive of that liberty. I shall also vote against it as leading to a schism between the two nations, that must terminate in a civil war, or in a union at best I am sorry that I have troubled you so long, but I feared it might be the last time I should ever have an opportunity of addressing a free parliament ; and, if the period is approaching, when the boasted constitution of Ireland will be no more, I own I feel a melancholy ambition to deserve that my name be enrolled with those who eudeavom'ed to save it in its last moment Posterity will be grateful for the last effort, though it should have failed of success. — Debates vol. v., pp. 421, 2, 3. The Introduction of tte bill was carried by 127 to lOa August I5th, 1785. Mr. Orde, on presenting the bill, abandoned it for the session, and for ere: TaoreoQ llood moved the folloNving resolution : — ** Eesolved — Thar "ve hold ourselves bound not to enter into any engagement to give up Che sole and exclusive right of the parliament of Ireland to legislate for Ireland in all cases (fffcataoever, as well externally as commercially and internally " Curran supported him : — I shall support the resolution proposed by the honourable membei« because 1 think it necessary to declare to the people, that their rights have uot beea solely supported by one hundred and ten independent ORDE S COMIIERCIAL PROPOSITIONS. SS gentlemen, but tbiit, if eight or ten of them had beenabseiit, those whc had coimtenanced the measure, would have abandoned every idea of prosecuting it further. It has ever been the custom of our ancestors, when the constitution has been attacked, to take some spirited step for its support. Why was Magna Charta passed ? It was passed not to give freedom to the people, but because the people were already free. Why was the repea. of the 6th of George I. ? Not to give independence to the men of Ire- land, but because Ireland was in itself an independent nation. This resolution does not go to give rights, but to declare that we will pre- serve our rights. We are told to be cautious how we commit ourselves with the parliament of Great Britain : whether this threat carry with it more of pniaence or timidity, I leave gentlemen to determine. I rejoice that the cloud which had loured over us has passed away. I have no intention to wouna the feelings of the minister, by triumphing in his defeat ; on the contrary, I may be said to rise with some degree of self-denial, when I give to others an opportunity of exulting in the victory. The opposition in England has thrown many impediments in the way, out 1 shall remember, with gratitude, that the opposition there has sup- ported the liberties of Ireland. When I see them reprobating the attacks made upon the trial by jury, when I see them supporting the legislative rights of Ireland, I cannot refrain fron* giving them my applause. They well know that an invasion of the Hberty of Ireland would tend to an attack upon their own. The principle of liberty, thank heaven! still continues in those coun- tries : that principle which stained the field? of Marathon, stood in thi pass of Thermopylae, and gave to America independence. Happy it ii for Ireliind, that she has recovered her rights by a victory unstained by blood — ^not a victory bathed in the tears of a mother, a sister, or a wife — not a victory hanging over the grave of a Warren or a Montgo- mery, and uncertain whether to triumph in what she had gained, or to mourn over what she had lost ! As to the majority, who have voted for bringing in the bill, the only way they can justify themselves to their constituents, is by voting foi 'he resolution. As to the minority, who have saved the country, they need no vindication : but those who voted for the introduction of the bill must have waited for the committee, to show the nation that they would never assent to the fourth proposition. That opportunity can never arrive — the bill is at an end. The cloud that had been collecting «o long, and threatenkg to break in tempest and ruin on our heads, has passed harmlessly away. The siege that was drawn round the constitu- Uon has been raised and the enemy is gone — " Juvat ire^ et Doricc castra, desertosque videre locos ;" and they might now go abroad with- out fear, and trace the dangers they had escaped : here was drawn the line of circumvallation, that cut there off for ever from the eastern world ; and there the corresponding one, that inclosed them from the west. Nor let UB forget, in our exultation, to whom we are indebted for the deliverance. Here stood *\e trustv luariner FMr. Conollyl on his ol<^ ee PORTUGAL TRADB, station, the inast-head, and gave the signal. Here [Mr. Flood] all the wisdom of the state was collected, exploring your weakness and your strength, detecting every ambuscade, and pointing to the hidden battery that was brought to bear on the shrine of freedom. And there [Mr Grattan] was exerting an eloquence more than human, inspiring, form- Tig, directing, animating, to the great purposes of your salv^ation. But I feel that I am leaving the question, and the bounds of mode- ration ; but there is an ebullition in great excesses of joy, that almost borders on insanity. I own I feel something like it in the profuseness with which I share in the general triumph. It is not, however, a triumph which I wish to enjoy at the expense of the honourable gentleman who brought in the bill, I am wiUing to believe with the best intention. Whatever I may have thought before, I now feel no trace of resentment to the honourable gentleman. Oii the contrary, I wish that this day's intercourse, which will probably ba our last, may be marked, on our part, with kindness and respect. I am ^or letting the right honourable gentleman easily down ; I am not for depressing him with the triumph, but I am for calling him to share u\ the exultation. Upon what principle can the gentlemen who supported the previous question defend their conduct, unless it was in contradiction to the general rule of adhering to measures, not to the man ? Here it is plain they were adhering to the man, not to the measure ; the measure nad sunk, but the man was still afloat. Perhaps they think it decent to pay a funeral compliment to his departure ; yet I warn them how they press too eagerly forward ; for, as there cannot be many bearers. «ome of them might be disappointed of the scarf or the cypress. I beseech them now to let aU end in good humour, and, like sailors who have pursued different objects, when they get into port, shake hands with harmony. — Debates, vol. v., pp. 453, 4, 5. Flood withdrew his motion, the House adjourned, and Orde's Propositions merged in e secret de.sign for a Union. PORTUGAL TRADE. March nth, 1786. In 1782 the Irish Commons had addressed the Crown to negociate a relaxation of Viic autiea then recently imposed on certain Irish manufactures, but nothing was done. On the 11th of March, 17S6, Mr. Longfield mored another address to the same effect, and sought exact information from the government, which was refused. Mr. Toler (afterwards Lord Nor b'uy) defended the Methuen treaty, and to him Curran alludes in the mJddle of the follo^v ing speech : — I am convinced that not one good end can be derived from withhold- ing the information required. What ! is Ireland ever to be obliged to console herself with explaining the enigmas of an English secretary, solving his political problems, and expressing her astonishment at his sagacious paradoxes? If it be decided that the right "f Ireland be f-OKXCGAL TRADE. 57 retased by the court of Portugal to trade to her dominions, theu, I apprehend, it would be a question for Great Britain herself, if she were sincere in her declaiations towards this country. It is the highes nonsense to say that a treaty, which we are told is soon to be made public, is a matter of secrecy ; the honourable gentleman may also say rhat the exportation of beef and butter is a secret. It is, indeed, a matter of amazement that his extreme caution does not also prompt Lim to warn the house not to make that circumstance public. Thus we find the nation to be amused, because a secretary rising, with muck solemnity, in his place, declares he has now reason to believe, from what he has not reason to comprehend, that matters would be brought to a conclusion favourable to this country ; an assertion which, it ia evident, he cannot, with any degree of authenticity, support, from his manifest ignorance of the negotiation which he evasively pronounce'* on foot. This, indeed, is highly ridiculous ; bu-t not more so than mj learned friend's getting up to construe the Methuen treaty, or, in fact, than what the honourable gentleman within a few feet of him has advanced ; the task he confessed a difficult one ; his merit was there- fore the greater, for stepping forward, to rescue from oblivion, or develop the previous arguments of his friend ; but, however I may admire him as a commentator, yet I am sorry to find myself still in thf dark, notwithstanding my learned friend's laudable exertions. I dc not ^vish to give way to levity, but the absurdities of some persons have the unfortunate knack of turning matters of the most serious nature uito ridicule. The present opposition given to the motion before the house falls under that description, and it would be extremely ludicrous to treat that opposition seriously. If the trade of Portugal is to be abandoned, let the humanity of the honourable gentleman declare it, that we may find out another market for the exportation of our butter and woollens, and not continue, in the course of six years, to be deceived from day to day, and be the ridicule of Europe, by suffering ourselves to be thus easily duped by designing and illiberal ministers. I now ask the secretary if there be positively a negotiation o i foot ? Mr. Orde said he had repeatedly told gentlemen that the treaty was dra^ring to a oco olusion, and, let the event be what it -would, they -would yery soon kno-w it Mr. Curran — However great the honour I may have received frons the honourable gentleman's condescension in giving me an answer, yet I mast beg leave to proceed. He has told us there is a treaty on foot ; now, if there be, what injury can be done the cause by disclosing that a proposal has been made to the court of Portugal ? If circumstance? favourable to us are included in that proposal, the information will quiet the minds of the people, and not disserve the honourable gentleman or his cause. I have indeed, heard of a game of chess going from one generatioT- ro another, but, in a commercial negotiation, I humbly apprehend p similar procrastination is unnecessary. I would be happy to be informed of a simple question, whether the interruption is to be on the expor tation of cloth to Portugal ? If we sleep over this business any longer will r;0t Portugal lauorh at our Tvnsilhin'mitv ? Your prohibition of pon 68 FENSIOiNB. none is a tax of revenue upon yourselves ; you make us pay double foi B glass of wine, to revenge yourselves ou the Portug-uese. For this tax I am no advocate ; not from a motive of luxury so mucii as to prove that we are not so inconsistent as to take revenge on the Portuguese, for the misconduct of the English ministers. If the question of adjourn- ment be put, it will tell the Portuguese that tlie House of Commons has- given up the circumstance ; therefore I will, in consequence of this opinion, vote against the adjom'ument, and for the motion of mv oonourable friend..— Debates^ vol. vi., pp 269, 70, 71. 'Die address vr&s "aitlidi-awn. PENSIONS. 3Iarch 13th, 1786. Tl»E endeavour to regain by corniption what was sunendered to force, began in 1782, and increased gi-eatly after the defeat of Orde"s Propositions. To restrain this, Mr. Forbes, on the 13th of March, 17S6, moved for leave to bring in a bill to limit the amount of jjensions. It was read a first time, and he then moved that it "be read a second time to-moiT0':\-." Sir Hercules Langrishe moved the adjournment of the question to August (i.e. altogether), m a speech full of Hanoverian doctrines, aud was supported by (amongst others) Sir Bovle Roche, in an absurd speech, wliich. as a specimen of his celebrated style, we insert :— " Sir Boyle Eoche — I opposed this bUl at its first rising in this house, in the shape of & motion. [Tlie house called to Sir 3oyle to speak up.l Indeed I thinii it necessaij thiit I Bherll overccrae mv baslifulness. and I lajient that 1 was not brought up to tlie Isamai profession of the law. for that is the best remedy for bashfuluess of aU soi-ts. " The just prerogative oi tne crown and the rights of parliament are the main pillars tba^ support tlie ponderous pile of oar constitution. I never wUl consent to meddle ^rith eitt eat I should bring the whole building about my e-ira. •'1 would not stop the foimtain of roj-al favour, but let it flow freely, spontaneously anu abundantly as Holpveil in Wales, that tmiis so many mills. Indeed some of the best men nave di-ank of tills fountain, which gives honour as well as vigour. This is my way ol tmuKing : at the same time I feel as much integi-ity and piinciple as any man that hears flits. Prmcipie is the fair ground to act upon, and that any man slioidd doubt the prin"j ;t'e tf another, because he happens to differ with lum in opinion, is so bad an act that I do ii<>» choose to give it a name." — Debates, voL vi., pp. 280, 81. Mr. Curran said — I object to adjourning this bill to the first oi August, because I perceive in the present disposition of the house, that proper decision will be made upoii it this aight. We have set out 2pon our inquiry in a manner so honouraDit, md so cousL<^tent, that we .lave reason to expect th^ happiest success, which I would not wish tr. see baffled by delay. We began with giving the full affirmative of this house, that no griev ance exists at all ; we considered a simple matter of fact, and adjourned our opinion ; or rather, we gave sentence on the conclusion, after having idjourned the premises. But I do begin to see &, great deal of argu- ment in what the learned Bai'onet has said ; and I beg gentlemen will acquit me of apostacy, if I offer some reasons why the bill should not be admitted to a second reading. I am surprised that gentlemen have taken up such a foolish opinion, as that our constitution is maiiitaiued by its different component parts, Niutuaiiy checking andcontrciw* - c^i-Ji other ; tb^v seem to thinL with PENSIONS. f Bb Hobbes, that a state of nature is a state of warfare : and that, like Manomet's coffin, the constitution is suspended between ih.e attractiou of different powers. My friends seem to think that the crown should be restrained from doing wrong by a physical necessity ; forgetting, that if you take away from man all power to do wrong, you, at the same time, take away from him all merit of doing right ; and, by making it impossible for men to run into slavery, you enslave them most effectually. But if, instead of the three different parts of our constitution drawing forcibly in right lines, in different directions, they were to unite their power, and draw all one way, in one right line, how great would be the effect of their force, how happy the direction of this union ! The present system is not only contrary to mathematical rectitude, but to public harmony ; but if. instead of privilege setting up his back to oppose pre- rogative, he were to saddle his back, and invite prerogative to rid^ how conifortably they might both jog along ! and therefore it delights me to hear the advocates for the royal bounty flowing freely, and spon- taneously, and abundantly, as Holywell in Wales. If the crown grant double the amount of the revenue in pensions, they approve of their royal master, for he is the breath of their nostrils. But we shall find that this complaisance, this gentleness between tLe crown and its true servants, is not confined at hoiiie ; it extends its influence to foreign powers. Our merchants have been insulted io Portugal, our commerce interdicted: what did the British lion do? Did he whet his tusks? did he bristle up, and shake his mane? did he roar ? Ko ; no such thing : the gentle creature wagged his tail for sIjc years at the court of Lisbon ; and now we hear from the Delphic >racle on the treasury bench, that he is wagging his tail in London to Cheva- Uer Pinto, who, he hopes soon to be able to teU us, wiU allow his ladj to entertain him as a lap-dog ; and when she does, no doubt the Briiisb factory will furnish some of their softest woollens, to make a cushioc for him to lie upon. But though the gentle beast has continued so long fawning and couching, I beheve his vengeance will be great as it is slow ; and that posterity, whose ancestors are yet unborn, will be Burprised at the vengeance he will take ! This polyglot of wealth, this museum of curiosities, the pension list, embraces every link in the human chain, every description of men, women, and children, from the exalted excellence of a Hawke or st Rodney, to the debased situation of the lady who humbleth herself that she may be exalted. But the lessons it inculcates form its greatest perfection : it teacheth, that sloth and vice may eat that bread which virtue and honesty may starve for after they have earned it. It teachea the idle and dissolute to look up for that support which they are too proud to stoop and earn It du'ects the minds of men to an entire reliance on the ruling power of the state, who feed the ravens of th( royal aviury, that cry contmually for food. It teaches them to imitati. those saints on the pension list that are like the lilies of the field, thej toil not, neither do they spin, and yet are arrayed like Solomon in hi »lor}-. In fine, it teaches a lesson, which, indeed, they might have i-arned from Epfr' ?*u.s, thai, it is sometimes g'>"'^ not to be over ►'** 50 PElN'SIOJfS hious : it shows, tliat in proportion as oui distresses increase, the inuDi' ficence of the crown increases also ; in proportion as our clothes are rent, the royal mantle is extended over us. Notwithstanding that the pension list, like charity, covers a multitude of sins, give me leave to consider it as coming home to the members of this house — give me leave to say, that the crown, in extending its charity, its liberality, its profusion, is laying a foundation for the inde- pendence of parliament ; for hereafter, instead of orators or patriots accounting for their conduct to such mean and unworthy persons as freeholders, they will learn to despise them, and look to the first man in the state ; and they will, by so doing, have this security for their independence, that while any man in the kmgdom has a shilling, they will not want one. „ ^ , , , , , Suppose at any future period of time the boroughs of Ireland should declme from their present flourishing and prosperous state — suppose they should fall into the hands of men who would wish to drive a pro- fitable commerce, by having members of parliament to hire or let ; in «uch a case a secretary would find great difficulty, if the proprietors of members should enter into a combination to form a monopoly: to prevent which, in time, the wisest way is to purchase up the raw mate- rial, young members of parliament, just rough from the grass ; and when they are a little bitted, and he has got a pretty stud, perhaps of teventy, he may laugh at the slave merchant ; some of them he may teach to sound through the nose, like a barrel organ ; some, in the course of a few months, might be taught to cry, " Hear ! hear !" some, ** Chair 1 chair !" upon occasion — though those latter might create a fittle confusion, if they were to forget whether they were calling insid-' or outside of those doors. Again' he might nave some so trained that be need only pull a string, and up gets a repeating member: and if they were so dull thai they could neither speak nor make orations (for they are difi'erent things), he might have them taught to dance, pedibus ire in sententia. This improvement might be extended : he might have them dressed in coats and shirts all of one colour ; and, of a Sunday, he might march them to church two by two, to the great edification of the people, and the honour of the Christian religion ; afterwards, like ancient Spartans, or the fraternity of Kilmainham, they might dine all together in a large hall. Good heaven ! what a sight to see them feed- ing in public, upon public viands, and talking of public subjects, for the benefit of the pubhc ! It is a pity they are not immortal ; but I hope they wUl flourish as a corporation, and that pensioners will beget pen- ioners, to the end of the chapter. — Debates, vol. vi., pp. 281 — 4. Tho ndjonmment was, however, carried. We shall present! v" fl-'"'l that the ^ill v;a.c ^WJewed, und supported by Curran, in the uoat year. OUTRAGES m THE SOUTH. 61 OUTRAGES m THE SOUTH January \2th, 1787. {'fta8t>'"<9 *>f all politics are now agreed that the disturbances wliich nave broken out sc often in the south, for the last hundred years, were caused by the misery of the people. How far, at any period of "^jliis time, the misery was caused peculiarly by excessive renta^ bad tenures, harsh treatment, oppressive tithing, or absenteeism, we need not distinguish; but it is certain that aU contributed. As httle need we examine how far French interesr.'^ (connected, as they were with this countiy, by " The Brigade," the clerical schools, and th« egal and contraband trades.) availed themselves of these disturbances, in the middle of the ist century, or how far poUticid parties united -with them towards the close of that perJo*' -Tis sulHcient and necessary to allude to these topics. In the Lord Lieutenant's opening speecli, in 1786, he referred to the "frequent outrages," and ~Slx. Seward {Collectanea Folitica^ p. 82,) appUes this to the " Right Boys" of Kilkeniiy and quotes a pastoral of Dr. Troy's, to his Clergj'- in Ossory, stating that any person refoA- ing to abjure the Right Boy oath, should be refused the rights of his church, living or dead. Yet the only bUl on distiu-bances brought in by govemment was a Dublin Police BiU, iigai:-.st which the city petitioned. In 1787, however, the speech from the Viceroy referred more positively to the Southern outrages, and, on the address in reply to it, a most vehement debate occurred. Curran'n speech is one of his best in parhament, but has been omitted in all former editions of his ■works. During this debate the govemment party treated the disturbances as against the clergy, accused the landlords of grinding the people and abetting the distm-bances. and asked fresh powers. In an after discussion, Fitzgibbon. the Attorney-General, made the following interesting statements "with reference to these disturbances : — "^ Their commencement was in one or two parishes in the county of Kerry, and they pro- ceeded thus : — The people assembled in a mass house, and there took an oath to obey the lav/s of Captain Right, and to starve the clergj'. They then proceeded to the next parishes^ on the foIlo\ving Sunday, and there s^vore the people in the same manner, -with this addi- tion, that they (the people last sworn) shoind, on the ensuing Sunday, proceed to the cha^ pels of ^eti' next neighbouring parishes, and swear the inhabitants of those parishes in like manner. " Proceeding in this manner they very soon went through the province of Munster. The first object of their reformation was tithes: they swore not to give more than a certain price per acre — not to take from the minister at a great price — not to assist or allow him to be assisted in drawng the tithe, and to permit no proctor. They next took upon thent to prevent the collection of parish cesses— then to nominate parish clerks, and, in some cases, curates — ^to say what chm'ch should or should not be repaired ; and in one case, tn threaten that they would burn a new church if the old one was not given for a lOiiss house. •* At last they proceeded to regulate the price of lands, to raise the price of Jabnor, .-ind to oppose the collection of the hearth money and other taxes. ";&3dies of five thousand of them have been seen to marjh through the country unarmed, and if met by any magistrate, who had spirit to question them, they have not offered the smallest rudeness oi" offence; on the ccntrarj-, they have allowed persons charged -with crimes to be taken from amongst them, by the magistrates aaone, unaided ulth any force. ' I am very weU acquainted with the province of Monster, and I know that it is impos- sible for human wTetchedness to exceed that of the miserable peasantry in that province, i know that the unhappy tenantry a?'e ground to powder by relentless landlords — I know that, far from being able to ;ive the clergy their just dues, they have not food or raiment for themselves, the landlord grasps the whole : and sorry I am to add, that, not satisfied Mitb the present extortion, some landlords have been so base as to instigate the insurgents tc rob the clergy of their tithes, not in order to alleviate the distresses of the tenantry, but that they might add the clergy's share to the cruel rack-rents already paid. I fear it wU'. require the utmost abiUty of parhament to come to the root of those e\-ils. The poor peo- ple of ]\Iunster Uve in a more abject state of poverty than human nature can be supposed able to bear— their miseries are intolerable, but they do not originate mth the clergy ; nor can the ie^;'^ature stand by and see them take the redress into their o^nl hands. Notliing can be dono Tor their benefit while the country remains in a state of axia.rchj,"— Debates, voL vii, p. 57. But Mr. Longficld, a county Cork gentleman, stated that the disturbances were exagge- rated, though the distress was not. He accused the government of looldne for a year oS the disttirbances, for a political purpose, and used these strong words — *'none but tho lowest \vTe*ches, who groan under the mosnatolerable oppressions, were engaged in any di3- 8S OUTRAGES m THE SOITTH. Corran mcved an amendment to the add-?ss tnus :~ Had this address been, (as were all addresses that I have ever read ;r heard of,) composed of unmeaning stuff, I should not rise to speali. to it. But, Sir, i^ is an address that tends to inspire the mind cf the :;hief governor wi'A indignation for the wretched people of this coun- try — an address tending to impress the father of his people with thf idea of their being in open revolt, to divert the royal mind from listen- mg to the complaints of afflicted subjects, or alleviating their miseries. cannot give my consent to such gross invective. To say it is neccs- ^ry, is only adding irony to invective. But you wish to compliment his grace — and do you ? No ; you praise him for the exertion of force that was never exerted ; and, if vou suppose it exerted, you must confess yourself disappointed in your expectations of it ; and surely this can be no compliment. Sir, tliis country has been represented as in a state little short of open rebellion. As subjects of the country, it is the business of all gentle- men to consider the real state cf the case, and if ever there was a time when party bias should be thrown aside, it is the present. We should not brand the nation in our address with words of course. Sir, when you speak of popular disturbances, you should search for £ne source of them ; the people are oppressed, and before you pour the last drop into the vessel, and cause the waters of bitterness to overflow on them, consider well what you are about. If the representatives of the nation have been remiss, if the magistrates throughout the kingdom nave been criminally supine, lay the blame at the right door : cease to utter idle complaints of ineritable effects, when you yourselves^ have been the causes. Sir, the man who would say, that the constitution in chui-ch and state was in danger, from the simple insurrection of a parcel of peasants, without order, without a head, without a leader, undisci- plined, unarmed, or only partially so, I would not take to be a very wise man ; and the man who would say so from anything, save an error in !.udgment, I would not take to be either a wise or an honest man. Wnat, feir^ is the tendency of tliis paragraph ? Why, Sir, it is to create civil iiscord between subject and subject — to arm the hand of one man against another ! It is unusual with me. Sir, to offer any captious opposition. My oppo- sition to this part of the address is not of this nature. I have in my 6reast a feeling which will not suffer me to hear the cry of public cala-^ mity interpreted as the shout of rebellion, and this is now attempted to be done. You have no rebellion cresting her head in the nation. But a deliberate scheme is said to be on foot, for the extirpation of the Pro- testant religioii and of the constitunon. Were it the ca.se,^ I should expend the last drop of my blood in defence of both ; but it is not the fact. I will tell gentlemen the causes from whence the present distur- bances originated. An idea has been disseminated, but I hope in God it W'il never take root, that, though a man laboiu-s, he is not entitled iv ^njoy the emoluments of his labour and industry. This is said to be the case, but I hope, without justice. Sir, the patience of the people as been totally exhausted; their f>rievances have long been the cmpsy OLTKAGES 12^ THE SOUTU, Gli ^ng of this house, hut no productive effect has erer yet followed. But it may be asked, what are the grievances of the people ? "Why, one is non-residence of the landholders. By their absence the unfortunate 'enant becomes subject to the tyranny of an intermediate landlord— and when this matter came before you, what did you do ? "Why, yon denied the existence of the grievance, and refused redress. You are deprived, by the non-resident landholder, of your specie — your gold and silver — but this is not the worst of the mifcchief. Every incentive to order or industry is withdrawn, and hence one great reason for the pre- sent disturbances. Is it any wonder that the wretches whom wcful and long experience has taught to doubt, and with justice to doubt, the attention and relief of the legislature — wretches, that have the utmost Tiff culty to keep life and soul together, and who must inevitably perish, if the hand of assist- ance is not stretched out to them — should appear in tumult? !No. Sir, it is not. Unbound to the sovereign by any proof of his affection — unbound to government by any instance of its protection, unbound to the country, or to the soil, by being destitute of any property in it, 'tis no wonder that the peasantry should be ripe for rebellion and revolt : 60 far from being matter of surprise, it must naturally have been expected. Will any man dare to say, that there is a single man of property, a single man of consequence, connected with the insurgents ? Or thai any such men afford them support ? No ; and with what justice, then, can the paragraph stand in the address ? When a body of men stood forward, in the moment of general con- sternation and dismay — in that perilous moment, when it was a question whether you should long sit as a House of Commons, for government was unable to defend you — they. The Volunteers, defended you ; and, to be sure, you held out a good encouragement to loyalty ! What did you do? You thanked them first, and dismissed them afterwards! This was attended with the blessed effects we are now witnesses of Fired with honest indignation, they withdrew themselves from the ser- vice of their country, and left it exposed to all the consequcncec- of intestine commotion. It is true you talked of substituting a miiiJa bill — but. Sir, this was a mere farce, to amuse for the present moment : and you should not have deprived the country of one support, until yoii ;iad actually supplied her with another. You were called on, Sii', solemnly called on for a proper reformation m the representation of the people ; did you grant it ? No ; and how does it at present stand ? Why, Sir, seats in this house are bought and sold. They are set up to public sale : they are become an absohitf article of commerce — a traffic of the constitution. I have a doubly whether, if a member of this house should become a bankrupt, his sear in this assembly would not be claimed by his assignees, as a part of hi: property, and whether they might not put it up to public cant. The legal and constitutional idea is, that a member should represent his constituents, by virtue of the property he has. Now, members f'*r Lhesc saleable rotten borough? --epre^cnt tlieir constituents, or the pcv 64 OUTRAGES I> THE SOUTH. pie, by virtue of the property which they have not, for they represent them in virtue of the two thousand pounds which they give the pro- prietor for his seat. Nothing, then, can be more clear than that they do not represent the people in virtue of the property they have. Certainly as they have bought the people for a sum of money, it i= natural they should sell them — and so they do ! aad make the most they can of the bargain. The mandate of a borough-monger can return any man, — however contemptible — however obnoxious, to this house, and I ask you should this be tolerated ? There is a race in this country, between public prodigality and con- nivance. Prodigality is everywhere to be seen, and connivance affords .t the means of existence, and hence the race between public prodigality and public connivance, and the fact of their both keeping pace together. { do not blame a certain right honourable gentleman [Mr. Orde] ; I see him look grave at what I say ; I am sure he feels it with regret. Sir, that right honourable gentleman knows, that the people have no power of control over their representatives ; and what is the consequence ? Why, it is in the power of a few borough-mongers to impede the neces- sary motions of government — to obstruct the necessary business of the nation ! And hence. Sir, expectants and demandants must be gratified with places and pensions, or we should have, in fact, no government 1 And hence are the people victims. I know what I say may be offensive to many gentlemen ; individually and personally, I have as much respect for them, perhaps, as any man can have, but private respect must givo way to public necessity. Unless something is done, what will be the end of all this ? Why, government will be necessitated, at length, to imitate the policy of Henry the Seventh, who broke the neck of an abominable aristocracy, and caused the property they had accumulated to circulate amongst the peo- ple. In this case, it would only be restoring to the people their own pro- perty — the right of election. Nor are the evils I speak of seen in theory only, but in practice. You have now near one hundred thousand pounds on your pension list ; and this should surprise and alarm every man who is not dead to all real subjects of surprise and alarm. The peasantry have formed 'hopes of relief; and will you dash the oup of comfort, or snatch the bread of hope from the mouth of affliction? People, when oppressed — though oppressed by law — will make reprisals; \nd these are the real causes of disturbance. I have been a resident of this county, spoken of as in open insur- rection ; and, since gentlemen are in the habit of speaking of themselves, [ shall do myself the same honour. I could not perceive any of the outrages spoken of; and I am certain that they were nothing moretha: the offspring of the most abject misery. They were all forlorn wretchesr who, were they inchned to become danglers, and to pin themselves to the petticoat of administration, so poor, so naked are they, that admin- istration would not find on them a rag whereby to pin them to their petticoat. I have a family ; and, if I thought the accounts of disturbaucea faitlu OL'TRAUES IN TILE SODTH. 6t •tiI and unexaggerated, can it be fairly supposed I would wish to witls- hold protection from them ? But, in such a light do I hold insurrection, Thatever provocatives might have been to it, that as a counsel I refused to be concerned for two men charged with the crime ;* and this, I think, should entitle me to a little credit. Still, I can see no necessity for creating a dictatorship, in the person jf our chief goYemor. Do we not possess the means of punishing anv crime that may be committed against society ? Will any man hold out such an incentive to rebellion, as to say we do not ? The insurrection is not so great. The man who says it is, despairs of the commonwealth and I insist that there is nothing in the present times that will justify » departure from the ordinary proceedings and established forms of goyern- mcnt. The supineness of the magistrates, and the low state of the commis- sions of the peace throughout the kingdom, but particularly in tb. :.ounty of Cork, are the things that should be rectified. At the last issizes there, I prevailed on two unworthy magistrates, Butler ana Wogan, to resign their commissions, (which they had abused), by freeing them from a prosecution. A system of vile jobbing is one of the misfortunes of this country. It extends even to commissions of the peace ; how else can the report of the four and twenty commissions of the peace sent down to the count;/ of Clare in one. post (I don't mention it as a fact) be accounted for. Even the appointment of sheriffs, is notoriously in the hands of govern- ment. Through jobbing the sheriffs themselves cannot be trusted; two sheriffs ran away last year with executions in their pockets, and the late Ligh sheriff of the county of Dublin has absconded. Disorders should be remedied; but, in that remedy, do not pronounce a sentence of excommunication against the people. Suppose all the people of L-eland should come to your house, and tell you they wer«? Aggrieved, and wanted redress, let me ask you what would you say ? Many independent men are waiting with patience for your decision — waiting quietly, with their hands before them — men, whose influence may make insurrection dreadful indeed. We have a most elegant cus- tom-house, and for what ? To afford palaces for the servants of the crown. One palace has been built in it, and I understand it was a mat- ter of contention, that there were not two. All this is jobbing — and now I am given to understand that palaces must be built for all the officers of police, under the description of resident-houses. I have read the history of other nations, and I have read the history of yours ; I have seen how happily you emerged from insignificance and obtained your constitution. But when you washed this constitution with the waters which were to render it invulnerable, like the mother oi Achilles, you forgot that the part by which you held it was untouched ir, the immersion ; it was benumbed, and not rendered invulnerable, and •■Jierefore it should attract your nicest care. You may talk of commerce extendmg — of a freedom of trade ; bii • His refusing to act b" oounsei seems strange ard IcdefenuiUe. 66 . OlTTJtAGES TN THE SOUTIl. what, in God's name, have they to do with the wretched peasantry? — and when the peasantry complain, and when I hear such language, I consider it as a solemn and an insulting mockery. Let me examine what government has done to suppress those dis- lurbances. They sent down the crown solicitor to Cork ! Was the jrown solicitor a person to quell rebelKon ? They sent down four hun- dred soldiers ! was it to fugle for the body of rebels ? If it was not, grhere are the conquests they made ? But what did both solicitor and jjrmj do ? They empannelled twelve of the vn'etches to try a thirteenth — they found him guilty, and they whipped him through the town at a cart's taU ! For shame ! for shame ! Cease thus to expose the King's government to the ridicule of the whole world, by this trumpeting of alarm, when such is the only foundation for it. I have, on a former day, opposed Attachments ; but I think the magis- trates who have neglected their duty, should and ought to be attached ; and that it would be a better measure than to augment the offences of our criminal code, already too numerous. He concluded by moving the following amendments : — To the second paragraph of the address, by inserting between the word kingdom and the word and the following words : — " Though it is a great consolation to us to think that these outrages have not origi- aated in any disaffection in your Majesty's subjects of this kingdom to your Majesty's government, or in any concerted design of disturbmg our present tappy constitution either in Church or State, but they had been whoUy .onfined to some individuals of the lowest class of the peo- ;jle, whose extreme indigence and distress may be the occasion, though they cannot be a justification, of such illegal proceedings ; and it is a further consolation to us to know, that the ordinary powers of the law now in being are fully adequate, if duly exerted, to punish and restrain such excesses. To the thu-d paragraph, by adding after the word goveriiment the fol- lowing words : — " At the same time we humbly beg leave to represent to your Majesty, that the public expenses of this country have increased to a degree so far beyond the abihty of the people to bear, that we feei ourselves called upon by our duty to our constituents to reduce those expenses, by every mode of retrenchment, consistent with such honour- able and necessary support to your Majesty's government, within such amits as may be compatible with the very exhausted resources of a dis - tressed people. And we do not doubt of having your Majesty's gracious approbation of a measure so essential to the commercial hopes o^ your kingdom of Ireland, as well as conducive to the permanent peaci) and prosperity of this kingdom." — Debater. 7yl. vii., pp. 25 — 31. The amendments were lost •without a di\- sioT^ THit KLSGJ>Oi» OF KEKKC 67 THIS KINGJ>OM OF KERRY. January 23ra, 1787. TffS. fMlowlng flragment of ' speech on the 23rd of Januaiy, seems to have originated tlilF |)bx£8e ;— I admit that there may be local circumstances which would justify Que withholding of a writ of election, but they should be of notoriety, and well ascertained. I know of no whiteboys, at present, impeding the freedom of election. Since disturbances 'have been spoken of, 1 declare that I sincerely wish the offenders may be punished, but I most Bincerely wish that the cause of these disturbances may be removed. For my part I have done everything as a magistrate, and as a man to restore order. The low and contemptible state of your magistracy is the cause of much evil, particularly in the Kingdom of Kerry. I say Kingdom, for it seems absolutely not a part of the same country. Sir, I will relate to you a circumstance that will give you an idea of the vigilance of the magistrates in that quarter. One Seely, a notorious offender, for whom a reward had been offered by government, appeared openly in the county. A poor cottager was met by a person one morn ing, when going to pay his rent. The person asked him was he not distressed to make up the moaey. The poor cottager innocently replied — why should I want money, when I can, at any time, get fifty pounds for informing against Seely ? For having dropped this expression, the wretch's cabin was tliat night broken open by six armed men, and as himself, his wife, and children, sat round a little table, at their tasteless and scanty meal of dry potatoes, a blunderbuss was discharged on them. scarcely one of the children escaped being wounded ; the father died ol the spot. In Tralee another fello vv broke gaol, and they are both walking ibout the country, not skulking or hiding, but in the face of day. To my ovra knowledge, informations were laid before a magistrate — ft ver/ respectable person — ^but no step has been taken to apprehend them, and the murderer and the outlaw stalk about the land, laughing at the sleeping laws. — And I say, Sir, to suffer those men again to return into diQ mass of the people, is the severest reproach upon your magistracy In saying this I do not mean to throw the smallest imputation on the V^enerable character from whom the magistrates receive their commis. sions. A man of higher integrity never existed ; but it is impossible for him personally to know every man recommended — he must take them upon the credit of the recommender, and he only is to blame, wh<^ for any base purposes, clothes in authority a wretch, unworthy, perhapSj t50 be a footman or a •groom, — Dehaits, vol. rii., pp. 41, 2 GR RIGHT BOY BILL. RIGHT BOY BILL. February 19^A, 1787 Ok the motion for the Committal of the Bill, a hot debate occurred. Mr. Burgh, of Ola- tCTTTi, interrupted the reading of the bill at the clause for pulling do-wn Roman Cathollfl Chapels. This clause was ifterwards abandoned, but Fitzgibbon's defence of it is worth notice :— "I am now come to the clause which, upon the first reading, drew forlh such a string of feverish epithets from some honourable gentlemen— the clause directing magistrates tc demolish mass-houses at which combinations shall be formed, or unlawful oaths adminis- tered. I am as imwilling as any man to abolish Christianity ; for I know if religion is abo- lished, there is no longer any tie over the minds of men, I am un-v^illing as the right honourable gentleman to stab them through the sides of their God ; but if they will maka *heir places of worship places of combination, they should be prostrated ; if they will per- vert them to the vilest purposes, they ought to be demolished. However, though I should not press this clause, I am glad it has appeared In print ; it -vnll show the bulk of the peo- ple what they are likely to draw upon"* themsehes, by perverting their places of worship (ind it will rouse those who are most interested in their presei-vation to exert themselvei for the prevention of combinations, and administering unlawful oaths in them. Nor can 1 give up the principle on which the clause Is foimded ; for' we are told, from the highest authority, that when the temple had become a den of thieves, the doors therefore -n-erc shut. Besides, I havo known this veiy punishment inflicted in Catholic countries, an^ have actually seen churches shut up by an order ^f the king of Fi-ance, for offences of political nature. However, I shall not press the clause, being convinced, that by appear- ing in print, it has answered the purpose intended-" — Debates^ vol. vii.. p. 185. Grattan opposed the excesses of the bill ; Curran resisted it altogether : — Mr. Curran said — I came to the house impressed with the insigni- ficant figure to which the house has been reduced, in the course of this business. A committee has been appointed to consider this great sub- ject—they meet, not to inquire into the real state of the country, bub blindly to accede to a resolution proposed. Without hearing one singla evidence of any fact, we are now called upon to treat this kingdom as if it were in actual rebellion, and to add a new list to the catalogue of capital punishments. K we are reduced to the necessity of adding oppression to misery, and that we must condemn the wretched peasantry of this country unheard, the more blindly we are driven forward the better — our degradation ought to be matter of consolation to us, as it must be of excuse. I will, however, beseech the house to consider the danger contained in the principle of the bill, before they sufifer it to gd into a committee. [He then went into a view of the state of Ireland previous to and subsequent to 1782.*] In the former period we wert treated as a conquered country by Great Britain ; cramped in our indus- try by her jealousy ; bound by laws to which we never assented ; kept in a state of weakness ; unable to resent, by the divisions artfully fomented among us; our peasantry reduced to the most abject misery; our employments, o^. every description, bestowed upon strangers ; ou. nobles paid without being trusted ; the kingdom, of consequence, weak, idle, ignorant, and licentious, and all this because of the civil and reli- fious disunion among the people. A happy change occurred. We ave witnessed the increase of knowledge and of industry, emancipation from unconstitutional power, a happy escape from religious intolerance, * This and all s'milar abridgements are w i- the original renon-j aiQHT BOX BILL. S^ the admission of our Catholic brethren to the national rights of fellow- subjects and fellow-Christians. [He then contrasted the former weak- ness of a divided people with the state of strength and respect to whici? Ireland had advanced by her unanimity, in the last war.] When Eng^ and left you to guard yourselves, the spirit of a people, then happily united, sent into the field an army of citizens, without distinction o'f -iscts or tenets, and united in the common and glorious cause of defend- ing their country. Your enemies were dismayed ; and Europe saw ur' start from a sleep of centuries, and reclaim that station which we so 'ong had relinquished in the scale of nations. [He then proceeded to state more particularly the present state of tli< Xiation, and observed on the general effect of severe laws.] The peopk we too much raised by a consciousness of their strength and consequence to be proper objects of so sanguinary a code as that now proposed. The ■jverstrained severity of a law amounts universally to the impunity of the offender, for every good and social principle in the heart of ms,^ obstructs its execution. The witness, the jury, the judge concur, by every practicable artifice, to save the wretch from a punishment inade- quate to his crine. On general principles, therefore, I will oppose the principle of a oiU that is written in blood. But the general principle receives double strength from the drcumstauces of the time. The dis- turbances of tlie south are not onlv exaggerated beyond the truth, by' every misrepresentation of artful nialignity, but are held up to the pub lie mind in so silly or so wicked point of view, as to make it impossible for parliament to proceed, without the most imminent danger of sacri- ficing every advantage we have acquired. And here let me advert for tba supinenp.ss of magistrates, and the oppression o{ E fO RIGHT BOY BILL. landlords. Now an act like this would be a proclamation of a religious: war in this kingdom. A publication has been industriously circulated through a number of editions, stating that a scheme lias been formed between the Catholics and the Presbyterians, for the subversion of the established religion and constitution ; and the former are gravel>' informed that their religion absolves them from all tie of allegiance tc the state, or observance of their oaths. And this is not an opinion prmt union, and therefore without co-operation. From hence the neces- sity of bringing the constitution frequently back to its first principles j "but this is doubly necessary to do by law, in a c^'.ntry where a longj Kystem of dividing the people has almost extinguisbed that public mind that public vigilance and jealousy, with which the conduct of the crown watched over in Great Britain. Further, it is rendered necessary by the residence of our king 11 another country. His authority must be delegated first to a Viceroy, and next it falls to a Secretary, who can have no interest in the good of the people, no interest in future fame, no object to attract him, bul the advancement of his dependants. Then the responsibility that binds an English king to modera-tion and frugality is lost here in the confusion of persons, or in their insignificance. This may be deemed an unusual language iri this house ; but I assure the right honourable Secretary 1 do not speak with any view of disturb- • The reader will r«cognite e.nre/'iphor afterwtorda employed by Curran in his speech fcr H'/milttn Rowan. 74 LIMITAnON OF PENtiO^S. Ji^ his personal feelings. I do not admire, nor shall I imitate the jruelty of the Sicilian tyrant, who amused himself with putting insects to the torture. I am merely statino: facts. What responsibility caxi je found or hoped for in an English Secretary ? Estimate them fairly not according to the adulation that lifts them into a ridiculous impor- tance while they are among you, or the alike unmerited contumely tha* ia aeaped upon them by disappointment and shame when they leave you But what have they been, in fact ? — why, a succession of men, some- times with heads, sometimes with hearts, oftener with neither. But as to the present right honourable Secretary, it is peculiarh ridiculous to talk of his responsibility, or his economy to the people. His economy is only to be found in reducing the scanty pittance which profusion has left for the encouragement of our manufactures ; or in withholding from the undertakers of a great national object that encouragement that had been offered them on the express faith of par- liament ; unless, perhaps, it were to be looked for in the pious plan of Belling the materials of houses of religious worship, on a principle of economy. But where will you look for his responsibility as a minister ? You will remember his Commercial Propositions. They were proposed to this country on his responsibility. You cannot forget the exhibition iie made ; you cannot have yet lost his madrigal on reciprocity ; but what was the event ? He went to Great Britain with ten propositions, and he returned with double the number ; disclaimed and abandoned by those to whom he belonged, and shorn of every pretension to respon- sibility. Then look for it in the next leading feature of his administration. We gave an addition of £140,000 in taxes, on the express compact and condition of confining expense within the limits of revenue. Already has that compact been shamefully evaded; but what says the responsible gentleman ? Why, he stood up in his place, and had the honest confi- dence boldly to deny the fact ! Now I should be glad to ask, who that right honourable member is ? Is he the whole House of Commons ? — if he be, he proposed the compact. Is he the king ? — he accepted it by his viceroy. Is he the viceroy ? — he accepted it by himself In every character that could give such a compact either credit, or dignity, or stability, he has either proposed or ratified it. In what character, then, iocs the right honourable gentleman deny it ? — ^why, in his own ; in that of a right honourable gentleman. Is any man, then, so silly as to think that a barefaced spirit of profusion can be stopped by anything less than a law ? Or can any man point out any ground on which we can confide in the right honourable gentle- man's affection to the interest or even the peace of this country ? At a time when we are told that the people are in a state of tumult little short of rebellion, when you ought to v/ish to send an angel to recall the people to their duty, and restore the credit of the laws, what does he dor—he keeps three judicial places, absolutely vacant, sinecure places, — as if in this country not officers, but offices, are to becomt superannuated ; and he sends the commission, with a job tacked to it, tX> be dJBplajred in the v&r- see'^o of this supposed confusion. WouW" LIBtlTATION OF TENSIONS. 79 ihis contemptuous tnfling' with the public be borne in Great Britain ? KOf Sir ; but what the substance of an English minister, with all his talents, would not dare to attempt in that country, his fetch is able to achieve, and with impunity, in this. A right honourable member opposes the principle of the bill, as being In restraint of the royal bounty. I agree with him in this sentiment but I differ from his argument. It becomes the dignity and humanity •.)f a generous people, to leare it in the power of the sovereign to employ some part of the public wealth for honourable purposes, for rewarding merit, for encouraging science. Nor would it become us to inquire toe narrowly into every casual or minute misapplication ; but a gross and general application of the people's money to the encouragement of every human vice, is a crying grievance, that calls on every man to check it — not by restraining the bounty of the crown, but by curbing the pro- fusion of Irish administrations. The pension list, at the best of times, was a scandal to this country ; but the present abuses of it have gone beyond all bounds. If a great officer of state, for instance, finds that tlie severity of business requires the consolation of the tender passion, he courts through the pension list ; and the lady, very wisely, takes hold of the occasion, which, perhaps, could not be taken of the lover, and seizes time by the forelock. Why, Sir, we may pass over a little treaty of that sort ; it may naturally enough fall under the articles of concordatum or contingencies ; but that unhappy list has been degraded by a new species of prostitution that was unknown before : the granting of honours and titles, to lay the foundation for the grant of a pension the suffering any man to steal a dignity, for the purpose that a barren beggar steals a child. It was reducing the honours of the state from badges of dignity to badges of mendicancy. [He then adverted to the modern practice of doubling the pensions of members of that house, who were, unhappily, pensioners already.] If the Secretary afraid of their becoming converts ? Is it necessary to double bolt them with pensions ? Is there really so much danger that little Tricksey will repent, and go into a nunnery, that the kind keeper must come down with another hundred to save her from becoming honest ? But^ a right honourable gentleman made another objection, rathei inconsistent with his former one ; he feared it would take away the control of parliament over pensions within the limits of the act pro- posed. The objection is not, however, founded in fact ; at the same time this argument admits that the unlimited power of pensioning is a gi'iev- anee that ought, to be remedied by some effectual control. Such is the principle and the effect of this bill, if carried into a law. It would not restrain the crown ; it would not restrain a Lord Lieutenant; it would only restrain a Secretary from that shameful profusion of the public treasure, unimputable and unknown to his majesty or the viceroy, which was equally disgraceful to the giver and receiver. It is a bill to preserve the independence of parliament ; it is a bill to give us the consti- tution of Great Britain, where we had it not before. It is similarly necessary, when we have adopted a penal law of Great Britain, gixing vi new force to the executive mag^istrate, that we should Biso adopt that law of Great Britain, which might secure the rights of the people. It is a law necessary, as a counterpoise to the riot act. It is a law of invention, and, if necessary, prevention ; for, if you wait t£" the evil, which my right honourable friend is anxious to guard agamst shall have aetuall) fallen upon this country, the corruption will be uni versal, and the remedy impossible. — DebaieSf vol. vii., pp. 332 — 6. TITHES. March lSth,178:, Mr. Graitan having niove^ h resolutiou that if tranquillity -were restored, at the opening OT the next session, tfie house f/oiild conader the Tithe question, CuiTan said :- I support the resolution as indispensably necessary at the present juncture — the circumstances of the time make it necessary. The dis- turbance of the public tranquillity, and the light in which some gentle- men thought proper to represent that disturbance, have brought upou this country a law of pains and penalties severe beyond all example ot any former period. We should have remembered that the offence was local and partial, but that the causes of such offence were universal. The very offence, therefore, should have turned our attention to those causes — the abject and miserable state of the peasantry of Ireland. But the right honourable Secretary declares he is a stranger to their distresses ; that they have not petitioned this house ; that if they did offer petitions he would reject them ; that he wiU not consent to any ;ihange in the constitution, and that, therefore, he will not hold out any hope that the distresses of the poor of this kingdom shall ever be con- sidered by parliament. I am happy to find that the right lionourable gentleman has so good an excuse for language so little consistent with either wisdom or humanity, in that ignorance of the state of this coun- try which he so ostentatiously got up to declare. I am happy, too, to Cud that the only man in the house who is a stranger to the misery ot the people, is also a stranger to their interest and their country. I ovrj I am surprised to find the right honourable gentleman so ready to believe their offences, and yet such a stranger to tlieir sufferings, when I recol- lect that both have been stated to the house at the same moment, an^ hy. the same person. But the right honourable gentleman will not parley with their mutiny >N'ere the kingdom really in that state of insurrection, which can be th^j only fact on which such an argument could be founded, I doubt much if the right honourable gentleman has nerves to hold sucli a language ; but if the fact be notoriously false, what does the assertion come to : Because a few have oftended, we are afraid to tell the whole body of tho people that wiien tranquiUity shall be restored, we will consider their grievances. This may be reconciled with that utter ignorance whidi Tl'J-HES. 77 iue riglit liouourable gentleman has been so anxious to display ; but for this house to .give weight to such reasoning, would be to say, that we are deterred from speaking the language of truth and justice, by a paltry pani^, which the magnanimity of parliament could not entertain. or its wisdom confess. Mean as the idea is, the honourable gentlemar has brought it forward, and has reduced you to the necessity of sinking under the imputation, or of disclaiming it by concurring in this resolu tion. The honourable gentleman ought to know tliat the people havt a constitutional right to have their grievances considered and redressed by their representatives ; bu* the honourable gentleman has, by an 'jnfortunate ?Jacrity in declaring his sentiments, filled the mind of the aation with dismay on that subject. They would naturally have hoped, that vrhen the application of an unusal legislative security had restored title peace of the public, we would listen to the call of duty and compas- sion, and take their calamity into consideration, at a proper time ; but the lionourable gentleman could not let the riot act pass without accom- panying it with an express disavowal of all intention to alleviate, or even at any period, however distant, to deign to listen to their complaints. When a right honourable gentleman of so much consequence comes forward wantonly to toll out the knell of separation to the people, it becomes the duty of every man to disclaim all participation in so abo- minable a sentiment. The resolution is necessary even to the execution cf the law that we passed ; for who are the objects of it ? The whole peasantry of the south ? And who are to execute it ? That very body jf men in the class above them, who have been represented as adverse to the rights of the clergy, and are said to have connived at these offences. If, then, you make both those classes of the people desperate on the subject, do you hope that the law can ever be executed ? I am, ther<-fore, as a friend to the clergy, in this point of view, a friend to tho resolution. The gentleman will not consent to an innovation in the ocnstitutioc. but he ought to reflect that if that argument has not prevailed against the introduction of enormous penalties into our law, it can scarcely be an objection to any rational plan for removing the distress of the people, Tlie gentleman has, probablv <,aken his ideas of innovation from ? school in which the principles of Irish administration were founded oa an uniform system of plunder and oppression. But whatever may be the idea of au English Secretary, this house must be too wise to say that inveterate evils can receive any sanction from length of time. A change for the better is not innovation, it is reformation, it is renovation. As to the idea of commutation, I cannot think it would be found mpracticable ; as, for my part, I have no idea of stripping the clergy of their legal rights, or of making any change that would not serve them AS well as ease the people. To such an alteration I am sure they arc too wise to make any objection ; but if they be so mistaken as to make an ill-advised opposition, suggested only by mistake, and persevere in this obstinacy, the wisdom of the legislature ought not to suffer an oppo- sitiou of that kind to stand m the way of their own solid interests and those of the. community 7H TITHES. The resolution rs objected to, as containing no specific plan of any kind ; that I think an argument strongly in its favour. To pledge ayself to anything specific, without a thoiough examination, might he, pledging myself to temerity — to impossibility ; but I have 3o objection to pledge myself to give the complaints of the people a patient hearing, jad to give them effectual relief in such a way as on a perfect investi- gation may be found just and practicable ; that is only pledging myseli to the right of the people, and the duty of their representatives. I think there remain other reasons to show the expediency of the resolution. Though the misery of the people has produced only a local outrage, the inconsiderate zeal of individuals has raised a general fer- ment. It is difficult and delicate to speak any thing on this subject, pecuKarly so to me, who, I know, have been grossly misrepresented, as an enemy to the rights of the church. I disclaim the charge — 1 respect the clergy. I wiU never hear of any attempt to injure their legal rights. I love their religion ; there is only one religion under heaven which I love more than the Protestant, but I confess there is one — the Christian religion. As the subject has been forced into ih:5 debate, I cannot help saying that I think it incumbent on the members 'jf this house to show themselves untainted by the intolerant principles of certain publications. In doing so I am persuaded they will perfectly concur with the respected author* of one of them. I am satisfied t'nat good and pious man has long since regretted the precipitate publication of those hasty sentiments, and rejoiced that their natural tendency had been happily frustrated by the good sense of the public. But I see no reason for introducing the name of his adversary,f as a subject of cen- sure in this house. Mr. O'Leary is, to my knowledge, a man of the most innocent and amiable simplicity of manners in private life. The reflection of twenty years in a cloister has severely regulated his pas- sions, and deeply informed his understcinding. As to his talents, they are public ; and I believe his right reverend antagonist has fomid himself overmatched in him, as a controversialist. In this instance it is just that he should feel his superiority. It is the superiority not of genius only, but of Iruth, of the merits of the respective causes. It'is the superiority of defei i';e 3ver aggression. It is the victory of a man, seeing the miseries of his country, like a philosopher and a tolerant Christian, and lamenting thciw like a feUow-subject, obtained over an adversary who was unfortunatelj »cd away from his natural gentleness and candour, either not to sec these miseries, or to represent them through a fallacious medium. It is a -dctory in which, I am persuaded, the vanquished rejoices, and of which the victor rather bewailed the occasion, than exulted in the achieve* ment. I am sorry that those subjects should be introduced into a debate of this kind, but as they are, I think it is right to show the public iha^ we are not inflamed against our fellow-subjects by that persecuting and suspicious spirit, which has been relinquished even by those who first caught, and incautiously endeavoured to propagate the infection. I am • Dr. Richard Woodward, Bishop of Cioyne, author of the Painphle* entitled *' The pr.' wnt state of the Church of Ireland," before aUuded to. ♦ The R«v. Arthur 0'Lei«'v. NAVIGATION ACT. 7^ agEoiist Tvithdrawin^ the resolution; if it were withdiawn the people might suspect the sincerity of those who supported it, or be ignorant how many gei.fclemen of this house feel compassion for their distress, and are anxious to relieve them ; I will therefore heartily give my sup- port to the resolution. It will, I hope, remove the ill impression of what the right honourable Secretary has, rather incautiously, spoken, .md what others have as incautiously written. It will prevent the peo pie from being worried into despair : it will adopt the wise policy of every free goverjiinent, of deterring outrage by punishment, and encou- raging obedience by reward ; it will show the people that they have representatives by whom neither their misconduct can be overlooked, Qor their grievances forgotten. — Debates^ vol. vii., pp. 354 — 58. Grattan's-motion was lost, without a division. NAVIGATION ACT. March 20fh, 1787. The English Nangation Law, originated by Cromwell, in 1650 (vide Scobell's Collection of Acts, p. 132), and earned out by 12th Charles II,, c. 18, was now sought to be introduced into Ireland in lump. The Dublin merchants petitioned against this, but Fitzgibbou insulted their petition. Grattan tliis day moved an amended clause, tliat the Act should only bind Ireland, while the benefits and restraints of it were equal in the two countries. Cmran said : — The Navigation Act was founded on principles of imperial monopoly ^to depress the rivals of Great Britain, and to advance the power of her navy. It sought to obtain more objects ; first, by confining the whole export and import of her colonies to English ships ; secondly, by prohibiting all importation of colonial produce into the central portb of the empire, save in English ships ; and thirdly, it prevented her Euro- pean rivals from establishing staples for that produce, by prohibiting importation, save directly from the place of the growth : but this was never intended at first to be a system of prohibition or restraint, as between the several parts of the European British empire. It left the freo- dom of commercial intercourse between England and Wales, or between Wales and Berwick ; in which latter cases it cannot be contended that any restraint ever existed under that act ; it was therefore, in its origin, an act equally affecting England and Ireland in its construction ; but the system soon changed its principle. By the 12th of Charles II., Ire- land was cast off from all export to the Western plantations, except the export of her inhabitants ; and by the 23rd of that reign, by leaving the word Ireland out of the bond, she was completely cut off front import of every kind. [He then stated the other laws that establish the exclusion of Ireland from the circuitous import into England, which he considered as equally unwise and unjust. He proceeded to state the trade granted to this country by the English Act of 17S0, which, he said, was granted in the time (»f war, ard for a great corapeusatiou by a monopoly of our market flO NAVIGATION ACT. in exclusion of cheaper ones, and of a considerable revenue.] It is! a rade, of which we have reaped very little benelit — it is at best, perhaps, only a capability ; but even that is reduced to nothing, if England per- sist in the injustice of refusing to admit the import of colonial produce from us. While our own consumption is the limit of our import from tht West, speculation is at an end, and th« trade will be equally unproduc tive as it has been. Under these circumstances I consider the clatrse and the amendment. A. petition has been presented by the merchants against the re-enact- ment of the Navigation Act, whilst a construction so injurious to their trade is founded upon it, and carried into effect against them. I condemn the disrespectful manner in which that petition was received. It has been treated in a way not very becoming the dignity of parK'.v jient, or the character of the petitioners, who are the first merchants in Ireland. Their interest is a pledge for their integrity in what they have advanced, and their acquisitions are a proof of their knowledge of commercial subjects. This clause enacts by reference a foreign act. Where is that act to be found, if pleaded in our courts ? This mode of adoption may have answered the reign of Henry the Seventh, when the power of England to bind us was admitted ; it was necessary, from the nrgency of the occasion, in 1782, but it is not now necessary, and therefore ought not to be done. If you enact it by reference, you also enact it subject to that construction against you, of which you have notice, that is, you enact a prohibition of your own trade. This is an objection to form, but it is a form in which the dignity of parliament is interested. I object to the general adoption of the act, on grounds more substantial, as it comprehends the trade of the whole British empire, which it is ridiculous in us to affect any power over. We ought not to meddle in any community of legislation with England. Her power secures her, but our weakness exposes us to the danger of every thing like a precedent. I cannot accede to the argument that we are bound to do so by the condition of the grant of 1780. [He read the words of that act.] It requires us to lay equal duties with those of ETigland ; but it says not a word of the Navigation Act. But, further, that condition could only extend to what we got in 1780, which was only a part of the colonial trade, the rest we had since the reign of George the First. I ask, on what ground we are now called upon, after seven :euk»r af Butland had died. X He had 3-r»:eeded Thomas Orde as Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, in 1787 rLf Right Honoiuable John Helv Hutchinson was Secretary of State for Ireland. The tvo jfllooG here referred to are often confounded ; at tb" tTcjon the lafter ofiQce wcs abolished. P 86 REGENCY. tvisoliitlons had passed on the 23r of January, and been accepted hj' fha Prince on tlie •rtst of January, but had not reached the Irish government. The postponement waf refused by the house, and then Mr. Thomas Conolly, of Castleto^vn, moved—" That it is the ODinion of this Committee that an humble address be presented to liis Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, humbly to request his Pioyal Highness to take upon himself the govern- ment of this realm, daring the continuation of his Majesty's present indisposition, and no longei ; and, under the style and title of Prince Regent of Ireland, in the name of M"; Majesty to exercise and administer, according to the laws and constitution of this kingdom, all regal powers, jurisdiction and prerogatives to the Cro^vn and government thereof belong- Iiig* This resolution M-as supported by C. F. Sheridan, Lord Henry Fitzgerald, Sir Henry Cavendisli, CiuTan. Bushe. and Grattan; and opposed by Hobart, Corry, and, in repeated speeches, by the Attomev-General. Fitzgibbon. In an after part of the night he had a serious wrangle with Grattan, but it was in reply to his first speech that Curran spoke. He had prefaced the speech by calling for the reading of the 4th William and Mary, c. 1, eec. 1, expressive (by recital) of Irish dependence, and he went into much abase of the Irish leaders, saying tliat if separation were the alternative, he vould be for an Union, (hirran's speech seems meagrely reported: — I rise to support the address. MucTi irrelevant matter has forced itself into the debate on a subject the most simple and obvious that ever came before the house. The fact of incapacity is ascertained ; the two houses must provide for the deficiency. The principle of the British con- stitution in either kingdom simply is, that the thu-d estate should be certain, and not elective. The right of election is the right of ambition, of faction, of intrigue, of shedding civil blood. But this is a question to be considered on another principle also, the compact that unites the crowns of England and Ireland ; the compact is, that the executive power of the two kingdoms shall be ever the same. If either counti-y lias a wild, arbitrary right of electior , both have the same ; and if so. the absurdity follows, that they are bound to have the same third estate, and yet have a right of choosing different third estates : that is gross and unconstitutional nonsense. To avoid that absurdity, we should seek for some striking circumstances that point out to both nations the com- mon Regent : they are, evidently, the full age and the capacity of the heir apparent : there could, here, be no other. England agrees in the unanswerable necessity of choosing the prince — Ireland is unanimous in the same choice. They both confess it is clearly right to do so ; it follows of course it would be clearly wrong to do otherwise. It follows, at least, that the two countries think it their indispensable duty to make that choice ; and I know no other quality of a right. than a claim that cannot be overruled by the tribunal competent to decide upon it. All disputations on that point so confessed, can be only the refinement of verbal sophistry, or the pretext of faction. The person, then, is evi- dently designated. The next question is, what trust is to be delegated to him ? I think the entire power of the third estate. I disavow the /'liea of doing this on any principle but a constitutional one. I think of his royal highness, as the house seem to think,, with all confidence in his virtue ; but I act not from any motive of confidence in his virtue ; but 1 respect the personage ; he is the representative of the people ; and caution, not confidence, should be the principle of his conduct. But here I do not think I have a legal right of yielding to diffidence, even if I found any reason to diffide. The constitution debars me from anj ezercise of any fancied prudence. The Law of the constitution says. Lliat no estate of parliament can be abridgec^ without its own consent KEOLiNC'i. 87 Here it cannot consent ; it cannot be abridged but by act of piuiiament We can make no act of parliament ; for to that the three estates are. necessary. We are but two ; to abridge the third estate now, would be to steal the sceptre, when the hand from which it had fallen could not protect it ; it would be to become judges in our own cause, when our opponent could not speak for himself. I see clearly that this kingdom has much to reform, but this is no time. T would arm the third estate with its constitutional shield, and then attack it with constitutional weapons ; to do anything else would be to obtain a victory by robbery, not by virtue ; to redress the people by theft and plunder, not by law. I will support your rights ; I think you have great claims for redress of many crying grievances, but I will not redress them by betraying the constitution, by thieving from the third estate, and by provokiug it to reprisals perhaps beyond the measure of what it had lost. This might be called rash, and was called criminal by aright honourable member [the Attorney-General] ; but I confide more in that learned member as a prophet, than a lawyer; for that honourable mem- ber premised that he despaired of finding the house concur in his opinion. The only point that remains is, how these full powers should be dele- gated, by address or by act. The latter is impossible. We are but two estates, they cannot legislate ; they may deliberate ; they may declare the incapacity of the king — ihe right of the prince ; but they can du it only by address I have heard strange doctrines from a right hon- om'able member ':.ne Attorn ey-Geuei all. Does that gentleman think two estates can legislate ? He said the affixing the great seal of Eng- land makes an Irish law ; that an act coming to C'.ir lords so authenti- cated, was, ipso facto, law. Does the houourabie member think a third €state supplied by a creature of the two houses, by a forgery on the constitution, by a phantom that has no interest to guard, no will to con- sult, no power to rescue ? It is taking seals for crowns, and baubles for sceptres : it is worshipping wafers and wax in the place of a king ; it is substituting the mechanical quibble of a practising lawyer for the sound deduction of a philosopher, standing on the vantage ground oi science : it is more like the language of an Attorney particular thiia that of an Attorney-General ; it is that kind of silly fatuity that, on any other subject I would leave to be answered by silence and contempt, but when blasphemy is uttered against the constitution, it cannot pass under its insignificance, because the ofl'ence should be reprehendetl, ti ")Ugh the doctrine could not make a proselyte. The right honourable fnember has said that we are competent to make an act; if so, a Regent ^ unnecessary. With respect to us, our third estate does not make tJiances, or peace, or war ; it only legislates ; if we can, without it, '.egislate, we want no Regent. The learned member said the Regent of England might put the seal, and so give the Royal assent. If so, ho might refuse it — if so, he might refuse us a Regent. But who is the Regent of England ? One elected. If so, E!)glaud's two houses ha? 1 right to elect a third estate for Ireland. But the right honourable member has said that England gives up all pretensions to legisla'ie for 38 ItEUilNUif M9. Wliat follows, then, from botli bis arguments ? that neither Eng- land nor Ireland could resuscitate our constitution. [Here he went at large into the acts of Henry the Eighth, of William and Mary, and the modern act brought in by Mr. Yelverton, and argued from them that the crown of Ireland was annexed to, not merged iu * the crown of England : that no law could be law here by virtue of the seal of England, but by virtue only of the royal assent, by a real third T state, given in full parliament ; and that the king of England, as such, affixed the seal of England, but that he gave the royal assent aa king of Ireland. He proceeded to state further objections to attempting nn act of legislation. ] First, it is impossible ; any fiction of a third estate is a conditional forgery, and I will never consent to it. The frame of the state is com- posed of two great segments of arches, and the crown is the key-stone if that key-stone, by any fatality, fall out, what is to be done ? Shall the separated parts be brought to meet, so as to supply its place ? If you do that, every joint must be severed, every point of support must L>e changed, in so desperate an experiment ; and if in that convulsion it falls not into ruin, the key-stone can never be restored. In other words, I like not the affectation of legislating by two estates ; it is holding out an idea to the people, that you can do altogether without tlie third; it is making a silly experiment by which the third estate, the only secu- rity of our liberty, is brought into disrepute, possibly into disuse, and by which our glorious constitution may be lost for ever. But the learned member has protested against giving up the question of restrictions on the Regent. I admit that the two houses being incompetent to legis- late, cannot restrict by address ; if they have a mind to adopt the con- titutional improbity of mutilating the regal power, it must be by the semblance of an act ; and, therefore, such a sacrilege upon the consti- tution can be achieved only by a profanation of its forms. In this houso I do not think ii necessary to go into such detail of restriction,; no man here espouses his doctrine. He is a solitary and uuprevailing preacher ; but absurdities may go abroad, and may be thought unanswerable, merely because they have not been thought worthy a reprehension; and particularly when other persons, that ought to have weight with the public, have not zeal enough for the cause, against which those calum- nies are levelled, to disavow them, but think they act more wisely by giving them the authority of a silent implied approbation. [Here he went into a variety of observations, and ridiculed the arguments of the Attorney-General's threatening us with the conse- quences of separation ; where, even if there was a right of election, that election had so happened as to secure our union.] I disdain even the advantage of an union that can be preserved only by our servility. Otir union is of common, of equal interest, and is to be supported by mutual justice and good faith. The argument of the right honourable member, that a Regent of England could supersede the Regent of Ii-elaud, is an outrage upon our independence, and must excite thf» contempt of every Irishman. So far am I from thinking the two rjous«* competent to make any act, previous to the regency, I think ilEGENCY bif hey ought to make no act on the subject, even when the Regent is in possession of his functions. A right honourable member for whom I have the highest respect [j\Ir. Grattan] seems to compare the present .?ase to the re7olution ; but the cases are different ; there the throne was vacant — here not ; there a restricted power was to be given to the .»riuce— here an unlimited one; there the person to receive the regal powers was purely elected — here he is received from the authority of an irresistible constitutional designation ; there it was a compact made by negotiation with the people — here it is a trust pointed out by the constitution. But the right honourable member thinks the law neces- sary tr» ascertain the period of the power to the continuance of the mcanac'.ty First, he must be completely Regent, before he can assent to such a biJ : and if so, he may refuse that assent. Are we, then, w^'thout any security, in case of his Majesty's recovery? Clearly not unless we trust it to an act. The constitutional necessity that creates the Regent limits his continuance. K the King is restored, his right to the regal power revives with his capacity ; and the exercise of it by any other individual would be usurpation and treason. The case is v'.en provided for by a higher authority, the law of Edward the Third. We would not be wise in seeking to give authority to the first principle of the constitution, and to the statutes that secure the crown, by a compact with the Regent, v;hich ultimately he might refuse to ratify and justly refuse, when he is in possession of a power to which it is mcident to assent or dissent at discretion. For my part, I think it is that kind of apprehension which it is scarcely decorous to antici- pate. No man can suppose even the possibiHty of such a danger, con ^idering the part that illustrious personage has already acted ; but il it is at all to be looked at, the laws already in force have abundantly provided for it. No new law can add to that provision. I therefore hope the house will not adopt a measure that can have no possible operation. As to a subsequent law, I throw out these remarks merely tor the consideration of gentlemen ; as to the present, I dm decided The house, too, seems decided, with a very few exceptions, that an act '5 impossible and absurd, and that the address proposed is the only expedient that can be adopted. — Debates, yo\. ix., pp. 58 — 62. The motion passed -without a division. On the 12th oi februarj' Mr. Conolly mored and 'in-ied, -vnthout division, the adoption of this address : — " To his Royal Highness George, Prince of Wales- The humble address of the Knights, Citizens, and Burgesses, in Parliament aisembled. - ■^.AT IT PLEASE TOCK ROYAL HIGHNESS, " We liis Majesty's most dutiful and loyal subjects, the Commons of Ireland in Parlliv- ment assembled, beg leave humbly to request that your Royal Highness will be pleased to taks upon you the government of this realm diuing the continuation of his Majesty's prc- <&-■; tncisposition, and no longer, and under the style and title of Prince Regent of Ireland, in t:>5 name and on tlie behalf of his Majesty, to exercise and administer, according to the laws and constitution of this kingdom, all regal powers, jmisdk:tions, and prerogatives t ) the crown and government thereof belonging." On the 17th, the concurrence of the Lords to this address Cwitli some additional word3 if condolence- \*ias brought up and agreed to. On the 19th of February this joint address •.'resented by the Lords and Commons in state, was refused to be transmitted by the Lor', lieutenant,' and ou returning t^ ^'/^ne2e-PTeL•n th" Commons uAJo'irned 90 llEGENCY. February 20th, 1789. Tn consequence of tLe Lord Lieutenant's refusal to transmit the addi'ess, the Commonc- asrreed, this day, on trarsmitting it by deputation. The Duke of Leinster and the Earl oi Charlemont -were named by the Peers, and the Righ.t Honourable Thomas Conolly, John O'Neill, and W. B. Ponsonby, with James Stewart (M.P. for Tyrone), Esq., were named by v.Iie Commons on this deputation. On the same day Grattan moved — " That in addressing lis Royal Highness the Prince of Wales to take upon himself the government of this coun- try, on the behalf, and in the name of his Majesty, during his Majesty's present indisposi- tion, and no longer, the Lords and Commons of Ireland have exercised an undoubted right, and discharged an indispensable duty, to which, in the present emergency, they alone ai t competent." Cun-an supported the resolution thus : — 1 congratulate the other side of the house on having recovered their voices ; they have sho'wn the most sympathetic feeling for the infirmity Df their beloved sovereign. When the people despaired of his recovery they were dumb ; drowned in sorrow they could find no utterance ; but now that some hopes are held out to them, their oratory is restored ; it does tiot yet venture on its legs — it is confined to " Hear him" — it is oratory sitting in parliament. The question has been deserted : we are not inquiring whether an address is expedient or legal : all that has been decided before, and it is indecent to argue it over again. A right honourable member has gone over the same arguments that have already been urged in vain. You are now caJed upon to vindicate your own honour. The Marquis of Buckingham has insulted you — you are bound to answer the insult, He has not been satisfied with simply refusing to transmit your address, but he has insulted you by a lecture equally unreasonable and ill-founded. If the King deny his assent, he ^oes it in the modest language of doubt — " he will advise ;" but the pride of mock majesty, of burlesque royalty, must show its plumes, its glory, its learning. For my part, I would not have regretted the noble lord's refusal, had I been the bearer to the prince of the greeting of the two houses ; the latter might possibly have said to him — would they had sent it by a better messenger ! But he has added outrage to his refusal. From such a character it would not be worth your while to resent this misconduct ; but the insult is upon record, and would remain a stigma upon you, when tlie memory of the noble lord will not live to be your justification. I give my hearty assent to the motion. — Debates^ vol. ix., p. 151. The Kesolution was carried, by 130 to 74. In order to close this subject, we subjoin the following extract from the Journals of tht 2nd of March :— The Speaker informed the hotise that the following letter had been delivered to him in he chair this day, wxiich he read to the house : — " To the Right Bonourable the Speaker of the House of Commons, Ireland. ** Sm — "We have the honour to acquaint you, for the information of the House of Con- mens, that in pursuance to their order we "ha^•e presented the address of both houses to his •Joyal Highness the Prince of Wales, who was graciously pleased to give us the enciused answer, from which it will appear to the house that it is our duty to >vait his Royal Hig?: c*f J .«. further commands. "We have the lionour to be. Sir, " Your most obedient humble servants, "Thomas Conoi.it W. B. Pon.sonbt John O'Nhm.i,, james Siev.art *' London, February 27th, 1789 " DlSLfKANCHISEaLENT OF LXCISE OFFiCEiiS- 91 ••My Lords aitd Gentle jras, "The address from the Lords spiritual and temporal, and Commons of Ireland, which you have presented to me, demands my warmest and earliest thanks. *' If anything could add to the esteem and affecton I have for the people of Ireland, It would be the loyal and affectionata attachment to the person and government of the King, my father, manifested m the address of the two houses. *• What they have done, and their manner of doing it, is a new proof of their undimin- ished duty to his Majesty, of their uniform attachment to the house of Brunswick, and of iheir constant care and attention to maintain inviolate the concord and connexion between the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland, so indispensably necessary to the prosnerity, the happiness and liberties of both. " If, in conveying my grateful sentiments on their conduct in relation to the King, my father, and to the inseparable interests of the two kingdoms, I find it impossible adequatelj to express my feelings on Avhat relates to myself, I trust you ^vill not be the less disposed to believe that I have an understanding to comprehend the value of what they have done, a heart that must remember, and principles that vrtll not suffer me to abuse their confidence. " But the fortimate change which has taken place in the circumstances which gave occa- •?ion to the address agreed to by the Lords and Commons of Ireland, induces mo for a few days to delay giving a final answer, trusting that the joyful event of his Majesty's resum- ing the personal exercise of his royal "authority, may then render it only necessary for me to repeat those sentiments of gratitude and affection for the loyal and generous people of Ireland which 1 feel indelibly imorinted on my heart." It was ordered that the letter, and his Royal Highneas's answer, be entered in the jour" nals of the house. On the 20th of March a stil» more fervid letter, announcing his Cither's recovery, was read. Thus, for the time, ended the Regency dispute, wherein the Irish maintained the com- .-ion cor-stitution against the English parliament, which yet was used to deprive Ireland of Xhat constitution ; but it may be as well to remind the reader that in 1799, when the ITnion was contemplated, a bill making the een weighed down by the great talents or virtues of its successive rulers. No ; no such thing. On the contrary, the men sent to grind as are, in general, the refuse of Great Britain : but it is the fashion of Ii-elaud to despiae and hate our fellow-subjects, because they are hated wid despised in England ; it is the fashion to venerate the maxims of •ffhich we are the victims, and to admire and respect the contemptible !flstruments by which we are pluadered and disgraced. This silly infatuation was felt as it ought, many years ago, by Dean Swift ; I will read it to you, in his own words : — " I knew another person, who was in England the common standard of stupidity, where he was never heard Q minute in any assembly, or by any party, with common Christian treatment ; yet, upon his arrival here, could put on a face of importance and authority, talk mare than six, without either gracefulness, propriety, or meaning, and, at the same time, be admu-ed as a pattern of eloquence and wisdom " What a pity that the picture of such a master should find no resem- blance, except in the age in which he lived ! Excess of influence was never more legible than in the present administration. The present viceroy came over here, making a parade of economy. Has he reduced & single establishment ? Has he abolished a single useless place ? You had the faith of government, when you gave them £140,000 a year additional in taxes, in 1784, that your expenses should not exceed your revenue ; they have now exceeded it by mere than £30,000 Has he adopted any plan for alleviatiug any of these grievances ? No ' Where you have been active, has he co-operated ? No ! When tht! voice of a nation's morality and a nation's want called upon you to correct the shameful abuse of the pension-list — when the odious mon- ster was condemned, and led forth to execution, it found a reprieve from the Marquis of Buckingham. But why should we wonder at it, for what crime has not had the mercy of a pious and religious king wasted upon it in this adminstration of economy and mercy ? Has not rape ? Has not murder ? Has not forgery ? Let it not be supposed that 1 mention those things, merely to bear hard upon the name of a Lord i' Chamber. The only Report of that speech of CuiTan's which I could get was quite mangled, and was limited to the arguments included in the speech here given. The Prlry Council, after some deliberation, decided for a new election. The result was the re-election of James by the ^ Idermen, and of Howison by the Common Council, and two petitions. Tliese petitions gave rise to a hearing, on Monday the 7th of June, wherein Duigenan and Smith were counsel for James, and Curran and George Ponsonby for Ho^vison. The former decision wa.s repeated. The agitation became yiolent On the 24th of June the Aldermen re-elected James, and on the 26th the Com- mons re-elected Howison- On the 10th of July the question came again before the Privy Council, and then the follo'sving noble speech was made WhUe Fitzgibbon was in the Commons, we havt seen that he and Curran were bitterly nostile. Fitzgibbon carried his passions to the Woolsack,* and insulted and injured Curran In the Court of. Cliancery. An opponunity for vengeance now came, without danger to his chent (for the Privy Counsel would certainly approve of Alderman James), and Curran used it sternly. The counsel for James were — Patrick Duigenan, Esq., LL.D., and Michael Smith, Esq., LL.D. ; for Howison, Jolm P. Cun-an, Esq., K.C., and George Ponsonby, Esq., K.C Dr. Duigenan opened, in a clumsy, weak, and arrogant speech, urging that the CoiU' moE Council coold not reject, without assigning a reason. James Napper Tandy and Mr. Pure^ Clerk of the Common Council, were examined- to prove the /acts of the ballot \8tated above) and then Curran rose, and spoke as follows : — My Lords, — I haye the honour to appear before you as counsel for ihe Commons of the Corporation of the metropolis of Ireland, and also for Mr. Aiderman Howison, who hath petitioned for your approbation • He had become ChfunceUor iii June, 1789, succeeding Lord Ljfiford, whc died in April ci; that year. Ey this Ailhur V/olfe became Attorney, and the infajnoa? foler, Solicited CouerrwL His I'rst title was Baron '■'Itzgibbop 104 ELECTION OF LORD MAYOR OF DUBLDS. of him as a fit person to serve as Lord Mayor, in virtue of his eleclioVi by the Commons to that high office ; and m that capacity I rise to addres' you, on the most important subject that you have ever been called upof. to discuss. Highly interesting and momentous, indeed, my lords, must every question be, that, even remotely and eventually, may affect the well-being of societies, or the freedom or the repose cf nations; but that question, the result of which, by an immediate and direct uecessi:^ must decide, either fatally or fortunately, the life or death of that well- bemg, of that freedom and that repose, is surely the most important subject on which human wisdom can be employed, if any subject on thia side the grave can be entitled to that appellation. You cannot, therefore, my lords, be surprised to see this place crowded by such numbers of our fellow-citizens ; heretofore they were attracted hither by a strong sense of the value of their rights, and of the injustice of the attack upon them ; they felt all the magnitude of the contest ; but they were not disturbed by any fear for the event ; they relied securely on the justice of their c^use, and the integrity of those who were to decide upon it ; but the public mind is now filled with a fear of danger, the more painful and alarming, because hitherto unforeseen ; they are now taught to fear, that their cause may be of doubtful merits, and disastrous, issue ; that rights which they considered as defined by the wisdom, and confirmed by the authority of written law, may now turn out to be no more than ideal claims, without either precision or security ; that acts of parliament themselves are no more than embryos of legislation, or, at best, but infants, whose fii'st labours must be, not to teach, but to learn ; and which, even after thirty years of pupilage, may have thirty more to pass under that guardianship, which the wis- dom of our policy has provided for the protection of minors. Sorry am I, my lords, that I can offer no consolation to my clients on this iiead: and that I can only join them in bewaihng, that the question, jr'hose result must decide upon then' freedom or servitude, is perplexed ,vith difficulties of which we never dreamed before, and which we are now unable to comprehend : yet surely, my lords, that question must be difficult, upon which the wisdom of the representative of our dreac sovereign, aided by the learning of his chancellor and his judges, aided also by the talents of the most conspicuous of the nobles and the gentry of the nation, has been twice already employed, and employed in vain. We know, my lords, that guilt and oppression may stand irresolute for a moment ere they strike, appalled by the prospect of danger, or struck with the sentiment of remorse ; but to you, my lords, it were presump tion to impute injustice: we must therefore suppose that you have delayed your determination ; not because it was dangerous, but because it v/'as difficult to decide. And indeed, my lords, a firm belief of this difficulty, however undis- coverable by ordinary talents, is so necessary to the character which this august assembly ought to possess, and to merit from the country, that X feel myself bound to achieve it by an effort of my faith, if I should liot be able to do so by any exertion of my understanding. In a auestion, therefore, so confessedly obscure as to baffle so much ELECTION OB- LORD lilAYOB OF DOBLIN. iU5 'jiigacity, I am not at liberty to suppose that certainty could be attained by a concise examination. Bending, then, as I do, my lords, to your high authority, I feel this difficulty as a call upon me to examine it at large ; and I feel it as an assurance that I shall be heard with patience The Lord Mayor of this city hath, from time immemorial, been a magistrate, not appointed by the crown, but elected by his fellow citi- zens ; from the history of the early periods of this corporation, and view of its charters and bye-laws, it appears that the Commons had, from the earliest periods, participated in the important right of electffi:: to that high trust ; and it was natural and just that the whole body oi citizens, by themselves or their representatives, should have a share h electing those magistrates who were to govern them, as it was thei: birthright to be ruled only by laws which they had a share in enacting. The Aldermen, however, soon became jealous of this participation, encroached by degrees upon the Commons, and at length succeeded io engrossing to themselves the double privilege of eligibility and of election of bemg the only body out of which, and bj which the Lord Mayor could be chosen. Nor is it strange that, in those times, a board consisting of so smal! a number as twenty-four members, with the advantages of a more unitei interest, and a longer continuance in office, should have prevailed, even contrary to so evident principles of natural justice and constitutionai right, against the unsteady resistance of competitors so much less vigi- lant, so mucli more numerous, aud, therefore, so much less united. It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God nath given liberty to maa is eternal vigilance, which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime, and the punishment of his guilt. In this state of abasement the Commons remained for a number of years ; sometimes supinely acquiescing under their degradation ; some- times, what was worse, exasperating the fury, and alarming the caution of their oppressors, by ineffectual resistance. The slave that struggles, •vithout breaking his chain, provokes the tyrant to double it ; and gives iiim the plea of self-defence for extinguishing what, at first, he onL intended to subdue. In the year 1672. it was directed by one of the New Rules, made by the Lord Lieutenant and Privy Council, under the authority of tbo Act of Explanation, that " No person should be capable of serving in the office of Lord Mayor, until approved of by the Lord Lieutenant and Council ;" and this was a power given after the unhappy civil commotions in this country, to prevent any person, who was not a loyal subject, from holding so important a trust ; and upon this single ground Damely, disloyalty, have you, my lords, any authority to withhold your approbation. From that time till the year 1769, no further alteration appears t. iiave taken place in the mode of electing the chief magistrate ; at this latter period the act of the 33rd of George the Second was passed ; Lhe occasion and the object of that law are universally known. A city U) mcreased in population, in onulence, and in consequence, could uC)\ IOC ELECTION OF LORD MAI OR OF DUBLm. tyjiely submit to have its corporate rights monopolized by a rew, who v/ere at once tlie tyrants of the metropoHs, and the slaves of the j^overnment. Magistrates elected by the Board of Aldermen were, in fact, nominated by the court, and were held in derision and abhorrence oy the people. The public peace was torn by unseemly dissensions ; aud the authority of the law itself was lost in the contempt of the aiBgistrate. The legislature felt itself called upon to restore the con- stitution of the city, to restore and ascertain the rights of the Com- mons, and thereby to redeem the metropolis from the fatal effects of oppression, of servitude, and anarchy. In saying this, my lords, I am bounded on the preamble of the act itself: — " Whereas dissensions and iiaputes have from a dissatisfaction as to some parts of the present constitution of the Corporation of the city of Dublin, arisen, and for some years past subsisted among several citizens of the said city, to the weakening the authority of the magistrates thereof, who are hereby rendered the less able to preserve the public peace within the said city; therefore, for remedying the aforesaid mischiefs and inconveniences, and for restoring harmony and mutual good will among the citizens of the said city, and for the preserving peace and good order therein : at the humble petition of the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, Commons, and Citi- zens of the city of Dublin, be it enacted," &c. Here are stated the mischief acknowledged, and the remedy proposed ; with this view, the statute has ascertained the constituent parts of the Corporation, their respective members, their rights, and the mode of their election, with BO minute and detailed an exactness, as even to enact many of those regulations which stood upon the authority of the new rules, or the ancient charters and bye-laws, and in which no alteration whatsoever was intended to be made ; and this it did, that the city might not be left to explore her rights by uncertain deductions from obscure or dis- tant sources, but that she might see the whole plan in a single view, comprised within the limits of a single statute ; and that so intelligibly to every common understanding, as to preclude all possibility of doiiot, and thereby all future danger of cavil or dissension. For this purpose it enacts — " That the Common Council of the city of Dublin, consisting of the Lord Mayor and twenty-four Aldermen, Bitting apart by themselves as heretofore, and also of the Sheriffs of the said city for the time being, and Sheriffs* Peers not exceeding forty-eight, and of ninety-six freemen who are to be elected into said Common Council out of the several Guilds or Corporations of the said city, in manner hereafter mentioned, be and for ever hereafter shall be deemed and taken to be, the Common Council of the said city and the representative body of the Corporation thereof." It then prescribes the mode of electing representatives of the several Guilds, and the time of their service, in which the right of the Com- oaons is exclusive, and without control. It then regulates the election of Sheriffs : the Commons nominate eigtit freemen, the Mayor and Aldermen elect two from that number. Then of Aldermen : the Mayor and Aldermen nominate four Sheriffs* Peers ; the Commons e\f»:^ one of then. ELECTION OF LORD MAYOR OF DUBLIN . 10? And here, my lords, give me leave to observe, that this exclusive right of electing their own representatives, and this participation in the election of their magistrates, is given to the popular part of the Corporation to be exercised, as all right of suffrage is exercised by the constitution of this country, that is, according to the dictates of judgment or of affection, and without any authority vested in any human tribunal, of catechising as to the motives that may operate on the mmd of a free elector in the preference of one candidate, or the rejection of another. I will now state to your lordships that part of the statute which relatee *! the subject of this day : — " And be it enacted', by the authority aforesaid, that the name of ^very person, who shall hereafter be elected by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the said city, or the usual quorum of them, to serve in the office or place of Lord Mayor of the said city, shall be returned by them to the Commons of the Common Counr'U of the city for their approbation ; without which approbation such person shall not be capa- ble of serving in the office or place of Lord Mayor ; and if it shall happen that the said Commons shall reject or disapprove of the person so returned to them, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the said city, or the usual quorum of them, shall, from time to time, elect another person to serve in the office or place of Lord Mayor, and shall, from time to time, return the name of the person so by them elected, to the Commons of the Common Council of the said city, for their approba- tion, and so, from time to time, until the said Commons shall approve of the person returned by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the said city, or the usual quorum of them ; provided always, that such election into the said office of Lord Mayor shall be of some person from among the Aldermen, and that the Commons shall approve of some one person, so elected and returned to them for their approbation. " And for the preventing the mischiefs and inconveniences which may arise from a failure of the Corporation of the said city, in the appointment of necessary officers, be it enacted, by the authority afore- said, that if either the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, or the Commons, shall omit or refuse to assemble at or within the usual times for the electing the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Sheriffs respectively ; or being assembled shall omit or refuse to do what is hereby required to be done by them respectively, for the election and appointment of the said offi- cers ; then and as often as the case shall happen, it shall and may bf lawful for the Commons, in case such default shall be in the Lord Mayoi and Aldermen, or for the Aldermen, incase such default shall be in the Commons, or for the usual quorum of them respectively, without any sum- mons for that purpose, to assemble themselves at the Tholsel of the said city on next following day, not being Sunday, or, in case the same shall happen to be a Sunday, then on the Monday next following, and then and there to elect the said officers respectively, as the case shall require and every such election, so made, shall and is hereby declared to be valid and effectual to all intents and purposes. " Provided always, and be it further enacted, by the authority afore- 108 ELECTION Ot hORD ilAlTOR OFDUBLIX. taid, that every election by the said several Guilds, for the constituting of their representatives in the Common Council of the »aid city, and every election made or approbation given by the Commons of the said Common Council, by virtue of this act, shall be by ballot, and not otherwise. « Provided always, that notwithstanding any tiling in this act con- tained, no person or persons shall be enabled or made capable to serve in or execute the office or place of Lord Mayor or Sheriff, Recorder o: Town Clerk of the said Corporation, untU he or they shall respectively be approved of by the Lord Lieutenant or other Chief Governor oi Governors and Privy Council of this kingdom, m such manner as hath heretofore been usual.*' Under this act, at the Easter Quarter Assembly, held on the 16th of April, 1790, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen sent down the naite of Mr. Alderman James to the Commons, who rejected Mm ; the Lord Mayor and Aldermen elected seven other persons, who were sent down to the Commons, and successively rejected ; the Lord Mayor and Alder- men then broke up their meeting, without sending down the name of any other person, or conceiving that they had any right whatsoever to question the Commons touching their reasons for rejecting those who had been so rejected. The Sheriffs and Commons, thinking that the Lord Mayor anc- Aldermen had omitted to do what was required of them by the statute to do, namely, to proceed by sending do-vvn the name of another persou, and so, from time to time, &c., assembled and elected Mr. Alderman Howison, whom they returned, for the approbation of this Board. The Lord Mayor and Aldermen returned Mr. James also as duly elected ; the claims of both parties were heard by their counsel, and this Board did not think proper to approve of either candidate ; the city proceeded to a new election ; the name of Mr. James was again sent down, ana rejected as before : a message was then sent to demand of the Commons ihe reason of their disapprobation ; they declined giving any answer but that it was their legal right to do so ; Mr. James was accordinglj returned as duly elected by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen ; the Sheriff and Commons, as before, elected and returned Mr. Howison ; the claimf of the candidates were again debated before this honourable Board, but nothing was decided. A third assembly has since been held, in which the Lord Mayor anoi Aldermen have acted as before, and retm-ned Mr. James ; the Sheriffs and Commons have elected JVIr. Howison, who has petitioned for yoor approbation in virtue of that election. I trust, my lords, you will think it now time to decide the question : iny client calls for that decision ; liis opponents cannot wish for longer procrastination ; in the progress of their pretensions hitherto they have found the fears, and odium, and reprobatioa of the public increasing upon them. It is full time to compose the disquietude of that public — the people do not always perceive the merits or the magnitude of a que&tioD nt a single .s:laDce, but thev now completely comprehend its merits ELECTION OF L0K1> IJIAT^OR OF DUBLIN. 109 auii importance ; they are now satisfied that every thin^ that can be of value to men may be lost or secured by the event of the present contest The claim of my clients has been impeached upon an alleged meaning of this act, and also upon certain facts stated by the learned counsel oi, the other side, and admitted as proved ; of which facfes, and the ar^'i? v.ents upon them, I will take notice in their proper place. As to the invective so liberally bestowed upon my fellow-citizens, S oest becomes the unhired voluntary advocate* of their rights to pass them without remark. I feel them of too high respect to be protectee by panegyric, or avenged by invective ; I shall therefore treat thos€ sallies of the learned gentlemen's imaginations as I would the flights d doves ; they come abroad only animo revertendi, and ought to be suffered to return unmolested to their owners. The right of Mr. Howison is confessed by the counsel for his oppos Qeuts, to be warranted by the letter of the law. The Mayor antj Aldermen sent down Mr. James ; he was rejected by the Commons, who sent to request that another might be sent down ; the Board did not send down another, but demanded a reason for the rejection of Mr. James, which, by the letter of the Act, they were certainly not warranted in doing ; but it is said that, by the s^and construction of that law, ths Commons have a right to reject only for good cause, and that havirffi •refused to assign such cause, they have beeo guilty of a default wbiS nas transferred the sole right of election to the Lord Mayor and Aides men, who have accordhigly elected Mr. James. Lord Chancellor— The queBtion here is, "can a mere right of rejection or approbatioa supersede a right of election ?" Mr. Curran — If I can satisfy this Board that that is not the question, I trust I shall be heard with patience, as to what I conceive to be the question. X say, my lords, that is not the question, because — 1st. The mode and the rights of election in this case turn not upon any general doctrine of the common law, but upon an express statute, which statute would never have been made, had it not been intended by the legislature to prescribe rules of direction different from those of the '3ommon law. 2ndly. The rule alludec \i> relates to officers in Corporations, (as in the case cited), who have a naked authority to admit, but can reject only for a plain defect of right in tb candidate, ?-nd who, if a mandamus is directed to them requiring them, to admit, must return a legal cause oi their disapprobation, that the tiiith of the fact, or the validity of the cause, may be duly tried. But there is clearly no analogy between such an officer and the great Sody of the Commons of this city : — 1st. That offi-jer has no elective authority whatsoever ; it is admittcc that the act gives to the Commons at least a concurrent elective control and, if the Mayor and Aldermen " make default," an exclusive right to elect, wliiob shall be " valid to all intents and purposes I" « Cr'^an and Ponponbv were iinfeed. HO ELECTION OF LORD MATOK OF DTTBLIi;. 2ndly. That officer has a sort of judicial power which is well placed fo a single permanent individual, who is capable of and responsible for fhe exercise of a judicial power — but it would be monstrous to give a judicial power to a fluctuating- multitude ; for they cannot be presumed capable of exercising it ; nor could they be responsible for such exercise by any course of law ; for, suppose a mandamus directed to them, requir mg them to approve ; how is it possible to make any true return to such writ ? How can any man assign a cause for that rejection which the ^aw requires to be by ballot, and, consequently, secret ? Or suppose a Darty of the Commons are practised upon to return a cause, and that aesignedly an invalid one, how shall the residue of the Commons be able to justify themselves by alleging the true and valid cause of thei* disapprobation ? To try it, therefore, by such a rule, is to try it by a rule clearly haying no general analogy to the subject, nor even a possible application, except so far only as it begs the question. My lords, it is absurd to ask how a simple power of approbation or rejection for cause shall be controlled, unless it is first determined whe- ther the Commons have that simple power only, or whether they have, what I think they clearly have under the statute, a peremptory right of approving or rejecting, without any control whatsoever. If they have but a simple right to reject for cause, and ought to have assigned such cause under the law, they have been guilty of a default, and the sole right to elect devolves to the Board of Aldermen, who, of course, have duly elected. If they are not bound to assign such a reason, manifestly the Aldermen have acted against law, and by their default have lost tliis power, and the Commons have duly elected Mr. Howison. Now, my lords, in examining this question, you must proceed by the ordinary rule of construction, applicable alike to every statute ; that of expounding it by the usual acceptation and natural context of the words in which it is conceived. Do the words, then, my lords, or the natural context of this act, describe a limited power of rejecting only foi cause to be assigned, or a peremptory power of rejecting, without any Buch cause? Says the act, "If it shall happen that the Commons shall reject or disapprove." The law describes this accidental rejec- tion in language most clearly applicable to the acts of men assembled, not as judges, but as electors ; not to judge by laws which they havo never learned, but to indulge their afiections, or their caprice ; and therefore justly speaks of a rejection, not the result of judgment, but of chance. " If it shall happen that they shaU reject or disapprove." My lord a you cannot say these words are synonymous ; in acts every word musl have its meaning, if possible. To " reject" coutradistinguished tc *• disapprove," is to reject by an act of the will : to disapprove supposes tCme act of the judgment also. The act, then, clearly gives a right of rejecting, aistinct from disap- probation, which, by no poasibility, can be other than a percmptorj right, without limit or control. ELECTION OF LORD MASroa OP uimzji*. 111 But here, it a reason must be had, the law would naturally prescribe some mode of having it demanded ; this, however, unluckily cannot be done without a direct violation of the act, M^hich enjoins that the two bodies shall " sii apart," and " by themselves, as heretofore ;" but a^ least it might have }eft the Board of Aldermen the means of making a silent struggle for tl "^ approbation of their favourite candidate, by send- *^ng him down again ^or re-consideration. But, on the contrary, the ^aw is express, that *' if the Commons shall happen to reject or disapprove the first," they must then proceed to send down ihe name, not of him, but of another, and so on. How long, my lords ? Until a good reason shall be assigned for the rejection of the fii-st ? No, my lords, it is " until the Commons shall approve of some one person, so sent down ;" and to this right of rejection, which the law has supposed might happen so often, the law has opposed the limit of a single provisj only, applicable enough to a peremptory right of rejection, but singular indeed, if applied to rejection for cause : — " Provided always, that such election into the said office of Lord Mayor, shall be of some person from among the Aldermen, and that the Commons shall approve of some one person, so elected and returned to them for their approbation/' A rejection without caase to be assigned, being a mere popular privilege, may be limited in its extent by reasons of expediency ; but a judicial power of rejecting for legal cause cannot be so controlled, without the grossest absurdity. It is like a peremptory challenge, which is given to a prisoner by the indulgence of the law, and may be therefore restricted within reasonable bounds. But a challenge for cause is given of common right, and must be allowed as often as it shall be found to exist, even though the criminal should remain for ever untried, and the crime for ever unpunished. Permit me now, my lords, to try this construction contended for, by another test. Let us put it into the form of a proviso, and see how it accords with the proviso which you find actually expressed : — " Provided always that the Commons shall be obliged to approve of the first person whose name shall be sent down to them, unless they shall assign good egai cause for their rejection." The proviso expressed is — " Provided that they shall approve, not of the first person, but of some one person so elected." Can anything be more obrious than the inconsistency of two such provisos? Give me leave, my lords, to compare this supposed pronso with the enacting part of the statute. It says, that if the first person sent down be rejected, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen shall " then proceed to elect mother, and send down his name ;" but if this supposed proviso were to make a part of the act, they would not be obliged to send do we " another name," but would be authorised to insist upon the claim of the first candidate, by demanding a reason for his rejection. This supposed proviso, therefore, and, of course, this superinduced construction, is directly incompatible both with the body and the proviso of the statute itself. But see further, my lords, what you do by such a construction ; you decliire that the benefit of thift statute* which is j^ven expressly to tha 112 ELECTION or LOaXJ 12A10E 01' UIUJLLN Commons, is given upon a tacit condition, bj the brei-ch of which that benefit is utterly forfeited. Do you think, my lords, you shall act con- sistently with the spirit of the constitution, or of the law of Ireland, if you declare and enforce a cause of forfeiture, written in no law whatsoever, and devised only by your own interpretation ; or do you not feel, my lords, to what a wretched state of servitude the subject is reduced, if criminahty and forfeiture are to depend, not on the plain and pei-maneut meaning of the law, but upon the dreams and visions of capricious interpreters ? If a constructive cause of forfeiture can be warranted, by which any part, or any individual, of a corporation, shall oe adjudged to have lost their franchise ; by the same principle may a constructive offence and forfeiture be devised, by which a whole corpo. ration shall be stripped of its charter. Says the law, " if they shall omit or refuse to do what they are required to dc» by this act," they lose the benefit thereof : but this curious construction would declare, that the Commons have forfeited the benefit of the statute, by refusing to dc that which they are not required by this, or any other act, to do. If, then, my lords, you call this power of rejection or disapprobation 4 power to be regulated by technical maxims of the common law, and to be exerted only for legal cause to be assigned ; what is it but to give the law a meaning which the legislature never spoke ? what is it but to nullify a statute made for the benefit of the people, by an arbitrary con- struction, supported only by tlie most pitiful of all argumentative faU lacies — an assumption of what cannot be proved ; or to describe it in terms more suited lo its demerit, that mixture of logical poverty and ethical meanness, which stoops to beg what it has not industry to acquire, nor craftiness to steal, nor force to extort. But see, my lords, whether this infallible rule of the common law, upon which the whole merits of this case have been rested, will not, if idmitted, be subversive of the authority which it would seem to support. By one of the new rules, and by a clause in this act of parliament, no person can serve as Mayor Avithaut the approbation of this Board. This power of approving was notoriously given for the security of the government ; and hath now, for upwards of a century, been exercised upon no other ground whatever. By a clause in this act, no person can serve as Mayor without the approbation of the Commons, and this right of approbation, as notoriously, was given to increase the power of the people ; and the Commons have accordingly so exercised it uniformly for thirty years ; it is observable that this right of approbation is giver '.o them in language more emphatic than it is to your lordships ; but for argument sake, I will suppose the words the same ; now, if, by the common law, all right of approving or rejecting can be founded only on legal cause to be assigned, what becomes of your lordships' decision "^ You have already refused your approbation to the two present peti- tioners, having both had exactly the same pretensions to your approba- tion which they have at present ; you have refused your approbation, and you have assigned no cause ; but let me ask a much more material question — what, in that case, becomes of your lordships' power ? The same words, in the same act of pariiameut. cannot have two different EL150TION OF LORD MAYoK OF DUBLIN. llh constructions ; if the Commons are bound to assign a legal cause for .tgection, you, my lords, must be similarly bound, and the law will then ;oerce the Commons, and coerce your lordships, in a manner directlj contrary to the intention of the act ; it will then cease to be a law for die protection of liberty, on the one hand, or the security of the govern- ment on the other ; for, being equally confined to a rejection for legal cause, the Commons may be obliged to approve a candidate, not legally disqualified, though an enemy to their liberty, and your lordships be ;estrained from rejecting a candidate, not legally disqualified, thougl an enemy to the state. See, then, my lords, to what you will be reduced : you mut:t either admit, that the statute has confined you both equally to decide upon the mere question of legal capacity or incapacity aily, of which they are clearly incapable of judging, and on which it is •lere admitted you are incompetent to decide, and has thus elevated them, and degraded your lordships from good citizens and wise states- men, into bad judges ; or if, in opposition to this construction, you do your duty to your sovereign, and refuse . country will have lost what is of infinitely more value than any time, however precious, that may be wasted in their defence. This act, my lords, professes to be a remedial act, and, as such, must be construed according to the rules peculiar to remedial laws ; that is, in threo points of view ; first, the former state of the law ; secondly, the mischief of such former state ; and thirdly, the remedy proposed fo7 tie cure of that mischief. As to the first point ; at the time of this statute, the Lord Mayor and ^dermen exercised the exclusive power of election to the Chief Magis- tracy, without any interference of the Commons. The immediate mis- chief of auch a constitution, with respect to the metropolis itself, I have touched on before ; the people were borne down, the magistracy was depraved, the law was relaxed, and the public tranquillity was at an end. These mischiefs were more than enough to induce the citizens of Dublin to call loudly, as they did, upon the justice of the legislature for parlia- mentary redress. But the wisdom of that legislature formed an estimate of the mischief from consideration that, probably, did not enter into the minds of the contending parties ; namely, from the then state of Ireland as an individual, and as a connected country ; as an individual depressed m every thing essential to the support of political or civil independency ; depressed in commerce, in opulence, and in knowledge ; distracted by that civil and religious discord, suga^ested by ignorance and bigotry, and inflamed by the artifice of a cruel policy, which divided, in order to destroy, conscious that liberty could be banished only by disunion, and that a generous nation could not be completely stripped of her rights, until one part of the people was deluded into the foolish and wicked idea that its freedom and consequence could be preserved or supported only by the slavery or depression of the other. In such a country it was peculiarly necessary to establish at least some few incorporated bodies, which might serve as great repositories of popular strength •• our ancestors learned fi'om Great Britain to understand their use and theii importance ; in that country they had been hoarded up with the wisest forecast, and preserved with a religious reverence, as an unfailing resource against those times of storm, in which it is the will of Providence that ttU human affairs should sometimes fluctuate ; and, as such, they had been found at once a protection to the people, and a security to the crowru My lords, it is by the salutary repulsion of popular privilege that th© power of the monarchy is supported in its sphere ; withdraw that sup- port, and it falls in ruin upon the people, but it falls in a ruin no less fetal to itself, by which it is shivered to pieces. Our ancestors must, therefore, have been sensible that the enslaved jtate of the corporation of the metropolis was a mischief that extended .tb effects to the remotest borders of the island. In the confederated strength, and the united councils of great cities, the freedom of a country Biay find a safeguard which extends itself even to the remote inhabitant wiio never put his foot within their gates. But, my lords, how must these considerations heve be'^n nnforced bj ELECTION OF LORD MAYOR OF DUBLIN. 1 15 a view of TrelLnd, as a connected country, deprived, as it was, of almost ^ the advantages of an hereditary monarchy ; the father of his people residing at a distance, and the paternal beam reflected upon his chil- dren through such a variety of mediums ; sometimes too languidly to warm them ; sometimes so intensely as to consume ; a succession of o;overnors, differing from one another in their tempers, their talents, and their virtues ; and, of course, in their systems of administration ; anprepared, in general, for rule, by any previous institution, and utterly nnacquainted with the people they were to govern, and with the men tlirough whose agency they were to act. Sometimes, my lords, 'tis true a rare individual has appeared among us, as if sent by the bounty of Providence, in compassion to human miseries, marked by that dignified simplicity of manly character which is the mingled result of an enlight- ened understanding and an elevated integrity ; commanding a respect that he laboured not to inspire, and attracting a confidence which it was impossible he could betray. It is but eight years, my lords, since we have seen such a man* amongst us, raising a degraded country from the condition of a provmce to the rank and consequence of a people, worthy to be the ally of a mighty empire ; forming the league that bound her to Great Britain, on the firm and honourable basis of equa^ liberty and a common fate, " standing and falling with the British nation," and thus stipulating for that freedom which alone contains the principle of her political life, in the covenant of her federal connexion. But ho\^ short is the continuance of those auspicious gleams of public sunshine, how soon they are passed, and perhaps for ever ! In what rapid and fatal revolution has Ireland seen the talents and the vh-tues of such men give place to a succession of sordid parade and empty pretension, of bloated promise and lank performance, of austere hypocrisy, and pecu- latmg economy ! Hence it is, my knds, that the administration of Ire- land so often presents to the reader of her history, not the view of a legitimate government, but rather of an encampment in the country of a barbarous enemy, where the object of the invader is not government but conquest ; where he is, of course, obliged to resort to the corrupting of clans, or of single individuals, pointed out to his notice by public abhorrence, and recommended to his confidence only by a treachery so rank and consummate as precludes all possibility of their return to pri- vate virtue or to pubhc reliance, and therefore only put into authority over a wretched country, condemned to the torture of all that petulant anfeeling asperity with which a narrow and malignant mind will bristle in unmerited elevation ; condemned to be betrayed, and disgraced, and exhausted, by the little traitors that have been suffered to nestle and to grow within it, making it at once the source of their grandeur, and the victim of their vices, reducing it to the melancholy necessity of sup- porting their consequence, and of sinking under their crimes, like the I'on perishing by the poison of a reptile that finds shelter in the mane af the noble animal, while it is stinging him to death. • William Henry Bentinck, Duke of "Portland, was Lord Lieutenant from the ISth q December, 1780, to the 14th of April, 1782, and was erroneously believed to have acted Aith good faith to Ireland, in that momentous period. His correspondence, recently pub i'.bed. proves the rever&e. 116 ELECTION OF LORD MATOK OP DUBLIN. By such considerations as these, my lords, mig'ht the makers of thi^ statute have estimated the danger to which the liberty of Ireland wa* exposed ; and, of course, the mischief of having that metropolis enslaved, by whose independence alone those dangers might be averted ; but in this estimate they had much more than theory, or the observation of foreign events, to show them that the rights of the sovereign and of the subject were equally embarked in a common fate with that independency When, in the latter part of the reign of Queen Anne, an infernal con ^piracy was formed, by the then Chancellor [Sir Constautiae Phipps] and the Privy Council, to defeat that happy succession which, for three generations hath shed its auspicious influence upon these realms, they commenced their diabohcal project by an attack upon the corporate rights if the citizens of Dublin, by an attempt to impose a disaffected Lord Mayor upon them, contrary to the law. Fortunately, my lords, this wicked conspiracy was deleated by the virtue of the people : I will read to your lordships the resolutions of a committee of the House of Com- mons on the subject. " First, Resolved, that it is the opinion of this committee, that soon after the arrival of Sir Constantino Phipps, late Lord Chancellor, and one of the Lords Justices in this kingdom, in the year 1710, a desigr yas formed and carried on to subvert the constitution and freedom ci elections of magistrates of Corporations within the new rules, in ordei to procure persons to be returned for members of parliament, dis- affected to the settlement of the cro^/n ol- his Majesty and his royai issue. " 2nd. Resolved, that it is the opinion of this committee, that in pursuance of that design, indirect and illegal methods were taken to subvert the ancient and legal course of electing magistrates in the city of Dublin. " 3rd. Resolved, that it is the opinion of this committee, that the said Su- Constantine Phipps, and those engaged m that evil design, in less than five mouths, in the year 1711, procured six Aldermen, duly elected Lord Mayors, and fourteen substantial citizens, duly elected Sheriffs, all well known to be zealously affected to the Protestant suc- cession, and members of the Established Church, to be disapproved, or. pretence that Alderman Robert Constantine, as senior Alderman, who had not been Mayor, had a right to be elected Lord Mayor. " 4th. Resolved, that it is the opinion of this committee, that the senior Alderman who had not served as Mayor, had not any right by charter, usage, or by law, in force in the city of Dublin, as such, to be elected Lord Mayor. « 5th. Resolved, that it is the opinion of this committee, that tl said Sir Constantine Phipps, and his accomplices, being unable to sup- port the pretended right of seniority, did, in the year 1713, set up a pretended custom or usage for the Mayor in being, to nominate three persons to be in election *br Lord Mayor, one of whom the AiderJoacD were obliged to choose Lord Mayor/' Lord Chancellor— Can you think, Mr. Ciuran, that these resolutions of a comjaittcfe u:' the House of Commons, can have any re'.ation whatsoever to the preaent subject i ELECTION OF LORD MAYOR OF i>UIJbl5 11? Mr. Curran — I hope, my lorcl;?, you will think they huve much vela., rion, indeed, to the subject before you : the weakness of the city waij the mischief which occasioned the law in question ; to give it strengtl« was the remedy. You must construe the law, so as to "suppress the former and advance the latter. What topics, then, my lords, can bear ^o directly upon the point of your inquiry as the perils to be apprehended from \hat weakness, and the advantages to be derived from that strength What argument, then, can be so apposite, as that which is founded on undeniable facts ? Or what authority so cogent as the opinion (^ the representative wisdom of the nation, pronounced upon those facts, and transmitted to posterity upon record . On grounds like these— fof 1 can conceire no other — do I suppose the rights of the city wer" defended in the time to which I have alluded 5 for it appears by th. records wliich I have read, that the city was then heard by her counsel ; she was not denied the form of defence, though she was denied the- benefit of the law. In this very chamber did the Chancellor and Judges sit, with all thj gravity of affected atteKti^n to arguments in favour of that liberty and those rights which they had conspired to destroy. But to what end, my lords, offer arguments to such men ? A. little and a peevish mind may be exasperated ; but how shall it be corrected by refutation ? How fruitless v/ould it have been to represent to that wretched Chancellor, that he was betraying those rights which he was sworn to maintain — that he was involving a government in di* grace, and a kingdom in panic and consternation — that he was riolating every sacred duty, and every solemn engagement that bound him to liimself, his country, his sovereign, and his God ! Alas, my lords, by what argument could any man hope to reclaim or to dissuade a mean, illiberal, and unprincipled minion of authority, induced by his profligacy Lo undertake, and bound by his avarice and vanity to persevere ? He would probably have replied to the most unanswerable arguments by some curt, contumelious, and unmeaning apophtheg-m, delivered with the fretful smile of irritated self-sufficiency and disconcerted arrogance or even if lie could be dragged by his fears to a consideration of tht- questiou, by what miracle could the pigmy capacity of a stunted pedang be enlarged to a reception of the subject ? The endeavour to approach it would have only removed him to a greater distance from it than h€ was before ; as a little hand that strives to grasp a mighty globe is thrown back by the reaction of its own efforc to comprehend. It may be given to a Hale, or a Hardwicke, to discover and retract a mistake. The errors of such men are only specks that arise for a moment upoE the surface of a splendid luminary ; consumed by its heat, or irradiated by its light, they soon purge and disappear. But the perversenesses of a mean and narrow intellect are like the excrescences that grov* upon a body natm-ally cold and dark : no fire to waste them, and no raj to enlighten, they assimilate and coalesce with those qualities so con genial to their nature, and acquire an incorrigible permanency in the anion with kindred frost and kindred opacity. Nor, indeed, my lords, except where the interest of millions can be effected by the folly or the "ice of an individual, need it be lannb ce^vetted that to things not H llil ELECTION OF LORD MATOE OF DUBLIK. worthy of being made better, it hath not pleased Providence Id aiford the privilege of improvement. Lord Chancellor— Sorely, Mr. Cmran, a gentleman of your eminence in vour profession must see that the conduct of former privy councils has nothing to do wifti the question before ua. The question lies in the narrowest compass ; it is merely As-hether the Com- jQons have a right of artitraiy and capricious rejection, or are obliged to assign a reason- able cause for their disapprobation. To that poiEt you have a right to be hsard, but I hope yon do not mean to lectiire the councU. Mr. Curran-'I mean, my lords, to speak to the case of my clienU'. and to avail myself of every topic of defence which I conceive applicable to that case. I am not speaking to a dry point of law, to a single judge, and on a mere forensic subject ; I am addressing a very large auditory, consisting of co-ordinate members, of whom the far greater number is not versed in law. Were I to address such an audience on the interests and rights of a great city, and address them in the hack- neyed style of a pleader, I should make a very idle display of profession, with very little information to those that I address, or benefit to those on whose behalf I have the honour to be heard. I am aware, my lords, that truth is to be sought only by slow and painful progress ; I know, also, that error is in its nature flippant and compendious — it hops with airy and fastidious levity over proofs and arguments, and perches upon assertion which it calls conclusion. [Here the Lord Chancellor moved to have the Chamber cleared- After some time the ■ioors were opened, and Mr. Curran proceeded.*] My lords, I was regretting the necessity which I am under of tres- passing so much on that indulgent patience, with which I feel I am so honoured. Let me not, however, my lords, be thought so vainly pre- sumptuous as to suppose that condescension bestowed merely upon me ; I feel, my lords, how much more you owe it to your own dignity and justice, and to a full conviction that you could not be sure of deciding with justice, if you did not hear with temper. As to my part, my lords, I am aware that no man can convince by arguments which he does not clearly comprehend, and make clearly intelligible to others ; I consider it, therefore, not only an honour but an advantage to be stopped whenever I am not understood. So much confidence have I in the justice of the cause, that I wish any noble lor«^ in this assembly would be pleased to go with me step by step throngl the argument. One good efioct would inevitably result ; I should either have the honour of convincing the noble lord, or the public would, by my refutation, be satisfied that they are in the wrong. With this wish, and, if I may presume to say so, with this hope, I wiQl proceed to a fur ttier examination of the subject. It is a rule of law, that all remedial acts shall be so construed, as to suppress the mischief and advance the remedy. Now, a good cause of rejection can mean only a legal cause ; that is, a cause working an incapacity in the person executing a corporate franchise — that is, of course, such a cause as would justify a judgment of ouster against hini by a court of law, if actually in possession of such franchise, or wan ant Lord Clare, it Is said, moved the Council that Mr. Curran should be restrain©^ *m^ iiii course of obMnratioii, and that they decided against the motion ELECTION OF LORD MAYOK OF DUBLIN. 11& his amoval by an act of the corporation itself. There are Ihree sorts of offences for which a corporator may be amoved : — first, 5 uch as have r.o immediate relation to his office, but are in themselves of so infamous a nature as to render the offender unfit to exercise any publi<: franchise*, secondly, such as are only against his oath and the duty of !iis office «/ a corporator, and amount to a breach of the tacit condition annexeiy to his franchise or office ; the third sort ot offence, for which an officer or corporator may be displaced, is of a mixed nature, as being an offence not only against the duty of his office, but also a matter indictable at common law. For the first species of offences, a corporation can ji no case amove without a previous indictment and conviction in a court of common law For the other offences, it has a power of trial, as well as amotion. To this let me add, that the office of Alderman is as much a corpo rate office as that of Lord Mayor, and the legal cause that disqualifies the one must equally disqualify the other ; but the person chosen to b«» Mayor must be an Alderman at the time of his election, and the law "jf course^ cannot suppose a man actually in possession of a corporate franchise, to labour under any corporate or legal incapacity. Does it Qot then, my lords, follow irresistibly, that the law cannot intend to confine the power of rejection, which it expressly gives, to a legal incapacity, which without the grossest absurdity it cannot suppose to exist ? But let us assume, for argument sake, however in defiance of com- mon sense, that the legislature did suppose it possible that such an 'iicapacity might exist, what does a power of rejection for such cause c^ive to the Commons ^ And it is admitted by the learned counsel, ■' that this statute made a great ealargement, indeed, in their powers.' Before the act was made, any corporator subject to a personal dis- qualification was remoTeable by the ordinary course of law. To give the Commons, therefore, only a power of preventing a man legally dis- qualified from serving a corporate office, was giving them nothing which they had not before. What sort of construction, then, my lords, must that be which makes the legislature fall into the ridiculous absurdity of giving a most superfluous remedy, for a most improbable mischief r And yet it is not in a nursery of childi-en, nor a bedlam of madmen but it is in an assembly, the most august that this country knows of^ that I am obliged to combat this perversion of sense and of law. It truth, my lords, I feel the degradation of gravely opposing a wild chi- mera, that could not find a moment's admission into any instructed ci mstituted mind ; but I feel, also, that they who stoop to entertain it only from the necessity of exposing and subduing it^ cannot, at least, be ilie first object of that degradation. Let me, then, my lords, try this construction contended for by anothci test. If the act must be construed so as to say that the Commons caL reject only for a legal cause to be assigned, it must be so construed, aa to provide for all that is inseparably incident, and indispensably necessary to carrying that construction into effect : that is, it must pre v'-'.e a mode, in which four thinp-s may be done : 120 G:LECT10^• OF LORD M\YOB OF DUbLIJN. First, a mode in which such cause shall be assigned. Secondly, a mode in which the truth of the fact of such cause slioH be admitted or controverted. Thirdly, a mode by which the truth of such fact, if controverted, shall be tried ; and Fourthly, a mode by which the validity of such cause, when asce:- .'ained in fact, shall be judged of in law. To suppose a construction, requiring' a reason to be assigned, without providing for these inevitable events, would be not the error of a lawyer, but would sink beneath the imbecility of an infant. Then, my lords, as to the first point, how is the cause to be assigned . The law expressly precludes the parties from any means of conference, by enacting, that they shall " sit apart and by themselves." The same law says, that " the rejection or disapprobation shall be by Dallot only, iiud not otherwise." Now, when the law gives the Commons a power of rejecting by ballot, it gives each individual a protection against tb;» enmity which he would incur from the rejected candidate. But if you say that the rejection shall be null and void, unless fortified by the assignment of legal cause, see, my lords, what you labour to effect • under this supposed construction, you call upon the voters who reject by a secret vote to relinquish that protection of secrecy which the law expressly gives them, unless, my lords, the sagacity that has broached this construction can find out some way by which the voter can justify why he voted against a particular candidate, without disclosing, aJso, that he did, in fact, vote against that candidate. Let me, however, suppose that inconsistency reconciled, and follow the idea. The name of Alderman James is sent down, and the Commons certify his rejection. An ambassador is then sent to demand of the Commons the cause of this rejection. They answer, " Sir, we have rejected by ballot, and they who have voted sgainst him are protected by the lav/ from discovering how they voted." To which the ambassador replies^ '* Very true, gentlemen, but you mistake their worships' question ; they do not desire you to say who rej'/rted Mr. James, for in that they well know they could not be warra.r.l:od by law ; they only desire to know why a majority has voted against Mr. Aldernian James." This, my lords, I must suppose to be a mode of argument not unbefitting the sagacity of aldermen, since I find it gives occasion to^' a serious question before so exalted an assembly as T have now the honour to address. 1 will, therefore, suppose, it conclusive with the Commons. A legal rea- son must be assigned for their rejection. Pray, my lords, who is to assign that legal reason ? Is it the minority who voted for the rejecte^J candidate ? I should suppose not ; it must be then the majority who voted for the rejection. Pray, my lords, who are they? By what meaiL' shall they be discovered ? But I will suppose that every member of the Commons is willing to adopt the rejection, and to assign a cause for it. One man — suppose J friend of the rejected candidate — alleges a cause of a rejection, in whta he did not in reality concur, and which cause he takes care shall b. • iiLECTION OF LOUP MA^vU OF DOBLm. X21 iivalid and absurd —as for instance, the plumpness of the person of Mr, James. If he did not vote for the rejection he can have no right te assign a cause for it. The question then is, did he vote for the rejec tion ? I beg leave, my lords, to know how that is to be tried ? But suppose, to get rid of a difficulty, otherwise insurmountable, it jhall be agreed, in direct contradiction to common sense and justice that every member o^ ^b*^. Commons shall be authorized to assign a lega cause of rejection ; ui^^, in truth, if he may assign one he may aseigr more than one, if he is disposed to do so. Suppose then, my lords, tha. one hundred and forty-six causes are assigned, for such may be the number, though no one member assigns more than a single cause. It they may be all assigned, they must be all disposed of according to law But which shall be first put into a course of trial ? — how shall the right of precedence be decided ? But I will suppose that also settled, and i single cause is assigned ; that cause must be a legal disability of some of the kinds which I have already mentioned, for there cannot be anj other. The cause, then, assigned, in order to prevail, must be true it fact, and valid in law, and amount to a legal incapacity. And here let me observe, that a legal cause of incapacity, as it can be founded onlj on the commission of an infamous crime, or of some fact contrary ty the duty and oath of a corporator, must, if allowed, imprint an indelibl? stigma on the reputation of the man so rejected. I ask, then, is the accusation of maUgnity, or credidity, or folly, to be taken for true ? Ol shall the person have an opportunity of defending himself against the charge ? The cause for which he can be rejected is the same with the cause for which he can be disfranchised ; they are equally causes work- ing an incapacity to hold a corporate franchise ; their consequences are the same to the person accused — loss of franchise, and loss of reputa- tion. The person accused, therefore, if by the construction of a statute he is exposed to accusation, must by the same construction be entitled to every advantage in point of defence, to which a person so accused s entitled by the general law of the land. What, then, are those advan- tages to wliich a corporator is entitled, when charged with any fact aa a foundation of incapacity or disfranchisement? He must have due anistice and common right ? But I will suppose thai your lordships may adopt this construction, however it may supersede the right of the subject and the law of the land ; I will suppose th.it the candidate may be accr.«;pfl eti ? i:. .raent'; warninor — is bare accusfU 122 ELECTION OF LORD MAYOR OF DUBLTO. Hon to hold the place of conviction ? ^shall the alderman whose iiamn i& sent down, and who is rejected for an alleged personal disability, have in opportunity of defending- himself against the charge of the Com- mons ? He cannot have the privilege of the meanest felon, of standing before his accusers, for, as an alderman, he must remain with his br& thren. " separate and apart hy themselves." He cannot then plead foi himself in person, nor by the law can ha depi^... . i attorney to defend in his name, for the Commons are not authorized to admit any strangers among them. It is, therefore, utterly out of his power to deny the charge against him, however false in fact it may happen to be. But I mil suppose, if you please, that the charge is denied, and issue joined upon the fact ; I beg leave to ask, if this supposed construction provides my mode of calling the jury, or summoning the witnesses, on whose tesdmony, and on whose verdict a citizen is to be tried upon a charge of corporate or legal culpability ? But let me, my lords, with the pro- foundest respect, press this wicked and silly nonsense a little farther. Suppose the charge admitted in fact, oat the validity of it denied, who, my lords, is to judge of it by virtue oi this construction ? A point of ;aw is to be decided between the Lord Mayor and Aldermen who have chosen, and the Commons who have rejected. What is the consequence? If the liord Mayor and Aldermen decide, they judge in their own cause; if the Commons decide, they judge in their own cause, contrary to the maxim , that " Nemo Judex h. propria causa." Can you then, my lordsj think yourselves warranted in adopting a construction which supposes 'i legal charge to be made, in which the accused has not the advantage of notice, or the means of defence, or of legal trial r and on whichj if any judgment be pi'vmounced, it must be pronounced, in direct opposition to the law of the £»,nd, by the parties in the cause. But, my lords, it seems all these defects in point of accusation, of defence, of tr?al, and of judgment, as the ingenious gentlemen have argued, are cured by the magical virtue of those beans, by whose agency the whole business must be conducted. K the law had permitted a single word to be exchanged between the parties, the learned counsel confess that much difficulty might arise in the events which I have stated ; but they have found out that all these difficulties are prevented or removed by the beans and the ballot According to these gentlemen, we are to suppose one of the unshavoL demagogues, whom the learned counsel have so humourously described, rising in the Commons when the name of Alderman James is sent down ; he begins by throwing out a torrent of seditious invective against the servile profligacy and hquorish venality of the Board of Aldermen — this he doth by beans. Having thus previously inflamed the passions of his f jilows, and somewhat exhausted his own, his judgment collects tho reins that floated on the neck of his imagination, and he becomes gra\ e, compressed, sententious and didactic ; he lays down the law of personai disability, and corporate criminality, and corporate forfeiture, with great precision, with sound emphasis, and good discretion, to the great lelight and edification of the assembly — and this he does by beans. He then procot^ds, my lords, to ats^te the specif .*/ charge against the urfortnnaf ELECTION OF LORD MATOE OP 1>UBLIN. I'SS candidate for approbation, with all the artifice and malignity of accua*- Jion — scalding the culprit in tears of affected pity — bringing forward the blackness of imputed guilt through the yaruish of simulated com- miseration — bewailing the horror of his crime, that he may leavie it without excuse — and invoking the sympathy of his judges, that he may steel them against compassion — and this, my lords, the unshaved dema gogue doth by beans. The accused doth not appear in person, for b- cannot leave his companions, nor by attorney, for his attorney could ncn be admitted — but he appears and defends by beans. At first humble and deprecatory, he conciliates the attention of his judges to his defence by giving them to hope that it may be without effect; he does not alarm them by any indiscreet assertion, that the charge is false, but he slide? upon them arguments, to show it improbable. By degrees, howeveii he gains upon the assembly, and denies and refutes, and recriminates and retorts — all by beans — until at last he challenges his accuser to a trial, which is accordingly had, in the course of which the depositions are taken, the facts tried, the legal doubts proposed and explained by beans ; and in the same manner the law is settled with an exactness and authority that remains a record of jurisprudence, for the information oS future ages ; while at the same time the " harmony" of the metropolis is attuned by the marvellous temperament of jarring discord, and the "good will'* of the citizens is secured by the indissoluble bond of mut'j* crimination and reciprocal abhorrence. By this happy mode of decision, one hundred and forty-six causes o' rejection (for of so many do the Commons consist, each of whom must be entitled to allege a distinct cause) are tried in the course of a single day, with satisfaction to all parties. With what surprise and delight must the heart of the fortunatf inventor have glowed, when he discovered those wonderful iustrumentf of wisdom and of eloquence, which, without being obliged to commit the precious extracts of science or persuasion to the faithless and fragi'e vehicle of words or phrases, can serve every process of composition oi abstraction of ideas, and every exigency of discourse or argumentation, by the resistless strength and infinite variety of beans, white or blacl^ or boiled or raw ; displaying all the magic of their powers in the mys- terious exertions of dumb investigation and mute discussion — of speech- less objection and tongue-tied refutation 1 Nor shoula it be forgotten, my lords, that this notable discovery doei no little honour to the sagacity of the present age, by explaining a doubt that has for so many centuries perplexed the labour of philosophic inquiry, and fu'^nishing the true reason why the pupils of Pythagoras were prohibited the use of beans. It cannot, I think, my lords, be doubted that the great author of the Metempsychosis found out thai those mystic powers of persuasion, which vulgar naturalists supposed tr remain lodged in minerals or fossils, had really transmigrated intc beans ; and he could not, therefore, but see that it would have been fruitless to preclude his disciples from mere oral babbling, unless he had also debarred them from the indulgence of vegetable loquacity. My lords, I have hitherto endeavoured to show, and, I hope» not 1S4 ELSOIION OP LORD MAYOR OF DUBLUV. litbout success, that this act of parliament gives to the Commoua a peremptory right of rejection: that the other construction gives no remedy whatsoever for the mischief which occasioned its being passed, and cannot, by any possible course of proceeding, be carried into effect. I will take the liberty now of giving an answer to some objections relied apon by the counsel for Mr. James, and I will do it with a conciseness. not, I trust, disproportioned to their importance. They say, that a peremptory rejection in the Commons takes awaj ftll power whatsoever from the Board of Aldermen. To that I answer, that the fact and the principle is equally against them : — the fact, because that board is the only body from which a Lord Mayor can be chosen, and has, therefore, the very great power that results from exclusive eligibility ; the principle, because, if the argument be that the Lord Mayor &-nd Aldermen ought to have some power in such election, by a parity of reason, so ought the Commons, who, if they can reject only for a legal incapacity, will be clearly ousted of all authority whatsoever b such election, and be reduced to a state of disfranchisement by such a construction. The gentlemen say, that your lordships can only inquire into the vrima facie title, arid that the claim of Mr. James is, prima facie, the better claim. 1 admit, my lords, you are not competent to pronounce any judgment that can bind the right. But give me leave to observe, first, that the question upon which you yourselves have put this inquiry, is a question appUcable only to the very right, and by no possibihty applicable to a prima facie title. One of your lordships has declared the question to be, " Whether, by the common law, a mere power of approbation or rejecb'ou can super- sede a power of election ?" If that question is warranted in assum- ing the fact, give me leave to say, that the answer to it goes directly to the riglit, and to notliing else : for if the Commons are bound by law to assign a cause of rejection, and have not done so, Mr. James has clearly the legal right of election, and Mr. Howison has no right oi itle whPvCsoever. But I say further, the mode of your inquiry makes it ridiculous to argue that you have not entered into any disquisition of the right Wlay, my lords, examine witnesses on both sides } Why examine the nooks of tbe corporation ? Why examine into every fact relating to •*Jie election ? I cannot suppose, my lords, that you inquired into fiicts, upon wliich /ou thought yourselves incompetent to form any decision ; I carnot rnppose you to admit an extra judicial inquiry, by which the members of a corporation may be drawn into admissions, that may expose thera t«) the future danger of prosecution or disfranchisement. I hope, my lords, I shall not be deemed so presumptuous as to take upon me to say why you have gone into these examinations ; it is not jny province to justify your lordsliips' proceeding. It stands upon youT own authority ; I am only answering an argument, and I answer it bj jSiOft-ing vt inconsistent with tbnt nry^eediuAr. ELECTION OF LORD MAYOR Or DLTBLIN. iVC Lei me, my lords, pursue the idea a little further. Are you only iuquiriug into a prima facie title ? What is a prima facie title? I con- ceive it to be a title, not which may possibly be found a good one upon future examination, but which is good and valid, and must prevail^ unless it be opposed and defeated by another, which may possibly bt adduced, but which does not then appear. So in ejectment, for instance, a plaintiff must make a title, or be is non-suited. If he makes out a legal title in omnihus, the court declares it a prima facie title — that i.s a title conclusive as to the right, unless a better shall be shown ; and accordingly, calls on the defendant to show such better title, if he can. The moment the defendant produces his title, the question of prime facie title is completely at an end, and the court htoS no longer anj cuestion to decide upon but the very merits ; and this for a plain rea- son : the question, whether prima facie a good title or not, is decidec? upon the single ground that no other title then appears with which thf. title shown can be compared. In short, my lords, " whether prime facie good," is a question confined only to the case of a single title, and cannot be applied, without the grossest absurdity, to a case where you have both the titles actually before you. It may be the question in case of a single retur-u ; in case of a double return, as here, it cannot by any ^ssibility be the question. But, my lords, let me carry this a little farther yet. You haye both the titles before you You have yourselves declared that the question turns upon the construction of this act of parliament, which enacts also " that it shall be deemed a public act in all courts, and in all places." Now it is contended, the construction of the a-ct is prima fiacie, in favour of Mr. James. May I presume to ask, what does the prima facie construction of statute import ? It must import, if it import any thing, that meaning which, for aught then appearing, is true ; but may possibly, because oi something not then appearing, turn out not to be so. Now, nothing can possibly be opposed to that prima facie construction, save the act ifself. K prima facie construction of a sta ute, therefore, can be nothing but the opinion that rises in the mind of a man, upon a single reading of it, who does not choose to be at the trouble of reading it again. In truth, my lords, I should not have thought it necessary to descend to this kind of argumentation, if it had not become necessary for me to d. so, by an observation coming from your lordships — " That the letter of the act would bear out the Commons in their claim, but that the sounf construction might be a very different thing." I will, therefore, adc liutanother word upon this subject: if a prima facie construction be sufficient to decide, and if the Commons have the letter of the law in their favour, I would ask, with the profoundest humiUty, whether your lordships will give the sanction of your high authority to a notion, that m statutes made to secure the liberties of the people, the express words in which they are written, shall not be at least 2i> prima facie evidence of their signification ? My lords, the learned counsel have been pleased to make a charge traiust the citizens of Dublin " for their t««ts and their cayalcading;s" I '^6 ELECTION OF LORD MAYOR OP DUKliIN. Ill a late occasion ; and they have examined witnesses in support or cbeir ac^^usation. It is true, my lords, the citizens did engage to the public and to one another, that they would not vote for any candidate for corporate office, or popular representation, who had any place in the Police establishment. Lut I would be glad to know by what law it is criminal in freemen to pledge themselves to that conduct which they think indispensably necessary to the freedom of their country ? The city of Dublin is bound to submit to whatever mode of defence shall be levised for her by law, while such law shall continue unrepealed. ; but f would be glad to learn, by what law they are bound not to abhor the Police institution, if it appears to them to be an institution, expensive and ineffectual, inadequate to their protection, and dangerous to their liberty ; and that they do think it so, cannot be doubted. Session after session has the floor of the senate been covered with their petitions praying to be relieved against it, as an oppressive, a corrupt, and there- tore an execrable establishment. True it is, also, my lords, they have been guilty of those triumphant processions, which the learned counsel have so heavily condemned. The virtue of the people stood forward to oppose an attempt to seize Qpon their representation, by the exercise of a dangerous and unconsti- tutional influence, and it succeeded in the conflict ; it routed and put to ^ight that corruption which sat, like an incubus, on the heart of the oaetropolis, chaining the current of its blood, and locking up every healthful function and energy of life. The learned counsel might ha\e seen the city pouring out her inhabitants, as if to share the general joy of escaping from some great calamity, in mutual gratulation acd public triumph. But why does the learned counsel insist upon this subjesi before your lordships? Does he think such meetings illegal.^ He knows his profession too well not to know the reverse. But does he think it competent to the Lord Lieutenant and Council of Ireiand, lo take cognizance of such facts, or to pronounce any opinion whatever, concerning the privileges of the people? He must know it is not. Does he then mean that such things may be subjects of your resentment- though not of your jurisdiction ? It would have been worth while, before that point had been pressed, to consider between what parties i* must suppose the present contest to subsist. To call upon the govern- ment of the country to let their vengeance fall upon the people for their resistance of unconstitutional influence, is surely an appeal not rery consistent with the virtuous impartiality of this august assembly It is only for those who feel defeat to feel resentment, or to think of jengeance. But suppose for a moment, (and there never ought to be reason to .t;uppose it) that the opposition of the city had been directly to the views or the wishes of the government. Why are you, therefore, called upon to seize its corporate rights into your hands, or to force an illegal magis- trate upon it ? Is it insinuated that it can be just to punish a want o* complaisance, by an act of lawless outrage and arbitrary power ? Does the British constitution, my lords, know ot such offences, or does i* warrant thi* suecies of tyrannir-q] reprisal ? But, my lords, if the iujua ELECTION OF LORD MAYOR OF DUBLIN.- 127 tice of such a measure is without defence, what argument can be offered in support of its prudence or policy? It was once the calamity a England to have such an experiment made by the Isst of the Stuarts. and the last of that unhappy race, because of such experiments. Thf several corporations of that country were stript of their charters ; and what was the consequence ? I need not state them ; they are notorious vet, my lords, there was a time when he v^as willing to relinquish what he had so weakly and wickedly undertaken : but there is a time when concession comes too late to restore either public quiet or public confi- dence ; and when it amounts to nothing more than an acknowledgment of injustice ; when the people must see, that it is only the screen behind which oppression changes her attack, from force to fraud — from the battery to the mine. See, then, my lords, how such a measure comes recommended ; its principle, injustice ; its motive, vengeance ; its adoption sanctioned by the aathority of a tyrant, or the example of a revolution. My lords, the learned counsel has made another observation which ] vannot pass without remark ; it is the last with which I shall trouble you. He says the Commons may apply to the law, and bring an infor- mation in quo icarranto, against Mr. James, though you should give him your approbation ; that is, my lords, your judgment does not bind the right, it only decides the possession of the office. To this I answer, that, in this case, to decide on the possession is, in fact, to decide th( contest ; and I found that answer on the high authority of the noble lord,* who was pleased to say, that " when the city had spent three years in the King's Bench, she would probably grow sick of the contest." I was not surprised, my lords, to hear an expression of that regret which must arise iu every worthy mind, and I am sure the noble lord sincerely felt, at the aistress of a people reduced to defend those rights which ought never to have been attacked, and to defend them in a way by v/hich they could not possibly succeed. The truth is, as the noble lord has stated, the time of Mr. James's mayoralty would expire in year, and the question of law could not be terminated in three ; tlie present contest, therefore, cannot be decided by law. Howj then, my lords, is it to be decided ? Are the people to submit tamely to oppres- sion, or are they to struggle for their liberties ? I trust, my lords, you will think they have not done any thing so culpable as can justify the driving them to so calamitous a necessity ; for fatal must that struggle be, in whatsoever country it shall happen, in which the liberties of a j)eople can find no safety but in the efforts of vindictive virtue, fatal to all parties, whatever may be the event. But, my lords, I feel this tr be a topic on which it -is neither my province nor my wish to expa tiate ; and I leave it the more willingly, because I know that I have already trespassed very long upon your patience, and also, because 1 cannot relinquish a hope, that the decision of your lordships, this day, will be such as shall restore the tranquillity of the public mind, th'? mutual confidence between the government and the people, and miikoC? runeopAsary for any man to pursue so painful a subject * '^''o T/ird C]i:ince]lor *28 ELECTION or LORD MATOE OF DUBLIN PonsonTjy followed on the same side, and Smith replied The Pri^-y Coimdl, in a few 4iys, decLdtd for Alderman James, but he resigned, and on the 5th of August Howison's name was sent dowii fi'om the Aldenmen, approved by the Common Comicil (the numbers ^ng 97 to 6), approved by the Privy Council, too, and thus this strange struggle ended ii the utter defeat of the government. It is right to add some other facts. On th« 16th of July, in the Common Counc;., 1 ap- Ser Tsmdy cai-ried (after violent opposition from Giflford) seventeen resolutions censTirin^j tlie Privy Coimcil, Aldermen, and- «jnong other things, summoning a meeting of freemen ind freeholders at the Exchange. This meeting was held on the 20th of Jul'' H Jiilton Ilowan in the cliair, was addressed by many persons ol Influence, and, after appointing a t'ommittee to prepare a state of facts, adjourned to the 3rd of August. On the latter day the State of Facts was read (an admirable document, which I subjoin, as an epitome of the M-evalent opinions) and Alderman Jamess resignation M-as announced. The meeting wfi^ suldressed at gi-eat length by Su- Edward Newenliam, in reply to an audacious speech flelivered by Lord Chaucellor Fitzgibbon, in the House of Peers, on the 24th of July, and pubhshed in FaiUk'^ner's Journal Of course Newenham treated it as a pamplilet of th« printer's, and lashed it well On the previous day (the 2nd of August), the Wliig Club had met, and, in a report, dra^Mi up apparently by Grattan, had attacked Fitzgibbon, vNith stili greater severity. This was natm'il ; for, in his speech, Flt'-irbbon, having read a resolution ot the Whig Club, appi-oNing the conduct of the Common Council, had proceeded to insult the club, uutil Lords Chai'Lemont and iloira avowed the resolution, and drove him to tht appearance of argument. The following, from the Whig Club Report is interesting .— " That we have been charged bv the author of the speech with the crime of looking to power, we maive no assertion. Instead of*- assertion we set forth the following measures to arhicii we aj-e all pledged. "A Place bill— a Pension oiiL— a bill to repeal or modify the City Police bill,— a bUl to restrain the minister from aroiti-aiily extending the County Police,— a Responsibility feiU, —a bill to disqualify the dependant' Officers of the Revenue from voting for members o* r"nrliament. We are pledged to disallow the corrupt charges of the Marquis of Buckingham 2nd his successor. We are pledged against the sale of peerages, and for the liberty of the press, and the personal liberty of tte subject against arbitrary and illegal bail We are {iledged to the principles whereon the late parliament addi-essed his Royal Highness the Prince o<' Wales to tulce on himself the Regency, and against tlie assertions and principlej that advanced and maintained, in tlie appointinent of a Regent, the authority of the par- liament of another courts'/ and would have denied to the Irish crown its legislative power, and, of com'se, its imperial dignity. We aj"e "jledged against a Union : we are pledged against the memorable Propositions ; and ..a are' now pledged to oppose the misconstruction .7j" tiie alteration of the act of the 3-Jrd of Geo. II., whereby the Commons of this city have peremptory right of rejection, which peremptory right Vt^e will suppurt If any thing if xere omitted, it will be found in our original declaration ; and v,-e have already appointed a f.ommittee to nrocm'c copies of tlie bills already mentioned, that the country may, if slifl leases, adopt them, or at least may know how far, and how specifically v/a are embartod her interest, We have no personal animosity ; but should any of tlie ministers of tlie .Town attempt to trample on th.e people, we ake eeadi' to defexd TnE\L" Fitzgibbon had mad-o himself so unpopular, tliat the guild of mercl:ar.fcs, who had, in fho previous winter, voted him an address in a gold box, for serrices to cheir trading interests* "expunged the resolutions on the IStli of July, as " disgraceful" Here is the state of facts above referred to ;— • Aggregate Meeting of the Citizens of Dublin, held at tlie Royal Excha-n^e, on Tuesday, ihi Urd of August, 1793, pursuant to the adjournment of the 2Qtk of July last AttOHTBAU) Hamilton Rowan. Esq., in the chair. -' The report of the CocutV ttee appointed to draw up a State of the Case of the CiUzena yi Dublin, was delivered in by Sii- lidwai'd Newenham, one of the representatives of the Jounty, and was read by the Chairman. " That it appears that the citizens of Dublin at large had originally the election of ite Magistrates, until ousted by a bye-law. "Tlutt M the reign of Charles II., when the revenues were surrendered to the crown i:i frer, tlie power of making regulations for tiie different Corporations was given to the Lord lieutenant and Council, and certain new rules were made accordingly. " That tv one of those niles the right of electing a Cliief Magistrate, for the City of Dut^ I'n, was given to the iioard of Aldei-men, subject to tiie approbation of the Lord Lieutenai4 ind Council '* That in the latter part of the reign of Queen Anne, the use »'hich the Lord LieuteninJ tod Council m*de of this power, was an attempt to introduce disattwted men into thd magistracy, and to exclude men of Whig principles, and well atfpctcd to the constitutior ODd the present lioyal Paunty.fancl ia tiieiv place, to infaoduce meu v.voted to tlie thou 4dis:n:ati-utiOi;. KLiECTinN OF r.OKD MAYOR OT DUi^LLN. 12P •"Tliatthis constitution, which had not proved sufHcient lo secure to the magistracy proper and safe men, was the cause of great discontent among the citizens, to remedy wliic^ u l-ill in the 33rd year of tlie late King passed into a law. '• That hy this 1)111 no man can be Mayor who is rejected by the Commons of the Confmon ConnclL That on certificate of that rejection, the Board of Aldermen must send down another person, and so on, from time to time, until the Commons shall approve. That there is no restriction in the act on the rejection by the Commons, save ordy that they musr approve of some one Alderman. " That if the Board of Aldermen or the Commons offend against the requisites set fortt in the act, the body offending loses, for that tuim, — the right of election, if the Board t Aldermen ; and of rejection, if the Commons : and the other body, that has conformed to the law, acqiures the absolute right of choosing the Lord Mayor. '■ That notwithstanding these clauses, an opinion has been advanced by the Board j Aldermen and their Counsel, Avhich supposes that the Commons cannot reject any Aicermai. without assigning, as grounds for their rejection, some coi-porate or legal disabilitj-. ' That we have examined the act, and can find no such clause. ' That we ha^-e examined pi-ecedents, and we find that there is no precedent for any sue thing ; on the contrary, the precedents are against it. •■ Tiiat in 1763, soon after making the act, the Commons rejected Alderman Ban-fe, ana dssiiined no reason. •• Tliat they rejected him a second time in the said year, and assigned no reason ; and that the Boai-d of Aldermen submitted, and sent down Alderman Forbes, who was approved (^ and was Lord Mayor. "That in this year the Commons in April rejected Alderman William James, and tlje Soard sent do^ftii anothur and another Aldennan, ^vithout demanding reasons. •• That the Council act under words the same as those under which the Commons pro- ceed, save only that there are some fui'ther clauses and stronger expressions in favom- oi the right of the Commons, and yet the Council did, in the year 1711, repeatedly reject the Lord Mayor of Dublin, without assigning reasons : that they rejected in 1763 the Lord Mayor, sent up by the Board ou one part, and by the Commons on the other, and assigned ao reasons. That in Uie preseat year, they in May rejected both Aldennan James and Alderr.ian noA\ison, and assigned no reasons. That in June they rejected the same, and assigned no reasons : that they have now rejected Alderman Howison, and assigned no reason " That if the Commons must assign, as ground for their rejection, corporate or lega incapacities in the person so rejected, the Commons receive from the clause in the act, u. power or authority whatsoever. " That we cannot find the cause ot this construction in the act, and must look for i. somewhere else; that we apprehend the citizens have given offence to his Majesty's Ministers and particularly those who at present du-ect the government of this country. "That we have examined our conduct and our hearts, and we declare to God and to oiu country, that however conscious we are of coming under the displeasure of those men, xc are not conscious of having deserved it. " That we do acknowledge, that for the last ten or eleven years the citizens of Dublin did take an active pai-t for the liberty of their countrj' ; that in 1780 they supported, to thd utinost of their power, a Declaration of Right, which those who now principally direct the government of this kingdom resisted, but that we do not repent the part we then acted; on the contrary', we rejoice in it, and aver, with all himiility, but with truth, that if the people of Ii-eland in , general, and the citizens of Dublin in particular, had not taken an active part on that occasion, we do conceive that the exertions and abilities of those who uow principally direct our government, and enjoy a superior degi'ee of jiower and profit under that free constitution which they opposed, would have prevailed against the liberties If their country. '' That we do acknowledge, in 1785, when those very persons proposed to give back thai Aberty, in a scheme, consisting of twenty Propositions, the citizens of Dublin did take a fery decided part against said system, and bore tneh' share in the honour of defeating an-l eonfoundtng that -nicked attempt ; and though they might have given cause by that con- duct to the resentment of the abettors of that project, and also to certain low and insolen* expressions at that time pronounced, yet we do nT)t repent of our conduct. We had rathe: suffer in common with the rest of om* coimtrjnnen, under any description of abuse, how tver opprobrious and petulant, than under the stings of our conscience, reproaching us for Mippoi-ting that most disgi'aceful surrender of our rights, wlucb was proposed in said twenty jiopositions. " That on the late question of the Regency, the citizens of Dublin took an humble an(j Juttftil, but a firm and constitutional pai-t, and made their protest against those dangeroit and slavish doctrines, which atl'ected to say, that the British Parliament could make a FvCgent for Ireland, and that his :\Iajesty legislated in Ireland, not as King of Ireland, but as King of Gr^t Britain ; and that the great seal of England had powers in this coontrj superior to the Imperial croAvn thereof. " Tliat to oi'otestin;; aijaiast such docti'iuei-;. we ccvaoeiT^Mveonlv ^irl our e bought and sold again. " That under siicli authority we could not but think ourselves warranted in expressing otu approbation of those who resisted such a wicked practice ; for we cannot conceive a stronger ehallenge or summons to the people than such a declaration. " That v,-e do acknowledge the Freedor- of the city of Dublin refused to his Excellency tfi? Eurl of Westmoreland, was refused because it was perceived that the measures, the mei^ fcnd the principles wliich had disgraced his predecessors, were countenanced and continnctd Bnder his government ; and in those disgraceful circumstances of his government it wa« onagined that any testimony of approbation would not have given credit or dignity to Lord Westmoreland, but would have lessened the character of the city. " That we do not deny that many among us did, on a former occasion, favour the scheme cf Protectiiig Duties, but Ave utterly deny and disclaim having any share in approving of Che outrages which followed that proposal ; nor can we imagine how our approbation of lAjing Protecting Duties, can, without great inconsistency, render us obnoxious to hi* Majesty's ministers, seeing that the person who was the author of the attempt, and tha cause of what followed it, lias since received the encouraging marts of Royal favour and boaaty. " But that the chief cause cf the displeasure of his Majesty's mmisters seems to be our opposition to the corruption intended by an act, entitled an act tor the better regulatia^; tiie police of the city of Dublin— That we do solemnly declare it tc be our sincere opinion, that the great object and design of the contrivers of the police bill was to extend over tbfl fity of Dublin corruption both in the corporation and among the citizens thereof; and "^■C are authorized in entertaining such an opinion, because we know such coiTupt infiuence tc have been exercised over both, and such a criminal and corrupt use to have been made of that bill by its contrivers and abettors ; and if on the last election such attempts did not succeed, it was because the virtue of the citizens of Dublin was superior to that of thox persons Avho had pretended to frame bills for their regulation. " That we beg leaxe to mention, that this bill has cost, since the establishment of the IKJlice, about £20,000 a year, and we leave it to our fellow-subjects whether the protection received from said police has been adequate to the expense thereof. We beg leave also t« mention that notwithstanding the various extravagant and criminal charges proves to nave l>een made \mder colour of said bill, no one commissioner nor divisional justice has been discharged by government, but has continued — they to give their votes for government, an:!. 138 m your decision of this question, for you are iu the hearing of a gre^' number of the people of Ireland. The Speaker called to order, and informed him it was unparliamentary to alJadato sM-angers— that there was a standing order, which excluded strangers, and if any allusionj sre made by a member, he must enforce the order. Sir S. Cavendisli also spoke to order, aid censured Mr. Ciirran's language as highly disorderly. Mr. Grattan did not think tJiis doctrine was consistent Avith the nature of a popobr 3«sembly, such as the House of Commons. He quoted an expression of Lord Chatham'- in support of this opinion, who. in tlie House of Peers, where such lan^iage was certainlv less proper than in a House of Commons, addressed the Peers :— •* 3Iy Lords, I speak not to your Lordships— I speak to tne public and to the constitution." The expression, he said. A-as, at lirst. received with some murmurs, but ihe good sense of the house and the geuiua 6f the constitution ju,stified him. ]Mr. Curran — I do not wish to use disorderly language, but I am con ?erned for the honour of the house, which is degraded by becoming accomplices in a crime so flagrant ; this induces me to remind you thai yr\i are in tlie presence of the public. Cb lir again called to order, and must clear the house if any allusion to strangers I do not allude to any strangers in the gallery, but to the constructed presence of the people of Ireland. I call on the house to fix their eyes on four millions of -people, whom a sergeant-at-arms cannot keep unao« [juainted with your proceeding-s. I call on you to consider yourseiv«3 .is in the presence of the majesty of the people — in the immortal pre- sence — and not to give impunity to guilt, either from consciousness of participation, or from favour to the criminal. 1 direct your attention to the people without doors, because that peo- ple must now have contracted a habit of suspicion at what passes within these walls. In the course of two sessions the constitution of Britain has been demanded in the name of the people and refused. It is the wisdom of Great Britain to restrain the profusion of public money for corrupt purposes, by limiting her pension-Kst. It is the wisdom of Great Britain to preclude from her senate men whose situations afford .^fround to suspect that they would be under undue influence. It is the wisdom of Britain that certain individuals should be responsible to tlie people for public measures. These were demanded by the people of [reland, but the wisdom, certainly not the corruption, of this house has ienied them. To ha-'o claims of alleged right continually overborne by a majority may induce credulous minds to suppose the house corrupt. Another circumstance may contribute to give strength to the suspicion. Wo have enjoyed our constitution, such as it is, but eight years, and in tlia course of that time, there has been twice that number of attacke made on it ; and now those very gentlemen spend their nights in patriotis vigils to defend that constitution, whose patriotic nights were formerly spent in opposing its acquisition. These cii'cumstances naturally lead the public mind to suspicion — they are corroborated by another no less remarkable. An honourable baronet* — a man fleshed in opposition — nie who had been emphatically called the arithmetic of the house — tc }0 . sach a man march to join the corps of the minister, without any Sir Bonry CavendiKh. thp 'lotorioub slave of Coverament. as Tone calls hLr I 134 GOVERNMENT COKJtUPTiO^?. v'ssignable motive for the transition — as if tired of explaining the orderp "f the house — of talking of the majesty of the people, of conji^ituiioot aud of liberty — to-day glorying in his strength, rejoicing like c giant to «in his course, and to-morrow cut down ; and nothing left of him but the blighted root from which his honours once had flourished. These ?je circumstances which, when they happen, naturally put the people on their guard. I exhort the house to consider their dignity, to feei their independence, to consider the charge I lay before you, and to pro. Oced on it with caution and with spirit. If I charge a member of youi !K>use, with a crime which I am ready to prove, if you give me an oppor. iunity, and am ready to submit to the infamy of a false accuser if I fail —then to screen such a man, and not permit me to prove his guilt — is rourselves to convict him, and convict him of all the guilt and baseness sf a crime, allowing him no chance of extenuation from the circumstances of the case. Xow I say again, we have full proof to convict ; I have evidence unex- ceptionable, but if you call on me to declare this evidence, I will not dd it until you enter on the inquiry. I have some property in this country; fittle as it may be, it is my aU : I have children, whom I would not wisl to disgrace — I have hope — perhaps more than I have merit ; all these 1 stake on establishing my charge. I call on you to enter on the trial. 'After a very long and able speech, Mr. Curran moved — *•' That a com- mittee be appointed, consisting of members of both houses of parliameni, who do not hold any employment, or enjoy any pension under the crown, to inquire, in the most solemn manner, whether the late or present administration have, directly or indirectly, entered into any con-upt ?igreement with any person or persons, to recommend such person or ^rsons to his Majesty, for the purpose of being created Peers of this kingdom, on consideration of their paying certain sums of money, to ItQ laid out in the purchase of seats for members to serve in parliameni, wntrary to the rights of the people, inconsistent with the independence Bf parliament, and in direct violation of the fundamental laws ot thp »nd.''J [He afterwards made an observation or two on the declaration of the Lord Chancellor, when he sat in that house, that it cost government half a million to beat down the aristocracy, and would cost them another to beat down the present, and concluded by saying, that should the motion be agreed to, it would be necessary, in the next place, to send jk deputation to the Lords, to desire their concurrence.] — Debates fjol ri., pp. 154—7 A debate of great length futJ ability followed, ^Therein Barrington made a farioaa speei against the >otiou ; after wiiich Mr. Curran again rose, and replied :— The subject of the present motion, however diffused or perplexed k the course of this debate, whether through ignorance or design, has yei reduced itself within a very narrow extent j and I am fortified in mj opinion of the necessity of the resolution by the idle arguments and the indiscreet assertions which have been urged against it. AdministratioB has resisted it with every tongue that could utter a word ; every lega {gentleman haa spoken, but all agree on the criminality of soiling thf^ aoVKRNMENT UURRUPTION. 135 xAependeucy of this house for the honours of the other^ — of trafficking an abject and servile commoner for a plebeian peerage, — of selling the representatives of the people like beasts of labour, — and of exalting to Ihe high dignity of the other assembly a set of scandalous purchasers, a disgrace to the nobility, and a dishonour to the crown. The guilt, then, bein^ confessed, the (^[uestion must be, whether we have sufficient foun- dation for inquiry into the fact. We hare stated that we are in possession of evidence to convict the actual offenders, by proving the fact upon them. I stand here in my place, a member of your house, subject to your power, subject to the vengeance which your justice shall let fall upon my head, the accuser of that which you confess to be a qrime of the basest and blackest enormity. I stand forth, and I repeat io you, that there have been very lately direct contracts entered into for seUing the honours of the peerage for money, in order that the money so obtained should be employed in buying seats for persona to fote for the sellers of these honours. I assert the fact, and I offer, at the expense of every thing that can be dear to man, to prove the charge. Will the accused dare to stand the trial, or will they admit the charge by their silence, or will this house abandon every pretence to justice, tQ honour, or to shame, by becoming their abettors? But perhaps gentlei men give weight and credit to the objections of those who have opposed my motion. Late as I see it is, perhaps they may wish to have theit objections examined. A right honourable gentleman [the Attorney- General] has objections^ he says, to the substance, and also to the form. We have not grounds, he says, for such an inquiry : on a former night he thought common fame was no ground for parliamentary inquiry ; he thought at that time, the parliament of the first and second of Charles the First a riotous assembly : he now only thinks the authority of that parliament which differs directly from his opinion, is lessened by the disturbance of the times. Does the learned gentleman think that the commotion occasioned by the desperate violence oC state offenders can diminish the authority of those proceedings by which they are brougbJ to justice ? If he does not think so, his objection hsis no weignt, even in his own opinion, and ought to have as little in yours. But let me take the liberty of telling him that the answering my proposition upon only part of its merits, is but a pitiful fallacy. Yet into such has thai very respectable member, I must suppose unintentionally fallen. I hav« not moved upon common fame only ; I move on the offer of provmg th| fact by evidence in my possession. But if I had moved merely ox 3ommon fame — I say that if no parliamentary precedent had existed* you ought to make the precedent now. Unless you abdicate the power or abandon your duty as the grand inquest of the nation, you musi mquire on weaker grounds than those on which I have now proposed to you. If you will not inquire until, as the learned member says, there has been proof of the charge, he should have told you that an offender sliould be convicted before his trial : if this principle were carried further, in ca]>ital cases the offender should be hitnged. before you bring him to trial. Or does he think you haye at least as much power, and ^s 3tronj3' z. duty as an ordinary grand jmty ? Yes. Sir, tha ^eat pritl- lUQ QOVER.NMtiN'j: CORR'Jl'TlOft. crple is very little different ; like them, you ought not, to present from rartb'ce, or suppress from favour *, like them, a probability of guilt is suiBcient to put t-lie accused on his trial ; like there, you may presei'' on your ovyn knowledge, without any evidence upon oath ; like them, ;? ou ought to collect that probability from the ordinary grounds of pro- i Lability that -will impress tliemselveb on any reasonable mind. Now^ i ask, can any good ground be stronger than the universal belief of the nation ? Is there a man in this house that has not heard the minutes/ circumatances of those scandalous transactions ? Has any honourabi member in this house laid Iiia hand on his heart and declared liis lUsbelief of the fact ? Will any member now say, upon his honour, he does not believe it "^ But he says it is a libel on the King, the Lfo-dt*. Knd Commons : I answer, it is, if false : I answer, it is a^ scandal, whethc»< feise or not. I Ldd, if it be, you have a false accuser before you, or a guilij ariminal, wliora ii: common justice you ought to punish. You caji uonvict the former only by trying the latter. I challenge that trial But are there no circumstances to corroborate the common fame thai B dinning tliis libel into the ears of the people ? or to justify them ir inspecting that unfair practices have been used in obtaining the present Tifluence of administiration. During ihe whole of last session we have^ ai the name of the people of Ireland, demanded for them the constitu* tion of Great Britain, and it has been uniformly denied. We would fcive passed a law to restrain the shameful profusion of a pension-list— I; was refused by a majority. We would have passed a law to exclude »)ersons who must ever be the chattels of the government, from sitting n this house — it was refused by a majority. A bill to make some person, resident among you, and therefore amenable to public justice, responsible for the acts of your governors, has been refused to Irelam' by a majority of gentlemen calling themselves her representatives. Cau we be so vain as to think that the bare credit of those majorities can weigh down the opinion of the public on the important subject of con ttitutional right. Or must not every man in his senses know that the jniform denial of what they look upon to be their indefeasible rights^ 3iust become a proof to them that the imputation of corrupt practice* 'b founded in fact. JS'ow, Sir, if the honourable gentleman's otyectiona .'♦^i point of substance are not to be supported — if, in short, the fact harged is highly criminal — if you are competent to inquire into it—' If you have all the ground that can be expected — does he treat hiras^^ or the house as he ought, when he makes objections of form ? Bu'i see what those are. We cannot, he says, appoint a committee of both houses — we have power only over our own members. I answer the fact of the objection does not exist. We affect no authority OTer ^G Lords by the resolution I propose. The parliamentary couree ilk Oreat Britain is first to move for a joint committee, and then to send a message to the Lords to apprise them thereof, and to request their con- currence. But be says it is interfering with their privileges. I answer, the offence I state is an outrage upon them as well as upon us, and therefore it is peculiarly proper to invite their lordships to join us in au yO^SRNMENT CORRDFTIOM. 137 • jQuiry rnat affects both houses equally. The man must he wi'etchealy i^orant indeed, who does not know that such joint committees have !)een appointed in England, on various occasions, both before and since the revolution. Such a committee you find on their journals so early 06 the reign of Henry the Fourth — such you find previous to the prose- cution of Lord Straflbrd — such you find on the subject of the ladif jliarter, previous to the impeachment of the Duke of Leeds, in 1695o What, then, becomes of those objections in form or in substance ? But inother right honourable gentleman [the Prime Sergeant*] put hia objection on a single point, which, if answered, he will vote for my motion. I accept the condition, and I claim the promise. I ask him, where he found the distinction ? Lawyers here seem fond of authorities. But he has cited none. Having, then, none of his own, let him submit to profit by mine. In those I have already cited there was no previous ascertainment of thr fact any more than of the offenders, save what arose from public common notoriety. [Here Mr. Curran adverted to the particular circumstances of those transactions, to show that there was not and could not have been any evidence, either as to the crimes or the delinquents, nntil the inquu-y actually began.J But the learned member seems to think the crime should first be proved by witnesses. I ask him if he was prosecuting for the crown would he be so incautious as to disclose his evidence before the actual trial? The honourable gentleman, then, has opposed me upon a distinction unsupported by pre- cedent, and unsupportable by argument or principle. [Mr. Curran then examined the arguments of the Solicitor, which went nearly on the 5aiTie ground tliat had already been taken.] One new observation which the learned member has produced from a legal man, I am sorry is not to the question in debate. The learned member, it seems, was surprised lo find a motion for reforming the senate, come from the representative of a borough. K the mover of such a resolution was a man who had, in any instance, since he was a member of this house, deserted the principles he professed, or betrayed his trust, the observation would have weight, however the honourable member is mistaken in thinking the fault of the representative a demerit in the constitution ; but if I have done none of those things, I cannot but regret the strange simplicity of argument of the honourable gentleman, who comes forward with a weapon which can wound nobody but himself. [Mr. Curran then went through a number of less important objections, which had been advanced by gen- tlemen on the other side.] I am sorry to find the honourable gentlemen of ray o^vn profession have not given more ground to vindicate the constitutional independency of that profession. The science of tho law inspires a love of liberty, of religion, of order, and of virtue. It is like every seed, which fails or flourishes, according to the nature of the soil, f :i a rich, and fertile, and ardent genius, it is ever found to refine, t.i condense, and to exalt. In milder temperaments it cannot be fairly judged of at a particular side in a popular assembly. Far from think- iiifT the silence or tlie unsuccessful speeches of some of my learned ' HOa. James Fitzgerali. 338 CATHOLIC EMA^JI1'ATI0^. /.rethren as a stain upon their profession, I think the reverse. I thinM it proves how strongly they are impressed with the demerits of their vause, when they support it so badly ; and 1 feel pleasure in seeing what ijonourable testimony is borne by the disconcertion of the head, to the aitegrity of the heart. If, indeed, those professional seeds had beec -jown in a poor, gross, vulgar soil, I would expect nothing from it but a stupid, graceless, unprincipled babble — the goodness of the seed would lie destroyed by the malignity of the soil, and the reception of such a t>rofession into such a mind could form only a being unworthy of notice, md unworthy of description, unless, perhaps, the indignation of an indis- i..eet moment, observing such an object wallowing in its favourite dirt, should fling it against the canvass, and produce a figure of it depicted in itvS own filth. As for my part, if such a description of unhappy per- sons could be found to exist, and should even make me the subject oi their essays, I would pass them with the silence they deserve, happy t« find myself tlie subject, and not the author of such performances. 1 cannot sit down without reminding gentlemen of one curious topic in which I have been opposed. It has been stated that, in a former admin- •ttration, the Peerage and the Bench were actually exposed to sale. If so, tlie motion cannot be resisted, without an indelible stain upon •lie character of the house. I am willing to extend the limits of tha iwjuiry, to take in those persons who may have been guilty of such a crime : let them be the subjects of the same inquiry, and, if they b« guilty, of the same punishment. — Debates, vol. xi., pp. 183 — 8. Cuwan'a motion was lost, by 147 to 85. CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION February/ I8th, 1792. ?rrERAir was the unchanging Mend of religious libert}'. The Catholics had vainly prayt*^ t>r a relaxation of the Penal Code, till the destruction of the British armies in America- then tney succeeded. Again they prayed for further relaxation ; their prayer was sup ported by Grattan and Curraa, and failed, tiU, in 1792-3, «'hen Wolfe Tone had worked n^ Catholic organization, and the French armies began to conquer, when they gained ftwsb privileges. Tne proceedings on the 18th of February, on the Roman Catholic Relief Bill, are mo» .remarkable. They began by the presentation of a peticiou from the Protestants of tht ■Jonnty Antrim for the bilL A conversation on their admission to Trinity College thet O-scurred, which is so important as to deserve quotation : — Mr. Grattan gave notice, that In addition to the privileges now about to be granted tn the Roman Catholics, the power of becoming Professors of Botany, Anatomy, and Chemis- try, siiould be given. Hon. Mr. Knox said, he also intended to propose that they should be permifcted to tall ihe academic degrees in the University of Dublin. Hoc Denis Browne rose to say, he would second both these intentions. Tijp Attorney- General said, under the present laws of the University, Roman Catholics could not be admitted to take degi-ees without taking the oaths iisually taken by Protes- tants. As the University is a corporation deriving by charter under the crown, and governed by laws prescribed by its founder, it would not be very decorotis for parliament to break through those laws ; but the kincj might, if such was his pleasure, direct the Col '-S to dispense with these oatlis» and. » >?« opinion. It would be wse to do so- CATHOLIC EMANCirATlON i^u Mr. Knox said, it was not his Intention to Infringe upon any prerogative of the croin) lut ho could not see how this proposal was an infilngenient, as tlie bill mnst, in its. altimalP •rage, pass under the inspection of the crown, and receive the roA-al assent. Nevertheless if any gentlemen of the University would rise and say, that the wisn of the T'niveisitv wa' to have these impedimeniss removed, he would then not think it necessary to mak* the ■notion. Sir Hercules Langrishe— The bill is intended to remove certain disabilities which iht l^thoUcs (by law) labour mider Now, there is no law as to this point : When it became lecessaiy for rat, in framing the bUl, to search through the laws relative to education. C found there was no law to prohibit Roman Catholics from taking d't^ees, but the rules e Uie University itself; these rules can.be changed .whenever the crown shall tl)irV proper but it would be very unbecoming for the parliament to interfere. As to the principle there can be no difference of opinion • we differ only as to the mode of canrying it into effect. Doctor Browne (of the College)— I art unable to say what the sentiments of the heads of the College are upon this subject, as they have not informed me ; but the reason the right honourable gentleman has stated is certainly the true reason why Eoman Catholics are not r them from taking degrees. \fter the presentation of a petition, by Mr. Egan, for the restoratioii of the deciivenan- chise, the discussion on the bill proceeded. The speeches of Michael Smith, Hutchinson Grattan, and Curran. save the bill most powerful support. One of the boldest and finest si<',;eches was that of tb^ Hon. George Knox — a man tr>^ httie remembered. Mr. Curran-^I ')fovld liave yielded to the lateness of tbe hour, my own indisposition, and the fatigue ui liie iiouse, and have let the motion pass witliout a word from me on the subject, if I had not heard some principles advanced which could not pass without animadversion. I know that a trivial subject of the day would naturally engage you more deeply than any more distant object of however greater importance but I beg you will recollect, tSiat the petty interest of party must expire with yourselves, and that your heirs must be not statesmen, nor place- men, nor pensioners, but the future people of the country at large. I know of no so awful call upon the justice and wisdom of an assembly, as the reflection that they are deliberating on the interests of posterity. On this subject, I cannot b'..t lament, that the conduct of the adminis- fration is so unhappily calculated to disturb and divide the public mind. to prevent the nation from receiving so great a question with the cool uess it requires. At Cork, the present viceroy was pleased to reject a most moderate and modest petition from the Catholics of that city. The next step tvaf; to create a division among the Catholics themselves ; the next was to hold them up as a body formidable to the English government, and to their Protestant fellow-subjects ; for how else could any man accounf %T the scandalous publication which was hawked about this city, in which his Majesty was made to give his royal thanks to an individual oi .his kingdom, for his protection of the state. But I conjure the ho'Oftt- ■;o be upon their guard against those despicable attempts to tradu(» ihe people, to alarm their fears, or to inflame their resentment. Gen- tlemen have talked, as if the question was, whether we may, with safety to ourselves, relax or repeal the laws which have so long coerced our Catholic fellow-subjects ? The real question is, whether you can, with -afeiv to the Irish constitution, refuse such a measure? It is nof.ll J40 CATHULIG BMAHOIPATION. question merely of their safferings or their relief — it is a question ol your ovm preservation. There are some maxims which an honest Irish' man -will never abandon, and by which every public measure may b? fairly tried. These are, the preservation of the constitution upon tht? principles established at the revolution, in church and state ; and next the independency of Ireland, connected with Britain as a confederated people, and united indissolubly under a common and inseparable crown. u you wish to know how these great objects may be affected by i Tepeal of those laws, see how they were affected by their enactment Here you have the infallible test of fact and experience ; and wretched- indeed, must you be, if false afaame, false pride, false fear, or false spirit, VBH prevent you from reading that lesson of wisdom which is written ui ihe blood and the calamities of your country. [Here Mr. Curran went into a detail of the Popery laws, as they affected the Catholics of Ire- imd.] These laws were destructive of arts, of industry, of private aorafs and public order. They were fitted to extirpate even the Chris- Han religion from amongst the people, and reduce them to the condi- Uon of savages and rebels, disgraceful to humanity, and formidable to the state. [He then traced the progress and effects of those laws from the revo- iUtlon in 1779.] Let me now ask you, how have those laws affected the Protestant subject and the Protestant constitution ? In that inter- val were they free ? Did they possess that liberty which they denied to their brethren ? No, Sir ; where there are inhabitants, but no people, there can be no freedom ; unless there be a spirit, and what may be called a pull, in the people, a free government cannot be kept steady, cr fixed in its seat. You had indeed a government, but it was planted in civil dissension, and watered in civil blood, and whilst the virtuous luxuriance of its branches aspired to heaven, its infernal roots shot downward to their congenial regions, and were intertwined in hell. Tour ancestors thought themselves the oppressors of their fellow-sub- 'ects, but they were only their gaolers, and the justice of Providence would have been frustrated, if their own slavery had not been the pun- ishment of their vice and their folly. But are these facts for which wi must appeal to history ? You all remember the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy-nine. What were you then ? Your con- stitution, without resistance, in the hands of the British parliament- vour trade in many parts extinguished, in every part coerced. So lo\» jvere you reduced to beggary and servitude as to declare, that unless thf mercy of England was extended to your trade, you could not subsist Here you have an infallible test of the ruinous influence of those la^'j m the experience of a century ; of a constitution surrendered, and com- merce utterly extinct. But can you learn nothing on this subject fron. the events that followed ? In 1778 you somewhat relaxed the .severii of those laws, and improved, in some degree, the condition of the Catho« lies. What was the consequence even of a partial union with your countrymen ? The united efforts of the tv/o bodies restored that con- stitution whicli had been lost by their separation. In 1782 you became tree. Your Catholic brethren ".licured the ^ansjer of the conflict, bn<- CATHOliia EAlAN'C'IFATlOh. 141 you nad not justice or gratitude to let them sbare tlie fruits of the vic- tory. You suffered them to relapse into their foruier insignificance and depression. And, let me ask you, has it not fared with you accord Jig to your deserts ? Let me ask you if the parliament of Ireland cai; Doast of being now less at the feet aC ihe British minister, than at that period it was of the British parliam-jnt ? [Here he observed on the conduct of the administration for some years past, in the accumulation of public burdens, and parliamentary influence.] But it is not the mere increase of debt ; it is not the creation of one hundred and ten placei men and pensioners that forms the real cause of the public malady The real cause is the exclusion of your people from all influBuce upor the representative. The question, therefore, i^^, whether you will seek your own safety in the restoration of your fellow-subjects, or T'hother you will choose rather to perish than to be just? I now proceed t' examine the objections to a general incorporation of the Catholics. Ol general principles no man can justify the deprivation of civil rights ou any ground but that of forfeiture for some offence. The Papist of /i£; last century might forfeit his property for ever, for that was his owr but he could not forfeit the rights and capacities »f his unborn posterity And let me observe, that even those laws againa, the offender himself were enacted while injuries were recent, and while men were, not unna- turally, alarmed by the consideration of a French monarcny, a Pre- tender, and a Pope ; things that we now read of, but can see no more But are they disaffected to libe y? On v/hat ground can such aa imputation be supported ? Do yuu see any instance of any man's reli- gious theory governing his civil or political conduct ? Is Popery an enemy to freedom ? Look to France, and be answered. Is Protes- tantism necessarily its friend? You are Protestants ; look to yourselves, and be refuted. But look further : do you find even the religious sen- timents of sectaries marked by the supposed characteristics of thein sects. Do you not find that a Protestant Briton can be a bigot, with only two sacraments, and a Catholic Frenchman a Deist, admitting seven But you affect to think your property in danger, by admitting them into the state. That has been already refuted ; but you have yourselves refuted your own objection. Thu'teen years ago you expressed the same fear, yet you made the experiment ; you opened the door to laiK^ed property, and the fact has shown the fear to be without foundation. But another curious topic has been stated again ; the Protestant ascendancy is in danger. What do you mean by that word ? Do you mean the rights, and property, and dignitit* of the church ? If you do, you must feel they are safe. They are secured by the law, by the coi'o nation oath, by a Protestant Parliament, a Protestant king, a Pro- testant confederated nation. Do you mean the free and protected exercise of the Protestant religion ? You know it has the same secur- ity to support it. Or do you mean the just and honom-able support of the numerous and meritorious clergy of your own country, who reall* discharge the labours and duties of the ministry ? As to that, let iLe iay, that if we felt on that subject as we ought, we should not have so hitxny meD of talent and virtue struggling under tHw HilHculties of their 142 CATHOLIC EMA.NCIPATIO.X, scanty pittance, and feeling the melancholy connction that no virtues J r talents can give them any hope of adA'ancement. If you really mean the preservation of every right and every honour that can dignify a Christian priest, and give authority to his function, I will protect them vis zealously as you. I will ever respect and revere the man who employs himself in diffusing light, hope, and consolation. But if you mean by oscendancy the power of persecution, I detest and abhor it. If you mean the ascendancy of an English school over an Irish university, J aannot look upon it without aversion. An ascendancy of that form raises to my mmd a little greasy emblem of stall-fed theology, imported from some foreign land, with the graces of a lady's maid, the dignity of a side-table, the temperance of a larder, its sobriety the dregs of a patron's bottle, and its wisdom the dregs of a patron's understanding, brought hither to devour, to degrade, and to defame. Is it to such a thing you would have it thought that you affixed the idea of the Pro- testant ascendancy ? But it is said, admit them by degrees, and do not run the risk of too precipitate an incorporation. I conceive both the argument and the fact unfounded. In a mixed government, like ours, xu increase of the democratic power can scarcely ever be dangerous. N'one of the three powers of our constitution act singly in the Hne of its natural direction ; each is necessarily tempered and diverted by the action of li.e other two ; and hence it is, that though the power of tlie iirown has, perhaps, far transcended the degree to which theory might confine it, the liberty of the British constitution may not be in mucij danger. An increase of power, to any of the three, acts finally upoi the state with a very diminished influence, and, therefore, great indeed must be that increase in any one of them which can endanger the prac- tical balance of the constitution. StiD, however, I contend not against the caution of a general admission. Let me ask you can you admit them any otherwise than gradually? The striking and melancholy 'symptom of the public disease is, that if it recovers at all, it can be ^nly through a feeble and lingering convalescence. Yet even this grar- dual admission your Catholic brethren do not ask, save under every pledge and every restriction which your justice and wisdom can recom- inend to your adoption. I call on the house to consider the necessity of acting with a social and conciliatory mind. Contrary conduct may perhaps protract tlie unhappy depression of our country, but a partial liberty cannot long 3ubsist. A disunited people cannot long subsist. With infinite regre* must any man look forward to the alienation of three millions of our people, and to a degree of subserviency and corruption in a fourth. 1 am sorry to think it is so very easy to conceive, that in case of sue!:) an event, the inevitable consequence would b*» an union with Gre^.: Britain. And if any one desires to know what that would be, I wili tell him. It would be tlie emi^Tation of every man of consequence from Ireland ; it would be the participation of British taxes, without British trade ; it would be the extinction of the Irish name as a people We should become a wretched colony, perhaps leased cut to a compairj ;f Jews as was formerly in ^ ntemplation, and governed bv b few tny* EGA^ V. KINDILLAJN. l^i* gjitherers and excisemen, unless, possibly, you may add fifteen or twentf couple of Irish members, who may be found every session sleeping iib their eollars under the manger of the British minister. — Debates ^ voL ii., pp. 174— 17a EGAJ^ V. lilNDILLA:^. ir. Charles Phillips, from whose brilliant " Hecollections of Cunan 1 print this ^ptJeeh Sives the following account of the case in vi'liich it was made. I coiUd not find the ciate. " The case of ' Egan against Kindillan' for seduction, was tried before Lord Avonmore It was a case of a very singular nature. Miss Egan was a young lady of some accomplish ments, and great personal beauty. Mr. Kindillan was then a dashing young officer in a di-acoon rej^ent, nearly related to the late Lord Belvidere. The reader v ill find the prin- apal circumstances of the trial detailed uidignantly in Jlr. CuiTan's speech ; but it is .fccessan- to appiise him that KindiUan was first vindictively prosecuted for the offence iff « criminal court, and escaped through the great exertions and genius of his immoital •vivo cate. who, however, in the cinl action, was only able to mitigate the damages down £500. After the plaiu;J€ had gone through his case, Ih: Cmran proceeded : — " My lords, apd gentlemen of the jury^-I am in this case counsel for the defen'^ant. Every action to be tried by a jury, must be founded k principles of law ; of that, however, the court only can determine, auu upon tlie judgment of the court, you, gentlemen, may repose with great confidence. The foundation of this action is built upon this principle of law, and this only, that the plaiutiff suffered special damage by losing the service of his daughter, who has been taken away from him : fo. vou, gentlemen, wiU err egregiously, and the court will tell you so, i, fou imagine that the law has given any retribution by way of damages for all t£e agony which the father may suffer from the seduction of his child. However, I do not mean to make light of the feelings of a [iarent ; he would be a strange character, and little deservmg the atten .'■on of a court, who could act in .that manner ; to see his gray hairs brought with calamity to the grave, and yet hold him out as a subject of levity or contempt. I do no such thing ; but I tell you soberly an«J 'quietly, that, whatever his feelings may be, it is a kind ^f misery foi vhich the law does not provide any remedy. No action liei for debauching or seducing u daughter, but only for the loss of her service it the same time, over and oyer again, that the only ground is the spe / ial circumstance of the loss of her service — at the same time, gentle. aieil. I agree implicitly in the idea of letting the case go at large tc v'ou. In every injury, which one man sustains from another, it is righl to let all circumstances, which either aggravate or diminish the weighf -)f it, go to the jury, This case has been stated in evidence by twc persons. Miss Egan has told, I think, the most extraordinary story- Lord Chief Baron— The most artless story I ever heard. Mr. Curran — I do not allude to her credit ; I only say I never heard stt extraordinary a story, because I never heard of an instance of young woman, decently bred, arrived at eighteen, going away witi a 'nan- after a swie-le conversation j having no previous acquaintance-^ 144 E«AN V. KI^DILLA^r no express promise ; abanrlonin^ her ftither's bouse, protection, and :*Are, after t'^o conver'sations, in which there was not one vrord of mar- riage ; without a previous opportui ity of engagement : without a pos dbility of engaging her affections or seducing her from her father, she jmbraces the first opportunity which was given to her ; therefore, indeed, I am astonished. I &aid, gentlemen, the case ought rightly ^o go before you — I tell you why — circumstances which compose the enormity of an offence of this kind can be judged by you. If you receive a man into your house, give him access to any female in your family, and he converts that privilege to abuse her virtue, I know nothing of greater enormity. If you admit a man to your house and your table, and he avails himself of that confidence to abuse the virtue of your daughter or your wife, I know of no length to which the jus indignation of a jury might not be carried. But if there be no sucL criminality on the part of the defendant ? if he was rather the follower than the mover of the transaction ? His conduct may be palliated, it cannot be condemned. Look at this case, even as stated by the wit- ness herself. Who was the seducer ? Mr. Kindillan ! Where waf the single act to inspire her with a single hope, that he intended to marry her ? Wliy steal away from her father's house — why go to a public inn, at a common sea-port, even at that age, and with that degree of understanding you see her possess ? She confesses she sus- pected there was no design of marriage ; that at Aungier -street he spent a night with her, and no design of marriage ; they cohabited week after week, and no conversation of marriage till they leave their mother country, and arrive at the Isle of Man — and then from whom does it move ? not from her who might have talked even with a degree of pride, if she thought he took her away froui her father : — ^^ You have robbed me of a father, under the promise of becoming my husband — ^ive me that protector I" l^o : you find it moving from him, from hi^-' .'.pprehension of her dissatisfaction. If you can beUeve that, what kin^ of education must she have received ? She throws herself into the arms of the first officer she ever saw ; flies into a hackney-coach, and goes to another country, and never talks of marriage till she arrives there. To talk of the loss of a father is a very invidious subject ; ever; nther must feel an argument of that kind. But it is not because th-al me man suffers, another must pay. It is in proportion to his own guilt that he must be punished, and therefore it is that the law denie? the right of the father to receive compensation. It is an injury which can rarely arise, when the father has discharged the precedent part of his duty. It is wise, therefore, that the law should refuse its sanctioa to an action of that sort, because it calls upon the father to guar(f •igainst that event, for which he knows he can have no reparation, guards more against the injury by discountenancing the neglect whicl- may give it birth ; it refuses a compensation to reward his own breaci ^f duty. Only see what would be the consequence if the law gave it? sanction to an action of this sort. This man is in the army. I am iioL here to preach about morals ; I am talking to men who may regrei '.hilt linmar. nature is not more perfo^ft than it >t\ but who must tnJk.6 EGAM 0. itlNDILLAN 14S men aa they are. L'liis man goes to a watering-place ; he sees this young woman, full of giddiness and levity — no vico possibly, but cer- tainly not excusable in any female ; see how she conducts herself. — " I lave you considered the proposal ?'* " No," says she, " our acquaiiit. luee is too short ;" — but the second conversation, and she is gone. Ho\ft j/oald any of you, gentlemen, think of your child, if she picked up a ^'oung buck whom she never saw before ? what would your wife say, il ihe was told her daughter had picked up a man she did not know ? But ycu kuow mankind — you know the world. What would you think of a woman, unmarried, who held a conversation on these terms ? If at Philips- uorough you addressed a young woman, with whom not a word of mar- riage passed, and yet she accompanied you without hesitation — would you suppose her a gu-1 of family and education, or would you not rather sup- pose her to be one of those unfortunate, uneducated creatures, witli uhom a conversation very different from that of marriage takes place This, then, is the situation of the defendant ; he yields, more seduced thaa seducing. It is upon this the father calls to you for damages ! Fo: an injury committed — by whom ? from what cause ? From the indis creet behaviour, the defective education, and neglected mind of hs daughter. He can have no feeling, or he would not have exposed boti her and himself; or, if he have any feelings, they are such as can be gratified by you, gentlemen of the jury — they are such as can be calmed by money ! He can find more enjoyment in pecuniary compensation, ihan in other species of retribution ! I speak harshly — I am obliged to do so; I feel it. It is to be decided by you with liberality and justice between such a fiither and the defendant. I am stating these things, supposing you believe her. Her story is well delivered — it would be exiraordmary if it were not, when it has been so often repeated. The defendant was tried for his life, and twelve men upon their oaths acquit- ted him of the charge, though the fact was sworn to by her. Her suf- ferings and her beauty may make an impression upon your minds; but, gentlemen, you are not come here to pity, but to g>e a verdict ; not from passion, but which may be the calm result of deliberation between party and party. There is a kind of false determination of mind, which makes dupes of judicial men upon cases which involve more sentiment than speculation, if you can feel any such sensation in your minds glowing and heating to a degree of violence in which reason may b consumed, let me entreat you to guard against its falling upon the hea( which ought not to suffer. We are not to determine by zeal, but judge by discretion. It is not her tears, her heavings, her sighs, that musl influence your sentence. She has been brought up a second time by '"•.er father, and exhibited before you, the unhappy object of vice and of wantonness. She has thus been exhibited by that father, whose feel- ings are represented as so tender — an exhibition which ought to have been avoided by a sincere parent. But let me expose the silly trap^ 'ihat you may not be the dupes of such artifice. It was a simple case it could hav e been proved without her testimony ; the leaving her father's house could have been proved by many ; and* of the finding her m tne, defendant's possession there wia sufiicient evidence, and the service i 4(5 EGAN V. KDOJILLAN. muA be proved as well by any person as herself. But tlie circum&taucff? are proper for consideration : g-ive me leave to say, there are uo circum- cCances more proper for consideration than the motives of the man who orings the action. What his conduct was, appears by her own evidence; .'.he goes away with a man — he is seized and called upon to many her, under the terror of a prosecution for 'his life, a species of inducement such as never was heard of. Let it not be toid, that a case of thk vind, — that the unsolicited elopement of a young, unfortunate woman yielding to criminal desires, going off with an ofl&cer upon a first acquaintance, is an example to be held up by a court and jury, or to be sanctioned by a verdict ; that a loose girl, coming back from the jloyed appetite of her paramour, should make welcome her return to her father's house by the golden showers of compensation. K you wish to hold up examples to justify elopements of your children, establish it by your verdict ! and be answerable for the consequence ; you will resolve yourselves into a fund for unportioncd wantons, whose fathers will draw upon you for fortunes ; you will establish an example. I am not ashamed to be warm — I do not sell my warmth, though I may my talents ; bu>t give me leave to tell you that an example of this kind, where no abuse of confidence can be pleaded, no tf eacheiy alleged, would go thus far, that every miserable female who parades about your streets in order to make a miserable livelihood by the prostitution of her person, will come forward under the imposing character of a wit- ness, because there is scarce any of them who has not a father that may bring an action. Lei me warn you against another case: you will establish an example by which the needy father is encouraged, first, to force the man into marriage under the apprehension of a prosecution, or afterwards to compel him from the dread of a verdict, unless you think that the man could be reconciled to marry a girl he is tired of, and who has added perjury to the re£t of her conduct. It is hard to talk of perjury ; but how will they answer for the verdict of twelve nonest men upon their oaths ? Impeach her credit, because she is •.wearing this day to the fact, in opposition to the verdict of twelve men ; ihe swore to it upon the prosecution, because of terror from her father, expecting to receive death from his hands, unless she Avarded it off by perjury. Have you not heard her swear that he forced her into tlie Iving's Beflch with a knife in his hand ? After he has faUed to affect ihe life of the defendant, he makes a desperate attempt at his property, through tlie means of a jury — is this a case for a jury? She goes off unsolicited, she seeks the opportunity, and yet Mr. Kindillan is to be the victim ! A young man who meets a woman, goes to a tavern, and indulges his appetites at the expense of the peace, quietness, and hap- piness cf a fan^ilj, you may wish to see i-eformed ; but be he whose son he may, he canii<:^'i be punished in this way for such conduct. Will you hy your hands on your hearts and say, whether the defendant has been more to blame than Miss Egan herself ? She has suffered much — her evidence shows it ; at first from her terror of her father, now in preser- ving her consistency, to see her exposed as she was on the table. Biit *Kas tlie defendant suffered nothing ? la it suffering nothiuii; to be ^Ut A'AIt WITU FrtANCE. 14T lu fear ot his life ? to have tne horrors of a prison to encounter ? la it ojtliiag, what he must have suffered in point of property ? He comes uow, to resist this last attempt, after all the others, to^ drive him, bj fobbing hitn of his property, to marry the daughter. Would you, gen- demea, advise your sons to marry under such circumstances ? I put-it boldly to you — answer it, and your answer will be your verdict. After n weeks voluntary cohabitation, would you advise !iim to marry ? uc would you ensure a reasonable prospect of conjugal fidelity afterward* J \tet me not take up your time ; we wOl call witnesses to discredit wha*. i\\e has sworn ; let me say in excuse for her, for what she said upor :ier oath, that she came forward under the terror of her father's power. Certain it is, that a sense of female honour should not have had more influence upon her when in the other court, where she was vindicating nerself, than here where she comes to put money into her father* pocket. The consequence of large damages is this : you will encourage every man to neglect the education of his child ; making a fortune by dropping a seed of immorality in the mind of the female, which maj ripen into that tree of enormity, that will be cut down, not to be cast into the fire, but for the father's benefit. A girl of eighteen, whose father forced her upon this table, whose sufi'erings have been brought upon her by the leprosy of her morals, is not to be countenanced. B you wish to point out the path to matrimony through dishonour, and you think it better that your daughter should be led to the altar from the brothel, than from the parent's arms, you may establish that by your verdict. If you think it better to let the unfortunate author of her own misery benefit by the example she ma} hold up, you will do •t by such a verdict as your understMiding, not your passion, dictates WAR WITli FRAJS'CE. January lltJi, 1793. On tlie 10th of January, Lord Weatmoreland ©penfcd Parban.ent •w-itb a si^eaih full of ^lomcntous statements, and notable omiBSions. It complained of the discontent of Ire. and, but said nothing of the corruption, extravagance, and alien policy of Ministers, which bad provoked the fierce cry for Eefonn. It complained of the invasion of Holland by Ifrance, but was silent of the Etiropean conspiracy against the young Republic— a con- i^iracy which, having been defeated in a. war which it had opened w ith a view to levei Paris, prepared larger forces to avenge itself and the Bourbons. And it recommended fc Jtelaxation of Catholic fetters, but did not connect tlierewith the motives of the advice :— cystine had conquered the Rhine,* Dumourier had won the battle of Jemappes,t and LTinexed Belgium. The speech also stated that government had increased the military Istablisrhment, and it recommended the formation of a MDitia. Thb last was a stroke at ae Volunteers. The Address, moved by Lord Tyrone, and seconded by John O'Neill, was, S course, an echo to the speech. Grattan moved a trivial amendment. His speccli wai eminently bold and able, and I give one passage, illustrative of the time : — "I have heard of seditious writings of Mr. Paine, and other writers. These writings •laay be criminaL but it is the declarations uf the ministers of tktf crown that have nade • O.'tober P.lst. 17flS *■ November Gth 1792 t48 ^VAK WITH FRAMCIb. itein. dangerous. Mr. Vdins. has said monarchy is a useless incatnlurauce, a minister of the nro^ni comes forth, and says he is right — monarchy cost this country, to buy the Parli» Cjent, half a million at one period, and half a million at another. Mr. Paine has sa?J •. . ;.ereditary legislative nobility is an absurdity — our minister observes he has understated Uie evil ; it is a body of legislators whose seats are sold by the ministers to purchasl mother body of legislators to vote against the people ; but here is the difference bctv/w3 3tr. Paine and our authors — the latter are ministers, and their declaration evidence against flieir royal master. They say we love monarchy — v,'e love rhe Idng's government, whicls liowever, we must acknowledge, governs by selling one house, and buying the other. S-"" aaach more powerful agents of repubiicani.?m are the Irish ministers than such authors a> Air. Paine, that if the foi-rcer wished to go into rebellion in '93 as in '82 — some of then A'ent Into sedition — they could not excite the people to higL treason, by stronger provoca tion than their o^vn public declarations : and the strongest argmnents against monarchia. fovemment, are those delivered by theniseives, in favour of their own adminj^tration.'"-— Debates, vol. xiiL pp. 7, 8. Before giving the meagre report which exists of Cun'an's speecli, it is needful to remind the reader of the form wliich the political elements of Ireland had taken. The majority o» the people — the Catholics — whose petition of 1790 had been kicked out of the Commons, hai. fuyjuired spirit and organization. The latter they pecuUarly owed to Wolfe Tone, and both 'Ji a great degree to him, to John Keogh, Byrne, Todd Jones, and M'Connick. The Catholi: Committee negotiated A\'ith th3 government, and as the successes of France compensated 0) them for the baseness of their aristocracy, they seemed about to obtain all they sotiglit -complete Emancipation. Powerfully assisting them, though formed primarily to gaiu Parliamentary Reform, were the United Irishmen. The bolder Dissenters of Belfast, syni- jathising with Fi-anco, and inspired by the possession of a Volunteer army, looko.d tc forming an Irish Republic ; so did Tone, the founder of the Club : bat the purpose of tb mass of members was limited to Refonu, till Ministers showed they preferred rebellion. In opposition to the Catholic Committee, and the Unitef't Irishmen, the governmect Stimulated Protestant Wgotry and Catholic di\-ision. Out of doors they got the exclusive Corporation of DubUn to addi'ess the other Irish Corporations against Emancipation, and they intrigued with the aristocracy (lay and clerical) of the Catholics. In parliament tl)e.y found the relics of the old exclusion party. Flood was no longer there* to repent of Ivs error in resisting the increase of his nation by three millions ; but those Avho had not his genius, or his virtue, or his capacity for improvement, were there to misquote his example and there were crowds besides Mdio were ready to mimic the contortions of fanaticism fof money, place, or title. The ilinister got an Emancipation bill passed which left division iiid weakness behind — left the Protestants some -wrongs, to guard — the Catholics many ivoors to cringe for. He g»t 20,000 regultua and 16,000 militia, a Gunpowder bill, and ii :?ecret Committee. Thus armed he commemed liis crusade of prosecuting and persecuting, Obtained fresh laVvs from time to time, and, after the truce of 1795, drove^the (iuarrel to au psurrection and an Union. Air. Curran — I wish to call the attention of the house to our public situation abroad and at home. We are on the eve of a war with France, and are the part of the empire most likely to be the scene of it, and to feel its dreadful effects. It is a war of that kind which resembles nothing in the memory of man. It is not a war of any definite oiyect, nor does It look to peace on any definite terms. The mode of carrying it on is as novel as its object : a war, in which a strange political fanaticism wju the precursor of arms ; a war to be resisted only by the union of th.- British empire, and probably encouraged on the part of France by i^ sense of its disunion. For, at the moment when the British mini.stei should have held out to French ambition the united resistance of the British empire, at that moment the voice of three millions of the Irist uation was heard declaring to the throne, that they laboured under a slavery wliich was too ^t^.rrible to be long endured, and that, of course our enemies had not a.iy such united resistance to apprehend. Ouf object, then, is, in the first instaLcc, to take away such a hope from our enemies, and sucii a danger from ourbelves, by raaldng thaf union conv. • Irlood di«}d Decern per 2ad, 17&L plcte. By no other means can the empire act with the necessary energy; by no other means can the executive power of the empire provide for its preservation. To this great end every jealousy should be laid aside. The smallest attack from without must bring you to the earth, if yon are already unpoised and reeling with intestine discord. You musl make your government strong ; and to do that, you must unite your people — axu to do that, you must destroy those foolish distinctions that Lave separated them from each other — and you must change that conduct that has destroyed their confidemce in this house and in this administration. An honourable baronet [Sir John Parnel] has very fairly admitted that even the parliament has become unpopular in the country. I have a very high opinion of that gentleman's talents and integrity, but I differ with him in thinking that the speeches of opposition have occasioned that unpopularity ; on the contrary, the government has become unpopu- lar and odious by its corruption and weakness, and the credit of parlia- ment has become a victim to the same cause. How could the credit of parliament survive its independency ? And where is the latter to be found ? What portion of the property or sense of the people can be found in the present deplorable state of this house ? Deplorable I will call it ; for I differ much from those who reproach gentlemen for not acting with more principle than they showed. A great number — much more than half of us — have no manner of connexion with the people. We represent their money. But what money ? That of which the possession makes them rich and independent ? No ; but that which they have parted with, and thereby become poor and dependent. What^ then, can we represent but that poverty, and the cries of those wants which we have lost the honest means of relieving — the cries of nature for that bread which we have sold in order to become senators ? Let no man blame us for acting as we do. As little let any other trader think this political traffic more beneficial than his own. If he should, let him observe the progress and the profit of this traffic : — Sir Francio sells his estate and buys a seat ; brings madam and miss to town, where, I dare say, they are likely to make many edifying discoveries ; is intro- duced to a minister, who, as the right honom'able secretary says of him- self — and, I am sure, justly — knows not how to be uncivil to any mac. Well, Sir, Sir Francis takes a squeeze for a promise, and, full of future place, comes down and speaks for the good of the nation. He soon finds he has unluckily neglected one necessary preparation — the learn- ing to read : his eloquence cannot live long upon " hear him." He finds he ia better anywhere than on his legs ; he, therefore, betakes him- s«lf to his seat — pops his chin upon his stick — listens and nods with much sapience— repays his " hear him," and walks forth among the " ayes," with good emphasis and sound discretion. Thus he works on for seven sessions, and, at last, gets not one place, but three places in the stage-coach, for himself, and madam, and miss, to go back 10 a ruined farm, with ruined healths, and ruined morals ; unworthy and unfit for the only society they can have ; a prey to ftimished wants and taortified pretensions ; wth minds exactly like their faded Castle silks K 1§0' WAR WITH FRANCE. —the minds too feeble to be reformed, and the gowns too rotten to be scoured. Sir, I join in the laugh, that, I find, I have unintendingly drawn upon ftiis melancholy picture. I intended it as an appeal to compassion and forgiveness. I intended it as an answer to the obloquy which has been, unthinkingly, cast upon us. How can the people. Sir, blame a mau for acting unwisely or unworthily for the nation, who does 'iot act wisely or worthily for ^mse]f ^ Or what right have the peo- ple to question the conduct of any man who does uot represent them : Sir, it comes shortly to this : the disunion of the people from this house >irises from this — the people are not represented. And to restore the 'Luion, you must have the peoplerestored to a fair representation ; in other rords, by a radical reform ot the Commons. Sir, a most important question next arises ; namely, what is the peo- ple ? Is it the soil of Ireland, or the men who live upon it ? I do not Know of any moral or political quality that an acre of land can possess. And, therefore, for my part, I have no other idea of any country, with respect to its rights, than the aggregate of its inhabitants. In Ireland we have tried an experiment on another principle — namely, whether iJie could be free upon the exclusion of three fourths of her population ; and we have found that she is not free, and that, therefore, she is dis- united and infirm. Sir, upon this question, respecting our Catholic brethren, my opinion is most materially changed since the last session. I was then actuated by a compassion for their depressed and unhappj state. I knew and loved their virtues, their order, and their loyalty ; and I was among the very small number who endeavoured to open the ^ates of the constitution, and receive them as my fellow- subjects ai;d fellow-Christians. But I thought I was acting merely from regard to fhem ; I now think tliat without them the country cannot be saved. T.be nation has felt this necessity, and I am a convert to it now. Bind them to equal exertion in the public cause, by giving them equal interest in it. Give them no qualified emancipation. I would not rely upon that man's defence of liberty, who can himself be content with equivocaJ freedom. Do this — emancipate your fellow-subjects, and reform theii lepresentation, and you unite Ireland with herself and with Great Bri J>iin, and you restore the energy of the empire when it needs it most. Nor is this the first tiiriQ that we have laboured in this house for this •uecessary reform. This reform consists of two parts : the one, exter- nal, by restoring the franchise of the elector ; the other, as essential, by securing the independency of the representative. This we have .nboured for in yer\rs past, but in vain ; for tliis have we, in vain, r>rcx.^ed a place, a pension, a responsibiHty bill. In vain shall the pto- ^Ic vote wilhoiit for a member, if there is no law to guard his indepen- r.encj within, IV o, Sir, the vital principle of parliamentary reform was 'ontained in th>>bc mte^arcB ^rhich we have pressed, -^nd, theiefore.ha* the whole force of administration been exerted to defeat them. [He then adverted to what had been said respecting the strength of admin- istration.] I agree perfectly. It is the crisis of internal and exlcroal tlar.ger. A hated government, an unpopular parliament, a disconteiilod o'^nnle. I do not believe Great Britain is f ?iirly cvprised of oux sCalC WAR WITH FRAWCK. l&l tf she were, I am confident she could not be so infatuated as to suffer Uiese abuses, which have kindled the present flame in Ireland, and endanger the union between the two countries. [He then took a view of the persons and measures of the present administration, which, he said, was a system of incapacity and profligacy. He inveighed against the sale of the peerages, the attack on the charter of Dublin, and the corruption which, he said, was openly avowed in that hoTise.] What avails your strengthening the people, by restoring their rights and their union, if you strengthen not the executive hand at this moment of danger, by restoring confidence in the administration ? And how can you give them confidence in a set of simpletons, or clerks, or avowed enemies of the people, who are at once hated and despised ? Talk not of union with England while such obstacles remain ; think not of join- uig two nations with less skill than a carpenter must have in joining two ooards together. He cannot glue them till he has cleaned the joint ; nor can we unite two nations without removing the depravity that must eternally prevent their cohesion. Let us, therefore, have a government that can be honest and respected, and a senate that represents the peo- ple, and our union with England will be saved, in spite of all the efi*ort3 of fanaticism and sedition. Those who abuse their trust are they who render government odious, and give too specious a pretence to those incendiaries who wish to subvert all order, and introduce the despotism of anarchy and robbery under the name of reformation. "Without such preachers, as the clerks who form this government become by theii practices, the true principles of British constitution could never be. defamed with efi*ect ; without the flagrant abuses that we see, sedition could have no pretext. The Catholic petition has been rejected by the influence of the Irish administration. The principle of that rejection has been disavowed by the throne. Administration has now an interest distinct from the united wishes of the people and their sovereign. The present question, I fed is between a sovereign who has saved the people, and an administration who would have destroyed it. I will vote for that sovereign and that people. Their petition was rejected by those who called themselves their representatives ; the next year that same petition passed over that parliament, and approached the throne. Had it been rejected there, there remained only one other throne for misery to invoke, and from that last and dreadful appeal, let it never be forgotten by Irish gratitude, that we have been saved by the piety and compassion of the father of his people. The opposition to the amendment I, therefore, coiiJ-ider conveys the sentiment which we feel of the profligacy which axposed us, and of the gracious interposition by which we have BO pro- vidtntialiy been preserved — Dthatea., vcl. xiii., pp. 43 — 6. ■152 PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. PAELIAMENTAEY REFORM. 9th February, 1793. On the 29th January, we find Curran nn successfully resisting the Attorney- GeneiaT (Arthur Wolfe's) motion, for the committal of M'Donnell, the printer of the Hiherw n Journal, for publishing that the house was no tfree and independent ; but his speech is not given up to the 14th January, (so persuasive were French victories), Grattan ob- tained a Committee of the whole House on Parliamentary Representation ; and on that day moved these moderate resolutions : — " Resolved— That the representation of the people is attended with great and heavy- charges and payments, in consequence of elections and returns of members to serve in parliament, and that said abuses ought to be abolished, "Resolved — That of the three hundred members elected to serve in parliament, the counties, and counties of cities, and towns, together with the university, return eighty- four members, and that the remaining two hundred and sixteen are returned by boroughs and manors. " Resolved— That the state of the representation of the people in parliament reiiuirua saendmeut." Uut the opposition had yielded to Ministers indemnity for their violent proclamations jgainst the Republican Volunteers ; they had consented to Militia and Gunpowder BUls; ind, therefore, the resolutions were resisted. There are two solemn lessons in this, as ax tiie history of every one of our great epochs before or since : 1st — That England's offe?-6 ihouki be ih! $igiialf(yr increased precaution and jealousy. 2ndly — That hypocritical loyalty it It eM-ti pioneers the way for genume servility. Cun-aa'a speech is sli^tly reported : — I was sorry to hear the sentimenfcs delivered by Mr. Bushe, because I think tliem wrong ; and, next, because I consider them as speaking^ the opinion of administration. The result of that gentleman's speech vas to reprobate the idea of parliamentary reform altogether. This is flot a time for sophistry or quibble. A member of parliament ought Co leave his ingenuity at the door, and bring into the house nothing but his ingenuousness and integrity. We must be bespotted, indeed, if we think sophisms, which could not impose upon ourselves, can make dupes of the public. The question before us is the simplest imaginable. The house has come to a resolution of inquiring " into the state of the representation." The committee has now met accordingly. What did they meet to inquire into? Is it the merits of the House of Commons? No ; every man knows the contrary : it is the defects of the represen- tation complained of by the people, and admitted by the house itself. What, then, can the Chancellor of the Exchequer mean, by proposing a fulsome panegyric on the merits of a body, into whose defects they were ordered to inquire ? If we do this we shall deceive nobody ; uoi ourselves ; not the people — they will despise and detest us, for the hype crisy and efifrontery of such a procedure. Parliament is at the ver^ moment of crisis. The hope we held out of constitutional redress ha? held the disquiet of the public mind in suspense. Our present conduct must be decisive ; it must fix the public hope of reform to parliament, or show the people they must look only to themselves. We have brouglij forward the first necessary step — the avowed abuse of parliament — tho sale of boroughs. Is this a fact ? K you deny it, we will show you that the great body of tliis house are sitting here for money, and not l>y election. K you admit the fact, will you say that it is not. an abuse ? Tf you stifle this by artifice, I sav again, we shall become odious and V-UP- A. h.. iwOWAN. 153 contemptible to the nation, and they Trill look to ifaemselvos, and Ireland must take her chance of such constitution as may be made for her. If you do your duty, you may now form it yourselves. A fair representation of the landed and commercial property of the •-ation, ought to be accomplished forthwith, as cautiously as may be, but certainly within this session ; otherwise, it must be lost. The state oi j-eland, at war, divided and dissatisfied, makes this peculiarly necessary at this juncture. =But gentlemen desire a plan. I feel much indigna- tion at this demand ; to deny the disease, and demand the remedy, is ridiculously absurd. I should be sorry to see a plan introduced until the necessity was confessed ; it would be silly while that necessity was denied. But I have another objection to the introduction of a plan ; I think it ought to be subject to all the consideration within ai^d withoij* this house which the session will allow, and I think the house ought to ensure the continuance of the session for that great object. I have also another ; the Catliolic question must precede a reform. Their place in the state must be decided first. The question is short, and will be decisive. Ireland feels, that with- out an immediate reform her liberty ia gone . I think so, too. While a single guard of British freedom, either internal or external, is want- ing, Ireland is in bondage. She looks to us for that great emancipa- tion ; she expects not impossibilities from us, but she expects honesty and plain dealing ; and if she finds them not, remember what I predict —she will abominate her parliament and look for a reform to herself — Debates, vol. xiii., pp. 186—6 Tlie motion was lost by 71 to 153. A few days after (15th February) a Volunteer Convention met at Dnngannon, and passed -esolutions for Reform and Emancipation ;— for arms and gampellion smothered stalks — Redeeming Spirit." Here is the accusation : — FOR ARCHIBALD HAMILTON ROWAN. ESQ, COURT OJ? KING 8 BENPH. JANUABT 29, 1794. LIBFL. ABSTRACT OF THE JNFORSIATIOH. Be it remembered, that the Right Honourable Arthur Wolfe, 'Attorney- General of cm. flre&ent Sovereign Lord the King, gives the court here to understand and be informed, that Aichibald Hamilton Rowan, of the c'*'v of DubJtr "Csq., being a person of a wicked and tur 164 FOR A. H. ROWAl*. bnlent disposition, did, on the 16th day of December, in the thirty-third year of th.» relgw fcf our present -Sovereign Lord George the Third, puhlish a certain false, wicked, maliciotu. icandalous, and seditions libel, that is to say :— •• 'The Society of United Irishmen at Dublin, to the Volunteers of Ireland- William Drennan, cbainnaa ; Archibald Hamilton Rowan, secretary. " 'Citizen Soldiers — Yon first took up anns to protect your coimtiy from foreign ene mies and from domestic disturbance ; for the same purposes it now becomes necessary thai 5roa should resume them. A proclamation has been Issued in England, for embodying tl'-e ■nilltia ; and a proclamation has been Issued by the Lord Lieutenant and Council in Ire- imd, for repressing all sediticus associations. In consequence of both these proclamations, tt Is reasonable to apprehend danger from abroad and danger at home. From whence but from apprehended danger are these menacing preparations for war drawn through the streets of this capital ? From whence, if not to create that internal commotion wliich wag not found — to shake that credit wliich -was not affected — to blast that volunteer honour which was hitherto inviolate — are those teri-ible suggestions, and rumours, and whispers, that meet us at every comer, and agitate, at least, our old men, our women, and our chil flren ? "WTiatever be the motive, or from whatever quarter it arises, alarm has arisen ; and you. Volunteers of Ireland, are, therefore, summoned to arms at the instance of govern- ment, as well as by the responsibility attached to your character, and the pennanent obli- gations of your institution. We will not at this day condescend to quote authorities for the right of having and of using arms; but we wiU cry aloud, even amidst the stonn raised by tlie witchcraft of a proclamation, that to your formation was owing the peace ind protection of this island ; to yom- relaxation has been owing its relapse into impotence jud insigniflcanee ; to your renovation mast be owing its future freedom, and its pi'esent tranquillity. You are, therefore, summoned to aims, in order to preserve your comitry iq tliat guarded quiet, which may secure it from external hostility, and to maintain th&t iuternal regimen throughout the land, wliich, superseding a notorious police or a suspectcf" militia, may preserve the blessings of peace by a vigilant preparation for war. Citizen boldiers, to annsl Take up the shield of freedom and the pledges of peace— peace, the \notive and end of your virtuous institution. War, an occasional duty, ought never to bt made an occupation ; every man should become a soldier in the defence of his rights— no man ought to continue a soldier for offending the rights of others. The sacrifice of hfe in (he service of our country is a duty much too honourable to be entrusted to mercenaries; • uid at this time, Avhen our country has, by public authority, been declared in danger, we Sonjure you by your interest, your duty, and your glory, to stand to your arms, and, in spite of a pohce — in spite of a fencible mihtia — in virtue of two proclamation.^, m main- tain good order in your vicinage, and tranquillity in Ireland. It is only by the military array of men in whom they confide— whom they have been accustomed to revere as tht guardians of domestic peace— the protectors of ^heir liberties and lives — that the present agitation of the people can be stilled, that tumult and hcentiousness can be repressed, obe- dience secured to existing law, and a calm confidence diffused tlirough the pubUc mind, in the speedy resurrrection of a free constitution, of liberty, and of equality— words which fce use for an opportunity. of repelling calumny, and of sajing, that by liberty we never BJiderstood unlimited freedom, nor by eqtuiUty the levelling of property, or the destruction cf subordination. This is a calumny invented by that faction, or that gang, which misro- jirwents tiie King to the people, and the people to the King ; traduces one half of the natioa to cajole the other; and, by keeping up mistrust and division, wishes to continue the proud irbltrators of the fortune and fate of Ireland. Liberty is the exercise of all om rights, oatural and poUtical, secured to us and our posterity by a real representation of the people; ofld equaUty is the extension of the constituent to the ftillest dimensions of the constitu- llon — of the elective franchise to the whole body of the people— to the end that govern- luent, which is collective power, may be guided by collective will, and that legislation may originate from puLac reason, keep pace with pubUc improvement, and terminate in public happiness. If our constitution be imperfect, nothing but a reform in representation wij rectify its abuses; if it be perfect, nothing but the same reform wiU perpetuate its bless- ings. We now address you as citizens, for to bo citizens you became soldiers ; nor can we help wishing that all .soldiers, partaking the passions and interests of the people, would remember that they were once citizens -that seduction made them soldiers, but natur made them men. We address you without any authority, save that of reason, and if vv obtain the coincidence of public opinion, it in neither by force nor stratagem ; for we have po po-v\er to terrify, no artifice to cajole, nc tuid to seduce. Here we sit, without mace ci beadle— neither a mystery, nor a craft, nor a corporation. In four words lies all out fower— univer.sal emancipation, and representative legislattire ; yet we are confident, tha» on the pivot of this principle, a convention, still less, a society, still lesi, a single man, will be able first tc move and then to raise the world. We, therefore, wish for Catholic einan. fipation vrithout any modification, but still we consider this necessary enfranchisement as merely the portal to the temple of national freedom; wide as this entrance is— wide enougli to »i«lnut tliroe Tnilliot^" -'t is na^-row lAlien compared to the caya<-Jty and f'ompf eh ensi ou ol rOE A. H. ROWA*^. i5b oar teloTCd principle, which takts in every indl-\idual of the Irish iiatioc, casts an eqiuj eye over the ■whole island, embraces all that think, and feels for all that sufTei*. Tha "jatholic cause is subordinate to our caiise, and included in it ; for, as United Irishmen, w; adhere to no sect, but to society— to no cause, but Christianity— to no party, but the whok people^ In the sincerity of our souls do m'B desire Catholic emancipation ; but were it obtained to-morrow, to-morrow would we go on as we do to-day, in the pursuit of tliat reform, •which would still oe wanting to ratify their liberties as well as our ovm. For both these pnrposes it appears necessarj- that provincial conventions should assemble prepare tory to the convention of the Protestant people. The delegates of the Catholic body ajf not justified tn comnumicating with individuals, or even bodies of inferioi authority; and therefore, an assembly of a similar nature and organization is necessary to establish a-- intercourse of sentiments, an uniformity of conduct, an united cause, and an united nation. If a convention on the one part does not soon follow, and is not soon connected with tlia( an the other, the common cause Avill split into the partial interest — the people will relapse Jito inattention and inertness — the union of affection and esertion wUl dissolve- -and, too probably, some local insun-ections, instigated by tlie mahg-nity of our common enemy, may commit the character, and risk the tranquillity of the island, which can be obviated only by the Inflticnco of an assembly arising from, assimilated -nith the people, and'whose spirit may be, as it were, fcnit with the soul of the nation- Unless the sense of the Protestant people be on their' part as fail ly collected, and as judicially directed -imless individuiil exertion consolidates into collective»6trength — unless the part'icles unite-mto one mass — ^we may, perhaps, serve sor:e person or^some party for a little, but the public not at alL Tb^ nation is neither inscJent, nor rebellious, nor seditious : wlule it knows its rights, it i> tm willing to manifest its powers ; it would rather supplicate administration to anticipan' re^olution by woh-timod roronn, and to save their ccvuitry in rr:iTcy to themselves. TVe b'ifreonth of February approaches— a day ever memorable in the annuis oi the country 9S Jie birth day of new IreiuiitL Let parochial meetings be held as soo'-. as possible ; let each parish return delegates ; let the sense of Ulster' oe again declared from Dungannon. on a day auspicious to union, peace, and freedom ; and the spiiit of the north will again bscoii.e the spirit of the nation. The ci-\il assembly ought to claim the attendance of the mUitary associations ; and we have addressed you. Citizen Soldiers, on tnis suo;eet, from the belie that vour body, uniting con\-iction •with zeal, and zeal with activity, may have much influ ence over your countrymen, your relations, and friends. We otTer oniy a general outline to the public, and, meaning to address Ireland, presume not at present to iUl up the plan, or pre-occupy the mode of Hs execution. We have thought it om* duty to speak ; answei us by actions. You have taken time for consideration ; fourteen long years have elapsed since the rise of yom- associations ; and in 17S2 did you imagine that in 1792 this nation would still remain unrepresented? How many nations in this interval have gotten tht start of Ireland ? How many of your cotmtp-nien have sunk into the grave ?' '*In contempt of our said Lord the King, in open violation of the lav.-s of this kingdom, to the evil and pernicious example of all others in the like case offending, and against the peace of our said Lord the King, his crown and dignity. Whereupon the said Attorney- General of our said Lord the King,' who for our saia Lord the King in tliis behalf prosecutes orays the concideration of the court here in the premises, and due process of law may b— Mr. Curran, Mi-. Recorder, Mr. Fletcher. Agent^K* Dowling. Mr. Ruxton opened the pleadings. The Attorney-General (Arthur Wolfe) stated the case. The follo-wlng passage (torn Aatement describes the proclamation and meeting : — • •'The troops are summoned to meet, the guards are summoned to assemble, and the Erst battahon of National Guards were to have paraded, clothed like Frenchmen. Ttt '■ ght'before, the Lord Lieutenant had summoned the cotmcil of the kingdom ; upon tha( .ght a prociamatiou issued, stating that there were intentions to assemble men in ami' vHi seditions .siijia. and ajipreht^ndui/r (hiusf^s- from their =o ".ssembling. It,t>robibit*** 166 FOR A. H. ROWAX. their meeting. The proclamation issued on a Satnrday night, and it prodacca itiat efttia- 'action which all good men desirous of order seelc to onjoy ; and they felt once more tbl l>leasurahl0 assurance that they had a govemmeut. Appalled by this proclamation, tho jorps did not meet on the Sth of December, as it was intended, though some few werp iegQ dressed in the National Guard uniform, parading the sti'eets, wiUi a mob crowding at Oietr heels ; but, however, nothing followed. "A few days after — I am not awaro of the particular day — but a few days< after theiissu- Ing the proclamation, the society assembled. The proclamation was upon the 7th, tho ^dress I speak of was published the 16tli of December ; the meeting, therefore, must hav(? oeen between the 7th and the 16th o' December. The society, I say, assembled, and the> xgreed upon a certain address to tne Volunteers of Ireland, and Dr. Drennan is thero iUted to have been in the chair, and the traverser secretary. At that meeting the addroas to the Volunteers was agroed upon, which is the libel charged against Mr. Rowan, as being guilty of publishing it. Under that address, this was to be done. The Volunteers d Dublin were to be called uto action, and. those papers were to be dispersed among thesa. For that purpose, the several Volunteer corps at that time existing in Dublin were sum- moned to assemble in a house in Cope-street, belonging to Purdon, a fencing-master, upon the 16th of December. Accordingly, upon that day the several corps of Volunteers did go ▼ith side-arms to this fencing-school in Cope-street. The traverser was, I believe, at thj ftead of one of these corps ; another very celebrated name was at the head of another d Ihem, James Napper Tandy. Who was at the head of the others I am not able to inforra fon. But in the afternoon "of the 16th of December, several Volunteers, vrith. imiforms anfi side arms, assembled in the fencing-school. In this fencing-school, gentlemen, there wa£ a gallery, and into that gallery there was such public access, that what passed below may be said to have passed in the face of the world." Witnesses wero examined, who fully connected Rowan with the doccunent, and then Curran th'is spoke for the defence : — Gentlemen of the jury, when I ccmsider the period at which this prosecution is brought forward ; when I behold tho extraordinary safe- guard of armed soldiers resorted to, no doubt for the preservation of peace and order ;* when I catch, as I cannot but do, the throb of public anxiety which beats from one end to the other of this hall ; when I reflect on what may be the fate of a man of the most beloved personal 3haracter, of one of the most respectable families of our country — iiimself the only individual of that family — I may almost say of that tountry — who can look to that possible fate with unconcern ? Feeling, as I do, all these impressions, it is in the honest simplicity of my heart I speak, when I say, that I never rose in a court of justice with so much eiabarrassment as upon this occasion. li', gentlemen, I could entertain a hope of finding refuge for the disconcertion of my mind in the perfect composure of yours — if I could suppose that those awful vicissitudes of human events, which have been stated or alluded to, could leave your judgment undistm'bed, and your hearts at ease, I know I should form a most erroneous opinion of your character. I entertain no such chimerical hope — I form no such unworthy opinion. I expect not that your hearts can be more at ease than my own — I have no right to expect it ; but I have a right to call upon you, in the name of your country, in the name of the living God, of whose eternal justice you are now administering that portion which iwells with us on this side of the grave, to discharge your breasts, a. fe,r as you are able, of every bias of prejudice or passion, that if mj client be guilty of the offence charged upon him, you may give tranquil- lity to the public, by a firm verdict of conviction ; or, if he be innocent, by as firm a verdict of acquittal ; and that you will do this in defiance • A few moments before Mr. Curran entered Into his client's deletice. a guard wa» i/Toughi »a*:? the Court-house by the Sheriff (Giffordi. yOK A, n. KO>VAN. J 67 of the paltry artifices and senseless clamours that have beeu resorted t<\ in order to bring him to his trial with anticipated conviction. And. gentlemen, I feel an additional necessity in thus conjuring you to be upon your guard, from the able and imposing statement which you have [list heard on the part of the prosecution, I know well the virtues and talents of the excellent person who conducts that prosecution ;* I kno^ how much he would disdain to impose on you by the trappings of office ; but I also know how easily we mistake the lodgment which character and eloquence can make upon our feelings, for those impressions that reason, and fact, and proof, only ought to work upon our understandings. Perhaps, gentlemen, I shall act not unwisely in waiving any further observation of this sort, and giving your minds an opportunity of grow- ing cool and resuming themselves, by coming to a calm and uncoloured statement of mere facts, premising only to you, thdt I have it in strictest injunction from my client, to defend him upon facts and evj ience only, and to avail myself of no technical artifice or subtlety that could withdraw his cause from the test of that inquiry which it is youX province to exercise, and to which only he wishes to be indebted for at acquittal. In the month of December, 1792, Mr. Rowan was arrested on al jiformation, charging him with the offence for which he is now on his trial. He was taken before an honourable personage now on that bench, and admitted to bail.f He remained a considerable time in this city, soliciting the present rosecution, and offering himself to a fair trial by a jury of his country. ut it was not then thought fit to yield to that solicitation ; nor has it now been thought proper to prosecute him in the ordinary way, bj sending up a bill of indictment to a grand jury. I do not mean by this to say that informations ex-qfficio are always oppressive or unjust ;% but I cannot but observe to you, that when a petty jury is called upon to try a charge not previously found by the grand inquest, and supported by thj naked assertion only of the King* prosecutor, that the accusation labours under a weakness of probability which it is difficult to assist. If the charge had no cause of dreading ihe light — if it was likely to find the sanction of a grand jury — it is not easy to account why it deserted the more usual, the more popular, and :!ie more constitutional mode, and preferred to come forward in the ungracious form of an ex-officio information. K such a bill had been sent up and found, Mr. Rowan would nave v)Qen tried at the next commission ; but a speedy trial was not the wish of his prosecutors. An information was filed, and when he expected to ue kied upon it, an error, it seems, was discovered in the record. Mk Rowan offered to waive it, or consent to any amendment desired. No that proposal could not be accepted : a trial must have followed. Tha ' information, therefore, was withdrawn, and a new one filed ; that is, ir • The late Lord Kilwarden, then Attorney-General Wolfe. t Tlie Honourable Justice Do>vnes, afterwaxda Lord Downes, and Chief Justic* 0/ th^ Xing'fl Bench. X M'Nally notes that in Curraa's private opinion vn as a rictim. It fe aotf therefore, by insinuation or circuity, but it is boldly and directl- Itat I assert, that oppression has been intended and practised upon aim, and by those facts which I have stated. 1 am warranted in thi> assertion. His demand, his entreaty to be tried,- was refused, and why ? A hu' -lud ciy was to be raised against him ; the sword was to be' suspended ,wer his head ; some time was necessary for the public mind to becom? lieated by the circulation of artful clamours of anarchy and rebellion 'hese same clamours which, with more probability, but not more succesR. uad been circulated before through England and Scotland. In this country the causes and the swiftness of their progress were as obviou.-. dis their folly has since become to every man of the smallest observation.. J. have been stopped myself with — " Good God, Sir, have you heard thr news?" "'So, Sir, what?" "Why one French emissary was seer, travelling tln-ough Connaught in a post-chaise, and scattering from thp window, as he passed, little doses of political poison, made up in square bits of paper ; another was actually surprised in the fact of seducing oiii good people from their allegiance, by discourses upon the indivisibiUtjj of French robbery and massacre, which he preached in tlie French lan- guage, to a congregation of Irish peasants." Such are the bugbears and spectres to be raised to warrant th^ sacrifice of whatever little public spirit may remain amongst us. Bui time has also detected the imposture of tliese " Cock-lane apparitions ;" and you cannot now, with your eyes open, give a verdict, without asking your consciences this question: — Is this a fair and honest prosecution? IS it brought forward with the single vie*/ of vindicating public justice, and promoting public good ? And here let me remind you, that you are not convened to try the guilt of a libel, affecting the personal character of any private man. I know no case in which a jury ought to be more severe, than where personal calumny is conveyed through a vehicle which ought to be consecrated to public information. Neither, on thg other hand, can I conceive any case in which the firmness and the caution of a jury should be more exerted, than when a subject is prose- cuted for a libel on the state. The peculiarity of the British constitution (to which, in its fullest extent, we have an undoubted right, however distant we may be from the actual enjoyment), and in which it surpassed/ every known government in Europe, is this, that its only professed object is the general good, and its only foundation the general will iience the people have a right, acknowledged from time immemorial^ Tortified by a pile of statutes, and authenticated by a revolution tha 4)eaks louder th,^n them all, to see whether abuses have been committed, and whether their properties and their liberties have been attended tc as they ought to be. This is a kind of subject by which 1 teel myse/f overfiwod when / FOR A. H. ftOWAi;. 159 approach it ; there are certain fundamental principles which notliing" but necessity should expose to public examination ; tliey are pillars, the depth of whose foundation you cannot explore, without endangering their strength ; but let it be recollected, that the discussion of such subjects should not be condemned in me, nor visited upon my client : the blame, if any there be, should rest only with those who have forced them into discussion. I say, therefore, it is the right of the people tf keep an eternal watch upon the conduct of their rulers ; and in ordei to that, the freedom of the press has been cherished by the law oi England. In private defamation, let it never be tolerated ; in wicked and wanton aspersion upon a good and honest administration, let ii never be supported. Not that a good government can be exposed tc danger by groundless accusation, but because a bad government is sure to find, in the detected falsehood of a licentious press, a security and a credit, which it could never otherwise obtain. I said a good government cannot be endangered ; I say so again ; for irhether it be good or bad, it can never depend upon assertion : the Question is decided by simple inspection ; to try the tree, look at its fruit : to judge of the government, look at the people. What is the fruit of a good government ? the virtue and liappiness of the people. Do four millions of people in this country gather those fruits from that g'overnmentjto whose injured purity, to whose spotless virtue and violated honour this seditious and atrocious libeller is to he immolated upon the altar of the constitution ? To you, gentlemen of the jury, who are bound by the most sacred obligation to your country and your God, to speat Jlotliing but the truth, I put the question — do the people of this countrv gather those fruits ? — are thu^' orderly, industrious, religious, and con- tented: — do you find them Tree from bigotry and ignorance, those inseparable concomitants of systematic oppression ? Or, to try there by a test as unerring as any of the former, are they united ? The period has now elapsed in which considerations of this extent would have been deemed improper to a jury : happily for these countries, the legislature of each has lately changed, or, perhaps, to speak more properly, revived and restored the law respecting trials of this kind.* For the space cj thiity or forty years, a usage had prevailed in Westminster hall, by which the judges assumed to themselves the decision of the question, whether libel or not ; but the learned counsel for the prosecution is now obliged to admit that this is a question for the jury only to decide You will naturally listen with respect to the opinion of the court, but you will receive it as a matter of advice, not as a matter of law ; an^ ^ou will give it credit, not from any adventitious circumstances o\ authority, but merely so far as it meets the conf^nrrence of your ovr. "Dnderstandings. Give me leave now to state the charge, as it stands upon the record, it is, " that Mr. Rowan, being a person of a wicked and turbulent dispo- sition, and maliciously designing and intending to excite and diffuse ttJiiong tlie subjects of this realm of Ireland, discontents, jealousies, anle in any matter, it is warrantable to any man in the com- -nunity to state, in a becoming manner, his ideas upon it. And I should &e at a loss to know, if the positive laws of Great Britain are thus ques* [ion able, upon what grounds the proclamation of an Irish govemmeiK should not be open to the animadversion of Irish subjects. " Whatever be the motive, or from whatever quarter it arises," says th'A paper, "alarm has arisen." Gentlemen, do you not know that tc t J fact ? It has been stated by the Attorney-General, and most trulv, chat the most gloomy apprehensions were entertained by the w^oL country. '"'You, Volunteers of Ireland, are therefore summonea to arms, at the instance of government, as well as by the responsibility dttached to your character, and the permanent obligations of your insti- tution." I am free to confess, if any man, assuming the liberties of a British subject to question public topics, should, under the mask of i\&t privilege, publish a proclamation, inviting the profligate and sedi- 5ous, those in want, and those in despair, to rise up in arms to overawe &]e legislature — to rob us of whatever portion of the blessing of a frf»P government we possess ; I know of no offence involving greater enor- niity. But that, gentlemen, is the question you are to try. If my client ected with an honest mind and fair intention, and having, as he believed^ tlie authority of government to support him in the idea that danger was tu be apprehended, did apply to that body of so known and so revered a character, calling upon them by their former honour, the principles of their glorious institution, and the great stake they possessed in their ctnmtry : if he interposed, not upon a fictitious pretext, but a real belie* (if actual and imminent danger, and that their arming at that critica. moment was necessary to the safety of their country, his intention was uot only innocent, but highly meritorious. It is a question, gentlemen, cpon which you only can decide ; it is for you to say, whether it waa (Timinal in the defendant to be misled, and whether he is to fall a sacri- fice to the prosecution of that government by which he was so deceived. I say again, gentlemen, you can look only to his own words as the inter, nreters of his meaning ; and to the ctate and circumstances of his country as he was made to believe them, as the clue to his intention. The case, then, gentlemen, is shortly and simply this ; a man of the first family, and fortune, and character, and property among you reads a proclama* tion, stating the country to be in danger from abroad, and at home Mid, thus alarmed, thus, upon the authority of "the prosecutor, alarmed, applies to that august body, before whose awful presence sedition muai vanish, and insurrection disappear. You must surrender, I hesitate not to say, your oaths to unfounded assertion, if you can submit to hnjj ♦hat such an act, of such a man, so wan-anted, is a wicked and seditioiw li&el. If he was a dupe, let me ask you, who was the impostor ? J blush and shrink with shame and detestation from that meanness of dup ery and servile complaisance, which could make that dupe a victim to 'he accusation of an impostor J(;4 FOB ft., a. ftOWAN. You perceive, gentlemen, that I am going into the merits of this pubKcaiion before I apply myself to the question which is first in order of time, namely, whether the publication, in point of fact, is to be ascribed to Mr. Rowan or not. I have been unintentionally led into this violation of order. I should effect no purpose of either breviiy ")r clearness, by returning to the more methodical course of observa- ion. I have been naturally drawn from it by the superior important of the topic I am upon, namely, the merit of the publication in question. This publication, if ascribed at all to Mr. Rowan, contains four dis- tinct subjects : the first, the invitation to the Volunteers to arm : upon that I have already observed ; but those that remain are surely of mud; jnportance, and, no doubt, are prosecuted, as equally criminal. The paper next states the necessity of a reform in parliament : it states-^ thirdly, the necessity of an emancipation of the Catholic inhabitants or Ireland ; and, as necessary to the achievement of all these objects, does, fourthly, state the necessity of a general delegated convention of the people. It has been alleged, that Mr. Rowan intended by this publication, to jxcite the subjects of this country to effect an alteration in the form o. ?our constitution. And here, gentlemen, perhaps you may not bt Unwilling to follow a little farther than Mr. Attorney- General has done. jhe idea of a late prosecution in Great Britain, upon the subject of a public libel. It is with peculiar fondness I look to that country for solid principles of constitutional liberty and judicial example. You iiave been impressed in no small degree with the manner in which this publication marks the difi'erent orders of our constitution, and com- ments upon them. Let me show you what boldness of animadversion of such topics is thought justifiable in the British nation, and by a Bri- tish jury. I have ir my hand the report of the trial of the printers of the Morning Chronicle, for a supposed libel against the state, and of their acquittal ; let me read to you some passages from that publication, which a jury of Englishmen were in vain called upon to brand with the name of libel: — " Claiming it as our indefeasible right to associate together in a peaceable and friendly manner, for the communication of thoughts, the formation of opinions, and to promote the general happiness, we think it unnecessary to offer any apology for inviting you to join us in thL: manly and benevolent pursuit ; the necessity of the inhabitants of every community endeavouring to procure a true knowledge of their rights, their duties, and their interests, will not be denied, except by those who ere the slaves of prejudice, or interested in the continuation of abuseB. As men who wish to aspire to the title of freemen, we totally deny the wisdom and the humanity of the advice, to approach the defects of :?overnment with ' pious awe and trembling solicitude.' Wliat better ioctrine could the pope or the tyrants of Europe desire ? We think, therefore, Vhat tlie cause of truth and justice can never be hurt by temperate and honest discussions ; and that cause which will not bear 8uch a scrutiny, must be systematically or practically bad. We art-* at>nsihle that l^commends a reform in parliament : I put that question to your con sciences ; do you think it needs that reform ? I put it boldly and fairly to you, do you think the people of Ireland are represented as they ought to be? Do you hesitate for an answer? If you do, let me remind you, that until the last year, three millions of your countrymen have, by the express letter of the law, been excluded from the reality of actual, and even from the phantom of virtual representation. Shall we then be told that this is only the affirmation of a wicked and seditious incen- diary ? K you do not feel the mockery of such a charge, look at your country ; in what state do you find it ? Is it in a state of tranquillity and general satisfaction ? These are traces by which good are ever to be distinguished from bad governments, without any very minute inquiry or speculative refinement. Do you feel that a veneration for the law, a pious and humble attachment to the constitution, form the political morality of the people ? Do you find that comfort and competency among your people, which are always to be found where a government is mild and moderate, where taxes are imposed by a body who have an interest in treating the poorer orders with compassion, and preventing the weight of taxation from pressing sore upon them ? Gentlemen, I mean not to impeach the state of your representation^ I am not saying that it is defective, or that it ought to be altered or amended ; nor is this a place for me to say, whether I think that three millions of the inhabitants of a country whose whole number is but four, ought to be admitted to any efficient situation in the state. It may be said, and truly, that these are not questions for eitlier of us directly to decide ; but you cannot refuse them some passing conside- ration at least ; when you remember that on this subject the real ques- tion for your decision is, whether the allegation of a defect in your con- .stitution is so utterly unfounded and false, that you can ascribe it only Id the malice and perverseness of a wicked mind, and not to the innocent oiistake of an ordinaiy understanding; whether it may not be mistake •whether it can be only sedition. And here, gentlemen, I own I cannot but regret, that one of ou. countrymen should be criminally pursued, for asserting the necessity oi n reform, at the very moment when that necessity seems admitted by the parliament itself; that this unhappy reform shall, at the same moment, be a subject of legislative discussion and criminal prosecution. '-''ar am I from imputing any sinister design to the virtue or wisdom if our government ; but who can avoid feeling the deplorable impres- uon that must be made on the public mind, when the demand for thai Aiform is answered by a crimijial information * iOJ FOK A. H. R0A7^v. I aai the more forcibly impressed by this consideration, when I coiv 'ider, that when this information was first put on the file, the subjea- was transiently mentioned in tho House of Commons. Some ciu'^'iajr stances retarded the progress of the inquiry there, and fne progress of the information was equally retarded here. On the first day of ths jession, you all know, that subject was again brought forward in tiie 'iouse of Commons, and, as if they had slept together, this prosecutioti was also revived in the court of King's Bench, and that before a jury laken from a panel partly composed of those very members of parlia- •jient, who, in the House of Commons, must debate upon this subjec: s& a, measure of public advantage, which they are here called upon to con- sider as a public crime.* This paper, gentlemen, insists upon the necessity of emancipating the Catholics of Ireland, and that is charged as part of the libel. If they had waited another year, if they had kept this prosecution impending &>r another year, how much would remain for a jury to decide unon, I should be at a loss to discover. It seems as if the progress of public -nformation was eating away the ground of the prosecution. Since the commencement of the prosecution, this part of the libel has unluckily received the sanction of the legislature. In that interval our Catholt; brethren have obtained that admission, which, it seems, it was a libel tc propose ; in what way to account for this, I am really at a loss. Have any alarms been occasioned by the emancipation of our Catholic bre- thren ? has the bigoted malignity of any individuals been crushed ? or has the stability of the government, or that of the country beea weakened ; or is one million of subjects stronger than four millions Do you think that the benefit they received should be poisoned by th^. sting of vengeance ? If you think so, you must say to them — " Y02 have demanded emancipation, and you have got it ; but we abhor yom persons, we are outraged at your success, and we will stigmatise by criminal prosecution the adviser of that relief which you have obtainei from the voice of your country," I ask you, do you think, as honest men, anxious for the pubHc tranquillity, conscious that there are wounds aot yet completely cicatrized, that you ought to speak this language a'j thia time, to men who are too much disposed to tliink that in this very emancipation they have been saved from their own parliament by the humanity of their sovereign ? Or do you wish to prepare them for th€ revocation of these improvident concessions ? Do you think it wise or humane at this moment to insult them, by sticking up in a pillory the man who dared to stand forth as their advocate ? I put it to youL* oaths ; do you think that a blessing of that kind, that a victory obtained by justice over bigotry and oppression, should have a stigma cast upou it by an ignominious sentence upon men bold and honest enougn lu ■jropose that measure ? to propose the redeeming of religion from the .ibuses of the church, the reclaiming of three millions of men fron. bondage, and giving liberty to all who had a right to demand it ; giving, I say, in the so much censured words of this paper, giving " univbrsai. ♦ The names of several memliers of parliament were U^uded in the panY . iOd A. H iiOWAA. 169 EMANCIPATION !" I spealc in the spirit of the Biitish law, which makes liberty commensurate with and inseparable from British soil ; which proclaims even to the strang-er and sojourner, the moment he sets his foot upon British earth, that the ground on which he treads is holy, and consecrated by the genius of universal emancipation. No matter b what language his doom may have been pronounced ; no matter what complexion incompatible with freedom, an Indian or an African suu may have burnt upon him ; no matter in what disastrous battle his liberty may have been cloven down ; no matter with what solemnities he may have been devoted upon the altar of slavery ; the first moment he touches the sacred soil of Britain, the altar and the god sink together in the dust ; his soul walks abroad in her own majesty ; his body swells beyond the measure of his chains, that burst from around Mm ; and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal emancipation. a sudden burst of applause from tlie court and hall, which was repeated for a consider able length of time, inteiTupted Mr. Cun-an. Silence being at length restored, he pro- ceeded : — Gentlemen, I am not such a fool as to ascribe any effusion of this sort to any merit of mine. It is the mighty theme, and not the incon- siderable advocate, that can excite interest in the hearer. What yoa hear is but the testimony which nature bears to her own character ; if is the effusion of her gratitude to that Power which stamped thai character upon her. And permit me to say, that if my client had occasion to defend his cause by any mad or drunken appeals to extravagance or licentiousness, I trust in God I stand in that situation that, humble as I am, he would not have resorted to me to be his advocate. I was not recommended to his choice by any connexion of principle or party, or even private friendship ; and saying this, I cannot but add, that I consider not to be Acquainted with such a man as Mr. Kowan, a want of personal good fortune. But upon this great subject of reform and emancipation, there is a latitude and boldness of remark, justifiable in the people, and necessary to the defence of Mr. Rowan, for which the habits of professional studies, and technical adherence to established forms, have rendered me unfit. It is, however, my duty^ standing here as his advocate, to make some few observations to you which I conceive to bf *naterial. Gentlemen, you are sitting in a country which has a right to the British^ constitution, and which is bound by an indissoluble union with the British nation. If you were now even at liberty to debate upon that subject ; if you even were not, by the most solemn compacts, founded upon the authority of your ancestors and of yourselves, bound to that alliance, and had an election now to make ; in the present unhappy state of Europe, if you had been heretofore a stranger to Great Britain, you v/ould now say — We will enter into society and unioa with you : — " Una salus ambobus erit, commune periculum." But to accomplish ihai union, let me tell you, jou must learn to 170 roK A. E. KO\vA^. become like the English people. It is vain to say you will protect theh freedom, if you abandon your own. The pillar whose base has nc foundation, can give no support to the dome under which its head is placed ; and if you profess to give England that assistance which yor- refuse to yourselves, she will laugh at your folly, and despise your mean nesa and insincerity. Let us follow this a little further — I know you will interpret what I say with the candour in which it is spoken England is marked by a natural avarice of freedom, which she is studi- ous to engross and accumulate, but most unwilling to impart ; whether from any necessity of her policy, or from her weakness, or from her pride, I will not presume to say, but so is the fact : you need not look to the east nor to the west ; you need only look to yourselves. In order to confirm this observation, I would appeal to what fell froni the learned counsel for the crown, — " that notwithstanding the alliance subsisting for two centuries past between the two countries, the date of liberty in one goes no further back than the year 1782." If it required additional confirmation, I should state the case of the invaded American, and the subjugated Indian, to prove that the policy of England has ever been, to govern her connexions more as colonies than as allies ; and it must be owing to the great spirit indeed of Ireland, if she shall continue free. Rely upon it, she shall ever have to hold ner course against an adverse current ; rely upon it, if the popular spring does not continue strong and elastic, a short interval of 'debihtated nerve and broken force will send you down the stream again, and re- consign you to tlie condition of a province. If such should become the fate of your constitution, ask yourselves what must be the motive of your government ? It is easier to govern a province by a faction, than to govern a co-ordinate country by co- ordinate means. I do not say it is now, but it will always be thought easiest by the managers of the day, to govern the Irish nation by the agency of such a faction, as long as this country shall be found willing to let her connexion with Great Britain be preserved only by her own degradation. In such a precarious and vnnretched state of things, if it eh all ever be found to exist, the true friend of Irish liberty and British connexion will see, that the only means of saving both must be, as Lord Chatham expressed it, " the infusion of new health and blood into the constitution." He will see how deep a stake each country has in the liberty of the other ; he will see what a bulwark he adds to the common cause, by giving England a co-ordinate and co-interested ally, instead oi an oppressed, enfeebled, and suspected dependant; he will see how grossly the credulity of Britain is abused by those who make her believe thai her interest is promoted by our depression ; he will see the desperate precipice to which she approaches by such conduct j and with an ani iiateu 9Jid generous piety, he will labour to avert her danger. But, genilemen of the jury, what is likely to be his fate ? The interest of the sorereign must be for ever the interest of his peopl^ because his interest livea beyond his life : it must live in his fame ; h V must live in the tenderne, *' We are told that we are in danger. I call upon you, the great constitutional saviours of Ireland, to defend the country to which you Lave given political existence, and to use whatever sanction your great name, your sacred character, and the weight you have in the community, amst give you, to repress wicked designs, if any there are. We feel ourselves strong — the people are always strong ; the public chains can 'jnly be rivetted by the public hands. Look to those devoted regions of southern despotism: behold the expiring victim on his knees, presenting the javelin, reeking with his blood, to the ferocious monster who returns it into his heart. CaU not that monster the tyi'ant ; he is no more than the executioner of that inhuman tyranny, which the people practise npon themselves, and of which he is only reserved to be a later victim than the wretch he has sent before. Look to a nearer country, where the sanguinary characters are more legible — whence you almost bear the groans of death and torture. Do you ascribe the rapine and murder in France to the few names that we are execrating here ? or do you not see fcliat it is the frenzy of an infuriated multitude, abusing: its FOR A. H. BO WAN. 173 eemed to me to admit that the petition might be prepared by any number whs^tever, provided, in doing so, they did not commit any breaor or violation of the public peace. I know that there has been a law passed in the Irish parUament of last year, which may bring my former opinion into a merited want of authority. The law declares that no body of men may delegate a power to any smaller number, to act, thiixk, or petition for them. If that law had not passed, I should have thouglit that the assembling by a delegate convention was recommended, in order to avoid the tumult and disorder of a promiscuous assembly of the whole mass of the people. I should have conceived, before that act, that any law to abridge the orderly appointment of the few, to consult for the interest of the many, and thus force the many to consult by themselves, or not at all, would, in faci, be a law not to restrain but tc promote insurrection. But that law has spoken, and my error muaC stand corrected. Of ihi'^^ however, let me remind you : you are to try this part of the publication by what the law was then, not by what it is now. How was it understood until last session of Parhament. You had, both in England and Ireland, for the last ten years, these delegated meetings. The Volunteers of Ireland, in 1783, met by delegation: they framed a plan of parliamentary reform ; they presented it to the representative sdom of the nation. It was not received ; but no -jnan ever dreamed 174 i>OR A H KOWAN. that it was not the undoubted right of the subject to assemble m that manner. They assembled by delegation at Dungannon ; and to shoMv the idea then entertained of the legality of their public conduct, that same body of Volunteers was thanked by both Houses of Parliament. and their delegates most graciously received at the throne. The other day you had delegated representatives of the Catholics of Ireland, pub- licly elected by the members of that persuasion, and sitting in conven tion in the heart of your capital, carrying on an actual treaty with the existing government, and under the eye of your own Parliament, whicn ■was then assembled ; you have seen the delegates from that convention carry the complaints of their grievances to the foot of the throne, from whence they brought back to that convention the auspicious tidings of that redress which they had been refused at home. Such, gentlemen, have been the means of popular communication dud discussion, which, until the last session, have been deemed legal in this country, as, happily for the sister kingdom, they are yet considered there, I do not complain of this act as any infraction of popular liberty ; I should not think it becoming in me to express any complaint against a law, wlien once become such. I observe only, that one mode of popular deliberation is thereby taken utterly away, and you are reduced to a situation in which you never stood before. You are living in a country, where tlie constitution is rightly stated to be only ten years old — where the people have not the ordinary rudiments of education. It is a melancholy story, that the lower orders of the people here have less means of being enliglitened than the same class of people in any other country. If there be no means left by which public measures can be canvassed, what will be the consequence ? Where the press is free, and discussion unrestrained, the mind, by the collision of inter- course, gets rid of its own asperities ; a sort of insensible perspiration takes place in the body politic, by which those acrimonies, which would otherwise fester and inflame, are quietly dissolved and dissipated. But now, if any aggregate assembly shall meet, they are censured ; if a printer publishes their resolutions, he is punished : rightly, to be sure, in both cases, for it has been lately done. If the people s;»y, let ut; not create tumult, but meet in delegation, they cannot do it ; if they are anxious to promote parliamentary reform in that way, ihey cannot do it ; the law of the last session has for the lirst time deeliired buch meet- ings to be a crime. What then remains ? The liberty of the press only — that sacred palladium, which no influence, no power, no minister, no goyernment, which nothing, but the depravity, or folly, or corruption of a jury, can ever destroy. And what calamities are the people saved from, by having pubhc communication left open to them ? I will tell you, gen tlemen, what they are saved from, and what the goverumcut is saved from ; I will tell you also to what both are exposed by shutting up that communication. In one case, sedition speaks aloud and walks abroud : the demagogue goes forth — the public eye is upon him— he frets his lusy hour upon the stace : but. i/n tne banks of that river, and that, as he WTote, he could see several bodies floating down its Ktream. The oratoi shortly after, while describing a comipted bench, recollected this f&c* i-«'d aiiDJied it as above."— /Ve of Curran, >>u Ms Hon, voL i., p. 316. 176 i'OR A. H. ROWAK. uow. In Great Britain, analogous circumstojices have taken placa At the commencement of that unfortunate war which has deluged Europe with blood, the spirit of the English people was tremblingly alive to the terror of French principles ; at that moment of generaJ paroxysm, to accuse was to convict. The danger looked larger to the public eye, from the misty region through which it was surveyed. We measure inaccessible heights by the shadows which they project, where the lowness and the distance of the light form the length of the shade. There is a sort of aspiring and adventurous credulity, which disdains issenting to obvious truths, and delights in catching at the improba- bility of circumstances, as its best grouud of faith. To what other cause, gentlemen, can you ascribe, that in the wise, the reflecting, and *he philosophic nation of Great Britain, a printer has been gravely found guilty of a libel, for publishing those resolutions to which the ^resent minister of that kingdom had actually subscribed his name ? — To what other cause can you ascribe, what in my mind is still more astonishing, in such a country as Scotland — a nation cast in the happy medium between the spiritless acquiescence of submissive poverty, and the sturdy credulity of pampered wealth — cool and ardent— adventurous and persevering — winging her eagle flight against the blaze of ever) science, with an eye that never winks, and a wing that never tires — crowned, as she is, with the spoils of every art, and decked with the wi-eath of every muse, from the deep and scrutinizing researches of her Hume, to the sweet and simple, but not less sublime and pathetic, morality of her Burns — how, from the bosom of a country like that, genius, and character, and talents, should be banished to a distant bar- barous soil, condemned to pine under the horrid communion of vulgar vice and base-born profligacy, for twice the period that ordinary calcu- lation gives to the continuance of human life ?* But I will not farther press an idea that is so painful to me, anS 1 am sure must be painful to you. I will only say, you have now an example, of which neither England nor Scotland had the advantage* you have the example of the panic, the infatuation, and the contrition of both. It is now for you to decide, whether you will profit by their experience of idle panic and idle regret ; or whether you meanly prefer to palliate a servile imitation of their frailty, by a paltry afi'ectation of their repentance. It is now for you to show, that you are not carried away by the same hectic delusions, to acts, of which no tears can wash away the fatal consequences, or the indelible reproach. Gentlemen, I have been warning you by instances of public intellect suspended or obscured ; let me rather excite you by the example 0/ that intellect recovered and restored. In that case wliich Mr. Attorney- General has cited himself — I me^^n that of the trial of Lambert, iq England — is there a topic of invective against constituted authorities, IS there a topic of abuse against every department of British govem- Jient, tliut you do not find in the most glowing and unqualified terms ' Alludii^g *o t3cot!and, -vrhere sentence of traasportalion for fourteen years, had been passed t.i;ou Llr Muir, ilr. Palraej-, and others. Recently putUc ^'lonuments have bect of 1793 I'-OK A. D. ROWAN. 17S dence upon which that paper could have even been read ; he produced no paper — he identified no paper — he said that he got some paper, but that he had given it away. So that, in point of law, there was no evidence given by him, on which it could have gone to a jury ; and, therefore, it turns entirely upOn the evidence of the other witness. He has stated that he went to a public meeting, in a place where there was a gallery crowded with spectators, and that he there got a printed paper the same which has been read to you. I know you are well acquainted with the fact, that the credit of every witness must be considered by, and rest with the jury. They are the sovereign judges of that ; and I will not insult your feelings by insisting on the caution with which you should watch the testimony of a witness that seeks to affect the liberty, or property, or character of your fellow-citizens. Under what circum- stances does this evidence come before you ? The witness says he has got a commission in the army, by the interest of a lady, from a person then high in administration. He told you that he made a memoran- dum upon the back of that paper, it being his general custom, v/hen he got Buch papers, to make an indorsement upon them — that he did this from mere fancy — that he had no intention of giving any evidence on the subject — " he took it with" no such view." There is something whimsical enough in this curious story.. Put his credit upon the positive evidence adduced to his character. Who he is I know not — I know not the man ; but his credit is impeached. Mr. Blake was called ; he said he knew him. I asked him, " Do you think, sir, that Mr. Lyster is or is not a man deserving credit upon his oath }" If you find a verdict of conviction, it can be only upon the credit of Mr. Lyster. What said Mr. Blake ? Did he tell you that he considered him a man to be believed upon his oath ? He did not attempt to say that he did. The best he could say was, that he "would hesitate." Do you beHeve Slake ? Have you the same opinion of Lyster's testimony that Mr. Blake has ? Do you know Lyster ? If you do know him, and know that he is credible, your knowledge should not be shaken by the doubts of any man. But if yoXi do not know him, you must take his credit from an unimpeached witness, swearing that he would hesitate to lielieve him. In my mind, there is a circumstance of the strongest nature that came out from Lyster on the table. I am aware that a most respectable man, if impeached by surprise, may not be prepared to repel a wanton calumny by contrary testimony. But was Lyster unapprised of this attack upon him ? What said he ? "I knew that you had Blake to examine against me — you have brought him here for that purpose." He knew the very witness that was to be produced against him — he knew that his credit was impeached — and yet ha produced no person to support that credit. What said Mr. Smyth? " From my knowledge of him, I would not believe him upon his oath.** Mr. Attorney-General— I beg pardon, but I must set Mr. Curran right Mr. Lyster saM he had heard Iilake would be here, but not in time to prepare himself. Mr. Curran — But what said Mrs. Hatchell ? Was the production o. Ihat witness a surprise upon Mr. Lyster? Her cross-examination shows Die fact to be the contrary. The learned counsel, vou see. was ppr- 180 FOR A. H. ROTVAJV. fectly apprised of a chain of pnrate circumstances, to which he pointed his questions. This lady's daughter was married to the elder brother of the witness Lystor. Did he know these circumstances by inspiration ? No ; they could come only from Lyster himself. I insist, therefore, that the gentleman knew his character was to be impeached ; Jiis counsel knew it, and not a single witness has been produced to support it. Then consider, gentlemen, upon what ground can you find a verdict of convic- tion against my client, when the only witness produced to the fact of publication is impeached, without even an attempt to defend his charac- ter ? Many hundreds, he said, were at that meeting. Why not pro- duce one of them, to swear to the fact of such a meeting? One he has ^rentured to name ; but he was certainly very safe in naming a person, who, he has told you, is not in the kingdom, and could not, therefore, be called to confront him. Gentlemen, let me suggest another observation or two, if still you hare any doubt as to the guilt or innocence of the defendant. Give me leave to suggest to you what circumstances you ought to consider, in order to found your verdict. You should consider the character of the person accused ; and in this your task is easy. I will venture to say, there is not a man in this nation more linown than the gentleman who is the subject of this prosecution ; not only by the part he has taken in public concerns, and which he has taken in common with many, but still more so, by that extraordinary sympathy for human affliction, which, I am sorry to think, he shares with so small a number. There is not a day that you hear the cries of your starving manufacturers in jour streets, that you do not also see the advocate of theii' sulferings— that you do not see his honest and manly figure, with uncovered head, soliciting for their relief — searching the frozen heart of charity for every itring that can be touched by compassion, and urging the force of every argument and every motive, save that which his modesty suppresses, the authority of his own generous example. Or if you see him not there, you may trace his steps to the private abode of disease, and famine, and despair — the messenger of heaven, bringing with him food, and jQedicine, and consolation. Are these the materials of which you sup- pose anarchy and public rapine to be formed? Is this the man on «vhom to fasten the abominable charge of goading on a frantic populace to mutiny and bloodshed ? Is this the man likely to apostatize from every principle that can bind him to the state — his birth, his property, his education, his character, and his children ? Let me tell you, gen- tlemen of the jury, if you agree with his prosecutors, in thinking that there ought to be a sacrifice of such a man on such an occasion — and upon the credit of such evidence you are to convict him — never did yon. never can you give a sentence, consigning any man to public punishmeat, with less danger to his person or to his fame : for where could the hu-e- ling be found to fling contumely oi ingratitude at his head, whose pri- vate distresses he had not endeavoured to alleviate, or whose pubUc noxh. dition he had not laboured to improve ? I cannot, however, avoid reverting to a circumptance that distmguishe» FOB iv. II. ROWAN. 18. ihe ca3e of 'Mr. Rowan from tliai of the late aacnfice in a neigbbourins' kiag-dora.* The se^ ever law of that coimlry, it seems — and happy for them that 't should— enables them to remove from their sight the victim of theii iiiffttuation. The more merciful spirit of our law deprives you of that conaolation ; bis suflferings must remain for ever before our eyes, a con- tioual call upon your shame and your remorse. But those sufferingf mil do more ; they will not rest satisfied with your unavailing contritioii — they will challenge the great and paramount inquest of society — the man will be weighed against the charge, the witness, and the sentence — and impartial justice will demand, why has an Irish jury done thi? deed ? The moment he ceases to be regarded as a criminal, he becomel of necessity an accuser ; and let me ask you, what can your most zeal- ous defenders be prepared to answer to such a charge ? When youi sentence shall have sent him forth to tbat stage, which guilt alone can render infamous, let me tell you, he will not be like a little statue upon a mighty pedestal, diminishing by elevation ; but he will stand a strik- ing and imposing object npon a monument, which, if it does not (and ic cannot) record the atrocity of his crime, must record the atrocity of his. conviction. Upon this subject, therefore, credit me when I say, that 1 am st. more anxious for you than I can possibly be for him. 1 cannot but fe(^. the peculiarity of your situation. Not the jury of his own choice, which the law of England allows, but which ours refuses ; collected in that Oox by a person certainly no friend to Mr. Rowanf — certainly not very deeply interested in giving him a very impartial jury. Feeling tliis, B.S I am persuaded you do, you cannot be surprised, however you may be distressed, at the mommful presage with which an anxious public is led to fear tlie worst from your possible determination. But I will not, fur the justice and honour of our common country, suffer my mind to be borne away by such melancholy anticipation. I will not relinquish th<^ confidence that this day will be the period of his sufferings ; and, how- ever mercilessly he has been hitherto pursued, that your verdict wil Bend him home to the arms of his family, and the wislies of his country But if, which heaven forbid! it hath still been unfortunately determined, that because he has not bent to power and authority, because he would not bow down before the golden calf, and worship it, he is to be bound and cast into the furnace ; I do trust in God, that there is a redeem. 'ng spirit in the constitution, which will be seen to walk with the •'ufferer through the flames, and to preserve him unhurt by the confla- gration. Upon leanng the court, Mr. Ciirran was drawn home by the popalace, wb: toot lb« horses from his can-iage. . At tlie close of Curra^i's speech there -vvas another shont of admiration and sympatby which. Lord Clonmel with difiSciilty stopped. Tlie Attorney-General (most irregularly) ^tpoiie In defence of his own character, against the charge of oppressive delay, and then i^risab-Sergeaut the Hon. James Fitzgerald replied to Curran. Lord Clonmel (Chief Ju»- • SeoHf Tid, from whence Messn's. aiuir. Palmer, aad others, were transported *'. sedition t Qiffoid, tb« Sheriff. 182 FOR A. n. ROWAN. hte) charged the jury violently against Mr Rowan. In tlils charge he used the fouowlng vords, omitted in the editions of the tilala, htt g^von In Curran's Memoirs, by his Son, /ol. L, p. S47 :— " One himdred and fifty Volunteers, or United Irishmen, and not one comes forward I Many of them would have been proud to assist him (the traverser.) Their silence speakt a thousand times more strongly than any cavilling upon this man's credit -the silence of i%Kh a number is a volume of evidence in support of the prosecution." Justice (afterwards Lord) Do^vnes also charged, and the Jury, in t minutes, found a verdict of Guilty. The following scene then occurred : — " Lord Clonmel— Do the Counsel for the defendant desire four davs' time to move tu Hirest of judgment? " Mr. Curran— The only instructions I have from my client pre to disclaim any applica- tion of that kind : he does not wisli to take advantage of eiTors in the record, if any Ihene be ; but is. now readv to attend to receive what sentence the coiu-t may be pleasfid to pro- ^nnce. " Lord Clonmel— (After conferring with the other judges)— We will not pronounce juSg- luent till four days. Mr. Sheiiff, take care of your prisoner. " The Counsel "for Mr. Rowan here objected, that he was not a prisoner — he had not beer n custody; he had not given bail upon this information ; he was bound in no rccognl- eance; was served with no process; he had appeared to the information by attorney; b« pleaded by attorney ; the issue was tried after the manner of a civil action, a word merely of the record being read, and the defendant was not given in charge to the jury, as the practice is, where he appears in custody. Mr. Rowan attended the trial, it is true, but tti» court had no judicial cognizance of him ; the information could have been tried In his absence ; he attended as a common auditor, and ths witness being called upon to point lilia out at the desire of the bench, miglit have been a satisfaction to tliem to see that the viit- neases were speaking of the same person, but it was altogetlier unprecedented in sucS ca&es as the present. Mr. Rowan was ready for sentence ; he claims no indulgence, does not insist upon the four-day rule; but if tlie comt, for their o-vvn accommodation, choose to defer the sentence for four days, they have no legal authority for sending Mr. Rowan M prison, until sentence is pronomiced, or tbe tisual and accustomed process issued against " Lord Clonmel — If the Attorney-General consents. I have no objection. "The Attorney-General liad left the court, and the Solicitor for the Crown remained EQeut " Lord Clonmel— Tlie defendant is a convict, as such he Is a prisoner ; the law must have its course. Adjourn the court. "Accordingly the court was adjourned- "Mr. Rowan was conveyed to the New Prison, attended by both the Sherlfifs and & for- aAidable array of horse and foot guards." — Mac Nevin's State I'rials, p. 122. February/ 3rd, 1794. Affidavits were read in court, to prove that one of the jury was avowedly hobtil February ^ih, 1794. The Recorder applied to set aside the verdict given in f lie cane of Archibald Hamilton Kowan, Esq. The application was grounded upon different affidavits sworn In court, Aarging, lst>— One of the jurors ^^ith a declaration agauist Mr. Rowan, previous to tri&i. tndly— Partiality in one of the high sheriffs. Srdly— That John Lyster, the primsiptl evi- dence, was not to be behoved upon his oath \ be, as the afladavits stated, having been guilty d perjury. And 4tli]y— upon which the learned gentleman rested his case — the mls<^ilroC- don of the court After much discussion, Mr. Cuxran followed on the same side, and eaid : — It was an early ideaj tliat a verdict in a criminal case could not be aet a.side ineonsulto rege ; but the law had stood otherwise, without a doubt to impeach its principle, for the last two reigns. Comnioii sense would say, that the discretion of the court should go at least as far in criminal as in civil cases, and very often to go no further would be to stop far short of what was right, as in those great questions where the prosecution may be considered either as an attempt to exdnguial: liberty, or as a necessary measure for th*^ J;'ur^3<^'''^ of renr«iiintr thf TOLL A. II. ROWAN. 1 83 vfiulence of public licentiousness and dangerous faction ; where there UBJi be no alternative between guilt or martyrdom ; where the partj prosecuted must either be considered as a culprit sinking beneath the punishment of his own crimes, or a victim sacrificed to the vices of others. But when it clearly appears that the party has fallen a prey tc Persecuting combination, there remains but one melancholy q^uestion— row far did that combination reach ? There have been two cases lately decided in this rery court ; the King and Pentland, where the mdtion was maae and refused ; and the King and Bowen, where it was granted ; both of which show, that cap- tious sophistry and technical pedantry have here, as well as in England, giyen way to liberal and rational inquiry ; and that the court will not Bow, in their discretion, refuse a motion of this kind, unless they can, JA the same time, lay their hands upon their hearts, and say, thej believe in their consciences, that justice has been done : such was the manly language of one of your lordships [Mr. Justice Downes], and 6uch the opinion of the court on a former occasion. He then cited 7 3Iodem 57, as referred to in Bacon tit. Trial, to sliow, taat -vrhere there wai«good ground of challenge to a juror, not known at the trial, it waa sufficient cauie for Mtting aside the verdict. In England they have a particular act of parhament, entitling the party to strike a special jury to try the fact, and then he has time between the striking and the trial to question the propriety of that jury ; here my client had no information, till the instant of trial, who hsa rarors were to be. There are certain indulgences granted at times, perhaps by the con- nivance of humanity, vhich men who are not entitled to demand tnem m an open court, obtain, nevertheless, by sidelong means ; and perhaps the little breach which affords that light to the mind of the man accuse^ is a circumstance concerning which the court would feel pain, even ir called upon to say, that it should in all cases be prevented ; but to ovw« turn principles and authorities, for the purpose of oppressmg the riIk ject, is what this court will never do. The first of the aflSdavits I shall consider, is that of the traverser. — I do not recollect whether it states the sheriff, in avowed terms, to bfl an emissary or a hireling agent of the castle, therefore I do not st&ta it from the affidavit ; but he swears that he does believe that he did labour to bring into the box a jury full of prejudices, and of the blackest impressions ; instead of having, as they ought, fair and impartial minds, and souls Hke white paper. This sheriff now stands in court ; he might have denied it, if he would,' he had an opportunity of answering it ; but he has left it an undenied ">ssertion — lie was not certainly obliged to answer it ; for no man is jound to convict himself. But there is a part of that charge which amounts at least to this :— " Your heart was poisoned against me, and you collected those to be my judges, who, if they could not be under the dominion of bad dispositions, might be, at least, the dupes of good." The most favourable thing that can be said is this, you sought to biing gainst me honest preju'ltcfts. but yo'i brought against me wicked onee ;84 «'0& A. H. ROWAN. The very general charge that ho Bought for persons fdiOy he kuoJir, were most likely to brmg prejudicea- with them into the jury hex, is a part of the affidavit that it was incumbent on him to answer if he could. I do not contend, that what is charged in the affidavit would hare been a ground of principal challenge to the array ; but I hold if. to be the better opinion, that a challenge to the array for favour does well lie in the mouth of the defendant. The ancient notion was, you shall iiot challenge the array for favour, where the King is a party ; the King only can challenge for favour ; for the principle was, that CTery man ought to be favourable to the crown : but, thank God, the advance- ment of legal knowledge, and the growing understanding of the age, have dissipated such illiberal and mischievous conceptions. But I am putting too much stress upon such technical, discarded, and antiquated scruples. The true question ha? been already stared from the authority of Mr. Justice Downes, and that question m — " lla^ jusliee been done ?" It is a matter upon which scarce any understanding would condesoeud to hesitate, whether a man had been fairly tried, whose triors had been collected together by an avowed enemy, whose conduct had been such fcs to leave no doubt that he had purposely brought prejudiced men int^j the box. In every country where freedom obtains, there must subsist parties. in. this country, and Great Britain, I trust there never will be a tmie when there shall not be men found zealous for the actual government of the day. So, on the other hand, I trust there wiU never be a time, when there will not be found men zealous and enthusiastic in the cause of popular freedom, and of the public rights. If, therefore, a persoa in public office suffers his own prejudices, however honestly anxious he may be for a prosecution carried on by those to whom he is attached, to influence him so far as to choose men, to his knowledge devoted to the principles he espouses, it is an error which a High Court of Judi- cature, seeking to do right justice, will not fail to correct A sheriff, in such a case, might not have perceived the partiality of bis conduct, because he was surveying through the medium of prejudice and habitual corruption ; but it is impossible to think that this sheriff meant to be impartial ; it is an interpretation more favourable than hia conduct will allow of ; if he deserves any credit at all, it is for not answering the charge made against him ; at the same time, that, by .aot answering it, he has left unimpeached the credit of the charge itf elf. The sheriff here tendered some form of an aftldavit, which the court would not al'.ow to be sworn or read, for the same reason, that those sw.'m and tendered hy the defendant'* counsel, had heen before refused. Mr. Curran, however, consented to its being sworr; and read, which the Attorney-General declined, being unacquainted with "the contentj, and nainstructed as to its tendency ; it, therefore, was not sworn. Mr. Curran proceeded — Is this, then, the way to meet a fur appli- cation to the court, to see whether justice has been done between the subject and the crown ? I offer it again, let the affidaNit be read. — And let me remind the court, that the great reason for ^ending a cause bskck to a jury is, that new ii^hi utuai be abed upon it ; end how mufct FOR A. H. nowAif. 135 ytmr lordyhips feei, when you see that indulgence granted to the con science of the jury denied to the court ? Mr Attornej'-Ger.eral — I am concerned that any laivj'er should make a proposition ia the manner Mr. Ciu-rnn has done ; he proposes to liave an affidavit read, provided we con- uent that others, which tlie court have already refused, should he now read.* I did not hear it offered ; but is it to be presumed that I will consent to have an affidavit read, about which I know notliing? Yesterday, without any communication Avith a liuman being, I Jid say, tliat I conceived it unnecessary to answer any of tJie affidavits, thinking that thej were not sufficient to ground the application made to the court And it is presumed I am MO mad as to consent to the reading of affidavits Avliich I have not seen. Some altercatii^n here took place, when Lord Clonmel, Chief Justice, intei-posed, and said, that tlie counsel luyJ certainly a right to argue it on the ground that tlie sheriff was biassed, and did return a jury pi^-Jadiced against the traverser. Mr. Curran was about to observe upon the expression of one of the jury, sworn to in another affidavit, " that there would be no safety in tlie countiy, until tlie defendant vrae eitlier hanged or banished," when it was asked by the court, whetlier the time of its coming to tlie kiiowledge of the traverser, tluit the sheriff was biassed, was stated in his alfldaTitV Mr. Curran — lie was in prison, and could not have the attendance of those counsel whose assistance he had in court ; and, besides, from the nature of the circumstances, it was impossible he could have beer sufliciently apprised of its consequences, for he saw not that panel tlT. the day of the trial, when he could not have had time to make ai" inquiry into the characters, dispositions, or connexions of the jury. If triors had been appointed to determine the issue, favourable or not what would have been their finding ? Could they say upon their oaths, that he was not unfavourable to that party against whom he could make such a declaration ? Favour is not cause of principal challenge, which, if put upon a plead iug, would conclude the party. Favour is that which makes the man, in v'llgar parlance, unfit to try the question. And as to the time these facts came to his knowledge, he has sworn that he was utterly ignorant of them at the time of his coming into court to take his trial. I will not glance at the character of any absent noble person, high in office ; but let it be remembered, that it is a government prosecution, and that the witness has, from a low and handicap situation, scraped himself into preferment, perliaps — for I will put the best construction upon it — by offering liimself as a man honestly anxious for the welfare of his country ; in short, it is too obvious to require any comment, what the nature of the whole transaction has been, that he got his commission aa a compensation pro lahore impendendo, and came afterwards into court, to pay down the stipulated purchase. Had tliis, then, been an unbiassed jury, was there not something in all these circumstances, that might have afforded more deliberation tiial tiiat of one minute per man, for only so long was the jury out? and, liad this been a fair witness, would he have lain down under a chaf^" which, if true, ought not only to damn this verdict, but his cliaracier for ever ? What would a corps of brother-officers think of a person, charged upon oath with the commission of two wilful perjuries, and that charge remaining undenied ? Here is an undenied cliarge, in point .if fact ; and although I do not call upon the court to eay, that this is ? * Mr. Attorney-General, it may be proper to observe, mistook llr. Can-an'e prortWHt which v/Miua tiBQualified offer to iiave Mr. Gifford's Rffldavj; read. 186 If on A. H. ROWAN. guilty and abominable person, yet surely the suspicion, is strongly so, &nd must be considered. This was at least a verdict where the evidence we?nt to the jury, under slighter blemishes than it will if my client ba.^ the advantage of another trial ; for then he will put it out of the power of man to doubt that this witness has been perjured — this witness, who has had notice both here and at the trial, of the aspersions on his cha- racter, and yet has not called a human being to say that he entertained a contrary opinion of him. Was he known any where ? Did he crawl unobserved to the castle "^ Was it without the aid or knowledge of any body that that gaudy plumage grew on him, in which he appeared in court? If he waa i:nown for any thing else than what he is stated to be, it was, upou that day, almost a physical impossibility, in a court-house, which almosf contained the country, not to have found some person, to give some Bort of testimony respecting his ger.eral character. For though no man is bound to be ready at all times a answer particular charges, yel every man is supposed to come with jij ^-iblic attestation of common and general probity. But he has left that daracter, upon the merits of which my client is convicted, unsupported, even by his own poor corporal swearing. You are called upon, then, to say, whether, upon the evidence of a being of this kind, such a man as that is to be con- victed, and sentenced to punishment, in a couniry where humanity k the leading feature even of tke criminal law. I have now to deal with the evidence of the second witness. A maa coming to support the credit of another collaterally, is himself particu- larly pledged ; then, what was his testimony ? He did not know whether Mr. Gifford was concerned in the newspaper ! And now, you have the silence of Giflford himself, in not answering Mr. Rowan'6 affidavit, to contradict that. And next, he did not know whether his own cousin-german was the relation of their common uncle I I cal] upon you, my lords, in the name of sacred justice and your country tr declare whether the melancholy scenes and murderous plots of the Meal tub and the Rye-house are to be acted over again ; and whether f'very Titua Gates that can be found is to be called into your courts, as the common vouchee of base and perjured accusation. I also conceive, my lords, that the direction of the court was not agreeable to the law of Ireland. The defence of my client was rested upon this : that there was no evidence of the fact of publication ; upon the incredibility of the fact ; and the cireumstances of discredit in the character of the witness : yet the court made thiss observation : " Gen- tlemen, it scarcely lies in the mouth of Mr. Rowan to build a defence upon objections of this kind to the characters of witnesses, because tiit fact was public ; there were many there : the room was crowded below, the gallery was crowded above; 'and the pubKcity of the fact enabled him to produce a number of witnesses to falsify the assertion of the pvosecutor, if, in fact, it could be falsified '" Is that the principle nf criminal law ? Is it a part of the British law, that the fate of the accused shall abide, not the positive establishment of guilt by the prosecutor, but the negative nroot of mnneencp bv himself^ Why has it been said FOB A. H. ROWAN. 187 m foolish old books, that the law supposes the innocence of every man, till the contrary is proved ? How has it happened that that lang-uage has been admired for ita humanity, and not laughed at for its absurdity, tn which tlie prayers of the court are addressed to heaven for the safe deliverance of tiie man accused ? How comes it that so much public time is wasted in g-oing* into evidence of guilt, if the bare accusa- tion of a man did call upon him to go into evidence of his innocence ? The force of the observation is tins. Mi*. Rowan impeaches the credi of a witness, who has sworn that he saw him present, and doing certan? acta, at a certain meeting ; but it is asked, has he substantiated tha' discredit, by calling all the persons who were present to prove his absence from that meeting, which is only stated to have existed by a witness whom he alleges to have perjured himself? 1 call upon the example of judicial character ; upon tbe faith of that high office, which is never so dignified as wlieu it sees its errors and corrects them, to say, tho.t the court vv^as for a moment led away, so as to argue from the most seductive of all sophisms, that of the petitio principii. See what meaning is to be gathered from such words : we say the \ihole, that this man iias sworn, is a consummate He ; show it to be bo, says the court, by ^^dmitting a part of it to be true. It is a false swear- ing ; it is a conspiracy of two witnesses against this defendant ; well, then, it lies upon him to rebut their testimony, by proving a great dea. of it to be true ! Is conjecture, then, in eriminal cases, to stand in the place of truth and demonstration ? Why were not some of those (I will strip the case of the honour of names which I respect), but why were not some of those, who knew that these two persons were to be brought forward, and that there were to be objections to their credit, if, as it ii stated, it happened in the presence of a public crowd, rushing in from motives of curiosity, why were not numbers called on to establish that fact? On the contrary, the court have said to this effect: ISIr. Rowan, you say you were not there ; produce any of those persons with whom you were there, to swear you were not there ! You say it was a perjury; if so, produce the people, that he has perjured himself in swearing to have been there ! But as to your own being there, you can easily show the contrary of that, by producing some man that you saw there You say you were not there ! Yes. There were one hundred and fifty persons there : now produce any one of those to swear they saw you there 1 It is impossible for the human mind to suppose a case, in which mfatuation must have prevailed in a more progressive degree, than when a jury are thus, in fact, directed to receive no refutation nor proof >f the perjury of the witness, but only of his truth. We will permit you to deny the charge, by establishing the fact : we will permit you to prove that they swore falsely to your being there, by producing another wit« aess to prove to a certainty that you were there. Mr. Curran -was here interrupted by Lord Chief Justice ClonmeL Lord Clonmel — The reasoning of tlie court was strong upon that point: this is a tranajo- don stated by the witness to have liappened in open day, in a croVded assembly, in tbfe capital, amidst a number of persons dressed in the uniform of Hamilton Rowan. There t«s beeii nothing smldenlv brought forward to sui'prise the irdverser; yet what haa I-* 188 rCR A. H. ROWAN. done? Did ne offer, as In the common conruc to prove an nlibi r It iw stated to be «tt trndh a day. Lhe witness 'jW2ars at such an hour ; tlio place is sworri to have been full of peopla, 5f Mr. Rownn's fi-Iei.ds; but if there was even a partial assembly, it would be easy still to prcdace some one of those persons who were present, to saj', that the fVxct did not.happen which has teen sworn to ; or if you say Mr. Rowan was not thcMe, it is easier stil. to prove It, by 8ho%\ing where he was; as thus: I breakfasted with lum, I dined vith him. I inpped with him; he was with me, he was not at Furdon'g :disprove that assertion, by proving an affli-matlon inconsistent \vith it. Mr. Curran — I beg leave to remind the court of what fell from it. ** He may call," said the court, " auy of those persons ; he has uot produced one of them ;" upon this, I think, a most material point does Lang. " He might have called them, for they were all of his own party." Lord Clonmel— That is, if there were such persons there, or if there M-as no meeting &i Ui, he might have proved that Mr. Curran— There was no such idea put to the jury, as whether there was a meeting or not : it was said they were all of his party, he might have produced them ; and the non-production of them was a '■* volume of evidence" upon that point. No refinement can avoid thia conclusion, that, even as your lordship now states the charge, the fate of the man must depend upon proving the negative. Until the credit of the witness was established, he could not be ■»lled upon to bring any contrary evidence. What does the duty of every counsel dictate to him, if the case is not made out by his adver- sarj' or prosecutor ? Let it rest ; tlie court is bound to tell the jury so, and the jury are bound to find him not guilty. It is a most unshaken uaxim, that nemo tenetiir prodere seipsiim. And it would indeed be a very inquisitorial exercise of power, to call upon a man to run the risk of confirming the charge, under the penalty of being convicted by nil dicit. Surely, at the criminal side of this court, as yet, tliere has been no such judgment pronounced. It is only when the party stands mute fttjm malice, that such extremes can be resorted to. I never before heard an intimation from any judge to a jury, that bad evidence, liable to any and every exception, ought to receive a sanction from the silence of the party. The substance of the charge was neither more nor less than this : that the falsehood of the evidence shall receive support and credit from the silence of the man accused. With anxiety for the honour 6,nd religion of the law, I demand it of you, must not the jury Lave landerstood that this silence was evidence to go to them ? is the mean- ing contained in the expression, " a volume of evidence," only insiniia- ion ? I do not know where any man could be safe ; I do not know wrhat any man could do to screen himself from prosecution; I know not how he could be sure, even when he was at his prayers before the throne of heaven, that he was not passing that moment of his life, on which he i'as to be charged with the commission of some crime, to be expiated io society by tlie forfeiture of his liberty or of his life ; I do not know what shall become of the subject, if a jury are to be told that the silence of the man charged is a '* volume of evidence" tliat he is guilty of thT crime : where is it written ? I know there is a place where vulgar ^"enzy cries out., that the public instrument must be drenched in blood j Vhere defence is gagged, and the devoted wretch must perish. Biit isvon there, the ^nctim of sucli tyranny is not made to fill, by voluntary ]l\jR A. n. BO WAV. 189 alienee, the defects of his accusation ; for hi? tongue is tied, and thero- fore, no advantage Ls taken of him by construction ; it cannot be there said that his not speaking is a Tolume of evidence to prove his guilt. But to avoid all misunderstanding, see what is the force of my objeo tion : is it, that the charge of the court cannot receive a practicable interpretation, that may not terrify men's minds with ideas such as I have presented ? No ; I am saying no such thing : I have lived too loug, and observed too much, not to know, that every word in a phraae is one of the feet upon which it runs, and how the shortening or length- ening of one of those feet will alter the progress or direction of ite motion. I am not arguing that the charge of the court cannot by any possibility be reconciled to the principles of law; I am agitating a more important question ; I am putting it to the conscience of the court whether a jury may not have probably collected the same meaning . from it which I have affixed to it ; and whether there ought not to have been a volume of explanation, to do away the fatal consequences of such mistake. On what sort of a case am I now speaking ? on one of that kind with which it is knovni the public heart has been beating for many months ; which, from a single being in society, has scarcely received a cool or tranquil examination. I am making that sort of application which the expansion of liberal reason and the decay of technical bigotry have made a favoured application. In earlier times, it might have been thought sacrilege to have meddled with a verdict once pronounced ; since then, the true principles of jus- tice have been better understood ; so that now, the whole wisdom of the wliole court will have an opportunity of looking over that verdict, and Betting right the mistake which has occasioned it. -Mr. Cun-an made other observations, as well in corroboration of his own remarks, as in answer to the opposite counsel, of wliich it Ls impossible to give an exact detail, and con- cluded : — You are standing on the scanty isthmus that divides the great ocean of duration, on one side of the past, on the other of the future ; a ground that, while you yet hear me, is washed from beneath our feet. Let me remind you, my lords, while your determination is yet in your power, <•' TJum cersatiir adhuc intra penetralia Vestce," that on that ocean of future you must set your judgment afloat. And future ages will assume the same authority which you have assumed ; posterity feel the same emotions which you have felt, when your little hearts have beaten, and your infant eyes have overflowed, at reading the sad history of the sufi ferings of a Russell or a Sidney. Similar applause followed this speech. On the 5th the crown counsel argued at much .engtli against the application, and on the 7th Clonrael and Boyd gave judgment >igi.h'\st it; and then Boyd sentenced Rowail to a nne of £500, and two years' imprisonment, from the 29th of January, 1704, and to find security, liimseif in £2,000, and two sui-etics in £1,000 each. Kowau escaped, and went to France.' ♦ See Mac Nevin's Statr*. Trial?, Midden's Unit^ Irishmen, &?id Rowan's Antolloej^pby. tjlt»^o(fore you; if that shall be necessary, one of the learned gentlemen here will do so. There are few general circumstances upon which to obs jrve, from Uie facts related in evidence. The state of the country, for some time pafit, and particularly the state of that body of your fellow-subj cts against *'hom suspicion and calumny seem to have been directed, tre circum- jU*nces that must here be observed upon, and cannot fail of exciting ii A DElTfilNDERS. 198 With concern, brought against a description of persons, the calamities of vhose ancestors must have peculiarly influenced to a demeanour directly .he contrary. However ruinous the charges against the individuals may be, that Uone does not terminate the mischief. These reports will go abroad^ they will be carried to the seat of government ; and it is impossible to say what impressions may be made there to the disadvantage of a great portion of our countrymen. But would to God the powers in England were present this day, to hear the charges made against a respectable body of persons, and the manner in which they have been attempted to be proved. It belongs to me to speak only of three persons — Mr. Bird, Mr. Haraill, and Mr. Delahoyde. It is not the unhoused vili-uLi aLd profli- gate vagabond upon whom you sit in judgment. It is the opulent and respectable merchant — the man who owes every thing to his public character. This is the description of men to be tried. It cannot possibly be imagined, that the plan had bc?"^. irrined to excite previous prejudices in their favour. If it was, the manner of their arrest and subsequent treatment shows them to have been much disappointed. ^Ir. Bird was taken out of his bed at eleven o'clock at night, and brought to the capital under a military guard, after a very uncomfortable imprisonment of one night in the Town-house. He vres not indulged in the common decencies of imprisonment — nor sufiered to enjoy the visits of his friends ! — an indulgence permitted to the most flagitious criminals however low the description. Pen and ink were denied him ; and he was brought to the capital, and there lodged among the vilest malefactors. He applied to the court of King's Bench to be admitted to bail, fancying from his character he would be admitted. That was denied him. From this, it might be imagined that there was some respectable witness or prosecutor of character to crimmate him. You hare all seen and heard them. I certainly consider, that ^rhen crimes of this kind are committed, it must be necessary that some of the parties concerned should turn approver. I am well aware, that to shut out such from examination, would be to stop public j ustice ; but yet, I did imagine, that in the pre- sent case some respectable witness would come forward to disclose the turpitude of the offence. To support the enormous charges in the indictment, one Murphy has been produced. But, as gentlemen who are chosen to decide on a matter, upon the issue of which the safety of a great part of the population of Ireland depends, I ask you, is there safety for the hfe of any man, if the testimony of sucli a witness has weight in a court of justice ? Upon his examination he declared to the learned judge, that he had been examined before at Duudalk, and acknowledged that there the jury showed no respect to his evidence; and, therefore, he did not wish to be examined. On the evidence of a man having such apprehensions of himself, a jury should decide with extreme caution. The man to be believed by a respectablp jury, against respectable persons, is Murphy, confessedly a robber by character, tried twice in a/'v/ier coimty ujion charges of a ^gitious nature, and dJ£* 194 DROGETEDA DEFENDEItS. cliarged out of court by proclamation. If you believe him, you must credit the testimony of a man who acknowledges himself to have fired shots into the house of Mr. M/Cliutock, with an intent to commit murder. When the pro:^ecutor lodged these examinations, it appears, he wa« in gaol, in actual custody. It is now for you to consider, whether, in your unbiassed judgment, the story hangs well together. Mr. Bird and Mr. Hamill, it h well known, exerted themselves much in forwarding the cause of the Roman Catholics. You are told tliese gentlemen formed committees in ale-houses — that they there associated with the vilest miscrei^nts, to assassinate the Protestants of the land, at a time when the object they had in view was going on prosperously in tho legislature of the nation ! Is it likely that, at su6h a period, they would form a plot for the extermination of their Protestant fellow-subjects ? Such a supposition is contrary to common sense. Is it likely, that a country reduced to such an unhappy state, that manufacturers are in a state of requisit'^a Cy the fabrication of arms, should be considered an eligible markt^. Tor their pmchase ? It is to me peeuliarly nauseous to take up much jf your time in describing the character of a wretch like Murphy ; I shoJ, therefore, proceed to the matter most worthy of your consideratio L Some of the jury who sit here to-day gat in this court yesterday. They uivdt have heard the observations made by tho learned judge wh ^resL!.-.^ « If (said the learned judge) a witness forswears himself in any material circumstance, making a substantive part of the accusation upon which the prosecution is grounded, the res( of his evidence, although it may be true, should be discredited." speak this in the recollection of several gentlemen present. If I havc stated it wrong, I am sure they will set me right. Gentlemen, I nov call upon you to put this principle in practice. Murphy swore in hi? examinations that he saw money distributed at the committee upou several times and occasions, and that all the persons charged gave tho examinant money at several times. Does not all this appear from his own evidence to be false ? Gentlemen, upon such an occasion as this, there is no man but may be drawn beyond the line of calm discussion. For that reason, I havo studiously endeavoured to argue the subject coolly, and, therefore, to come to a cool examination of facts. Did Murphy, in his examination, Lwear he got money from all the traversers at the bar, and did he, on the table, swear he ;;ot money but from one ? And is there any jury that will be so base iv^ to found a conviction upon such evidence .'' I am well aware, gentlemen, that nothing is more strongly corroborative of t,he truth of an evidence, than little accidental deviations in immaterial circumstances. The present must appear to you, however, quite a con- trary case. "What has he said of arms ? In his examination it is stated that he saw a box of arms hmded at Aiinagassin, and distributed. What has he said himself on tlio table ? That he did not see them distributed, but laid against a wall. Is this no material circumstance in the prose- cution ? If you ask is It material, I tell you it is. It is a part of the charge, for procuring and dibtii bating arms for the abolition of the nnOGHEDA DEFENDERS 196" Protestflnt government. I speak in the presence ot the court, and in the presence of a right honourable gentleman, my personal respect for whom prevents me from saymg what he knows I think of his conduct The procuring of arms for the purpose specified is a circumstance highly material to the prosecution ; it amounts to an act of High Treason.— I mention this, to show, upon that fact, you have certain evidence of perjury. You have better evidence of the fact, than if he had been indicted for perjury— you have the man confronted by his own bath When a man swears two ways upon the same fact, it is physically impos- sible that he should not be perjured. There is another person brought forward as a witness in this prosecu- tion, whose state in society it is difficult to ascertain. He was indicted — tried — convicted — pardoned — enlisted — deserted — retaken — brought to gaol — and becomes an approver I If, gentlemen, you apply the same rule to this man, you are to consider has he also perjured himself in a material fact. Gentlemen, it is for you to exercise your judgment in this affair. I had not the informations. It was impossible for me t<8 know any thing about Tiernan — impossible for me to be acquainted with the fact of his having lodged an information against him, as he denied it on the table. In the information read by his lordship, the esaminant says, he knew the place of Tiernan's abode — that he has been acquainted with him intimately for six years — and saw him frequently at the Defenders' committees, in company with the traversers. What is his evidence now ? Directly the reverse. You have heard him swear that he never saw Tiernan at any of the meetings. You have heard more — ^you have beard him swear that he never swore so. His lordship sked him, could he have sworn to that effect and forgotten it? He bwears positively not. Here is a direct and irreconcileable contradic- tion between his examination, sworn before a magistrate, and his tes- timony on this table. And liere, gentlemen, you must be convinced that it is impossible he could be forsworn in so material a fact, if not intentionally. You must see clearly that he is deliberately forsworn. Indeed, if it was not known by unfortunate experience, and particn- iarly in many recent instances, it could scarcely be conceived that such abominable turpitude could find place in any human being. It could scarcely be conceived, that any being, endued with a rational and immortal soul, would deliberately come forward to forswear himself in a court .^f justice, and, in the face of heaven, to " bear false witness against his neighbour," under such circumstances, as if credited, must cause the life of the accused to be forfeited. Such acta can only proceed from minds the most obdurate. If you see this done in the present cas^ you must consider it a crime against a great body of your fellow-subjecte. and tending directly to disunite the people. It must be of high consi- deration to you, that when you acquit, you will be able to say, you do not merely acquit because you cannot condemn ; but you acquit firom a secondary motive, of discountenancing the persecution of any particu- lar description of people. The gentlemen here to-day at your bar are merchants — men, whose uiost valual)le pronerty is the integrity of their characters. Tbftv have \99 DOCTOU DBEANAir jorrespondenos in foreign countries — in Great Britain, for instance. — What effect, then, must it have, when read in foreign newspapers, that gttch and such men were taken up, to be tried for rebellion against the Ikws of the country where they live ? How will any merchant in Eng- land be able to discover, wLether they may not really be guilty of ihi. VSimQ against society with which they are charged ? « I know, from recent experience, that an acquittal, however honour- ible, does not wipe off the aspersion which such charges cast on men's characters. I have particularly experienced it in a neighbouring county. I haye there been asked, did I not think Fay had a lucky escape ! .1 am aware, gentlemen, you must hare a conviction that what has been brought forward in evidence is false ; but where allegations of this so. j are made, it is proper to try them in the most public manner. I kno .v your characters, and I think you will not content yourselves with a mere acquittal. It should not be alone ; it should be accompanied by some- thing calculated to do away the unjust imputations upon the characters of the accused. If, however, you consider farther evidence necessary, or feel any dissatisfaction upon your minds, we can produce two or three witnesses. Cmran examined several -witnesses, the Attomey-Q«neral repliad, the Judge difirysd, Wlfl the Jury, in a fe^r minutes, returned a rordict of I^ot Ouilty. The follo-rting slip from the hack of this report may he interesting :— " On Wednesday, the 23rd of April, 179-t, came on also the trial of James Skelton, Eaq^ VLD , of the towi of Drogheda. on an Indictment for haring, on the 30th day of January. In the 33rd year of his Majesty's reign, taken an unlawful oath, to be a true Defender, not being compelled thereto hy any necessity. " To this indictment ilr. Skelton pleaded the genera,! issue— Not GxiHty. " No eridence being produced on behalf of the crown, ** Mr. Cnrrau said— As I understand the learned counsel on behalf of the crown do not mean to bring forward any evidence on the present trial, 1 must consider that circumatmce to be an unanswerable justification of the gentleman accused. " Mr. M'Cartney— My lord, we have reasons for not bringing them forward. " Mr. Skelton was then acquitted, and discharged." DOCTOR DRENNAN. June 25th, 1794. J/nxiAM Deennan, Esq., M.D., was one of the ablest writers and truest patriota dnrlrg the long stnxggle for Irish independence. One of his earliest works was Orellana, or the Let- ters of an Irish Helot, published in 1779, advocating a free constitution, and written with a passionate vigoxir, which greatly aided the cause, and made the writer famous. He was an intimate of Tone's, wlio speaks highly of his powers and resolve, — was an early .member of the Uidted Irish Society,— and, as we have seen in the introduction to Curran'a defence oi Rowan, was the writer of the famous counter-proclamation, beginning "Citizen Soldiera!" He was chairman of the meeting (to which Rowan was secretar)-), at which that document was passed, and was indicted for a seditious libel for ha\'ing published it. The indictment wasfoimd by the City of Dublin Grand Jurj' in Easter Terro, 1794, and contained nino cotmta, but oirlv two wore relied on, viz., the 2nd count, charging; him with puuiishiug tbo libel in " The Hibernian Journal, or Cluronic^e of Liberty," on the 17th of December, 17»3, bnd the 8th count, charging publication generally To thia indictment. Dr. Drcnnftii wa-. in the same term called npou to pleiiJ, The Hon. Mr. Butler, and Mr Lmm«t, aitf/lied u> the court for four davs' timfc to plead, takX »4l^ KVot the imiictmenr DOCTOit DRENNAN. ^ 197 njo-Attomey-Genei-al, on behalf of the crow-n. opposed tlie motion fir time to pleiid, Whiub he insisted was never allowed in case of an indictment. A3 to the copy of ttiS lutUjlraent. if Dr. Diennan had. as his c-ounsel contended, a right to it, he would ottaiu of course, without any such application as this now made. The court was of opinion with the .Ittomey-GeneruJ ; and Dr. Drennan, haviug boev arraigned, traversed the Ir.dictment. The 25th of June (in Trinity tenn) Avas appointed for the trial Wednesday ^ June 25, 1794, ITie court sat at half past ten. Mr. Justice Buyd, having been taken iU, did not preside Dr. Drennan appeared in court with his balL Counsel for the Crown — Right Hon. Prime-Sergeant, Right Hon. Attorney-General Solicitor General, Mr. Frankland, and :Mr. Ruxton. Sohcitor — Mr. Kemmis. Ccunsel for the Traverser— Mr. Curran, Mr. Fletcher, Mr. Emmett. Solicitor — Mr. Dow. lin?. The High Sheriffs returned the venire facias, vrith a panel thereto annexed. The pane hiuing been called over, and twentj'-six gentlemen haA-ing answered to their names, th Clerk of the Crown proceeded to swear the jury Sir John Trail, Knight, was called. Mr. Curvan— iTy lord. I understand that this gentleman has declared an opinion on thsj ii.bject of this prosecution. Right Hon. Attorney-General— I wonder to see these tLings practised again. I though* they would be ashamed of such artifices. I am sure the learned gentleman has been instructed to do this. These things are intended to go abroad, and have an effect on the public mind. If this is a cause of challenge— if it is law, that this is cause of challenge — ".. '. it be made ; let us ha\ e the opinion of the com-t upon it. Mr. Cun-an— My lord, I stand upon nothing but the rule of lavr. If what I said be fact, surely he is not a proper juror to try the cause. If he has a pre-conceived opinion on the fcubject, I would put the question in the mode which the law warrants, by sweaj-ing tha juror. It is true, he is not bound to answer anyJiing to his prejudice ; but "it cannot be to Jiis prejudice to say that he has formed an opbiiom Fonuing an opinion is not a culpable matter in our law; I, therefore, desire to have him sworn. The Attomey-Gei-.eral — The gentleman has a right to challenge if he ha* good ground. Mr. Curran — I more, my lord, that Sir John Trail may be swoni to answer. Lord Clonmel — It cannot be done ; it is not a legal practice. Mr. Justice Downea — I looked into the books on this point on a former occasion. It ia laid down expressly, in Hawkins, that this ought not to be done. Mb. Curran — I cannot support the objection by any other evidence than the gentleman's own, Attomey-Geueral— Surely you might by your iuf^vmer's testimony.* Sir John Trail was sworn. ' Peter Roo, merchant, sworn. Robert Alexander, merchant sworn. WilUam Beeb.v, merchant, sworn. Mark White, merchant, sworn. Jeftrey Foot, merchant, sworn. William Lindsay, merchant, sworn. James Hamilton, merch;Lnt, s'w;,.-n. Benjamin Woodward, merchant, swoni. William Little, merchant, swotk- Mark Bloxham, merchant, sworn. William Galway, merchant. swor.:> The indictment was then read by the Clerk of the Crown, and Dr. Drennan jiven iX! clu'.rgc to the jury. The several counts were deliberately read, and the different copies of tnt abcl scrupu- lously and accm-ately compared with the record by the traversers counse*. No rarianet however appeared. .Air. Ruxton opened the indictment. The Attorney-General stated the case for the prosecution, and called five witnesses to prove that Drennan was chairman of the meeting at which the address was passed, and that it was pubUshed by his (Drennan's) direction. The cliief witness was William Paulei Carey, printer and pubUsher of the "National Evening Star." The Prime-Sergeant ex». mined him in a series of leading questions, to v/hich Curran objected, and got favoarabla decisions, after the questions were answered. Curran cross-examined him at great length making him contradict himself, and fail in his CAidence of the identity of the document read by Drennan and that in the indictment. It appeared that the address was printed in hand-bdl by one M'Allister, but this coidd not be got. However, Carey acknowledged tliaS he was a United Irisnman -, that after the address, he had in the society propoeed taking up »rms, bat had been resisted by Dr. Drennsn, and that being tmcer prosecution, the society bfcd failed to support him. for which reason he was hostile to its members, aad eapcciaUy to lir. JL>rennan. • Tr-kkQ provtJ tl.o trcpriet/ of the chajlr.rie aelbre; he waite-i on me next day ; he told me he was much obliged to me for mv intention— tlat he had been much aggrieved by tlie United Society of Irislimen— bat thai i'f thev would ^ay liis bail, he would quit the Idngdom ; he added, that he did not like eitlicr to turn Loformer against Drennan or lose his liberty, and that a few guineas would bo of influito iervice to him. Did he threaten the traverser at all ? He said that if he did leave the kingdom, he would give Drenuan a flailing before he went ; said I, " Drennan is a delicate little man, and a stroke from a strong man would kill him ; he answered that. " By Jesus, he would tliink it no cnme to assassinate such a villain, who had ruined his peace for eser. and made fc motion to expel liira from the United Society of Irislmien, just" at tJie time they should '-ive supported him ;" some time after this I heard Dr. Drennan was taken up. l>id you see Carey at any time after? He never came near me since. Attorney-General — You may go do'.vn, Mr. Traynor ; I shall not cross-examine you- B. iter some other evidence for the defence, Curran spoke as follows : — •\Iy-Lorcl, and Gentlemen of the Jury — I am of counsel for Doctor \ )rennan, the traverser ; and, gentlemen, I do not, for the sake of my client, regret that my state of health prevents me trespassing- long on your time, or that of the court ; for my heart tells me^ that if he is reduced to stand in need of any eflbrt from talent, that it is impossible, under the circumstances of the case, that he can hope for any assistance from an advocate, where, if there is any danger of conviction, it must arise from what passes in the minds of the jury, and not from any tuhig which has passed in this court. Jt may be a loss to the traverser that he is not aided by the personal exertions of those who are connected with him by habits of life and Viniformity of pursuits. Such a person I am not ; to him I am a perfect ietranger. 1 never, to my knowledge, exchanged a word with him, save once in liie public street. I never was under the same roof with him that I ki>ow of ; and the reason why I yielded to an ordinary applica- tion to become his counsel, was, because I had been personally defamed for acting as counsel in the defence of another, who was charged with the same libel. I felt that my character in the world, little as it may be, was owing all to my professional talents ; and I feel that, if a bar- rister can act ao mean and despicable a part as to decline, from personaJ apprehension, the defence of any man accused, he does not deserve to be icard in any court of justice. i will atate shorfiy what I conceive the question to be, and the evi- dence brouglit in sui-port of the charge. The indictment i3, that Dr. Drennan, the traverser, did publish the iroel, and that he did print and publish the paper, with the base and seditious intentions there stated. To this he has pleaded not guilty and one question to be tried 5, did he, in point of fact, publiah th« paper ? The next, upon yAith. I shall trouble you but very little, is ad to the nature of tiie paper— wh,'thf'.r it i"* a leditious libel or not ^ DOCrOR DRENNAN. 199 The law of libels in this country and in Great Britain has latelr, (by the perseverance and exertions of two men — Mr. Fox and Mr.. Erskine — being at last crowned with success), undergone a most fortii^ nate change. There is said, gentlemen, to be an instnict in animals, which directs them to those medicines which relieve their disorders ; and it seems as if, in the public malady of tlie three kingdoms, this only medicine hac been discovered, and carried into effect by this law. For part of the court which I address, I have infinite regard and jsteem. To extend that profession would, perhaps, be as presumptuous, as it would flatter my vanity ; but let me rot by this be understood to profess any contrary feeling. I merely disavow the arrogance of affect, ing to feel, where I have no claim to any interest. But, gentlemen, the law hr.s taken the po'.ver of decision in those cases from the court, and vested it in you. And you are not only to inquire into the fact of publication, but into the question of " libel oi not." Upon the latter question I have said I would make a few obser- vations ; but 1 will be frank witli you, and will say, that if you have any disposition to believe the flict of publication, I would advise the traver- ser to prepare v/ith a fatal facility to receive your opinion, that the paper is whatever the prosecutors please to call it. For, if you believe it, it must be from some perversion of mind — some gangrene of prin- ciple, with which I disdain to hold parlance or communication; and this I say, from a proud conviction, that tliere will be no law in this country, when sucli monstnjus facts are swallowed by juries, and the country disgraced by such convictions. As to the liberty of the press, I have heard and I have read of some things relative to it lately, at winch I am truly astonished. I hava hcitrd, that an Enj,hsh Att"orney-Geueral could say, '• that the guilt or innocence of a man depends on the candour with which he writes." — . I feel that this must have been an imposition ; I cannot beHeve that it could have been said. The liberty of the press does not consist in rea- soning right — in candour — or in weighing the prepouderancy of argu- ments, as a grocer weighs his wares ; it is founded m the prmciple, that government is established for the happiness of the people — that the people have a kind of super) ntendant, or inquisitorial power, to watch over government, that they may be satisfied that the object is truly ijought. The liberty of the press is not for expressing merely argu- njent, but to convey the feelings of personal discontent against the government, that the passions of the governors may be checked ; and if any one is bold enough to tell tliem they over-bound their duty, they may be tortured into recirude, by being held up as objects of odium, abomination, horror, or ridl'^ule. If you CK)nfine t'le libeny c<' the prr^'T fo f^L- argument— if jou con- demn, as libellous, every puhiicatiou, where invective may be a little too warm — where it may go beyond the enormity, or, the complaint beyond the grievance —you destroy it. Every man knows what is a public crime : the maliciously pointing out grievances so le. to distuib the quie* of the <^.oun*uy : such a ci'unt 2U0 DOCTOU UUENiNAN vrill nerer find protection from a court or a jury. If the traverser did inteud " to diffuse among the subjects of this realm, discontents, jcii!- ousies, and suspicions of our sovereign lord the king, and his govern- ment ; disaffections and disloyalties to his person and government ; aua to raise very dangerous seditions and tumults within this kingdom," &c. be ought to he found guilty — if he did not, he is entitled to acquittal. Having said this, I dismiss the subject ; because, I trust in God, so fatal an example to the liberties of this country, as a* condemnation upon such evidence, will never be given. What has Carey sworn ? — that he was at a meeting on the 14th of December ; that Dr. Drennan was there ; that the question was put on an address ; that he himself was desired to publish that address ; thiit the manuscript could not be given him, but that he should take it from the Dublin Journal^ of the next Monday ; that he sent for that papei a great deal of his evidence went to proving the Star, but that was no. read, and is out of the question. The question is therefore narrowed to the pubhcation in the Dublin Journal ; is there any evidence that this was the paper read in the society ? No. What is it ? — Carey has told you — indeed he told you tlie impossibility of his swearing it ; I read the address in the paper — he could not swear even to the substance , he could not tell that it was the same. Coiling and twining about mo, as you saw that wretched man, he could not prove this ; therefore, all the evidence on thi« part, comes to this, that Dr. Drennan did produce some address in that meeting, but of what it contained you have im evidence before ycu. And, as to the publication in the Hibernian^ t];e evidence is so vague, that it can give no aid whatever to the fonner proof; so that the evidei^.ce stops at the meeting in Back-lane. I asked Carey what address he was desired to publish — he answered that agreed to by the society ; what proof have you that he did so ? — it will be iugeniously endeavoured to impress upon your minds, that a general power to publish was given by the traverser to Carey, and that he thereby made himself personally liable for Carey's acts. The consequence cf such a doctrine as that a man c<»ui'.l commit him- self for any future publication, made without his privity, would be so wild and desperate, that it is unnecessary to do more than ofler it to you in ite true light. But Carey has pinned the autliority to a particular publication of the particular paper read in the society. What question are you trying ? are you trying the traverser for every possible publication which miglit have been sent to McDonnell's paper ? do you live in a country where such unlimited power is given to informers ? Suppose Carey to havo taken from M'Donnell's paper a libel which Dr. Drennan never saw — he is, by this doctrine, responsible — is it not too ridiculous ? and does it not come to this, that Carey was tied down to publisli that particulai paper read in the society, and no other ; has he said, then, that it was the faame paper which appeared in the Dublin Journal f where is the * "It ia evident that Mr. CiUTaii meant the Hibernian Joutvial, htit tl)cse were certainly bis wyrcls.'* Thcforfgolnp note appears '.a Ihc pan>phlet report, whiiii ia piLunly UcftiJ-a tg I>!'«5auiai ond hia counsel tJu-ouRliout; — T. D eividence that it was the sarae paper, ana v* acre i*. the guilt of Dr. Drennan ? Rut. it will be said, by his declaration of an intent to publish it, he tiiiule liimself answerable. Did he give it to M'Donnell to be published 17 him ? or, to take a previous question, did M'Donnell publish it liim- self ? Has he said so ? No suca thing-. But, what did he tell you ? — ■ that any other printer might have published the paper produced, if he had had the materials ; but it is highly probable that he printed it. What ! is a man to be sent for two years to gaol, because you believe it highly probable that M'Donnell published this paper ? Are you pre- pared by any impression wliatsoever, so far to humble your minds, as to .swear that M'Donnell did publish this very paper, though the man himself cannot say so ? Where is your honesty, or where is your com- mon sense, if they can be fattened down into a verdict founded oo. nothing but your own credulity ? If Dr. Drennan had given the paper to M'Donnell, the acts of the printer might derive credit from the original author ; as it is, see hov/- far this would be carrying constructive authority. What, ray lord, is the act of the third person? — Is it the law, that' the act of a"^ printer, with the witness Lestrange, should affect the traverser, who knew nothing of the transaction? The argument is, that the delivery by M'Donnell to Lestrange was, no doubt, a publication by the traverser ; but I say that nothing he does or says can aftect Dr. Drennau. Suppose I were charged with committing murder, and that I had employed the crier of the court for the purpose ; if he did the fact by ray directions, he is guilty; but no confession of his can be evidence Kgainst me. So the publication of M'Donnell, with the authority of Dr. Drennau, might be evidence , but no de.laration of M'Donneli's can be evidence. The argument is, that M'Donuell admitted the fact, by giving the paper to the stamp officer ; but was this admission on oath ? Is what he said to a petty officer of stamps to be evidence against my client ? But M'Donnell does not recollect tliis transaction — he does not, on his oath, confirm the statement by Lestrange — and yet you are desired to take Lestrange's evidence of what M'Donnell did. K you do, purposes may, indeed, be answered ; and we have heard that there are many prosecutions in petto — many persons over whom the arm of the law is only suspended. This may be policy, to keep the abandoned informer haunting the slumbers of the innocent man ; but it is for you to consider, is such a time as this proper for it. In the present melancholy gf the public mind, how far will it heal the grief which afflicts society ? Or, will it viot rather answer the immediate and selfish objects of those whom s small gale may waft to that point, where the recollection of the country and its situation will never assail their ears - But of the probability of this evidence how shall I speak ? What does it depend on ? The integrity of the man who swears it. Do yoq think, gentlemen, that in every case an oath is a sufficient measure to "woigh down life and liberty ?— where a miscre^iut swears guilt against a laan, must jon convict him • 202 l/OCTOR PRENNAN. Tlie declaration that the paper would appear in the Hihernian Journal stands on the single evidence of Carey. Was he consii^tent with him- self? If he did not appear to you upon that table a perjured man, believe every word he said. Tliis man' was under tvvo prosecutions for this and another libel ; this charge is to rest ^s well on his memory iis iiis credit. He received a summons, sii^ned by the Lord Chief Justice cf Ireland ! ! Do you believe, gentlemen, tliat Lord Clonmel's name was to it ? Examine Mr. Kemmis. What is the answer? That be thought it was — he could not answer — he was sure it was. And this man, who comes to tell of words spoken two years ago, makes tliis silly mistake about the Cliief Justice's name. Again, " Who are you ?" " I was under prosecution" — " I v/as a member of the society" — " I do not know whether 1 would have prc- iecuted or not, if they had kept their word." Three difierent things he swore as to my lord's r.ame : — he did recollect ; next, he did not : and, last of all, he could not tell. Does he not appear that kind of man, on whose evidence no man ought to be conncted. Scarce ever have I known a conviction on the mere evidence of an informer. But see what motives this man has • under prosecution for the same crime, he has not only his own safety to consult, but the most avowed aud rancorous malice to Doctor Drennan. He swore he had none. Did fou not hear of his declaration of vengeance ? A gentleman comes and swears that he said he tliougho it no crime to assassinate Drennan, for i refusal to support him under a criminal prosecution— to support the iian who proposed to the society to arm against the government I asked him why he proposed this ? Merely, to try character. Was ae himself sincere : lie was !— he was perfectly smcere ; and yet it was a mere fetch to try character. As to the influence of his situation on his endence, what did he 4ay.?— he was not sure of a pardon, but he hoped for one. If you give credit to this man, you make a fine harvest for informers ; a tine opportunity you give to every ruffian in society ; and you may go home in the comfortable conviction, that it is far from impossible that the nest attack shall be on yourselves : and if your wives are superstitious^ or your children undutiful, you may have them going to fortune-tellers to inquire " when Mr. Carey shall be unmuzzled against you." So far as Bell's testimony was appealed to, he contradicted Carey He did not believe that the words of the address stood any part of the paper read, and no human being has given evidence of the gencrtu substance. Bell contradicted him again ; for he said there were nc orders made to print it in any paper. And what did Wright say . That it was after lue publication in the Hibernian Journal that Cure} complained to him of having been neglected, and asked should he pr.b- llsh the paper. "How shall I publish it '" says he; "the Evening Fast 15 nonsense." Says Wright, '•' taice it from the Hibernian Journal*' Here is ihe positive oath of this unimpeached witness con- tradictmg Carey's evidence. Unfortunate, perjured man, he makes ^ complaint that he received no instructions ; he complains of the whole so'.!:ctv. Gentieiiifn, di> you believe Wrisiht ? DOCTOE DRENxNAN. 26S But there is a way in which you may g-et out of tliis It will be said. •*« Guvl forbid that a man should not perjure himseit in one or two little ^iuts, and tell truth in the whole ;" an old woman may say, that oatiu »re but wind — he might tell truth at other times. Did you ever, gen- tlemen, hear of a point in which a perjured witness miguu ud boIicTed Yes, there is one — when he says he is perjured. The principle is as strong in our heart?, as if it had been written by the finger of that (rod •who said, '•' thoii shalt not hear false loitncss." The law of the country- has said that the man once convicted of false swearijig shall not a second fime contaminate the walls of a court of justice ; and it is the very essence of a jury, that if a man appears Cthough not yet marked out by ihe law as a perjurer) to have soiled his nature by the deliberate com- mission of this crime, that moment his credit shall cease with the jury — his evidence shall be blotted from their minds, and leave no trace but horror and indignation. I feel the hardship of their situation, when grave and learned men are brought forward to support such a prosecution. I have great respect for them — for some of tnem I have had it from my boyish days — but this respect does not prevent my saying, that, as officers of state, their private v/orth is not to weigh with you. It is for their credit to deceive you. They have no power to control a prosecution — if one is com- manded, they must carry it on ; and when they talk of their character what do they say ? — '" If the evidence is insufficient, take a little of our dignity to eke it out." What their feelings are is nothing to you, gentlemen ; they may have feelings of another kind to compensate for them. But while I lament this, I will show that your sympathy is not called forth for nothing. Why do we hear such expressions as these — " I "j/eak under the authority of a former jury ?'* Has that verdict been given in evidence ? No. Could it govern you if it had ? No. Here you see the necessity of an appeal to official dignity. We heard of cluba formed in this city ; we had no evidence of them that their object was TO separate the countries. Does this appear ? To pull the king from hie throne ; what can I say, but " how does this appear." Not a word of it has been proved ; and here let me mention the impolicy of such ex])ress.ons, and say that the frequent recital of such circumstances will ratner n concile proiligate minds to them than deter them. AS to the Society of United Irishmen, I have had the misfortune, o-om my strong reprobation of their conduct, to incur much Cf-ntumelious uiimadversion. But where is their desperate purpose tobt found? Is t in the rejection of Carey's proposal to arm? ])oes thia sbovy their design to pull the king from the throne, or to separate the countries . Bat it comes down to the horrihk Haspherfty of reviling the pcjiice. To make their case more hideous aa.i more aggravated, you are told of '.::eir blaspheming the sanciified police — the hcJy, prxidcit, and ecor.^- 71 i cat police. Did they suppose that they were addrvr^&ira; ct.* liquorish loyalty of a s uzzlii:; g corporation ? Or do you suppose, gentlemen, chat there is a col- JUion of cusiii'^-dy. '^revaspf^ for you vbmi vou leavf the jury box, when 204 1 OCTOR DKENNAN. ihcj wished to excite your compassion for tLe abused police? But it Ls said, that they not oniy attack existing establishments, but sully tlje character of the unborn militia : that they hurl their shafts agaiust what was to be raised the next year, " So, Gossip" says the flatterer to Timon. ** What," says he, " I did not know you had cliildren.' *']S'ay, but I will marry, shortly, and my first child shall be called Tiaion, Rnd then we shall be gossips." So this Avizard, Urenuan, found oui tvM a militia was to be raised the next year, and he not only abused thr corporation but the police and the mil'itia. Do they think you are such buzzards — such blind creatures — do they think you are only fit to go to school — or rather to go where one part would be punished, for no other reason, than its exact similarity to the olhor ? I protest I have been eighteen years at this bar, jind never, until thL«; iRjBt year have I seen such witnesses supporting charges of this kind ^'.ith such abandoned profligacy. In one case, where men were on trial for their lives, I felt my.^elfinvoluntarily shrinking under your lordships' protection, from the miscreant who leaped upon the table, and announced himself a witness. I had hoped the practice would have remained in those distant parts of the country where it began ; but I was disap- pointed. 1 have seen it parading through the capital, and I feel that llie night of unenlightened wretchedness is fast approaching, when a man shall be judged before he is tried — when the advocate shall be libelled for discharging his duty to his client : that night of human nature, when a man shall be hunted down, not because he is a criminal, but because he is obnoxious. Punish a man in the situation of Dr. Drennan, and what do you Ao'i Wiiat will become of the liberty of the press ? you will have the news- papers filled with the drowsy adulations of some persons who want bene- fices, or commissions in the revenue, or commissions in the army; here and there, indeed, you may chance to see a paragraph of this kind : — -"' Yesterday came on to he tried, J or the publication of a seditioits 'ibel. Dr. William Drennan. The great law-ojficcr of the crown stated the case in the most candid and temperate manner. During hi speech every man in court was in an agony of horror ; the gentle men of the jury — many of them from the rotation office, were all staunch icnigs, and friends to government. Mr. Carey came on the table, and declared that he had no malice against the traverser, and most honour- ably denied the assertion in his next breath. It was proved, much to his honour, that he had declared his intention to assassinate the tra- r-erser. The jury listened with great attention. Mr. Curran, with his usual ability, defended the traverser ;"— for he must have been ably defended. *' Dr. J^'right was produced, a bloody-minded United Irishman — he declared, he could not say but that Dr. Drennan «?J5 the author of the libel ; and that the types were very like each other in thejace. An able speech was made in rep)ly by his Majesty^ s Prime^ Sergeant. He said, with the utmost j^ropriety, that the jury knew hi-' tie of him, if they' supposed him to prosecute without a perfect convic- tion of the traverser's quilt ; fkai Mr- Curran's great abilities had THE r»OHTHKRN STAR. 2C6 been spent in )csts on the subject; that the perjuries were w>-6 little inconsii'tencies, the yeatlemaa having much on his mind. He made man)/ pertinent nbtiervaiions on the aspersions thrown oat on thecorpo Totion of Dublin. •' Here Mr. Cnrran interposed, and assured him he intended ncsuch aspersions. The Prime-Sergeant declared he thought he had heard ihem. That, as to the Police, they were a most honourahle body of men tiiat a number of looking-glasses, and other articles offarniture, went highly necessary for them ; and as to the militia, the attack on thai oas abominable, for that it was shameful to asperse a body intended to i.< rai-'^ed by government next year. " The July— a most worshipful worthy jury, retired for a few minutes ana returnea icith a verdict of guilty, much to the satisfaction of the pvhlic. " To this sort of langii.ig-e will you reduce the freedom of public dis- cussion, by a conviction of the traverser : and if the h'berty of the press is destroyed for a supposed abuse, this is the kind of discussion you will hifve. ibe 1 'rime-Sergeant replied angrily. Lord Clonmel charged strongly, that the docnmant ■was a libel, but with some fairness as to Carey's contradictions, and the doubt therebv thi-ov.-n on the fact of Drcnuan's having ordered the publication. Justices Downes and Chamberlain concurred with Earl Clonmel, and at 10 o'clock at night the jury retirecL At a quarter past 11 they came into cotut, and (the judges being absent) in reply to the officer, the foreman. Sir John Trail, said the verdict was ^ot Guilty. A bui-st of applaaso followed, whereon the foreman retired, and returned and gave in to cue of the judges tbe verdict, with the foUoMung indecent comment : — •' Jly lords, as 1 cunsider this a. trial of the first importance to the peace of the countrr and tlie happiness of society, I nmst conceive such indecent conduct as we have experienoee. generaJv known, a briex narrative of the prosecution, pre\-ious to tlie following triaL <;uinot but be iirtcre^tlncj. •'The alarming oirouinstanccs -nith whicl) this business commencod are worthy of parti flilar notice. The foiiowintc account >yi the akuf.st is, therefore, copied from the" A^ortherr Star of January 2, 17&3 :— " ' For several days past, rumours prevailed that goverament meditated an attr.ck on th* propnetors of this paper. Tlie reports i^ained considerable ground on Sunday last ; and on liic evening of tliat day a troop of light di-agoons, which had been stationed at Banbridge, MTi^-ed heie. in consequence of an express from tliis town. At the same time, all the out I»m])anie3 belo.iging to the regiment quartered here were ordered in M-ith all possible ijppatch. '■ ' These menacing ftppearanoes, in a time ot perfect peace, and ■without any previona fumult or tlibtuibance whatever to give the faintest colour of propriety to, or necessity for, such a ineasure. induced in the Tiroiiiietors a doubt, whether some veiy extraordinary ;;ct of arbitrary power was not mtended against them, tlic more especially as a general officer bud been sent here to take the c^m.mand of the troops in this part of the kingdom. " ' Under tliese impressions, one of tlie proprietors wrote a letter to the sovereign of tl^ia town early on Monday moniing, of which the following is a copy : — " 'Belfast, December 31, 1792. ** 'Mr. Soteef.igx— It is afRrmed that a troop of light horse came to this toiATi la^tnigh^ end that more are on their way, in conseqrence of an application from you, as chief magis- irate, demanding aid in the execution of certam wanants or orders' against individua« Inhabitants of the town ; and it is farther said, that you have represented the town to be in such >'- state, that said orders could not be executed without the protection of a strong mili- tcry force, •* ' Now, Sir, as an Inhabitant of Belfast, anxious to maintain the high character of tha towu — as a V'olimteer, who has. in conjunction with my companions, manifested an ardent iosire to support the civil magisti-ate in tlie due execution of the law — but above all, as a propnetor of a newspaper, which is said to be one object of attack on the present (occasion —I Ciill upon you to do away so foul a calumny on the town, over the peace of which you jJre.'ilde ; I call upon you to avow thu fact, t/nit the civil poucr of Belfast is capable of sup- porting the mafiistrate in the legal execution of his office ; and, in my latter capacity, I will add, that the printer of the paper I allude to, will instantly and cheerfitlly submit to and obey any legal smumons. order, or arrest. But any proceeding against him contrary to the law of the land -will be resisted, and he ^^•ill throw himself in such a case for protection on ids f'iUow -citizens, who have declared that tliey will maintain law, peace, and order, eoitally Sfainst ' a mob or a mnnarch, a riot or a proclamation.' " ' Candoin-— a regard to your character— but more particularly to the peace and charac- ^Dr cf the town of Belfast, demand of me this communication. " ' I am. Sir, yours truly, - lication was for -ivhich they had been arrested ? His lordship said it was for a publicatioF inserted in the yorthern Star of the 5th of December, but did n- z recollect precisely a„ what nature it was. Counsel theu asked hi,'* lordship for a copy of ttr, - arrant, which waS refused. •' Next tei-m the King's Attoruey-GeneraJ filed ft'x informations against the proprietors, for having inserted so many seditious puVjlloations, including one inserted on the 5th of December, The assizes shortly after succeeded: but Mr. Attomey-General did not think proper to come to trial on any of the infunnations. Daring the next tenn (Easter) ;-j step whalevei was taken ; but early in Trinity Term, a seventh information was tiled for t'*-"'- Bshing the resolutions of the town of Belfast in the preceding December. *' During this term, the Court of Kings Bench was moved, on the part of Ihe defennanis, that their recognizances sliould be vacated, inasmuch as tlie Attorney-General had pro- ceeded by information, instead of indictment ; that he had not come to a ti-ial althoit^'h an uasLzes had intervened ; and that tlie recognizauces only related to the execution and wai'^ rant on which they had been boimd over This application was refused *' On the 19th of July, the proprietors' agent was seivcd with notice of trial on !lSo out cf ♦Jjc seven infonmations. at the ensuing assi•:^s for the county of Antrim, the rmbUcrt'on irf the 5th of December not being one. In consequence of 1;his notice, the pvjpriati ;ir prtv pared for their trial, engaged a respectaole bar, gave out their briefs, and had iw'. CaiTan retained, to come down specially on the ?»:'^sion trom ImbLn: but on the 3ia oi August (only five days before the assizes , tney were :2iicrmed that the crowii lawyers didnol thinU fii to proceed, •' In Michaelmas Term, 1793, the AttoiUbj -C^neral came into coitrt and moved, as a waiter ofrighl, for a trial at bw, on the 4th of February, 17&1. To this motion the coi'jt acjuded. The Attorney-General did not give any reason why t'"^ sheriff, jury, and defen dants should be taken to Dublhr, to try a eaase wi\ich originate*, ii: tlie county of Antrim. "A motion, on behalf of the proprietors, during this term, had iiie eiiect of obtaining an ;Tder to the crown sohcitor, that he woidd give notice what inibnnation he meant to pro -eed upon. " On the 1st of February last, the Court of King's Bench (on an application on behalf ot the defendants) ordered the trial to stand for the 19th of Jlay, at bar the Attomey-Gene ral refusing to permit it to be tried at Carrickfergns. the last assizes. " On the 19th of May, the jiuy Avere called ; but the cause was ordered to stand over for Fiiday, owhig to a ciril action, which Avas tlien pending in the court ; and on Friday, afkor oome shght opposition on the part of tlie defendants, it svas for the same reason farther postponed until Wednesday, the 28th, when it proceeded, as is hereafter related. "And thus has terminated a prosecution upon one out of tlie se"e?t infonnations filed, ■..'hieh has been attended (from the peculiar manner in which it has been carried on) with an expense, perhaps exceeding that of any criminal prosecution upon record; the fees alone for obtaining copies of the informations, stamps and fees of othce, and license for Mr. Cur ran to plead against the crowu, have been little short of one huxdked pounds ! ! !" On Wednesday, the 2Sth of May, 1794, this cause came on to be tried at the bar of the court of King's Bench, before Lord Chief Justice Clonmel and Mr. Justice DoAvnas. The folloAving is a copy of the Information : — " County of Antrim, to wt. — Be it remembered that the Right Honourable Arthtir %'olfe. Attorney- General of our present Sovereign Lord the King, who for our said present sovereign Lord the Iving, prosecutes in this behalf, in his proper person, comes into tho court of our said present Lord the King, before the King himself, at the city of Dublin, in the county of the said city, the 28th day of January in t.iis same terni, and for our sai(t Lord the King tiveth the court to understand and be informed that William M'Cleery, o: Belfast, tanner, William Tennent, of the same, merchant, John Haslett, of the same, whole- sjile wooilen-drnper, Henry Haslett, of the same, broker and merchant. William Magee, ol the same, printer and stationei; Samuel Keilspii, of the same, wholesale woollen-drai)er, Jolm Boyle, of the same, mercJiant. Wiliiam Siiams, of the same, tanner, Robert Simm&, of the same, tanner. Gilbeit M'llveen, ju.i. of the same, hnen-draper, John Tisdall, of the eame, printer, and John Kabb. of Fielfaat printer, and Jio'oert Call well, of the same, printer, all in the cotmty of Antrim, being Kicked. sedittQus, and ill-disposed persons, and being greatly disnffectid to our said Sovtrdan Lord the King, and his administration of tho government of this kingdom, and wickedly, maliciously, and seditiously intending, devisittg, and seditiously intending, devising, and contriving to stir up and excite discontent anii sMiitu,n among the subject* of our Lord the King, and to cau.se it to be believed, that thflW ^208 THE .NOKTHlfiUN STAK. 2 notcr.^- (fooemmenl la^vfnlly constituted in this kingdom of Ireland, on the 15th day ct Oe«iinber. in the 33rd year of "the reign of our present Lord Geoi-ge the Third, by the crace jf God, of Greai Britain, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, and soforth, with force and arms, at Belfast, in the county of Antrim, they, the said William M'Cleerv, Vihiam Teiment, Jolm Huslett. Henry Haslett. William :Magee. Samuel Neilson. Jotin Boyle, Kobert Sinims, William Sn.;7ns. Gilbert M'llveen, John Tisdall, John Rabb. an< KoWi-t- CaUwell, M^ckedly and seditiously printed and published a certain false, wicked, ri/il'-iioi'.s. Sfandaloufi. arid seditious libel, of and ccjncerning the government, stale and con-r Witatioii oi tlii'i kingdoru of Ireland, according to the tenor and effect following: — " ' IRISH JACOEIXS OF BELFAST. "' At a meetbic ot tlie Irish Jacobins of Belfast, the loth instant. (December. 1792). M' Wowiey OiboniS, tun., in the ciiair. the following declaration and address to the public, was jnanimoiisly agreed to, and ordered to be published :— " ' DECLARATION. " '1st. Resolved — That this kingdo.qi [meaning the kingdom of Ireland] has no national ^CiiTemment, inasmuch as the great mass of the people are not represented in parbanictit. 2i:d. Resolved — That tl-.e people of Ii-eland, of every religious description, have an inheront and indefeasible riglit from God and r.ature. to constitute lav.s fcr their internal and exter- nal veliare. 3rd. Resolved — That the people of Ireland can never effectually constitite their own laws, without an extension of tlie elective franchise to ail its citizens. 4th- Uesolred— That the elective franciiise can never be obtained without a cordial, steady, and persevering union of all the Irish people of every denomination. 5th. Resolved — That tho penal code of statutes which have for upwards of a centtuy doomed our fellow-citizens, the Roman Catholics of this kingdom [meaning Ireland] to a state little inferior to the unlets tered African, is a disgrace to tlie land we live in. 6th, Resolved — That as irreligious pre^ judices liave given and are giving way in ever}- quarter of the globe, th.e justice of God and the natural I'ights of man demand of Ii'eland not to be the last in the annals of freedoiai 7th. Resolved — That to obtain this most desiralile end, v/e entreat our fellow-citizens ot 3very denomination in Ireland, Phigland, and Scotland, to turn their thoughts to a National Convention, in order to collect the sense of the people as to the most effective means ci. jbtaini-ig a radical and complete Parliamentary reform, an object without which theas kingdoms must for ever remain wretched, and the attainme];t of which will raise them to s state of freedom, happiness, and gloiy. 8th. Resolved — That impressed with these senti- ments, we have determined to ftn-m an association, for the purpose of imiting ourselves witli our countrymen, and of disseminating these principles among them, and we pledfj ourselves to each other and to our country, that we will individually and collectively ereit every means in om- power to cairy the same into effect. " ' ADUUKSB. " ' 771C Irish JaoJm^ of Belfast to the Piihlic " ' At this decisive crisis, when it becomes the duty of every individual to step foi'V/anl and avow his principles, we deem it incumbent on us to ejiplair. to our fellow-citizoiis, onr coimtiy, and the world at large, the motive and intention of our association. The first thing that struck ns, was the manifold grievances the majority of this land, [meaning Ir^ land] which has falsely been deuouiiuated free, labour under from the irreligious distino- tions our present constitution [meaning thereby the constituion of Ireland] has imposed OQ 4-he major part of its inhabitants. According to our ideas, a constitution is nothing else than a fixed and established oi-der in the manner of governing; this order cannot exist U It be not upheld by fundamental rules, enacted by the free and formal consent of the whola lation. or of those it has chosen for its representatives : thus a constitution is a precise and .•onstant foim of go\ernment : or it is the exoression of tne rights and obligations of the Clifferent powers which compose it. Where the mode of government is not derived from all the people clearly expressed, that nation has no constitution : need we say this is th« case with Ireland : it jjossesses only an a( *ing government, which varies according to cir- cumstances, and which gives way to all e%ents : in sucii a eovernment the supreme autho- rity has more power to oppress the subject than to defend his rights. It ever lias becu ao acknowledged constitutional principle that Irishmen cannot be taxed but with tlieir own consent. — how abstL'-d and false the assenion. for out o! nv« milhons of people [meaninf Ihe people of Ireiand] ninety individuals aetUiUly retuj-n a majority of the House of Con>- U!ons ( meaning thereby the House of Commons of Ireland j. w::o instead of representing the vvicp of the nation, are influenced by English interests, an-i tliat aiiStocracy whose banefu] sxortioiis have ev-er tended to sap the \\r»l piinciples, the rfsuig gieaiuessand native genias of litis unhappy and w.-et«hed country [meaning I.-eland]. . Snail we then jirofane the sacred name of hberty by calling this •'meaning Irelandj a land of f-seuom? The question answer* itbel£ It may be asked by some, do we not at present en'jy civil libeny, or where isthti period in our historj- in which we enjoyed more. W^ answer that we [meaning his >mo»- ly'ti subjects of this kingdom] do not at present enjoy real, substantial liberty, nellhor is rhftft, i period In ovi history from which -we w-iUd wish to date ite fcri. The proftSat I HE .NORTlIEli.X .SIAU 20\f r.iiT>.entou^ rfriod is the time we could wish to date it from, when the jreat bulk of tlie Jcople begin to know their rights, and to feel their wrongs. By uniiiimity and persa- ierance this divided land [.neaning Ireland] will be liberated from the shackles of t3Ta:in7. Yet we do not desire a tempestuous liberty, we desire not a liberty without rule. whi'Ji pl;;ces an arbitraiy authority in the hands of the multitude, dispeses it to eiTor, lo jire- cipitation, to anarchy, and has despotism always in its train, ready to seize its prey. Even those who maintain that we have a constitution, acknowledge that it is necessary to restorf it to its pristine state. The thing desued is a happy and free constitution, the object (* our association, and when we renounce this object, may the Disposer of events and ou countiy renounce us. There is no evil so great Mhich the possession of liberty, we trust, will not make us support; nor is there any advantages that ^vlll compensate for its loss: let VIS seize, then, this auspicious moment; let us hasten to procure by oiu- individual ajic ('(.il^ective exortions tliis benefit for our cuimtry [meaning Ireland]. AVherc liberty is on».c fixed, good laws will present themselves of course. It is byprocuringa renovated representa- tion that liberty mtL be established in this country [meaning Ireland] ; this can only be accom- \)iished by a National Convention. The Roman Catholics are already convened; let thu Protestants follow their peacable example. Tlien. and not till then, the voice of an indii:- naut nation ^nll and must be heard — ' For a people to be fi-ee it is sufficient that they will it.' Our undi'^guiscd sentiments are now before tlie Tribunal of our country; we submi* tliem with clieerf-alness. and if all good citizens be satisfied with them, there cap be no doubt but similar associations will be formed in eveiy corner of the nation. Fir.aL.', maj all Irishrueti contract between them.selves and their country an alliance eqa-il, fli-^\ an"., eternal •' ' 3. KKN:i£r>r, 3oc. " AV!iereui)on the said Attorney-General of oar Lord the King, who, for our said Sove- reign Lord the Ivbig, prosecutes in this behalf, prays the consideration of the court here in the premises, and that due process of law may be awarded against the said persons in this behalf, to make them answer our said present Soverei^jn Lord the King, touching and con- cerning the pre-^ises aforessid. -ARTHUR WOLFE. '*Tao2:Ag KKmii.q, Attorney. •* Received 38th Jrtuuty, 1793." At eleven o'clock the jtirj- were called over, when Ea£,h Lyle and John Haltridge haviir£. been objected to by the cro^vn, without cause, and no challenge having been taken bv thi defendants, the following gentlemen v-ivQ sworn in: — Thomas Morris Jones, of Moneyglass, Esi . Robert Gage, of Rathlin, Esq. Sampson IMoore, of Springraount, Esq. Jackson Clark, of Antrim, Es(i. James Stewart Moore, of Ball}divity, Esq. Henry C. Elhs, of Prospect, Esq. Langford Heyland, of CroraUn, Esq. Alexander M'Auley, of Glenville, Esq. Francis Shaw, of Can-ickfergos, Esq. George Ste^Va^t, of Glenarm, Esq. St^ord Gorman, of Brev.Tuount:, Esq. Edmund M'lldowney, of Ballycastle, Esq. Llr. RtLxton opened the pleadings. The Attorney-General stated the case, and called ev'idence to prove proprictorsliip and publication. An argument arose out of the evidence as to the proof of proprietorship, on whicli, in i-ei)ly to the cro\\Ta, CuiTan said : — I regre J that we are come to such an era in criminal justice, that four gentlemen of high distinction should be gravely listened to, in arguing whether there was a shadow of evidence to go to a jury against twelve of the King's subjects, to charge them with a very heinous crime. I insist that, according to the ordinary practice, where a cumber of par- ties are included in a criminal charge, those against whom there is no evidence sliould be sent to the jury with directions to acquit them, that those who are to be tried may have the benefit of their evidence, if it should be necessary. The counsel for the crown have set out npon erroneous principles ; they seem to take the question to be, whether these people are proprietors or not. There is no law of tliis country by which every man entitled to share tbe profits of k certain trade shaL be criminally responsible for the exercise of that trade by his ^ent. [f several people employ a ship, and the narigator of it sbaii comiiilt [jiracy or treason upon the hign seas, shall those who are entitled to •hare the oroftts he cnuiinaliv re-jnouaibie ? T.h that the principle of 210 THE NORTIIEBN STAB. Irish law . If not, it is absurd to say that this question depends upon the proprietorship of the parties, or has anything to do with it. There is no rule of law better established than that distinction between being criminally and civilly responsible for the acts of an agent. If a serrant of his own head commit a criminal act, bis master certainly will not be involved in the crime, however he might be if it was fully proved to be by his express command, for then the employer would be involved in the guilt. But the bare act is not prima facie evidence to charge the master ; nothing short of evidence of commandment can do that. Other- wise there would be no safety in society, and every man here might, fo? what he never knew, be answerable for as many crimes as he h^d ser- vants. By intendment of law, the master is only supposed xo give authority for that which is lawful ; unle^is there is some privity or con?- mandment shown, there is no erldence of guilt in the master. I should oe ashamed to insist further from the very elementary principles of a study in which I have been employed for seventeen years. Evidence that these men whose names have crowded the information, are pro- prietors of a newspaper, is not evidence tliat they are guilty of a deed not done by themselves. The act of parhanient itself makes a clear distinction betAieen the printer and proprietor, and the proprietors come under a clause or designation different from the publisher or printer. — This irresistibly shows the fallacy attempted to be imposed upon the court. The stating a man's name and residence and other collaterMl circumstances, is not for the purpose of making him be considered as printer or publisher, but to let in certain lights which may be advan- tageous to the public, or any individual who shall be aggrieved. This afddavit, made pursuant to the act of parliament, states Rabb to be the sole printer ; aud yet it is offered in evidence, to show that others were the printers or publisliers : it is true these gentlemen have not made an affidavit to the contrary, although it might have been a wise thing for them to have made a purgative and preventative affi- davit every day as to the case cited : I meant to have quoted it in our favour, as directly establishing the principle, that their barely being entitled to receive a portion of the profits, or being proprietors, is not evidence of their being printers or publishers, but^that there must be tmdence of the act charged to be criminal being done by the party him- aelf or by his immediate commandment. In Topham's case there was evidence of buying a ])aper at the office wlien he was sole i)roprietor, there was besides an affidavit, of payment for the stamps used, in print- ing this very paper ; there it was clearly done with his privity, under his control ; here it is clear that there has been no evidence given of personal interference so as to amount to such authority or command, as would render any of the parties criminally liable. /kCter cii'QT counsel were heard, the jnrj-, under direction of the court, found a verdict ol ar^iLitta^ tor all the proprieiors except John Rabb. the actual printer. The CJiee wim tlien PTXiCceded with against him. Mr. Dobb.s defended hira on the gi-oi: tnted authorities. Fi-om France he returned to London, in 1704. for the purpose of pre curing infonnation aj to the priicticabiLity of an invasion of England, and was thence tf troceed to Ireland on a similar mission. Upon his aiTival in London, he renewed an intir Biacy with a person named Cockayne. v,-ho had fbitneriy been his friend and cmifidentia. ftttoraey. The extent of Ids communications, in tli-j lirst instance, to Cockayne, did not exactly appear. The latter, howex-er, was prevailed upon to write the directions of several cf Jackson's letters, containing treasonable matters, to his correspondents abroad; but in c little time, either suspecting or repenting that he had been furnishing evidence of treason fcgainst himself he revealed to the British nnnister, Mr. Pitt, ail that he knew or conjec- tured relative to Jackson's objects. By the desire of lh\ Pitt, Cockayne accompanied Jackson to Ireland, to watch and defeat his designs ; and as soon as tha evidence of hia treason was mature, announced himself as a witness for thfc crown. Mr. Jackson wac accordingly arrested, and committed to stand his trial for liigh treason. " Mr. Jackson was committed to prison in April. 1794, but his trial was* delhyed, by suc- .yessive adjournments, till the same month in thefullowing year. In the interval he wrote and published a refutation of Paine's Age of Keason, probably in the hope that it might T^e accepted as an atonement He was convicted, and brought up for jndgnient o;i the SOtb of A.prU, 1795." L'e was indicted for troason in the Summer of 1794; but, sometimes for the crown, and at others for the prisoner, the trial was postponed till the 23rd of April, 1793. Court— Eight Hon. the Earl of Clonmel, Chief Justice ; ♦Hon. Mr. Justice Downes, Koa Mr. Justice Chamberlaine. Counsel for the Cro^vm— Mr. Attorney General, Mr. Prime-Sergeant, 3Ir. Solicitor Geno- ml, Mr. Frankland, and Mr. Trench. Agent— Thomas Kennnis, Es(i. Cro\N-n Solicitor Counsel assigned to the prisoner — Mr. Curran and Mr. Ponsonby. Assistant-Counsel— Mr. R. Gmnness, Mr. M'Nally, iir. Emmett, 3Ir. Em-ton, anl Mn Sampson. Agent — Edward Crookshank Keane, Esq. The Attorney-General led the prosecution. His chief witness was Cockaj-ne, an English *itoi-ney. Among the papers proved was this remarkable YrKW of Ireland, by Tone : — " The situation of Ireland and England is fimdamentally different in this : the govern- ment of England is national —that of Ireland, provincial. The interest of the first is tho same Avith that of the , people; of the last, directly opposite. Tlie people cf Ireland ara diWded into three sects— the Established Church, the Dissenters, and tlie Catholics. The first— infinitely the smallest portion— have engrossed, besides the Avliole church patronage, all the profits and honours of the country exclusively, and a very great share of the landed property. They are, of course, aristocrats, adverse "to anj- change, and decided enemies (A the French Revolution. The. Dissenters — ^M'ho are much Tuore niunerous — are the most enlight^r^ed body of the nation ; they are steady r»,epublicans, devoteil to liberty, and, thror.gh all the stages of the French Revolution, have been entlmsiastically attached to it. The Catholics- the great body of the people— are in the lowest degree of ignorance, and are ready for any change, because no change can make them worse. The whole peasantr> of Ireland, the most oppressed and AVTotched in Europe, may be said to be Catholic. Thej have within these two years received a certain degree of infonnation. and manifestetl t proportionate degree of "discontent, by various insurrections, &c. Tliey .ii-e a bold, ha.-d> mce. and make excellent soldiers. There is nowhere a higher spirit oi aristocracy than kl all the privileged orders, the clergy and gentry of Ireland, do^m to the very lowest ; to countervail which, there appears now a spirit rising in the people which never existed b'jfore. but whicli is spreading most rapidly, as appears by the Defenders, as tlicyare called. and other insurgents. If the people of Ireland be 4,")00,000, as it .seems probable they arcv the llvtabliahed Church may be reckoned at 450,000 ; the Dis.senters at OCO.OOO ; the Catho ics et 3,150,000. The prejudices in England are adverse to the French nation under what- =»vcir Kcm of government, it seems idle to suppose the present rancour against the Frencb • B..1*. Mr Jnirti:r B yd was prevented from *ttendipf fcy indispoaf.tiott. 212 REV. WILLIAM JACE.30N. Is owing merely to their being Republicans; it has been cherislied by tlie maimers of tru. centuries, aiifl aggravated by continual wars. It is morally certain tha.t any invasion ci Eaj;land would luiite ail ranks in opposition to the invaders. In Ireland — a con«jUfTf>d, •iprressed, and insulted conntry — the name of England and her power is universally od'oui, fave with those \sho hare aa irferest in maintaiiiing it; a body, however, only fonnidubiO 'rom situation and property, but wliich the first convulsion would level in the dusl^ On the contrary, the great bulk of the people of Ireland would be ready to tlirow oflf the y-\do in this country, if tliey saw any force sufficiently strong to resort to for defencft untJL ' wrangements'could bo'made : the Dissenters are enemies to the English power, fro' n rci-- fcon and from reflection : the Catholics, from a hatred of the English name. In a word, the prejudices of one country are directly adverse to the other— ving. I do not recollect that Cockayne said one single word of tht. prisoner's coming here for such a purpose. The second overt act ia , that the prisoner did traitorously intend to raise and levy war, anc bic'ite persons to invade Ireland with arms and men ; that he did incifei ITieobttld Wolfe Tone to go beyond seas to incite France to invade thig kingdom ; that he did endeavour to procure persons to go to France and that he agreed with other persons, that they should be sent tc France for the Bame purpose. Having stated these overt acts which are laid in the indictment, you will be pleased to recollect the evidence given by Cockayn e. Cockayne did not say that the prisoner came over here for any such purpose as the overt act attributes to him. Then, as :0 the overt act, of endeavom-ing to procure persons to go to France foi the purpose of giving information to the enemy » th^ vj-itness saic* ai6 REV. WILLIAM JACKSON. he met INIr. M'Nally ; he had known him in England ; Jackson was a clergyman ; he had known him also. Cockayne had professional busi- ness with IVIr. M'Nally. Mr. M'Nally paid them a courtesy which any decent person would have been entitled to. They dined at his house, ind met three or four persons there ; they talked of the politics of Ireland ; of the dissatisfaction of the people ; but not a syllable of what js stated in the indictment ; not one word of any conspiracy ; Cockayne did not pretend to be able to give any account of any specific conver- sation. He went to Newgate ; Rowan was then in confinement ; he sometimes went by himself : sometimes met Tone, sometimes Jackson ; he o-ave you an account of encouragement ; what was it ? Was there any thing to support this indictment ? Let me remind you that you are to found your verdict on what the witness says and you believe, and not on what learned counsel may be instructed to state. Then what does the witness say ? He admits that he did not hear all the conver- sation. The crying injustice must strike you, of making a man answerable for a part of a conversation, where the witness did not hear it all ; but take it as he has stated it, unqualified and uncoustrued : how high was he wrought up by it ? He heard talk of somebody to go to France ; he was to carry papers ; he heard an expression of instructions to the French. What French — what instructions ? It might be to French manufacturers ; it might be to French traitors ; it might be to the French King ; it might be to the French convention. Do I mean to say that there was nothing by which a credulous or reasonable man might not have his suspicion raised, or that there was nothing in three or four men huddhng themselves together in Newgate, and talking of an invasion ? No ; but my reasoning is this — that your verdict is to be founded on evidence of positive guilt established at the hazard of the personal punishment of the witness ; you are not to pick up the con- jectures either of his malignity or credulity. I say that this man stands m defiance of your verdict, because it will be afi'ected by nothing but that irresistible evidence on which alone it ought to be founded. But what was the fact which Tone was to do, or any other person ? It wa? an illegal one. By a late act, an English subject gomg to France ii liable to six months' imprisonment. By a clause in the same statute the crime of soliciting a person to go is also punishable. The encouraging any person to go to that country was, therefore, exposing him to danger, but whether it was a motive of trade, or smuggling, or idle adventure, is not the question for you. It is whether the intention was to convey an incitement to the French to make a descent on this kingdom, and endeavour to subvert the constitution of it. You hare a simple question before you — has even the prosecutor sworn that he endeavoured to do so? I think'not. The next overt act charged is, that he did compose and write a letter in order to be sent to William Stone, in which he traitorously desired Stone to disclose to certain persons in France the scheme an6 intention of Jackson, to send a person to inform them of the state of In^- land, for the purpose of giving support and effect to a hostile invasion of ^his country. You have heard these letters read. You must of neoee- sity look on them m oD»ior two important and distinct pointa of view REV. W[LLIAiI JACKSON. 217 The firat, perliaps, that will naturally strike you is, what are these letters? Do they sustain the allegations of the overt act ? Are they letters requiring Stone to inform the Convention of this country being- in such a state as to encourage an invasion? Does that paper support thii allegation ? God help us ! gentlemen of the jury. I know not in whaf state the property or life of any man will be if they are always to be ad the mercy, and to depend on the possibility of his explaining either the real or pretended cu-cumstances on which he corresponds with person/ abroad. The letters are written apparently upon mercantile subjects- lie talks of manufactures, of a firm, of prices changed, of diflferent fo,milies, of differences among them, of overtures to be accepted of, of disputes likely to be settled by means of common mediation ; what is the evidence on which you can be supported in saymg that manufactures mean treason — .that Nicholas means the war minister of France — the sister-in-law Ireland — that " the firm has been changed," means Danton has been guillotined, but that makes no alteration in the state of the house, meaning the circumstances of the revolution — that the change of prices and manufactures means any thing else necessary to give con- sistency to the charge of treason. Give me leave to say that this ludicrous and barbarous consequence would follow from a rule of this sort, the idlest letter might be strained to any purpose. The simplicity of our law is, that a man's guilt should be proved by the evidence of jdtnesses on their oaths, which shall not be supplied by fancy, nor elicited by the ingenuity of any person making suggestions to the \7retched credulity of a jury that should be weak enough to adopt them. I come now to this. A letter produced imports on the face of it to be a letter of business, concerning manufactures — another con- cerning family differences. In which way are they to be understood ? I say with confidence, better it should be to let twenty men, that might have a criminal purpose in writing letters of this kind, escape, than fall mto the dreadful alternative of making one man a victim to a charge of this kind not supported by such proof as could bring conviction on the jiind of a rational jury. I do not think it necessary to state to you minutely the rest of these allegations of the overt acts. The charge against the prisoner is sup- ported, and this is perhaps the clearest way of calling your attention to the evidence, either by the positive evidence of Cockayne as to these facts, or by the written evidence which stands also on his testimony alone. Touching actual conspiracy he said nothing : somebody was to go to France — he knew not for what — he had aai idea on his mind for what it \x^s — ^but never from any communication with Jackson. There have been other letters read in evidences Two of them contained dupli- cates of a sort of representation of the supposed state of Ireland. Cockayne says that he got the packet from Jackson, that he himself WTOte the directions ; one addressed to Amsterdam, the other to Ham- burgh. They were read, and they contain assertions, whether true or false I do not think material, of the state of this country : — if material at all, material only in their falsehood. The public are satisfied that these fllipgationa are false. It is known to every man in this counfcrv 218 BEV. WILLIAM JACKfiOJ^. and must be known with great satisfaction by every honest man, that it is not in that state that could induce any but the most adventurous aui v-icked folly to try an experiment upon it. It is unnecessary for me to ccminsnt on the opinions contained in that paper ; there is a matte* more material, and calling more budly for your attention. It is stated lo be written for the purpose of invitmg the persons governing in France to try a descent upon Ireland. This paper is evidence to support that charge ; you have heard it read. On what public subject have you e\tr heard six* men speaJ:, and aU to agree ? Might not a stranger in a fit of despondeii3y; imt^-nie that an invasion might have a fatal effect on this country It is not impossible but if ten men wero to make a land- ing, some mischief might happen. Then, againj what do I mean to argue ? Is it that this letter bears no narks of the design imputed to it ? K^ buch thing. It is a letter that the most innocent man might write, but it is alao such a one as a guilty man might write, but unless there was clear evidence of his guilt, he would be entitled to your ver- dict of acquittal. Though it was not expressly avowed, yet I cannot help thinking that it was meant to lay some little emphasis on certain names which I have met with in the newspapers — I am sure I hait e met the name of Laignelot in the debates of the convention — I ha^-e met the names of Home Tooke and Stone in the English papers. I have read ^hat Home Tooke was tried for high treason and acquitted — that Stone made his escape into Switzerland. I believe it is said that there is a person of that name in confinement in England at present. But let me tell you, you are not to draw any inferences from circumstances of this kind against the prisoner : let me tell you, it is the guilt of the man, and not the sound of names, by which his fate is to be decided. Other papers have been read. One seems to contain some forms of addresses. A letter said to come from Stpne has been read to you 'The letter to Beresford, said to be written by Jackson, has also beer read to you. I have stated the material parts of the evidence. I have endeavoured to submit my poor idea of the rule by which you ought to be guided. I see only one remaining topic to trouble you upon ; it appears to me to be a topic of the utmost importance. And, gentlemen, it is this. Who is the man that has been examined to support thic charge ? One witness ! I beseech you to have that engraven on your minds. The charge, in all its parts, stands only on the evidence of Cockayne ; there is no other evidence of any conversation, there is no! a material letter read in this case that does not rest upon Cockayne*" evidence, and that I am warranted in this assertion you will see to a. demonstration when I remind the court that he was the only witness, GS I recollect, called to prove the handwriting of Jackson. On his testimony alone must depend the fact of their being his hand- writing, of the inuendoes imputed to them, or the purpose with which they were sent. Gentlemen, I am scarcely justified in having crespassed so long oi/ your patience. It is a narrow case. R is a case of a man chargec with the highest and most penal offence known by our law, and charged bv one witness only. And let me ask who that witness ia. A DJaii. liEV. TVILLUM JACKSON. 219 stating that he comes from another country, armed with a pardon for ti-easons, committed in Ireland, but not in England whence he comes. "•Vhat ! were you nerer on a jury before ? Did you ever hear of a man forfeiting his life on the unsupported evidence of a single witness, an^ he an accomplice by his 6wn confession ? What ! his character madg the subject of testimony and support ! — take his own vDe evidence foj his character. He was the foul traitor of his own client. What d« yuu think now of his character ? He was a spy upon his frierid. He was the man that yielded to the tie of three oaths of allegiance, to watch the HteyA of his client for the bribe of government, with a pardon fot the treasons he might commit ; and he had impressed on his mind the convictioL that he was liable to be executed as a traitor. Was he aware of hit? cruae r — his pardon speaks it. Was he aware of the turpitude of bis character ? — he came with the cure ; he brought his witness in his pocket. To what ? To do away an offence which he did not venture to deny, that he had incautiously sworn that which was false in fact, though the jury did not choose to give it the name of wilful and cor- rupt perjury. Gracious God ! Is it, then, on the evidence of a man of ihis kind, with his pardon in his pocket, and his bribe — not yet in his pocket — that you can venture to convict the prisoner. He was to be taken care of. How so? Jackson owed him a debt — " I was to do the honourable business of a spy and informer, and to be paid for it in the common way ; it was common acreahle work — treason and conspiracy I was to be paid for it by the sheet.'" Do you find men doing these things in common life? I have now stated the circumstances by which, in my opinion, the credit of Cockayne ought to be reduced to nothing m your eyes. But I do not rest here. Papers were found in the cham- ber of Mr. Jackson ; the door was open — and, by the bye, that careless- ness was not evidence of any conscious guilt ; the papers were seized. That there were some belonging to Jackson is clear, because he expressed an anxiety about some that are confessed not to have any relation to the subject of this day's trial. I asked Cockayne, if he had any papers in Jackson's room the night before he was arrested ? lie said not. I ^eked him, if he had told any person that he had ? He said not. Gen- tlemen, the only witness I shall call, will be one to show you that ho nas in that sworn falsely. And let me here make one observation to you, the strength and good sense of which has been repeated an hun- dred times, and, therefore, rests on better authority than mine. Where a witness swears glibly to a number of circumstances, where it is impos- aible to produce contradictory proof, and is found to fail in one, it shal[ overthrow all the others. And see how strongly the observation appliep here : he swore to a conversation with Jackson as to what he said and did, well kno-WTUg that Jackson could not be a witness to disprove thaj unless the good sense of the jury should save liis life, and enable him to become, in his turn, a prosecutor for the perjury. If on a point of thia Iriad this man should be found to have forsworn himself, it cannot occa- jion any other sentiment but this, that if you have felt yourselves dis- posed to give anything hke credit to his evidence where he has sworn to facts urldch hf must have known, it is the key-stone of the arch hi hi" 220 REV AVIIJLIAM JACKSON. testimony, and if you can pluck it fi-om its place, the remainder of tne pile will fall in ruins about his head. I will produce that witness — but, before I sit down, permit me, gen- tlemen of the jury, to remind you, that if every word which Cockayne has here sworn werf» sworn in Westminster-Hall, the judges would immediately hare said— There is not anything for the jury to decide upon ; the evidence of the indictment rests on him alone ; there is no jecond witness. So does the transaction of the letters, for De Joa- court's testimony could not have satisfied the statute ; it was not e\ i- dence to the same overt act as affecting Jackson personally, nor was it evidence of any distinct overt act ; it was merely that species of evidence, the abuse of which had been the cause of introducing the statute of William ; a mere collateral concomitant evidence. The overt act was writing and puttiag into the post-office ; that was sworn to by Cockayne, and if he deserved credit, would go so far as to prove the fact by one T\itness. See what the idea of the statute is ; it is that it must be an overt act brought home to the prisoner by each of the two witnesses swearing to it. If De Joncourt's evidence stood single, it could not flave brought anything home to Jackson. Cockayne swore the super- icription was his writing ; he put the letters into the office. De Jon- court said nothing but that he found in the office a letter which he pro- Saced, and which Cockayne said was the one he had put into it. Thib cbserration appears to collect additional strength from tliis circumstance Why did they not produce Tone ? It is said they could not. I say they could. It was as easy to pardon him as to pardon Cockayne. But whether he was guilty or not, is no objection. Shall it be said that the argument turns about and affects Jackson as much as it does the pro- secutor ? I think certainly not. Jackson, I believe it has appeared in the course of the evidence, and is matter of judicial knowledge to the court, has lain in prison for twelve mouths past, from the moment of his arrest to the moment of his trial. If he is conscious that the chaige is false, it is impossible for him to prove that falsehood ; he was so cir- cumstanced as that he could not procure the attendance of witnesses ; a stranger in the country, he could not tell whether some of the persons named were in existence or not. I have before apologised to you for trespassing upon your patience, ^nd I have again trespassed— let me not repeat it. I shall only take the liberty of reminding you, tliat if you have any doubt, in a criminal case doubt should be acquittal ; that you are trying a case which if tried fa England would preclude the jury from the possibility of finding a rerdict of condemnation. It is for you to put it into the power of man- kind to say, that that which should pass .larmlessly o\ev the head of a man in Great Britain shall blast him here ; — whether life is more valuable in that country than in this, or whether a verdict may more easily be obtained here in a case tending to establish pams and penal- lies of this severe nature. ThG trial lasted till fom o'clock in the morning, when Jackson was found Guilty. He was brought up for judgmeat on the 30th of April, but he died in the dock , of arsnic wliich he had taken. It is noticeable that the rule of allowing one witness to convict for treason in Ireland, as established by thi3 case, enabled the Government to obtain their con^nctions iu'se. 221 DUBLIN DEFENDERS. December 22nd, 1795. TRIAL OF JA:MES WELDON, FOR HIGH TREASON licforc the Court liolden under a Commission of Oyer and TermineTi and general Gaol delivery, in and for the County of the City cf Dublin, ill Ireland, on Monday, December 2\st, and Tuesday December 22nd. 36 Geo. III., a.d, 1795. Coujiissiox.— Monday, Decembee 14th, 1795. Mr. Baron George sat as the Judge of the Comrnission, and was assisted by Mr. Jostlo? Chamberlaine and Mr. Justice Finucane. In the latter end of the month of August, 1795, several persons were taken into custody In the city of Dublin, npon charges of High Treason, and in the ensuing commission dL Oyer and Terminer held in October, bills of indictment were preferred against them, and others not then in custody which were returned by the grand jury to be true bills. The prisoners in custody were then brought to the bar of the court, for the purpose of having counsel and agents assigned. They were severally called upon to name their ow:' counsel and agents, and such as they named were assigned by the court, as follows : — For Thomas Kennedy, George Lewis, Patrick Hart, Edward Hanlon, Thomas Cooke, and John Lo-svrv- ; Comisel — Messrs. Curran and M'Xally. Agent — Mr. A. Fitzgerald- For Thomas Murphy and Michael Maguifse; Counsel— Messrs. irXaily and Lysaglit. Agent — Mr. M. Kearney. "For Henry Flood ; Counsel— Messrs. Fletcher and Ridgeway. Agent — Mr. F. Rood. In the interval between the October commission and the December, a person of the name of James Weldon was apprehended on a charge of High Treason, and he, together with sucl S8 had been previously in custody, were served with copies of the indictments and the cap- tions thereof, five days before the first day of this commission. This day the prisoners who had been in custody at the last commission were severally arraigned, and pleaded Not Guilty. On che 21st of December several arguments took place as to the jury, and 01 the 22nd the trial came on. The Attorney-General stated the case, and examined many witnesses, but especially one "William Lawler, a gilder. The crown examination was leading and unfair throughout Curran said : — My lords, and gentlemen of the jury, I am of counsel in one of those cases m Avhich the humanity of our law is, very fortunately, joined "with the authority and wisdom of the court in alliance with me for the pur- poses of legal protection. Gentlemen, I cannot, however, but regret that that sort of laudable and amiable anxiety for the public tranquillity which glows warmest in the breasts of the best men, has, perhaps, induced Mr. Attorney-General to state some facts to the court and the jury, of which no evidence was attempted to be given. And I make the observation only for this purpose, to remind you, gentlemen, that the statement of counsel is not evidence — to remind you, that you are to give a verdict upon this solemn and momentous occasion, founded simply upon the evidence which has been given to you ; for such is the oath you have taken. Gentlemen, I make the observation, not only in order to call upon you to dischargee any impressions not supported bv 122 DTTBLm DEFENDERS. l^timony, hut to reraind you ako of another incontrovertible rnaxim, not only of iLe humane law of Engkiid, but of eternal justice upon which that is founded— tb.at the more horrid and atrocious the uatuie of any crime charged upon any man is, the more clear and invin- cible should be the evidence upon which lie is convicted. The charge Here is a charge of the most enormous criminality tliat the law of any country can know— no less than the atrocious and diabolical purpose of offering mortal and fatal violence to the person of the Sovereign, who ought to be sacred. The prisoner is charged with entertaining the guilty purpose of destroying all order, and all society, for the well-being of which the person of the King is held sacred. Therefore, gentlemen^ I presume to tell you, that in proportion as the crime is atrocious and horrible, in the same proportion ought the evidence to convict be clear and irresistible. Let me, therefore, endeavour to discharge the duty I owe to the unfortunate man at the bar (for unfortunate I consider him, whether he be convicted or acquitted), by drawing your attention to a consideration of the facts charged, and comparing it with the evidence adduced to support it. The charge, gentlemen, is of two kinds — two species of treason founded upon the statute 25 Edward III. One is, compassing the King's death ; the other is a distinct treason — that of adhering to the King's enemies. In both cases the criminality must be clearly estab- Ushed, under the words of the statute, by having the guilty man con- dcted of the offence by provable evidence of overt acts. Even in the ''ase, and it is tlie only one, where by law the imagination shall complete ihe crime, there that guilt must be proved, and can be provable only by outward acts, made use of by the criminal, for the effectuation of his guilty purpose. The overt acts stated here are, that he associated with traitors unknown, with the design of assisting the French, at war *7ith our government, and therefore a public enemy. 2ndly, consulting with others for the purpose of assisting the French. Srdly, consulting with other traitors to subvert the government 4thly, associating with Defenders to subvert the Protestant religion. 5thly, enlisting a person stated in the indictment to assist the French, and administering an oath to him for that purpose. 6thly, enlisting him to adhere to the French. 7thly, corrupting Lawler to become a Defender. 8thly, enlisting him by administering an oath, for similar purposes. In ordel to warrant a verdict convicting the prisoner, there must be clear and convincing evidence of some one of these overt acts, as they are laid. The law requires that there should be stated upon record such an act lis in point of law wHl amount to an overt act of the treason charged, as matter of evidence, and the evidence adduced must correspond with the fact charged. The uniform rule which extends to every case applies to this, that whether the fact charged be sustained by evidence is for the conscience and the oath of the jury, according to the degree of credit they give to the testimony of it. In treason, the overt act must sustain the crime, and the evidence must go to support the overt act so stated. If this case were tried at the other side of the water, it does not strike me that the very irrelevant evidence Eivcn by Mr. Carleton could have DUBLIN DEFENDERS. 223 supplied what the law requires — the concurring testimony of two wit- nesses. I cannot be considered, indeed T should be sorry, to put any sort of comparison between the person of Mr. Carleton and the first witness who was called upon the table. Gentlemen of the jury, you have an important province indeed — the life or death of a man — to decide upon. But previous to that, you must consider what degree of credit ought to be given to a man under the circumstances of that witness pro- duced against the prisoner. It does appear to me, that his evidence merits small consideration in point of credibility But even if he were as deserving of belief as the witness that followed, and that his evidence were as credible as the other's was immaterial, I shall yet rely confi- dently, that every word, if believed, does leave the accusation unsupported. Gentlemen, I will not affront the idea which ought to be entertained of you, by warning you not be led away by those phantoms which have been created by prejudice, and applied to adorn the idle tales drunk down by folly, and belched up by malignity. You are sensible that you are discharging the greatest duty that law and religion can repose in you, and I am satisfied you will discard your passions, and that your verdict will be founded, not upon passion or prejudice, but upon your oaths and upon justice. Consider what the evidence in point of fact is — Lawler was brought by Brady and Kennedy to Weidon, the prisoner, ip Barrack-street ; what Brady said to him before, if it had been of moment in itself, I do not conceive can possibly be extended to him, who did not assent to the words, and was not present when they were uttered.— Lawler was carried to the prisoner at the bar to be sworn ; and here give me leave to remind you, what was the evidence — to remind you that the expressions proved do not bear that illegal import which real or affected loyalty would attach to them, and therefore you will dis- charge all that cant of enthusiasm from your minds. I wish that I were so circumstanced as to be entitled to an answer, when I ask Llr. A.ttorney- General what is the meaning of the word Defender ? I wisb I were at liberty to appeal to the sober understanding of any man, foi the meaning of that tremendous word. I am not entitled to put the question to the counsel or the court — but I am entitled to call upon the wise and grave consideration of the court to say whether the zeal of public accusation has aflixed any definite meaning to the word ? 1 would be glad to know, whether that expression, which is annexed to the title of the highest magistrate, marking his highest obligation, and styling him the Defender of the religion of the country, in common parlance acquired any new combination, carrying with it a crime, when applied to any other man in the community ? Let me warn you, there- fore, against t]:at sort of fallacious lexicography which forms new words, that undergoing the examination of political slander or intemperate /.eal, are considered as having a known acceptation. What is the word? A word that should be discarded, when it is sought to afiix to it another meaning than that which it bears in the cases where it is used. Lei me remind you that a Defender, or any other term used to denote any confraterniiy, club, or society, like any other word, is arbitrary, but th^ meaning should be explicit. And therefore with regarasou, and which had shed upon the scaffold some uf the best blood in England, would again run in upon us, if a man were to suffer an igu )aiinious death under such circumstances as the present, —if equivocal expressions should be taken as decisive proof, or if dubious words were to receive a meaning from the zeal of a witness, or the heat, passion, or prejudice of a jury. The true rule by which to ascertain what evidence should be deemed sufficient against a prisoner is, that no man should be convicted of any crime except upon the evi- dence of a man subject to an indictment for perjury, where the evidence is such as if false, the falsehood of it may be so proved as to convict the witness of perjury. But what indictment could be supported for a laugh a ski-ug, or a wink ? Was there any conversation about killing t'cc Kirig No : but there was a laugh — there was an oath to which wc were sworn — and then — there was a wink ; by which I understood, we were SAvearing one thing, and meant another. Why, gentlemen, there can be no safety to the honour, the property, or the life of a man, in a country where such evidence as this shall be deemed sufficient to con- \ict a prisoner. There is nothing necessary to sweep a man from society, but to find a miscreant of sufficient enormity, and the unfor- tu'.iate accused is drifted down the torrent of the credulity of a weU- iu tending jury. See how material this is ; Weldon was present at only one conversation with the witness. It is not pretended by the counsel for ihe crown, that the guilt as to any personal evidence against Weldon does not stand upon the first conversation. Was there a word upon that conversation of adhering to the King's enemies ? It was stated in the case, and certamly made a strong impression, that Lawler was enlisted, in order to assist the French. I heard no such evidence given. T'^e signs of what he called Defenders were communicated to him ; the oach which he took was read, and he was told there would be a subsequent meeting, of which the witness should receive notice from Brady. Gentlemen, before I quit that meeting at Barrack-street, let me pui this soberly to you. What is the evidence upon which the court can leave it to you to determine that there is equivocation in the oath? It must be in this way : you are to consider words in the sense in which they are spoken, and in writings words are to be taken in their common, meaning. Words have sometimes a technical sense for the purposes of certainty : they may also be made the signs of arbitrary ideas, and therefore I admit a treasonable meaning may be attached to words which, in their ordinary signification, are innocent. But where is the evidence, or what has the witness said to make you believe, that these words m the oath were used in any other than in the common, ordinary acceptuiou ? Not a word, an I have heard. Weldon can be aflfecieH .■^!Lly personally^ either, first, upon act*? by himsplf, or by other aCl> 226 i)UBLIN A)Ei"ENDEKS. brought home to him from the general circumstances of the case. I am considering it in that two-fold way, and I submit, that if it stood upon the evidence respecting the conduct of the prisoner at Barrack- street alone, there could not be a doubt as to his acquittal. It is neces' sary, therefore, that I should ta,ke some further notice of the subsequent part of the evidence. The witness stated, that Weldon informed him that there would be another meeting, of which he, the witness, should have notice. He met Brady and Kennedy ; they told him there was a meeting at Plunket-street ; and here give me leave to remind the coiirt. that there is no evidence that there was any guilty purpose in agitation to be matured at any future meeting — no proposal of any criminal design. There ought to be evidence to show a connexion between the prisoner and the subsequent meeting, as held under his authority. It is of great moment to recollect, that before any meeting Weldon had left town, and, in the mention of any meeting to be held, let it be remembered he did not state any particular subject, as comprehending the object of the meeting. What happened ? There certainly was a meeting in Plunket-street ; but there was not a word of assisting the French — of subvertuag the religion— of massacreing the Protestants — of any criminal design whatever. There was not any consultation upon any such design. I make this distinction, and rely upon it, that where consultations are overt acts of this or that species of treason, it must be a consultation hy the members composing that meeting; because it would be the most ridiculous nonsense, that a conversation addressed from one individual to another, not applied to the meeting, should bG called a consultation : but, in truth, there is no evidence of anything respecting the French, except in Stoney-batter. There, for the first ikne, the witness says he heard any mention of the French. Hero, gentlemen of the jury, let me beseech you to consider what the force of ihe evidence is. Supposing that what one man said there to another about assisting the French, to have been criminal, shall Weldon, who was then for a week a hundred miles from the scene, be crimmaUy him, if the rule laid d^wn, that everj word he said, ai: wi.% a2B ^)UBLIN DEFENDERS> said by a man with whom he ever had a conversation, shall affect him at any distance of time ? Consider what will be the consequence of establishing the precedent, that a man shall alwaj's be responsible for the act of the society to which he has once belonged. Suppose a man heedlessly brought into an association where criminal purposes are going forward — suppose there was, what has been staled, a society of men calling themselves Defenders, and answering in fact to the very singular picture drawn of them. Will you give it abroad, that if a man once belongs to a criminal confederacy, his case is desperate — his retreat is cut off — that every man once present at a meeting to subvert the government, shall be answerable for every thing done at any distance of Cme by this flagitious association ? What is the law in this respect ? As in the association there is peril, so in the moment of retreat there is safety. What could this man have done ? He quitted the city — he went to another part of the kingdom, when the treasonable acts were Committed ; yes, but he was virtually among them ! What constitutes a man virtually present, when he is physically absent ? What is the principle of law by which he shall be tried ? It can alone be tried by that, by which the mandate or authority of any man is brought home tc ium. By previously suggesting the crime, by which he becomes an accessary before the fact, and therefore a principal in treason ; for by suggesting the crime he proves the concurrence of his will with that of the party committing the crime. This is a maxim of law : that which in ordinary felonies makes a man an accessary, in treason will constitute him a principal, because in treason there are no accessaries. Suppose meeting held for one purpose, and a totally distinct crime is committed, 3re those who were at the first meeting accessaries ? Certainly not ; because they must be procurers of the fact done. To make a man a prmcipal, he must be quodammodo aiding and assisting — that is noC proved. What, then, is the accessorial guilt ? Did the prisoner write to the others ? Does he appear to be the leader of any fraternity — the conductor of any treasonable meeting ? No such thing. I say when he quitted Dublin he had no intention of giving aid or countenance to any meeting ; the connexion between him and the society ceased, and there is no evidence that he had any knowledge of any of their subae* quent acts. Unless there be positive evidence against him, you ought to consider him out of the sphere of any association. But still you make him answerable for what was done. If you do that, you establish a rule unknown to the sense or humanity of the law ; making him answerable for what was done, not by himself but by other persons. Gentlemen, I feel that counsel, anxious as they ought to be, may be «d further than they intend ; in point of time I have pressed further than I foresaw upon the patience of the jury and the court. I say the object of this part of the trial is whether the guilt of any thing which happened in that society be in point of law brought home to the pri- soner ? I have endeavoured to submit that the charge ought to bo clear, and the evidence explicit, and that though the meetings at which Lawler attended were guilty, yet the prisoner, being absent, was not affected by their criminality. Give me leave now, with deference, to K^usider the case in another point of view. I say then, from what ha*' appeared in evidence, the meetings themselves cannot in the estimation of the law be guilty. If these meetings are not provably guilty of treason, there can be no retroactive guilt upon the prisoner, even if the communication between them and him were proved. If there be no direct and original guilt — if they do not that, which, if done by him, would amount to an overt act of treason, a fortiori, it cannot extend to him. Therefore, let me suppose, that the prisoner was at the time present at these meetings. Be pleased to examine this, whether if he tvere, the evidence given would amount to the proof required. I con- ceive that nothing can be more clear than the distinction between mere casual, indiscreet language, and language conveying a deliberated ana debated purpose. To give evidence of overt acts, the e\'idenee must be clear and direct. How is Hensey's case ?* A species of evidence was adduced, which it was impossible for any man to deny — actual proof of correspondence found in his own writing and possession. How was it in Lord Preston's case ?t Evidence equally clear of a purpose acted upon — going to another country for that treasonable purpose In every case of which we read memorials in the law, the act is such, that no man could say It is not an overt act of the means vised by the party in effectuation of nis guilty intent. But I said, that a deliberate purpose, expressed and a.'ted upon, is different from a casual, indiscreet expression. Suppose no^* , that the meeting were all indicted for com- passing the King's death, ^:ad that the overt act charged is, that they consulted about giving cid ti. the King's enemies, actually at war ; the (^uilt of ail is the guilt of eacQ — there i3 no distinction between them. If that meeting held that consultation, they are all guilty of that species of high treason. But if the evidence were, that at that meeting which (Consisted of as many as are now here, one individual turned about to another, and said, " we must get aruis to assist the French, when they come here." Would any reasonable man say, that was a consultation to adhere to the King's enemies ? — a mere casual expression, not raiswered by any one — -not addressed to the body. Can it be sustained for a moment in a court of justice, that it was i consuliatiou to effect the death of the King, or adhere to his enemies ? No, gentlemen, Vah Is not matter of any deep or profound learning — it is fiimiliar to the plainest understanding. The foolish language of one servant in your hall is not evidence to affect all the other servants in your house — it i^ Dot the guilt of the rest. I am aware it may be the guilt of the rest it may become such. But I rely upon this ; I address it to you witb the confidence that my own conviction inspires, that your lordships will state to the jury, that a consultation upon a subject is a reciprocation of sentiment upon the same subject. Every man understands tht meaning of a consultation ; there is no servant that cannot understand if;. If a man said to another, " we will conspire to kill the King," ug kcquey could mistake it. But what is a consultation ? Way such as a child could not mistake if it passed before him. One saying to ano- • 13 Uoweu's state Irials, V-iAL + 12 Howell'o State Trials, Clo. P 230 DUBLIN DEFENDERS. ther, " We are here together, private friends — we are at war — the French may land, and if they do, we will assist them." To make that a consultation there must be an assent to the same thought ; upon that assent, the guilt of the consultation is founded. Is that proved by a casual expression of one man, without the man to whom it was directed m.aking any answer, and when, in fact, every other man but the person using the expression was attending for another purpose ? — But if there be any force in what I have said, as applied to any man attending there, how much more forcible will it appear, when applied to a man who was an hundred miles distant from the place of meeting. If the law be clear, there is no treason in hearing treasonable designs and not consenting thereto (though it be another offence), unless he goes there, knowing beforehand what the meeting was to be. Here, gentlemen, see how careful the law is, and how far it is from being unprovided as to different cases of this kind. If a man go to a meet- ing, knowing that the object is to hatch a crime, he shall be joined in the guilt. If he go there and takes a part, without knowing pre- viously, he is involved ; though that has been doubted. Foster says, " this is proper to be left to the jury, though a party do or say nothing as to the consultation." K. for instance, a man, knowing of a design to imprison the King, go to a meeting to consult for that purpose, his going there is an obvious proof of his assent and encouragement. This is the law, as laid down by one of the most enlightened writers in any science. Compare that doctrine with what Mr. Attorney-General wishes to inculcate, when he seeks to convict the prisoner. There was 3, meeting in Barrack-street, and it was treason, because they laughed. As Sancho said, they aU talked of me, because they laughed. But, then, there is a catechism. Aye, what say you to that ? The cock ere-;? in France ; — what sav you to that ? Why, I say, it might be foolish, it might be indecent to talk in this manner. But what is the charge ? — that he consulted to kill the King. Where was it he did that ? — at Cork ! But did he not assist ? No ; he was not there. — But he did assist, because he communicated signs, and thus you collocfc the guilt of the party, as the coroner upon an inquest of murder, who thought a man standing by was guilty. Why ? — because three drops of blood fell from his nose. This was thought to be invincible proof of his guilt. It reminds me also of an old woman who undertook tc prove that a ghost had appeared. " How do you know there was a ghost in the room ?" " Oh ! I'll prove to you there must have been a ghost — for the very moment I went in, I famted flat on the floor !" So, says Mr. Attorney-General, " Oh, I'll convince you, gentlemen, he designed to kill the King, /or he laughed." Weldon was chargeable *rith all the guilt of the meeting — he laughed when the paper was read, wid said, " When the Iviug's head was off, there was an end of the allegiance." In answer to that, I state the humane good sense of the law, that, in the case of the Ufe of a traitor, it is tender in proportion to the abomination of the crime ; for the law of England, while it sus- pended the sword of justice over the head of the guilty man, threw its protection around the icuocent, to save his loyalty from the danger of DUBLIJy DEFENDERS. 231 such evidence. It did more — it tlire>y its protection around him vcliose tnnocence might be don bted, but who was not proved to be guilty. The aiild and lenient policy of the law discharges a man frora the necessity of proving his innocence,, because otherwise it would look as if the jury were empannelled to condemn upon accusation, without evidence ic support of it, but merely because he did not prove himself innocent. Therefore, gentlemen, I eome round again to state what the law is. In order to make a general -assembling and consultation evidence of overt tictSj there must be that assembling ; and the guilt must be marked by that consultation, in order to charge any man, who was present and did not say anything concurring, with the guilt of that consultation. It is necessary that he should have notice that the guilty purpose was to be debated upon — that the meeting was convened for that purpose. But let me recal your attention to this, and you will feel it bearing strongly upon that case. The silence of a man at such a meeting is not criminal to the decree here cl arged. Then suppose his disclaimer necessary — suppose the law considered every man as abetting what he did not disavow— remember that the wretch now sought to be affected by his silence at a meeting, was one hundred miles distant frora it. There might have been a purpose from which his soul had recoiled. Ig this then evidence upon which to convict the prisoner ? There is no statement of any particular purpose — no summons to confer upon any particular purpose — no authority given to any meeting by a deputy uamed ; and let me remind you, that at the last meeting, if there wer-" the gossipings and communications you have heard, there was not an^ one man present who attended the first meeting, nor is there any evi- dence to show that the prisoner had ever spoken to any one man who attended the last meeting, upon any occasion ; and yet the monstrous absurdity contended for is, that although Weldon proposed no subject for discussion — although he proposed no meeting — although he did not know that any purpose was to be carried into effect, because he was then one hundred miles off, he is still to suffer for the foolish babble of ■ 3ne individual to another. You are to put all proceedings together, and out of the tissue of this talk, hearsay, and conjecture, you are to collect the materials of a verdict, by which you directly swear that thn man is guilty of compassing the King's death. But suppose a man tvere to suggest a treasonable meeting — that the meeting takes place, and he does not go — the first proposal may amount to an evidence o! treason, if it went far enough, and amounted to an incitement. But suppose the meeting held be a distinct one from that which was sug- gested, and the party does not attend, it appears to me, that the act of fihat meeting cannot be considered as his overt act. The previous mcitement must be clearly established by evidence, and I rely upon it, that the subsequent acts of that meeting, to which I am supposing he did not go — particularly if it be a meeting at which many others wer« present who were not at the first — I rely upon it, I say, that no decla- ration of any man (and more decidedly, if it be by a man not privy to the original declaration), can be evidence upon which a jury can attach fijuilt to the party It is nothing more than misfeasance, which i» eev^ 23S DUBLIN DEFENDER*, tainly criminal, but not to the extent of this charge. To affect anj man by subsequent debate, it must be with notice of the purpose, and if the meeting be dictated by himself it is only in that point he can be guilty ; because if you propose a meeting for one purpose, you shall no{ be affected by any other — ^no matter what the meeting is — however trea- oonable or bad. Unless you knew before for what purpose they assembled, rou cannot be guilty virtually by what tliey have done. Gentlemen, I do not see that anything further occurs to me upor. in? law of the case, that I have not endeavoured in some way to submit U) }-ou. Perhaps I have been going back somewhat irregularly. Gentle- men, there remains only one, and that a very narrow subject of obser- vation. I said that the evidence upon which the life, and the fame, and che property of a man should be decided and extinguished, ought to be of itself evidence of a most cogent and impressive nature. Gentlemen, does it appear to you that the witness whom you saw upon the table comes under that description ? Has he sworn truly ? If he has, what has he told you ? As soon as he discovered the extent of the guilt he -. ing of Catholi.; Emancipation and the pacification of Ireland. The causes of this proposed concession \ve! e the rapid progi-ess of the United Irishmen, and the still more rapid pro- gress of the French armies, who had driven the Spaniards behind the Pyrenees, the Aus- trians behind the Rhine, destroyed the Duke of York's army, and prepared the occupatioB 'rf Holland, m the "winter of 1794—5. On the 22ik1 of January, Parliament met, and heard a most plausible spoecla. It imposed on Grattan ; he outdid ministers in loyalty to the stupid and barbarous King, and illilieral iid insolent government of England. An Emancipation BiU was read a first time, but ample supplies were voted, and auti-Gailican frenzy got up among certain classes, before it ♦v'£3 found that Beresford and the King v/ere too strong for Fitzwilliam and Pitt. The Viceroy was recalled, the Emancipation BUI defeated, but the supplies and the frenzy were tlUi'icp'riated by the ministers. On the set,ond reading of the bill a debate of great length f^A j^bility toek pl^e. I regi-et tlia iufn:ik>"*v of tiie report of Cui-mo "s si eech •— 234 CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 1 mean not, at this late hour, to trouble the house at large on the question. I have from the first been a friend to the deliverance of the Catholics. I think their claims irresistible on every principle of policy QLd justice. I have more than once given my reasons for that opinion. It is not necessary now to repeat them. Never did a cause stand less m need of additional defence. Very little therefore will I now add ; particularly as the speech of a right honourable gentleman has made it manifest that gentlemen have come with their minds prepared upon the subject, and that it is a question of division and not of debate. 1 feel myself forced to rise to set right some things that have been asserted in the debate. An honourable and learned gentletnan has been pleased to mix the names of the Catholics with that of Mr. Jack- son, who was lately tried for treason. It is only justice to that body of our fellow-subjects to say, in the presence of the Attorney-General, who conducted that prosecution, that not one syllable was said upon the trial, nor did any circumstance whatsoever appear, that could warrant even a suspicion of the most distant intercourse between any one Catholic and that unfortunate man ; and I am glad of being able to make this asser- tion in this public place, in order that if any calumny of that sort should be ever uttered against them, it might be known to be most malicious and unfounded. I must animadvert on the impropriety of talking so familiarly of the names of individuals in parliament. It is abusing the absent, who ought to have at least opportunity of answering — or of say- ing, what they probably would say — that they thought such aspersions Unworthy of reply. It is also asserted, that the bill was penned in a particular quarter, on which the learned gentleman has been very liberal of contemptuous language — I beg to assure him he is mistaken ; the Jill was not penned by those persons. If it be blameable, it is only just to say where the guilt is chargeable. Part of the guilt is with myself — I have assisted in framing this bill. The right honourable mover has the greater part of the guilt to answer for ; I am at a loss, however, to find out in what this guilt consists. 1 have thought of it much, but I cannot find out the criminality. The nation is of my opinion — every persuasion is of my opinion ; I am con- rinced, therefore, not of its guilt, but of its justice. I am satisfied that t£ Ireland is to be saved, it can be done only by the emancipation of the Catholics, and the union of the people. It is no longer a question between the Protestants and the Catholics, but between the mftiister and the country ; the mode of the debate has shown this. Gentlemen have not even touched upon the first arguments upon which they had formerly supported their opposition— namely, the danger to property They have this night confined themselves to idle aspersions on the per. «ons of the Catholics, or to idle boasting of their own loyalty and ortho- ♦loxy. For my own part, I think there is no great merit in having the onfe, nor any great certainty of having the other, to boast of. If 1 were not convinced the present bill is perfectly reconcileable with both, I ehould not think of giving it the warm support which I have given, and will, while ^ ' ve, continue to give it. I feel ra t falling into the raefifs of t>i« debate, contrary to my 0A7SOZAC SMAJff Cn AT10-N\ 23r. resolution wlien I rose. I hare hcnrd a learned gentleman use a very celebrated and respected name in a most extraordinary manner. I had neard something- like it before, and suffered it to pass unnoticed. I am unwilling to rise as the advocate of that gentleman's person or character ; they are too high above such censure to require defence. There might Beem as much egotism as zeal or respect in taking the province of hia defender ; but I cannot, for the honour of the house, suffer an idea to go abroad, that the name of Mr. Edmund Burke has been treated with dis- respect, without expressing the strongest indignation at such a breach of decorum. I should lament that this house could be thought so dead to all sense of such exalted merit, as tamely to endure a language, the disgrace of which could fall only on themselves. But it seems to be a night of unmerited imputation. A young member (Mr. Stuart) has been pleased to say, he hoped the present administration would relieve this country from the bad conduct of the last. It is a subject on which I will enter the lists with the honourable member. I am sorry so young a man could entertain so mean an opinion of the house, as to use such language. I am surprised that the young member should, at so early an age, give the house credit for so much levity and inconsistency as they must possess, if they should listen q^uietly to such an aspersion on the character of a viceroy whom they have Oeclared unanimously to deserve the thanks of this house and the confidence of the people. As for iny part, I shoul4 think it time very much mispent to go into any detail of that noble lord% merits with this country ; I regret the consequences of their being sg universally felt as they are. The same honourable member has noticed the existence of oflice with- out responsibility or place ; it was a circumstance, I confens?, vj-hich marked the government of Lord Fitzwilliam. I see not much likeli:-ood of its being repeated. It would, I fear, be as difficult to find the talents, as the disinterestedness of the right honourable member to whom the gentleman has alluded : he has lent his great powers to his country, without the emolument of office. I am sorry to find the honourable young member not more sensible of that merit. As he advances in years, I trust that he will think more justly, and perhaps improve so much as to make a splendid model the object of more respect — perhaps of imitation 1 shall take the liberty of saying to him — Disce, Puer, virlnitem ex illo, Veruinque laborem ; Fortunam ex aliis. •Cbe seccnci reading w:\s rejcjcted hy l^o to s-k.—JJeUucn- voL sv., pp. 867— 3,';T *AJt> STATE OF THE NATION STATE OF THE NATION. I5th May, 1795. ^ this ciiiy t:irran spoke aud proposed as follows : — The present is the most awful and important crisis that Ireland erer saw, considering the actual state of the nation, of the empire, and of the war in which we are engaged. As to the original motives of the war, this is not the time to inquire into them ; they are lost in the events ; if they were as pure as they have been represented, how much is it to be regretted that the issue lias proved only that it is not in mortals to command success. The armies of Europe have poured into the field, and surrounded the devoted region of France on every side ; but far from achieving their purpose, they have only formed an iron hoop about her, which instead of quelling the fury of her dissensions, has compressed their spring into an irresistible energy, and forced them into co-action. Dui'ing its progress we saw the miserable objects for whom it was nndertaken consumed in nameless thousands in the different quarters of Europe, by want, and misery, and despair ; or expiring on the scaffold, or perishing in the field. We have seen the honest body of the British manufacturer tumbled into the common grave with the venal carcass of the Prussian hireling ; we have seen the generous Briton submit to the alliance and servitude of venality, and submit to it in vain. The sad vicissitudes of each successive campaign have been marked by the defeat of our armies, the triumph of our enemies, and the perfidy of our alhes. What was the situation of the contending parties at the beginning of the contest ? — England, with Spain, with Austria, with Prussia, with Holland, with Ireland on her side ; while France had to count the revolt of Toulon, the insurrection of La Vandee, the rebellion of Lyons, an(? her whole eastern territory in the hands of her enemies ; how direful the prccent reverse ! England exhausted, Holland surrendered, Austria waver- ing, Prussia fled, and Spain fainting in the contest ; while France, tri« amphant and successful, waves a military and triumphant sceptre ovei (m extent of territory that stretches from the ocean and the Rhine to the Pyrennees and the ocean. I shall not dwell upon this miserable picture ; I will only observe, that during this long succession of disaster iod defeat, Ireland alone, of all the allies Great Britain had, neither trafficked, nor deceived, nor deserted. The present distresses of her people attest her liberaljty of her treasure, wliile the bones of her ene- mies, aud of her children, bleaching upon all the plains of Europe, attest the brilliancy of her courage, aud the steadfastness of her faith. In this state was the war at the commencement of this session. Shortly before that period it was thought prudent by his majesty's ministers it Great Britain to remove the chief governor of this kingdom, and i^ appomt a successor ; of that successor it would be presumptuous in me to be the panegyrist ; of his predecessor it would be neither consistent with the decorum of this house, uor with ray own feelings, to speal^ '^ith any personal reproach ; to the acts of both it is impossible not tG STATE CIC THE NATION. 237 exivert. That the corarasncement of this session was a most awful period, has been stated from the throne, and admitted by the addresses of both houses of parliament ; the causes that made it awful were clearly understood by the new viceroy — the disasters of the war, and the dis- contents of the Irish nation. Of these discontents this house cannot possibly be ignorant, because you cannot be ignorant of the cause, namely, the abuses in our government. Upon this subject you must see that you have much to redress, and you feel that you have not little to atone ; your situation is most critical. Your conduct then, if it could be looked at distinctly from your conduct afterwards, I would have con- sidered as highly dignified. Lord Fitzwilliam found it necessary to demand a supply to an unexampled amount ; this house felt the neces- sity, and complied with the demand ; but you are the trustees of the nation, and must feel that so extraordinary an exertion of supply oug'ht t« be accompanied by a most extensive measure of "redress. You cannot, as honest men, give the money of the people, and give a sanction to the continuance of their grievances ; you may bestow your own money, if vou will, without equivalent ; but to act so witli the money and the blood of the nation, would not be generosity, but t\ie most abominable dishonesty and fraud ; — you can give it only upon the terms of redress, and upon these terms only was it demanded by Lord Fitzwilliam, or given by this house. It is inconsistent with the purity of his mind ; it is inconsistent with the character which you ought to preserve in the aation, to put this compact into express terms* He could not have said to you expressly, I will cm-e those corruptions, which have depressed and impoverished your people, which have enriched the most unworthy, and have been connived at by a majority of yourselves. He could not thus hold you out as criminals and penitents to the nation ; it was a compact, therefore, expressed rather by acts than by words. The viceroy set actually about the reform, and the house attested their most zealous gratitude and concurrence. Thus did I consider this house as warranted to say to their constituents t — We have sent the flower of your popula- tion to the standard of the empire ; we have sent the protector from his habitatlcn, the mechanic from his trade, and the labourer from his field yre have found you weak, and we have made yo'u weaker ; we have found you poor, and we have made you poorer ; we have laid a load of taxes upon you, of which for years you must feel the depression ; we hare iaid these taxes so as almost to preclude the attainment of those com- forts and decencies of life without which you can scarcely exist ; but we tave not sold you, we have not betrayed you; what we have given has been the pledge of your loyalty, and the price of your redemption ; by this pledge you have united yourselves to your king, and your posterity mvh his for ever ; for this price the grievances and the abuses that depressed you shall be corrected and redressed. This I considered tG be die meaning of that transaction as fully as if it had beeu expresaec lu the strongest terms of contract or stipulation. It remains for me to state what these abuses and grievances are .— They began with the sale of the honour of the peerage : the open auc avowed sale, for money, of the peerage, to any man rich and shameless^ 238 SIAIJ:- ^es, #nd under such an increase of debt and taxes, indispensable, and »>.-ch we do, therefore, most humbly persist to implore and expect. " That after the supply was granted, and the force voted, and whilst flie Chief Governor, possessmg the entire confidence of both houses of parliament and the approbation of all the people, was reforming abuses, And putting the country in a state of defence, he was suddenly and pre- •jnaturely recalled, and our unparalleled efforts for the support of hia Majesty, answered by the strongest marks of the resentment of his ministers. " That, in consequence of such a proceeding, the business of goveriK 'jaent was interrupted — the defence of the country suspended — the una- uimity which had, under the: then Lord Lieutenant, existed, converted into just complaint and remonstrance — and the energy, confidence, and Eeal of the nation, so loudly called for by his IVIajesty's ministers, were, by the conduct of those very ministers themselves, materially affected. " That this their late proceedings aggravated their past system ; in complaining of which we particularly refer to the notorious traffic of aonours — to the removal of the troops, contrary to law, and in total disregard of the solemn compact with the nation, and safety of the fealm — to the criminal conduct of government respecting the Irish army —to the disbursement of sums of money without account or authority -—to the improvident grant of reversions at the expense of his Majesty's Merest, sacrificed for the emoluments of his servants— to the conduct of his Majesty's ministers in both countries, toward his Catholic and Protestant subjects of Ireland, alternately practising on then- passions, exciting their hope, and procuring theu: disappomtment. " That, convinced by the benefits which we have received under Lis Majesty's reign, that the grievances of wliiclj we complain are sa IKDEMNITI BILL. 245 unknown to his Majesty as abhorrent from his paternal and lojal dispo- sition — " We, his Commons of Ireland, beg leave to lay ourselves at his feet, and, vsdth all humility to his Majesty, to prefer, on our part, and on the part of our constituents, this our just and necessary remonstrance against the conduct of his ministers ; and to implore his Majesty, that he may be graciously pleased to lay his commands upon his minister to second the zeal of his Irish parhament in his Majesty's services, by manifesting, in future, to the people of Ii-eland, due regard and atten- tion."— i>e6a^e5, vol. XV., pp. 389 — 398 Grattan seconded, and Ponsonby supported, tlie motion ; but the adjournment of Ita hotise, moved ty the Chancellor of the Exchequer, -was carried Trithout a division. INDEMNITY BILL. February 3rcZ, 1796. On the Indemnity Bil]^ Gra tan moved that Justice Chamberlain and Baron Smith, the Judges who had gone circuit in the disturbed districts, should be first examined. Curran supported him : — Some excesses, I believe, have taken place, which no friend to bia country can see without the deepest concern. But it is not from hear- say that the belief of a general confederacy against the state should bo adopted — it should not be a belief founded on a mere hatred of the lower orders. Of Bills of Indemnity I admit the principle ; that is, the breach r " the law for the safety of the state. Was it so in the last year that is tLiC purpose of the inquiry. It is to see if such necessity existed whether such breach and to such a degree has been necessary. I know from public evidence, on oath, that most flagrant oppression has been practised upon some poor people by magistrates ; taken from their beds at midnight, and transported no man knew whither, without the coloui of accusation, or form of trial. No such acts were done in England at any of the times alluded to, nor does any Act of Indemnity there extend to any arbitrary sentence or execution of any man, or anything not inevitable at times of convulsion. Nothing has been done to separate the rich from the poor, and to make wealth a proof of innocence, and ooverty itself a crime. I wish to have the report of the Judges on the state of the country, and the general conduct of the magistrates. They OQUst have observed coolly ; they had the best means of observing ; the^ could not be misled by malignity or panic. I appeal to the candour of gentlemen themselves, whether they do not feel some warmth on this subject ? and whether men who have the power of judging in their Dwn ears, ought also to pronounce on their own evidence, against those who could not speak for themselves. As to myself I abhor outrages aa much as any man ; I wish for no delay, but I wish for information, for temper, and therefore for inquiry. — Debates, vol. xvi., p. 61. The amendment was lost, without a division 244 CHANNEL TRADE, CHANNEL TBADE. February Ibth, 1796 Grattan moved a resolution for the Equalization ol Trade Duties between England and Ireland. Mr. Vandeleur seconded the motion, and Sir L. Parsons, Mr. Fletcher, Mr. W. Smith, and Mr. O'Hara supported it. The Chancellor of the Exchequer nio\ed the order of the day, and was sustained by SirH. Langrishe, who nevertheless def end t;d the principle of Gratan's motion. Curran said :— I will not trouble the house long ; it is, indeed, to no purpose to trouble the house long. I see that the only object of the other side of the house is a division, and that an early division ; and I doubt uot there are at this moment forty cooks in DubKii who are apprised that it is not necessary to keep dinner back. I lament, however, that a gentleman of cliaracter should be thrust forward to move so ungra- ciously the order of the day upon such a question. This method of treating a matter of so much moment to the interest of the country, excites my warmest indignation. It is peculiarly unwise and improper nnder the critical circumstances of the present times, which call at least, as much for the probity as for the authority of parliament. Disturb- ances exist in different parts of the kingdom, but the conduct of an honest and prudent government would be to inquire seriously into the causes of the people's discontent, and at one and the same time t-»n of a measure, of all others per- haps most calculated to allay popular discontent, at the very moment they are forced to confess the justice of its principle ; thus at once acknow- ledging, or shamefully betraying, or as shamefully deserting the interests and the rights of their country. It has been argued (if an argument it can be called, instead of an insult), that it is presumption in an inexperienced and uncapitaled country like this, immediately to attempt coping with, and rivalling the commerce that is sustained by the skill, and the enterprise, and the experience, and the opulence of the traders of Great Britain. Our rights must be made equal, but our advantages must continue to be inferior to those of that country ; and this, I insist is an incontrcver- tible answer to that narrow, illiberal, and dishonest policy, which we oughi rather to disdain to answer, and which was said (and I hope and DeHeve untruly said), to be the actuating principle of the trading interest of England. I am too mucli a friend to that country to beheve that such is its principle ; but if i^ i% however mistaken and unjust I Ctl AN NEL TRADE, 24© tQ'Ay think it, 1 cannot but feel some respect for the minister (and recommend that sentiment to the consideration of those who are called the ministry here), ^yho feels in the disposition and the -vvdshes of a great body of the people, a powerful and a formidable restraint upon his conduct. But if that really were the case, — if the Lancashire and Warwickshire manufacturers are such potentates, as that their prejudice? cannot be resisted, nor even reasoned with by the Eug-lish minister instead of an expostulation with him, I would propose one with them I would recommend that a bare-legged deputation from this country should be sent to their high mightinesses, the lords of the buckle and button manufactory, humbly U represent to them, that the welfare of the two kingdoms is not absolutely incompatible, that we are onl; jeeking to benefit ourselves in a small and a gradual increase, withoul injuring them in the smallest degree, and to entreat that they will be graciously pleased to permit their minister to permit our parliament to act with some regard for the interests of its constituents, aud with some respect for its own independence. I repeat, that I am aware by what has fallen from the other side oi the house, and the manner in which these gentlemen have treated the subject, that I am trespassing upon their time in vain, and wasting my own, by which I argue the question with them ; the truth is, the ques- tion must be decided by votes, and there are two modes of influencing votes, in neither of which, perhaps, could I venture to hope for much success. One method is by argument, and another by motive. Argu- ment certainly does influence the votes of a great number of gentlemen in this house ; and if an argument is opposed to me, I may answer it well or ill as I can ; and, if truth, and justice, and reason are with me, I may entertain some hopes of succeeding ; but if argument be altoge- ther abandoned, and a motive opposed to me, I must examine the nature of it, because it might happen to be of such a nature as that it must be impossible for me to reply to it with any eftect. For example, if a gentleman's motive should turn out to be a pension of five hundred pounds a year, it would be impossible to be answered by any logic but Tihat of the treasury bench ; but there is a motive of another, and of a very difierent nature — the sense of generd and collective, instead of private and individual, interest ; and never wa.^ there a time when such a motive ought to operate so powerfully upon the house as the present, when its own honour and the prosperity and the peace of the country alike depend upon the respect of the people for parliament. [He again pressed, with great energy, the gross and shameful inconsistency of at once admitting the justice of the principle of the resolution, and shrink ing from an honest declaration of that principle ; aud concluded a short, but forcible and very animated speech, by giving his cordiii*! assent to the motion.] — Debates, vol. xvi., pp. 85 — 88. The order nf tl;-> d? v was oTried by 82 to IG. Q 24v accera to everv nnrt -i' FMmi.e. ajid, no doubt, plethoric, by the silt. tbO iruiiiNCu v»Ai». plus of blood and population. We are now likely to have a peace with- out any of these disadvantages, and additionally secured by the fortunate increase of one hundred millions of debt ! I do not wish to raise a laugh at such a time, and upon such a subject ; on the contrary, I regret the perplexity which this silly train of juggUng has cast upon the subt ject of debate. No man can judge from the speech, whether the minis- ter has any reasonable prospect either of war or peace : the enemy is beaLen and are suing for peace : the enemy is beaten, and the ene'my is at our gate. We must consult, therefore, and advise with a view to either event ; that advice is contained in the amendment proposed ; it consists of two parts ; it recommends the union of the country in its defence, and, next, it recommends a cure of that disunion which the speech has stated, by giving the people equal rights, and thereby irresisti- ble union in the common cause ; put into plain words it is tliis : Tlie enemy is at the gate, what do you advise ? We advise to arm the nation against them. But, says the minister, the nation is divided. Then, adds the advice, reconcile them to yourself by common justice, and unite them in the cause, by giving them liberty to defend. The question now is, is this advice honest and wise, or is it, as has been charged, seditious and impolitic ? The first part of the charge is supported by weak and silly imputations upon the character of the mover ; but I will not condescend to notice them. With the present age the accusers will be a sufficient answer to the accusation, and with the time to come, the character of the right honourable mover is not likely to meet either the accusa- tion or the accusers. One allegation only in point of fact I must con- tradict. It has been stated that the right honourable member, when ia power, moved the supply, unaccompanied by the emancipation of the Catholics. The fact was directly otherwise. The supply v/as presented with one hand, and, with the other, the just and fair compensation of unquahfied franchise to our Catholic brethren ; and the former would never have been presented if he had not supposed that no shameless 'jerfidy could have deprived the latter of etiect. But is the advice contained in the amendment impolitic ? Can those who say so find any '^ay by which an invader can be resisted, except by the force and cou- rage of the country invaded ? Believe me, Sir, an invader can look to nothmg but certain destruction where he is opposed by the wishes and passions of the people. It is not garrisons, it is not generals, nor armies, upon which we can repose in safety. It is on the union and zeal of the general inhabitants, removing provisions, discovering the designs, mar- ring the projects, and hanging upon the retreats of an enemy, that baf- fles and defeats him mere than any regular force can do. The speech insinuates, and gentlemen have asserted, that of this powerful alhance we should not have the aid. Wisely it is ordained that there shall be only one way of possessing it ; that government shall be just in ordei Chat subjects shall be loyal ; and that statesmen learn, if they would be safe they must be honest. That honesty is recommended by the amend- ment} but gentlemen have insinuated, though they cannot be hardy enough to assert, that the Irish nation has been honestly dealt with. JVTiat has been the system nursued with resne-jf. to the CathoJiufi during TRENCH WAR. 251 the administration of the present minister ? Their petitions to pariia- meut were contaraeliously rejected. I arraign that rejection upon the authority of parliament, which is ashamed of what it has done, and received that very petition the subsequent session, and so far abolished the brutal code of proscription and uf blood. To your own wisdom and justice I fondly attribute your repentance of your mistake, and it is seriously for you now to consider whether you will sufler the perverse- ness of a giddy and incapable government to lead you into the degrada- tion of repenting of that repentance. To parliament I wish to ascribe the merit of the justice that was done to the Catholics ; to the govern- ment only could be ascribed the vengeance that has been excited against them by that justice. Government have resorted to the mean artifice of excluding them from all offices and franchises, of encouraging every attack upon their reputation, and encouraging the most wicked and groundless prosecutions against their lives. Of the trials of Mr. Fay, and of the principal Catholic merchants of Drogheda, I can speak as aa eye-witness ; and I declare them to be scenes of more atrocity and hor- ror than I have ever seen exhibited in a court of justice. It was what the Catholics might have expected when they found their avowed ene- mies continued in authority, and the malice of an implacable government left to indemnify itself by vengeance for what it had lost by law. But why do I state those sufferings of my countrymen ? Is it to inflame their passions ? Far from it ; if I wished them inflamed, it is expressly stated that they are so already. I am therefore stating those errors which have led to that inilammation, as an argument for supporting the amendment, which proposes a correction of them. As to the disease, I cannot but admit that gentlemen are right in saying that it exists, and I warn the administration against placing themselves in so ridiculous a light as a government must appear in, by refusing the remedy pro- posed, and that without having any plausible objection or any rationa. substitute. The disease and the remedy jare found in the nature o. man : by injuries he is alienated, and by kindnesses conciliated. You have tried the former part of this maxim at the hazard of every thing that is dear to a nation, the amendment advises you to give the latter part of it a fair trial in mercy to the nation and to yourselves. But if you are not reconciled to this advice by any intrinsic mark of its wis- dom, try it by your own objections. One gentleman says that the government has been just, and that the people are united. K that be io, to refuse the amendment is to libel your own justice, and to deny the consequences of your own wisdom. Another gentleman says they are disaffected, but thinks our own s\^ords an unfailing protection. I cannot but regret that such an idea "hould have fallen from him. The idea of an enemy, and of a country, combined against those swords, would be too terrible in its consequence '—surely, surely it cannot be seriously even insinuated to be true. Gen tlemen say the Catholics have got every thing but seats in parliament. Are we really afraid of givmg them that privilege ? Are we seriously afraid that Catholic venaUty might pollute the immaculate integrity of the HoiBf of CommoQb ? — that g C^tliolic merobejc woidd be more acces- 262 FKENCH -WAR. Bible to a promise,' or a pension, or a bribe, than a Protestant ? Lay your hands upon your liearts, look in one another's faces and say, Yes, and I will vote against this amendment. Bat is it the fact that they have every thing ? Is it the fact that they have the common benefit o{ the constitution, or the common protection of the law ? Look at the scene that has been exhibited for two years in one of your counties, of robbery, and rape, and murder, and extermination ; and why has that disgraceful practice existed ? Because the law can give them no pro- tection under a hostile and implacable government ; because they have not struct those natural roots into their own soil, that can secure them against tlie storm that has mercilessly riiged against them. But a right honourable gentleman has said, it is not yet the time. Low indeed must the topics of objection have been drained, when even talents like this descend to such an objection. One merit it certainly has ; it is ar' argument for ever equally true, with only one unlucky circumstance, — ♦hat it is for ever equa^y false—an prgumenfc iu support of which the ivhole force of prospective eternity may be put into requisition, and made to sustain the onset with such obstinate courage, that no single moment will be found to consult its safety iu retreat, or decKne the alternative of victory or death. Another gentleman has said, the Catholics have got much, and ought to be content. "NVliy have they ^ot that much ? is it from the minister? is it from the parliament, which threw their petition over its bar ? No, they got it by the great revolution of human aiTairs, by the astonishing march of the human mind ; a march that has collected too much moment in its advance, to be now stopped in its progress. Tlie bark is still afloat, it is freighted with the hopes and liberties of millions of men ; she is already under weigh — the rower may faint, or the wind may sleep, but rely upon it, she has already acquired an energy of advancement that will support her course, and bring her to her destination ; rely upon It, whether much or little remains, it is now vain to withhold it ; rely upon it, you may as well stamp your foot upon the earth, in order to prevent its revolution. You cannot stop it ! you will only remain a silly gnomon upon its surface to measure the rapidity of rotation, until you are forced round and buried in the shade of that body, whose irresistible course you would endeavour to oppose. One honourable gentleman has put the question upon its true grounds —namely, the eiTect which the adoption or rejection of the amendment must have upon England, upon Ireland, upon France ; it must be so consi- dered. I ask wliat have ministers to say to England at the hour of her dan- ger — can they tell her that Ireland is unnecessary to her defence ? No ; separate Ireland from her, and she sinks to the bottom, and only finds a grave in the ocean that was before the theatre of her triumphs and her pride. Will they assure England of a zealous assistance in this hour of her calamity ? If their own assertions here be true, they dare not make her such a promise. Will they dare to tell her that the dis- affection of which they complain has been occasioned by their own malig- nity and folly ? "Will they dare to avow that they have goaded the great body of this nation into such an extreme of detestation and «;cntemnt/, FRENCH "WAR. 26J that they prefer the last and worst of evils, the ravages and horrors of a hostile invader, to the hope of safety, by arming under so odious anology for the refusal of an incontestible right, the answer which a bankrupt buck migb.t give to the demand of his tailor — he will not pay the bill, because " the rascal had dared to threaten bis honour." As another argument against their claims, their principles have been maligned ; the experience of a century is the refutation of the aspersion. The articles of their faith have been opposed, by the learned doctor, to the validity of their claims. Caji their religicm be an objection, where a total absence of all religion, where atheism itself, is none ? The learned doctor, no doubt, thought he was priusiug ihe mercy wit^ which they have been governed, when he dilated upon their poverty ; but can poverty be an objection iu an assembly whose humble and Christian coudescenaion shut not its doors even against the common beggar ? He has traduced some cf them by name : " Mr. Byrne, Mr. Keogh, and four or five ruffians from the Libcty ;" but this is some- thing better than frenzy ; this is something !;et<^er than the want of mere feeling and decorum ; there cannot, perhaps, be a better way of evincing a further and more important want of the Irish nation, the want of a reformed representation of the people in Parliament. For what can impress the necessity of it more strongly upon the justice, npon the humanity, the indignation, and the shame of an assembly of Irish gentlemen, than to find the people so stripped of all share in the representation, as that the most respectable class of our fellow-citizens, men who have acquired wealth upon the noblest principle, the practice of commercial industry and integrity, could be made the butts of such die and unavailing, such unworthy, such shameful abuse, without the possibility of having an opportunity to > indicate themselves — when men of that class can be exposed to the degradation of unanswered calumny, or the more bitter degradation of eleemosynary defence ? [Mr. Cur- ran touched upon a variety of other topics, and concluded with the most forcible appeal to the Minister, to the house, and to the country, upon the state of public affairs at home aud abroad.] I insist that the measure is not, as it has been stated to be, a measure of mere internal policy ; it is a measure that involves the question of right and wrong, of just and unjust ; but it is more ; it is a measure of ihe most absolute necessity, which cannot be denied, and which cannot safely be delayed, 1 cannot foresee future events ; I cannot be appalled by the future, for I cannot see it ; but the present I can see, and I cannot but see that it is big with danger : it may be the crisis of political bfe, or political extinction ; it is a time fairly to state to the country whether they have aoytliing:, and what, to fight for ; whether they are to struggle for a con- HOCHE*S EXPEDITION. ^^1 uoxion of tyranny or of privilege ; whether the adramistration ot t:n^ land will let us condescend to forgive the insolence of her happier days or whether, as tlie beanrs of her prosperity have wasted and eonsumec us, so even the frost of her adversity shall perform the deleterious effects of fire, and burn upon our privileges and our hopes for ever. — Debates, vol. xvii., pp. 104 — It). Daqi.ery's speech on the same side was most noble, but the motion was lost by 143 tr> 19 HOCHE'S EXPEDITION January 6th, 1797. Secketart Pelham having brought down a message from the Lord Lieutenant full of English palaver, in reference to France and especially to the Expedition of Heche. Grattui moved an amendment, censuring the inactivity of the British ;iavy during the recent ckanger. Ponsonby supported, and Pdham and others resisted the amendment. Tliere is a short speech of Sir Joruh Barringtou's, then Mr. Barrington, and a hope/ul lav^yer, which I give as I find it : — " Mr. Barrinoiton an full uniform) was also against the amendment literally, vi ei armis. He repeated those arguments which lie generally use?, drawn from the tendency of opposi- tion speec'ies to infiame the public mind, and encourage the disciplined banditti of France again to attack us. He informed the house that on the present occasion he talked to them only as an Irish soldier : when lie should have taken off his uniform he would talk to theia la his other capacity. He c^.nf98sed liis surprise that the right honourable gentleman wha moved the amendment did not at this time of danger become an Irish soldier— he waa astonished that at such a crisis the right honoui-able gentleman's hand hid its head." — Debates, vol. xvii., pp. 171, 2. Duquery replied to his impertinence 'with crfST much apology, saying that Grattau was an enroUed Volunteer. After some further debate Curran said": — I strongly reprobate the mode used to hurry the house into a decision on subjects which require to be very maturely considered. The address inay be considered, as it relates to the defence of the country by the British fleet ; the negotiation with France ; and as pledging the country 1,0 continue the war. With respect to the first, nothing is more cleav than that it is a subject which deserves inquiry, and which tbe house cannot as yet have examined. All that is yet known on the subject is, that it has been understood for three months past that a design vas entertained to invade Ireland. The British minister affected, indeed, not to believe this, and went so far as to say, on the very day when the French fleet were in Bantry Bay, that the report vras but the frenetic^ rumour of the day. The armament, however, arrived, and on tho whole coast of the kingdom of Ireland, a British liTie-of-battle ship was not to be seen. Why was this? I do not mean to criminate the admirals who commanded, nor the British cabinet ; but I contend for it, the affair at first view appears such as deserves to be inquired into • and I will say irore, tliat if parliam.ent do not inquire, they will abandon their duty to their country and to themselves. Ireland has a right to pro- tection from Great Britain, and if it is not given, it becomes hei parliament to inquire. I know, indeed, that the contributions of Irelaiience of their arrival. Another instance of th^ contemptible unsteadiness of the administration ; a gentleman of most respectable family, of hereditary loyalty, and great wealth, in the neighbourhood of Cork, had solicited leave to form a corps. For several weeks his request remained unanswered ; at length, on Christmas eve, he received his commission, but without either sword, gun, or bayonet for his men ; the very next day he received a letter from the minister, desiring to know how many of his corps were ready to march against the enemy. What are the preparations which should be made against the enemy ? It is not on this or on that army we should depend, but on the energy of the whole people. Would gentlemen wish to risk the fate of thi country on a battle, with whatever prospect of a victory? Would they not rather wish to deter the enemy, if possible, by previous arrange, rcents ? But how deter them ? By no mode but that to the use of which fiiey owe their conquests — not by discipline, or by skill, but by rousing ihat enthusiastic zeal in your people, for the cause in which they engage. That enthusiasm it was, which taught Austria the lesson, that when it urges forward a furious crowd they will overcome the mos matured efibrts of discipline and regulated valour. Unless Ireland, is embodying her people, cxcitCK something of this spirit, she can find nr safety against her invading enemy. In order to evince how little is to be expected from the 3eet of Bri- tain, just consider the present situation of the minister, after four cam- paigns, in which he has gained nothing but debt and defeat, has lost all his allies, and forfeited the confidence of the people, if not in his inte- grity, at least in his ability and success. Is it possible that a minister, «o circumstanced, floating in the torrent which is just ready to swallow him up, would venture to send to the assistance of Ireland the fleet of Britain, if Britain herself were in danger of being attacked? Is it not natiiral to suppose that he would make this country the theatre of war, rather than incur the danger of instant destruction, from the resentment of his countrymen, should he risk their safety to save Ireland? On these grounds it is clear that this country should think of providing a force within its own shores, to repel the enemy. I am of opinion that the force proposed by the motion is the most eligible that can be had — it is a speedy, a numerous, and a constitutional force. I could have wished that the augmentation, which has been made to the regular^ had rather been made to the militia : for that, too, is a constitutional force ; not that I fear a standing army — the soldier has of late wonder- fully changed his character — he seems to liave now learned that h^ duty is to meet death without delay, and to inflict it without remorse-* but only for the purpose of protecting others from that danger which hp pncounters. Such has been found the soldier's character in France and in various instances which have occurred in the present war. Such has been found to be the character of a standing army, even iu the northern parts of our own kingdom, where they have been struck with reverence at the industry of its inhabitants, softened by their hospitality, vurt moved tf pity et the fiiifTarings they hare witnessed. ZG'J DISARIONQ or ULSTER In order to oppose France, it is necessary we should have an anned people ; it is still more necessary we should have a people up.ited and content. What, then, must have been the exultation of France, whea she read in the official accounts by administration, of the late invasion ; when they state so many corps as accepted and so many as rejected ? — What notion must not the French have of the discordant state in whi h we are, when they find that a man offering his breast against the bayo- net of an enemy, is not thought fit to be trusted ? The best means for restoring union and confidence to the people, is to reform their repre- eeutation, and to emancipate the Catholics. I caution admiuistratitwi against the fatal error, in times like these, of identifying the abuses of the constitution with the constitution itself. Such a conduct only tend? to make treason, in their sense of it, the glory of every honest man.— At this moment the gaols are crowded. Gentlemen should take care^ that in their zeal to punish crimes, they do not make a demand of redress an act of treason. Before thoae unfortunate men — unfortunate, if guilty, but fortunate and honourable men, if innocent, inasmuch as suffering for resistance to public abuse is in the highest degree gratifying to the feeling of an independent mind — before they are tried, care should be taken not to give such a description of their crime as may excite not hatred but sympathy in the minds of the people, and turn what was considered guilt into glory. — Debates, vol. xv., pp. 530 — 4. 38 persons voted for the address ; 125 against it. DISARMING OF ULSTER. March 20th, 1797. Oi:rra>- spoke on the 27th of February for Ponsonby'3 motion of Censure on Ministers, airi on the 2Sth for Vandeleur's motion for an Absentee'Xax, but I could not get reports of tuese speeches. His speech on the Disarming of Ulster is very ill reported, but the subject is most important, and the peroration seems preserved. In order to make tliis .speech inteUu gible. I prefix the following proceedings in the house, on Saturday.^ the I8th of CJarch, 1797 :— aiESSAGE FROM THE LORD LIEUTENANT. Mr SecTeta»-y Pe^ham d«iivered to the house a message from his Excellency^statlng that the insurrection ary spirit which had manifested itself in certain districts in the province cf Ulster had rendered it necessary to the Lord Lieutenant and Council to issue a pro- jlamation. deciai'hig those districts in a state of disturbance; and his Excellency had in conseuuence con veyed instructions to General Lake, to assist the magistrates in disarming the inhabitants of those districts in which the General had already succeeded in a con- Mr. Pelliam m'o'^ed that the house do on Monday resolve itself into a committee, in order to take hi» ^ceil^^cys message into consideration Ordered accordingly. The foUomng is <* copy of General Luke's proclamation, irt consequence of the instiM/U' tiona dbov^ alluded to, addressed to the people of the province of Ulster. " Belfast, March 13th, 1797. •* Whereas the daring and horrid outrages in many parts of this province, evidently perpetrated with a view to supersede the laws and the administration of justice, by au organised system of murder and robbery, have increased to such an alarming degree, aa from their atrocity and extent to bid defiance to the civil power, and to endanger the lives iw«i properties of his Majesty's faithful subjects. And whereas, the better to effect thair DISABMESQ OF ULSTER. 267 traitoroiifl purposeo. several persons who have been enrolled rmder the authority of his Majesty's commissions, and others, have been forcibly and traitorously deprived of their arms : it is therefore become indispensably necessarj' for the safety anil protection of tha well-disposed, to interpose the King's troops under my command ; and I do hercDy give uotice that I have received authority and directions to act in such a manner as the public safety may require. •'I do therefore hereby enjoin and require all persons in this district (peace officers and those serving in a militarj' capacity excepted) forthwith to bring in and surrender up all ai-ms and ammunition which they may have in their possession, to the officer commanding the king's troops in their neighbourhood. " I trust that an immediate compliance with this order may render any a,ct oi mine to tnforce it unnecessary. " Let the people seriously reflect, before It Is too late, on the ruin into whicll they arc rushing ; let them reflect on their present prosperity, and the miseries into which they will inevitably be involved by persisting in acts of positive rebellion; let them instantly, by Burrendering up their arms, and by restoring those traitorously taken from the King's forces, rescue themselves from the severity of military authority. Let all the loyal and well-intentioned act together with energy and spirit, in enforcing subordination to the laws and restoring tranquillity in their respective neighbourhoods, and they may be assured of protection and support from me. " And I do hereby invite all persons who are enabled to give information touching annf and ammunition which may be concealed, immediately to communicate the same to the several officers commanding his Majesty's forces in their respective distncts ; and for their encouragement and reward, I do hereby promise and engage that strict and inviolate secrecy shall be observed, with respect to all persons who shall make such communication; and that every person who shall make it. shall receive as a reward the full value of all suet arms and ammunition as shall be seized in consequence thereof. "G. LAKE, Lieut-Gcn. "Commanding the Northern District." On Monday, accordingly. Mr. Annesley being Chairman of a Committee of the whole house. Mr. Ogle moved an address approving the preceding message, and Grs,ttan moved an amendment. I give his noble opening, and the words of his amendmonl,: — " The worst news I have heard of late, and I have heard much bad news of late, is thd message from the Lord Lieutenant, attainting one entire province of Ireland of high treason. This parUament is desired to assent to that attainder forthwith, and to put the province of Ulster under military execution. We are called to do this without inquiry cl any sort ; and without the delay of a moment, we are called upon to do that mth respect to the most flourishing part of our country wrich could not be done in the case of an indi vidual ; we are called upon to attaint ape'.rt of the address which expressed approbation of the measures of government, he was * Onnd in consistency not to give any approbation, neither could he do so of that part whicli Ii;"n7ud fOi a continuance of coercion, because he believed in his conscience that sach rneiw •urea coul d be productive of no good. Mr. Smith, {.fter a short preface, moved an amendment, which alone could reconcile him to the addi ess. His amendment was in substance a request that his Majesty would us© cnciliiOory measures lo remove everv T.-^tevt of disconttnt from the well-disposed, as well LAST SPEECH IN THE IRISH COMMONS. 271 ?iS TneESQTSs of coercion for the preventton and panishmcilt of conspiracy and treason— •urging the necessity of correcting abuses, as -tt-ell as.adopting strong laws to cerress iisaffeo* tion, Ac. This amendment introduced much very animated conversation f'-om Mr tJeurge Pon- aonby, Mr. Fletcher. Mr. Jo[.rison, Mr Grattxn, and ^Ir. Hoare, who supported the amend- ment, which was opposed by the Attorney-General, Denis Browne. Mr. Egan, Sir B, Kochi, Mr. Alexander, Messrs. J. and M. Beresford, Mr. Ogle, Mr. Toler, and Mr. Annesley. The most contentious topic in the debate was an expression which fell from Mr.Flctchei In the course of his speech, in which he said, that if coercive measures were to be piir- sned, the whole country must be coerced, for the spirit of insurrection had pervaded every part of it. Mr. M. Beresford ordered the clerk to take down these words, and the galler}' wa* instantly cleared. AYhen strangers were again admitted, the debate on the address stiD continued, and in the course of it ilr. J. C. Beresford thought himself called on to defend the Secret Committee against an assertion which had fallen from Mr. Fletcher in the course of his speech. The assertion was in substance that he feared the people would be led to look on the report of the committee as fabricated rather tojustify the laast measarea of Government, than to state facts ! Mr. Fletcher contended that he had a right to animadvert on the report, but disclaimed any design of imputing anything unfair to the members of that committee individually in the cocrse of the altercation which followed on this subject, Mr. Toler threatened, aE(3 actually did move an abstract resolution, declaring that the imputation conveyed in these words (of Mr. Fletcti r) was an unfounded calumny on the report. He was at length, how- ever, persuaded to withdraw his motion. The house then divided on Mr. Smith s umerd- mmit which wa« cat w* bout a division. PARLlASrBKTABT KBFORM. Mr W. Ijnsonbv m a f^hort prefatory speech, proposed his Eesointions on Parliamentary Keform. Before he nmred any of them specifically, he read them all to the house. Thqf are in substance as follow :— , ,, ^ " Kesolved, that it is indispensably necessary to a fundamental reform of the represent^, tion. that all disabilities on account of religion be for ever abolished, and --that Catholics diali be admitted Uto the legislature, and all the great offices of state in the same extend 452.. as Protestants now are. "That it is the indispeus.ible right of the people of Ireland to be fully and fairly repre- eented in Parliament. . ^, j.^ . .-, _^ "That in order that the people may be fully enabled to exercise that righu, the privilege of returning members for cities, boroughs, Ac, in the present form shall cease; that eael» county be divided, into district*, consisting of 6000 houses each, each district to retuitl two member.s to parliament. "That all persons possessing freehold property to the amount of 403. per annum; aU possessed of ita-,enold interests, of the value of- ; ail possessed of a house of the raiue of : all who have resided for a certain number of years in any great city oi .own, follo^ving a trade ; and all who shall be free of any city, &c., by birth, marriage, 0» serWtude, shall vote for members of parliament. " That seats in parliament shall endure for number of years. (Tlie blanks were left to be filled up by the discretion of the house.)"— I'e&a^es, vol. xvii., pp. 527-30. Mr. Pelham moved and spoke for an adjoui-nment, and was supported by Jlr. D. Brown% Mr. :\I. Beresford. Sir H. Langrishe, Sir Frederick Flood, Mr. M. Mason, Mr C. Osborn^ Jlr. William Smyth (afterwards judge, whom Curran followed) ; some opposing emancipn tion, some reform, some resisting the proposal of Ponsonty as ill-timed, or as Browne said "thatching a house in a huiiicaue." The original motion was sustained by Mr. Stewas; (of Kill}-mocn), Sir J. Freake, Gt-orgc Ponsonby, Mr. Jephsoi.. the Knight of Kerry (Mr. ■Fitzgeiftld). ^ir. Fletcher (afterwards judge), and Counsellor Hoare (of whom Curran used to sa}', his smile was ICce the snining of the bi'ass plate on a coffin). I connider this as a measure of justice, with respect to the Catholic8» and the people at large. The Catholics in former times groaned under tlie malig-nant follj of penal laws — wandered like herds upon the earth — or gatliered under some thread-bare grandee, who came to Dublin, danced attendance at the Castle, was smiled on by the secretary, and carried back to his miserable countrymen the gracious promise of favour and protection. They are r.o longer mean dependants, but owners of their country, and claiming simply and boldly, as Irishmen, the national privileges of men, and natives of their countrnV. [Upon this pai't of the <-lueT aPiilLCH m tee IRISE CCM7.I0NS. thousand streams, throug-h the secret winding's of the eij-tii, fomid their way to one course, and swelled ita waters, until at lH^,t, too mii^hty ta be contained, it burst out a great river, fertilizing by its exudations, or terrifying by itii cataracts. This is the effect of our penal code : it swelled sedition into rebellion. What else could be hoped frona a sys- tem of terrorism ? Fear is the most transient of all tho pasaion&— it is the warning that nature giyes for self-preservation. But when safety is unattainable, the v/arning must be useless^ and nature does not, there- fore, give it. Administration, therefore, mistook the quahty of pena. laws ; they were sent out to abolish conventions, but they did not pass the threshold — they stood sentinels at the gates. You tlunk that penal laws, like great dogs, will wag their tails to their masters, and bark only at their enemies. You are mistaken — they turn and devour those they are meant to protect, and are harmless where they are intended to destroy. I see gentlemen laugh ; I see they are still very ignorant of the nature of fear ; it cannot last ; neither while it does can it be con- cealed. The feeble glimmering of a forced smile is a light that makes the cheek look paler. Trust me, the times are too humanised for such systems of government. Humanity will not execute them, but human, ity will abhor them, and those who wish to rule by such means. This is not theory ; tlie experiment has been tried, and proved. You hoped much, and, I doubt not, meant weU by those laws; but they have miser ably failed you — it is time to try milder methods. You have tried t€ force the people : the rage of your penal laws was a storm that only drove them in groups to shelter. Your convention law gave them that organization whicli is justly an object of such alarm ; and the very pro- clamation seems to have given them arms. Before it is too late, there- fore, try the better force of reason, and conciliate tliem by justice and humanity. The period of coercion in Ireland is gone, nor can it ever return untU the people shall return to tne folly and to the natural weak- ness of disunion. Neither let us talk of innovation ; the progress of nature is no innovation. The increase of people, with the growth of %Le mind, is no innovation ; it is no way alarming, unless the growth of Dur minds lag behind. If we think otherwise, and think it an innova- tion to depart from the folly of our infancy, we should come here in our swaddling-clothes, we should not innovate upon the dress, more than the understanding of the cradle. As to the system of peace now pro- posed, you must take it on principles — they are simply two, the abolition of rehgious disabilities, and the representation of the people. I am con- ^dent the effects would be everything to be wished. The present alarm- bg discontent will vanish, the good will be separated from the evil-m- tentioned ; the friends of mixed government in Ireland are many ; every nensible man must see that it gives all the enjoyment of rational liberty if the people have their due place in the state. This system would make us invincible against a foreign or domestic enemy ; it would make the empire strong at this important crisis ; it would restore to us liberty, Industry, and peace, which I am satisfied can never by any other means be restored. Instead, therefore, of abusing the people, let us remember that there is no physical strength but theirs, and conciliate them by jus- Last speech m the irish commons. 275 tice and reason. I am censured heavily for having acted for them in the late prosecutions. I feel no shame at such a charge, except that, at such a time as this, to defend the people should be held out as an imputation upon a king's counsel, when the people are prosecuted by the state. I think every coansel is the property of his feilow-subjects. If, indeed, because I wore his Majesty's gowr^ I had declined my duty, or done it weakly or treacherously — 1£ I had made that gown a mantle of hypocrisy, and betrayed my client, or sacrificed him to any personal view, I might, perhaps, have been thought wiser by those who have blamed me, but I should have thought myself the basest villain upon earth. The plan of peace, proposed by a Reform, is the only means that I and ray friends can see left to save us. It is certainly a time for decision, and not for half measures. I agree that unanimity is indis- pensable. The house seems pretty nearly unanimous for force ; I am sorry for it, for I bode the worst from it. I will retire from a scene where I can do no good — where I certainly would interrupt that unanimity. I cannot, however, go, without a parting entreaty, that gentlemen will reflect on the awful responsibility in which they stand to their country and to their conscience, before they set the example to the people of aban- doning the constitution and the law, and resorting to the terrible expe- dient of force. — Debates, toI. xvii., pp. 653 — 8. Grattan followed him, closing the debate, his apeecli, and the attendance of the opposi tion, in these words :- Before they are to be.reformed, rebellion, you tell n%. mnst be subdued. You tried that «xperiment in America. America required self-legislation; you attempted to subdue America by force of angry laws, and by force of arms — you exacted of America uncondi- tional submission— the stamp act and the tea tax were only pretexts. So you said. The ftbject, you said, was separation. So here the Reform of Parliament, you say, and Catholic Emancipation are only pretexts : the object you say is separation. And here you exact unconditional submission : " You must scbdite before tou REFOKii" — indeed I Alas, you think so ; but you forget yon subdue by reforming. It is the best conquest you can obtain over your ovra people. But let me suppose you succeed ; what is your success ? A mili- tary government, a perfect despotism, a hapless victory over the principles of a mild govern- ment and a mild constitution. * But what may be the ultimate consequence of sucli a vic- tory ?— a separation. Let us suppose that the war continues, and that your conquest over your own people is interrupted by a French invasion. What would be your situation then ? I do not wish to think of it ; l)ut I \vish you to think of it, and to make a better preparation Rgainst SGch an event than such conquests and such victories. "When you consider thf> itate of your arms abroad, and the ill-assiared state of your government at home, precipi tating on such a system, surely you should pause a little. Even on the event of a peace you are ill-secured against a futiire war, which the state of Ireland, under such a systeno, would be too apt to invite ; but in the event of the continuation of the war, your system U perilous, indeed. I speak without asperity — I speak without resentment ; I speak, per- haps, my delusion, but it is my heart-felt conviction— I speak my apprehension for the immediate state of our liberty, and for the ultimate state of the empire. I see, or I imagine I see, in this system, everytliing wliich is dangerous to both. I hope I am mistaken — at least, I hope I exaggerate ; possibly I may. If so, I shall acknowledge my error -vNith mors satisfaction than is usual in the acknowledgment of en-or. I cannot, however, banish froi» my memory the lesson of the American war; and yet at that time the English govemmens was at the head of Europe, and was possessed of resources comparatively nnbi-oken. E that lesson has no effect on ministers, surely I can suggest nothing that wiU. We have offered you our measure — you will reject 'it ; we deprecate yours— yon will persevere. Having no hopes left to persuade or dissuade, and having discharged our duty, we shall trouble you no more, and, AFTER THIS DAY. 3UALL NOT ATTJiKD THE HOUSE OP commons \— Debates, vol. xvii., pp. 569—70. The question being put on the adjournment it was carried : — for it, 170 ; against it, 30. The opposition ceased to attend, and the parliament, after a few sittings, was adjcamed. in a speech from the Lord Lieutenant, of unusual length, on the 3rd of July, 1797. Thus, Id the twilight of his country, ended Curran> parliamentary career; but la the awful night which followed, he was a beacon. ^ 276 THE PRESS/* FOR PETER FINNERTY, Publisher of " The Press.'' [libel.] December 22nd, 1797. I'HK Goreniment and the United Irishmen were no\y face to face, the former armed with a full code of coercion and a large army and unscrupulous agents to support it>— the lattoi with a good cause, the organization given by Tone, and the prospect of French aid. Eadf party tried to strengthen itself by conciliation and intimidation. Among the government instruments were spies (such as Magiiane and others, cihronicled in Dr. ^Jladden's work), "the battalion of testimony" (Bird, XewelL O'Brien. &c.), free quarters, prosecutions, oribery, patronage, and calumny. One of the best auxiliaries summoned by the United Irishmen was ■* The Press" news- paper. The first number of it was published in Dublin, on Thursday, the 23th of September, 1797, and was thence continued on Tuesdays, Thursdays,- and Saturchiys, until Tuesday the 13th of March. 1798, when the tj9th and last number was seized by the government. It was not. iike the Xorthern Star, a chronicle of Frencli politics. It was a true propagandist organ ol Liberal and Xatioi;al opinions, filled Avith essays, letters, and addresses of great ability Arthur O'Connor mainly originated it, and he, Thomas Emmet, Drennan, Sampson, <&c., wrote it. Government naturally longed to crush such a paper, as if had done the Northern Star, but raw force was premature for Dublin, so they waited for a libel, and, as they gava plenty of provocation, they waited not long. They foimd one, wliicli irritated them deeply, while it gave them a good opening, in a letter published on Thursaay, the 2Gth of October, 1797, addressed to the Lord Lieutenant, signed "Marcus." Most of the letter is set out ia the indictment : so are Uie legal facts which were the text of it, but ii is right to say some- thing more of tiiem. '. William Orr was a Presbytenan farmer, resident at Fan-anshane, in the County of Antrim — a man of pious, g-entle. and gallant character; a ta.l, atliletie, and hearty fellow, too. and popular exceedingly. He was arrested in 1796, under tlie Insurrection Act (passed in the February of that year), for having, in April, 1796, administered tlie United Irish oatb to Hush Wheatiy, a private m tne Fifeshii-e Fencibles. He v,as indicted at Canickfergos^ on the' 17th April. 1797. and tried on Saturday, 16th of September. 1 797, before Cliief Baron Lord Yelverton. The chief witness was Wheatl}-, who depc: .>d that Orr acted as chairman or Secretai-y of a Baronial Committee in Antrim, -where Wheaily was induced to go, and was there forced to take the oath. Lindsay, a private in the Eame corps, .svore that he saw the oath administered, but did not hear it. Curran and Sampson, Orr's counsel, contended Aat this was a case for a prosecution for high treason, but Yelverton decided otherwise, and charged for a connction. The jury retired at seven at night, and came into court at six o'clock on Simday morning, and after much confusion (from conscience or intoxication) gave in a verdict of Guilty, with a recommendation to mercy, which Yelverton sent by express to tlie Castle. O'n :Monda3% the ISth, Curran moved for a new trial, on tlic afli- lavit of two of the jurors, stating the drunkenness of some of the jurors, and the intimida- tion uoed to one of the deponents. He had an affidavit from a third juror, swearing that he Avas deceived into the verdict, tut Orr was sentenced to be hanged on the 7th of Octo- laer. Orr declared at the close of the trial that )ie was innocent. Various attempts were made to save him. His brotlier James signed a declaration of his guilt and a prayer for mercy, in William's name, and got it backed by -..w gentry; but William disclaimed it It was also sworn by a Presbyterian clergyman that Wheat'y had confessed himself guilty oi murder, perjury, and other "crimes. In consequence of all this, Oi'r was thrice respited, and judging tram the conciliatory and beseeching tone of The Press (No. 5), Government seems to have had an opportui:ity of making themselves popular, and weakening the United Irishmen bv a just leniency. Tliey preferred the harsh course, and on Saturday, the 14th of October," Orr was hanged, outside Carrickfergus, amid a mass of troops. He distributed a written paper, declaring liis innocence, and died calmly and nobly. Ho left five childrei^ and a wife, about again to be a mother. Indignation was nigh universal Medals with " Remember Orr !" were circulated ; hia name became a watchword (and continued so, as Sheares' proclamation proves) ; " The Ministers in Orr's place" was a toast even in England, and Fox si>okc of liim as a martyr, taat he was a United Irishman is clear ; but that he gave ^^T;eatly the oath, or was there- 'ore guilty in law is not probable. Guiltj' or not, his execution for such a crime, on such Evidence, and after such a, verdict, was a murder ! So it was treated in the letter of" MkT •5U8." The author was a Mr Deane. Swi/fc a ehalf ; and that the said Lord Lieutenant i-n his government of this kingdom, had •icted unjustly, cruelly, aid oppressively, to his Majesty's subjects therein : And the s.ud Poter Finnerty, to fuUil and bring to effect his most wicked aud detestable devices itnd intentions aforesaid, on the 26*-h of October, in the 37th year of the King, at Mountrath- street aforesaid, city of Dublin aforesaid, falsely, wickedly, maliciously, and seditiously did print and publish, and cause ana procure to be printed and published, in a certain news- paper entitled ' The /Vejs,' a certain false, wicked, malicious and seditious libel, of and con ceming the said trial, conviction, attainder, and execution of the said William Orr, as afore- did, and of and concerning the said Lord Lieutenant and his government of this kingdonc lud his Maj jsty's Ministers employed by him in liia government of this kingdom, according to the tenor and effect following, to wit :~ " * The death of Mr. Orr, (meaning the execution of the said William Orr) the nation hae Virououuced one of the most sanguinary and savage acts that had disgi-aced the laws. In lerjur)-, did you not Lesx, my Lord (meiining the said Lord Lieutenant,) the verdict (mean- ffiL' the verdict afovesud) v.-.is givv^ni" Perjury aAM5ompauied with terror, as terror lias marked every step of your government (lu^^ iu:ng the government of this iL'r.gdom afore- ,iaid, by the said Lord Lieutenant). Vengeance and desolation were to fall on those wha would not plunge themselves in blood. These werenotstrongenough : against the express law of t'ne land, not only was drinti introduced to the jury (meaning tlie jury aforesaid), bul druni-.eui.ess itself, beastly sjad criminal drunkenness, was employed to procure the murdet of a better man (meaning the said execution of the said William Orr) than any that now jur- rounds you (meaning the said Lord Lieutenant).' '*' And in another part thereof, according to the tenor and effect following, to wit : — "•Rejentance, '.\hich is a slow virtue, hastened, however, to declare the innocence of tho fictim (meaning the said Wiliiam Oit; \ the mischief Cmeaning the said con\ictIon of the said WiUiajjQ Orr) yfli'.::li pequrv I^d dontJ, truth now stepped forward to repair Keiti • S 278 *"^ TKE TKESS " was she too late, liad Hamaiiity formed &ny part of your counsels (.meaning uie counsels of the said Lord Lieutenant). Stung with remorse, on the return of reason, part of his iuiy (meaning the jury aforesaid) solemnlj- and soberly made oath that tlieir verdict (nvjai-ing the verdict aforesaid) had been given under the unhappy inflaence of intimidation and Irink ; and in the most serious atfidavit tliat ever was made, by 3i;knowledging their crjLaia, wdeaTOured to atone to God and to their country, for the sin Into which they had beec sauced" " And in another part thereof, according to the tenor and effect following, to wit :- •* ' And though t4ie innocence of the accused (meaning the said WilUam Orr) had evea •remained doubtful, it was your duty (meaning the duty of the said Lord Lieutenant), my jiOrd, and you, (meaning the said Lord Lieutenant) had no exemption from that duty, to Jave interposed your arm, and saved him (meaning the said William Orr) from tlie death (meaning the execution aforesaid) that perjury, drunkenness, and reward had prepared for blm (meaning the said William Orr.) Let not the nation be told that you (meaning tl'£ Lord Lieutenant) are a passive instrument in the hands of others ; if passire you be, tfien is your office a shadow indeed. If an active instrument, as you ought to be, you (meaning the said Lord Lieutenant) did not perfonn the duty which the laws required of you; you ^iteaning the said Lord Lieutenant) did not exercise the prerogative of mercy ; that mercy Vhich the constitution had entrusted to you (meaning the said Lord Lieutenant) for the tafety of the subject, by guarding him from the oppression of wicked men. Innocent it Ippears he (meaning the said William Orr) was ; his blood (meaning the blood of the said WlUiam On') has been shed, and the precedent indeed is awful. ** And in another pai't thereof, according to the tenor and effect following, to -wit*. — ** ' But suppose the evidence of Wheatly liad been true, what was the offence of Mr. GlT (meaning the said William Orr) ? Not that he had taken an oath of blood and o ""ennlna- ttoa, for then he had not suffered ; but that he (meaning the said William Orr) h; \ taken an oath of charity and of imion, of humanity and of peace, he meaning the said > Ulianj Ore) has suffered. Shall we then be told that your government (meaning the govei. 'nenl at this kingdom aforesaid, by the said Lord Lieutenant) will conciliate public opinio i, of that the people will not continue to look for a better ?' " And in another jiart thereof, according to the tenor and effect following, that is to say : — "la it to be wondered that a successor of Lxd P'it/.william should sign the death-warrant ^ Mr. Orr (meaaiug the said William Orr) ? llr. Pitt had learned that a merciful Lord Lieutenant was unsuited to a government of violence. It was no compliment to the native clemency of a Camden, that he sent you (meaning the said Lord Lieutenant) into Ireland. 2nd what has been our portion under the change, but massacre and rape, military murders, desolation and terror.' " And in another part thereof, according to the tenor and effect here following, that is to say:— " ' Feasting in your castle, in the midst of yoiu" myrmidons and bishops, you (meaning ;he said Lord Lieutenant) have little concerned yourself about the expelled and niiserublc- eottager whose dwelling, at the moment of your mirth, was in flamefl, his wife and hie aaugliter then undei the violation of some commissioned ravager, his .son agonising on tl» bayonet, and his helpless infants crying in vain for mercy. These are lamentations wluch stain not the house of carousal Under intoxicated counsels (meaning the counsels of tlie said Lord Lieutenant), the constitution has reeled to its centre, 'ustice is not only blind drank, but deaf, like Festus, to the words of soberness and truth.' " And in another part thereof^ according to the tenor and effect here following, to -ft-it : — " ♦ Let, however, the awful execution of Mr. Orr (meaning the execution aforesaid of the said William Orr) be a lesson to all imthinking juries, and let them cease to flatter them- selves that the soberest recommendo,tion of theirs, and of the presiding judge, can Bte Ser eeunt, Solicitor-General (Toler), Messrs. Ridgeway, Townshend, and Worthxngt instances, the meanest understanding can '^ee that the leading one must be the truth or the falsehood of the publication ; but having decided the intention to be immaterial, it followed that the truth must be equally immaterial, and under the law so distorted, any man in Eng a-nd who published the most undeniable truth and with the purest int ntion, might be punished for a crime in the most ignominious man- lier without imposing on the prosecutor the necessity of proving his g^ilt, or his getting any opportunity of showing his innocence. I am not in the habit of speaking of legal institutions with disrespect ; out I am warranted in condemning that usurpation upon the right of |uri(s, by the authority of tW:i.t at-iiute b'? wliirh your jurisdiction I'i THE PRESS. ' 281 .Tstored. For that restitution of justice, the British suhject is indebt?*i !'o the splendid exertions of Mr. Fox and Mr. Erskiue, those distin- guished supporters of the constitution and of the law ; and I am happy to say to you, that though we can claim no share in the glory they havo so justly acquired, we have the full benefit of their success ; for you are now sitting under a similar act passed in this country, which makes it your duty and right to decide on the entire question upon the broadest grounds, and under all its circumstances, and of course, to determine by your verdict, whether this publication be a false and scandalous lib^ ; false in fact, and published with the seditious purpose alleged, of bringing the government into scandal, and instigating the people iff Insurrection. Having stated to you, gentlemen, the great and exclusive extent d your jurisdiction, I sliall beg leave to suggest to you a distinction that will strike you at first sight ; and that is, the distinction between public auiraadversions upon the character of private individuals, and those winch are written upon measures of government, and the persons who tjo;!'iacfc tliem. The former may be called personal, and the latter poliiical publica- tions. No two things can be more different in their nature, nor in the point of view in which they are to be looked on by a jury. The crl- miuality of a mere personal libel consists in this, that it tends to a breach of the peace : it tends to all the vindictive paroxysms of exas- perated vanity, or to the deeper or more deadly vengeance of irritated pride. The truth is, few men see at once that they cannot be hurt so much as they think by the mere battery of a newspaper. They do not reflect that every character has a natural station, from which it cannot be effectually degraded, and beyond which it cannot be raised by the bawling of a news-hawker. If it is wantonly aspersed, it is but for a season, and that a short one, when it emerges, like the moon from ft passing cloud, to its original brightness. It is right, however, that the law, and that you, sliould hold the strictest hand over this kind of public animadversion, that forces humility and innocence from their retreat into the glare of pubhc view ; that wounds and terrifies, that destroys the cordiality and the peace of domestic life, and that, without eradicating a single vice, or single folly, plants a thousand thoms in the human heart. Ill cases of that kind, I perfectly agree with the law as stated from the bench ; in such case.=, I hesicate not to think, that the truth ot a charge ought not to justify its publication. If a private man is charged with a crime, he ought to be prosecuted in a court of justice, where he may be punish3d, if it is true, and the accuser, if it is false. But far differently do I deem of tlie freedom of political publication. The salutary restraint of the former species, which I talked of, is found in the general law of all societies whatever ; but the more enlarged freedom of the press, for which I contend, in political publication, I tionceive to be founded in the peculiar nature of the British constitu- »ion, and to follow directly from the contract on which the British roven^me.nt, hath bee placed by the Revojutjcii. By the British cou- 282 w THE PRESS " stitution, the power of the state is a trust, committed by the people, upon certain conditions ; by the violatioa of which, it may be abdicated by those who hold, and resumed by those who conferred it. The resk, fcecurity, therefore, of the British sceptre, is, the sentiment and opinion irf the people, and it is, consequently, their duty to ob.>erTe the conduct of the government; and it is the privilege of 'every man to give them fiill and just informa*^ion upon that important subject. Hence the Jberty of the press is mseparably twined with the liberty of the people. The press is the grea* public monitor : its duty is that of the historian and the witness, that ' nil falsi audeat, nil veri non audeat dicere;'^ that its horizon shall extend to the farthest verge and limit of truth ; that it shall speak truth to tlie king in the hearing of the people, and to the people in the hearing of the king ; that it shall not perplex either the one or the other with false alarm, lest it lose its characteristic vera- city, and become an unheeded warner of real danger ; lest it should rainly warn them of that sin, of which the inevitable consequence is death. This, gentlemen, is the great privilege upon which you are t© decide ; and I have detained you the longer, because of the late change of the law, and because of some observations that have been made, v»hi-ch I shall find it necessary to compare with the principles I have now laid down And now, gentlemen, let us come to the immediate subject of tha trial, as it is brought before you, by the charge in the indictment, to which it ought to have been confined ; and also, as it is presented to /on by the statement of the learned counsel who has taken a much wider range than the mere limits of the accusation, and has endea- voured to force upon your consideration extraneous and irrelevant facts, for reasons which it is not my duty to explain. The indictment states simply that Mr. Finnerty has pubUshed a falst aiid scandalous libel upon the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, tending to bring his government into disrepute, and to alienate the affections of the people ; and one would have expected, that, without stating any other matter, the counsel fcr the crown woidd have gone directly to the proof of this allegation ; but he has not done so ; he has gone to a most extraordinary length, indeed, of preliminary observation, and an allu- sioQ to facts, and sometimes an assertion of facts, at which, I own, 1 was astonished, until I saw the drift of these allusions and assertions. Whether you have been fairly dealt with by him, or are now honestly dealt with by me, you must be judges. He haa been pleased to say, that this prosecution Ls brought against &m letter signed " Marcus," merely as a part of what he cafls a system ?f attack upon the go\ eriojient, hy the paper called " The Press." As to thiSj, I will only ask you whether you are fairly dealt with ? whether Li is fair treatment to men upon their oaths, to insinuate to them, I'^at tbe general character of a newspaper (and that general character Vinded merely upon tire assertion of the prosecutor^, is to have any ofluence upon their mmds, when they aj-e to judge of a particular pub- ication ? I Avill only ask you, what men you must be supposed tu [)e, wheal it is thoujrht, that even in a eoij?-t. of iusticft. and with the eye.-i of ^ THE press/' 283 the uation upon you, you can be the dupes of that trite and exploded txpedient, so scandalous of late in this country, of raising- a vulgar and mercenary cry against wha'.ever man, or whatever principle, it k thought necessary to puf down ; and I shall, therefore, merely leare it to your own pride to suggest upon what foundation it could be hoped, that a senseless clamour of that kind could be echoed back by the yell of a jury cipon their oaths. I trust you see that this has nothing to do with the question. Gentlemen of the jury, other matters hare been mentioned, whieh I muse repeat for the same purpose ; that of showing you that they have notliiug to do with the question. The learned counsel has been oieased to say, that he comes forward in this prosecution as the reel dvocate for the liberty of the press, and to protect a mild and a ma>> V if 111 government from its licentiousness ; and he has been pleased to •.dd, that the constitution can never be lost while its freedom remaiiis, and that its licentiousness alone can destroy that freedom. As to that, rjentlemen, he might as well have said, that there is only one mortal lisease of wiiich a man can die : I can die the death inflicted by ;yranny ; and when he comes forward to extinguish this paper, in th^ ruin of the printer, by a state prosecution, in order to prevent its dying of licentiousness, you must judge how candidly he is treatuig you, both in the fact and in the reasoning. Is it in Ireland, gentlemen, that we are told licentiousness is the only disease that can be mortal to the press ? Has he heard of nothing else that has been fatal to the free- dom of publication ? I know not whether the primer of the Northern Star may have heard of such things in his captivity ; but I know that his wife and children are well apprised that a press may be destroyed in the open day, not by its own licentiousness, but by the licentiousness of a military force. As to the sincerity of the declaration, that the state has prosectited in order to assert the freedom of the press, it starts a train of thought— of melancholy retrospect and direful prospect — to which 1 did not thiiik the learned counsel would have wished you to commit your minds, li, leads you naturally to reflect at wh-at times, from what motives, and with what consequences, the government has displayed its patriotism, by prosecutions of this sort. As to the motives, does history give yoa a single instance in which the state has been provoked to these con- flicts, except by the fear of truth and by \he love of vengeance ? Have you ever seen the rulers of any country bring forward a prosecution from motives of filial piety, for libels jpon their departed ancestors Do you read that Elizabeth directed any of those state prosecutions ag-ainst the libels which the divines of her times had written against her Catholic sister, or against the other libels which the same gentle- men had written against her Protestant father ? No, gentlemen, we road of no such thing ; but we know she did bring forward a prosecu- tion from motives of personal resentment ; and we know that a jurt wa-i found time-serving and mean enough to give a verdict which fihv was iishamed to carry into effect. I said the learned counsel drew you back to the times that have beeo J©4 ■ TTIE PRESS.** marke.l by these miserable conflicts. I see you turn your tliouglits to the reign of the second James. I see you turn your eyes to those pa^fl£ of governmental abandonment, of popular degradation, of expiring liberty, of mercilesa and sanguinary persecution ; to that miserable period, in which the fallen and fibject state of man might have been almost an argument in the mouth of tlie atheist and the blasphemer, against the existence of an all-just and an all-wise First Cause ; if the glorious era of the Revolution that followed it had not refuted the impious inference, by showing that if a man descends, it is not in his own proper motion ; that it is with labour and with pain ; that he can continue to sink only until, by the force and pressure of the descent, the spring of his immortal faculties acquires that recuperative energy and effort that hurries him as many miles aloft ; that he sinks but to rise again. It is at that period that tlie state seeks for shelter in the destruction of the press ; it is in a period like that, that the tjrrant pre- pares for an attack upon the people, by destroying the liberty of the press ; by taking away that shield of wisdom and of virtue, behind which the people are invulnerable ; in whose pure and polished convex, ere the lifted blow has fallen, he beholds his own image, and is turned into Btone. It is at those periods that the honest man dares not speak, because truth is too dreadful to be told ; it is then humanity has no ears, because humanity has no tongue. It is then the proud man scorns ^0 speak, but, like a physician baffled by the wayward excesses of a Jying patient, retires indignantly from the bed of an unhappy wretch, whose ear is too fastidious to bear the sound of wholesome advice, ivhose palate is too debauched to bear the salutary bitter of the medi- cine that might redeem him ; and therefore leaves him to the felo- nious piety of the slaves that talk to hira of life, and strip him before ne is cold. I do not care, gentlemen, to exhaust too much of your attention, by following this subject through the last century with nnich minuteness ; but the facts are too recent in your mind not to sliow you, that the liberty of the press and the liberty of the people sink and rise together ; that the liberty of speaking and the liberty of acting liave shared exactly the same fate. You must have observed in England, that their fa,te has been the same in the successive vicissitudes of their late depres- sion ; and sorry i am to add, that this country has exhibited a melan- choly proof of their inseparable destiny, through the various and fitfiu stages of deterioration, down to the period of their final extinction, r/hen the constitution has given place to the sword, and the only printer in Ireland who dares to speak for the people is now i-n the deck. Gentlemen, the learned counsel has made the real subject of this prosecution so small a part of his statement, and has led you into so wide a range — certainly as necessary to the oly'cct, as inapplicable to the subject of this prosecution — that I trust you will think me excusa- ble in having somewhat followed his example. Glad am I to find that I have the authority of the same example for coming at last to tho subject of this triai. I agree with the learned counsel that the charge niffde ac<*ainflt the Lord Lieutenant- of Ireland is tha.t of having grosaly " THE press/* 285 and inhumanly abased the royal prerogative of mercj, of which tho King is only the trustee for the benefit of the people. The facts are not controverted. It has been asserted that their truth or falsehood ii> indifferent, and they are shortly these, aa they appear in this publi- cation. William Orr Avas indicted for liaying administered the oath of q United Irishman. Every man now knows what the oath is : that it is simply an engagement, first, to promote a brotherhood of affection among men of all religious distinctions ; secondly, to labour for the attainmen-t of a parUamentary reform ; and thirdly, an obligation of secrecy, which was added to it when the convention law made it criminal and punishable to meet by any public delegation for that purpose. After remaining upwards of a year in gaol, Mr. Orr was brought to his trial ; was prosecuted by the state ; was sworn against by a commoi: informer of the name of Wheatly, who himself had taken the obliga- tion ; and was convicted under the Insurrection Act, which makes the administering such an obligation felony of death. The jury recom- mended Mr. Orr to mercy, and the judge, with a humanity becoming his character, transmitted the recommendation to the noble prosecutor in this case. Three of the jurors made solemn affidavit in court, that liquor had been conveyed hito their box ; that they were brutally threatened by some of their fellow-jurors with criminal prosecution if they did not find the prisoner guilty : and that under the impression of those threats, and worn down by watching and intoxication, they had given a verdict of guilty against him, though they believed hiui iu their consciences to be innocent. That further inquiries were made, which ended in a discovery of the infamous life and character of the informer ; that a respite was therefore sent once, and twice, and thrice, to give time, as Mr. Attorney-General has stated, for his Excellency to consider whether mercy could be extended to him or not ; and that with a know ledge of aU these circumstances, his Excellency did finally determine that mercy should not be extended to him ; and that he was accordinijli executed upon that verdict. Of this publication, which the indictment charges to be false and seditious, Mr. Attorney-General is pleased to say, that the design of it is to bring the courts of justice into contempt. As to this point of fact, gentlemen, I beg to set you right To the administration of justice, so far as it relates to the judges, this publication has not even an allusion in any part mentioned in thL-* indictment ; it relates to a department of justice, that cannot begin until the duty of the judge closes. Sorry should I be, that, with respect to this unfortunate man, any censure should be flung on those judges who presided at his trial, with the mildness and temper that became them upon so awful an occasion as the trial of life and death. Sure am 1, that if they had been charged with inhumanity or injustice, and if they had condescended at all to prosecute the re viler, they would not havft come forward iv +he face of the public to say, as has been said thi» day, that it was immaterial wlietlier the charge was true or not. Suro I am, their first object would have been to show that it was fclse, e^ 286 " THE PRESS. readily should I have been an eye-witness of the fact, to have dis- charged the debt of ancient friendship, of private respect, and of pubho duty, and upon my oath to have repelled the falbehood of such an imputation. Upon this subject, gentlemen, the presence of those veneiable judges restrains what I might otherwise have said, nor should I have named them at all, if I had not been forced to do so, and merely to undeceive you, if you have been made to believe their characters to liave any community of cause whatever with the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. To him alone it is confined, and against him the charge is made, as strongly, I suppose, as the writer could find words to express it, that the Viceroy of Ireland has cruelly abused the prerogative of royal mercy, in suffer- fag a man under sucli circumstances to perisli like a common malefactor. For this Mr. Attorney-General calls for your conviction as a false and scandalous libel ; aud after stating liimself every fact that I have repeated to you, either from his statement, or from the evidence, he tells you, that you ought to find it false and scandalous, though he almost in words admits that it is not false, and has resisted the admission of the evidence by which we offered to prove every word of it to be true. And here, gentlemen, give me leave to remind you of the parties before you. The traverser is a printer, who follov/s that profession for bread, and ^/ho at a time of great public misery and terror, when the people are restrained by law from debating under any dclci^ated form ; when tbo few constituents that we have are prevented by force from meeting iu their own persons, to deliberate or to petition ; when every other news- paper in Ireland is put down by force, or purchased by the administra- tion (though here, gentlemen, perhaps I ought to beg your pardon for stating without authority ; I recollect when we attempted to examine as to the number of newspapers in the pay of the castle, that the evidence was objected to) ; at a season Hke this, Mr. Finnerty has had the courage, perhaps the folly, to print the publication in question, for no motive under heaven of malice or vengeance, but in the mere duty which he owes to his family, and to the public. His prosecutor is the King's minister in Ireland; in that character does the learned gentleman mean to say, that his con- duct is not a fair subject of public observation ? Where does he find his authority for that in the law or practice of the sister country ? Have the virtues, or the exalted station, or the general love of his people preserved the sacred person even of the royal master of the prosecutor, from the asperity and intemper- ance of public censure, unfounded as it ever must be, with any personal respect to his Majesty, in justice or truth ? Have the gigantic abilities of Mr. Pitt, have the more gigantic talents of his great anta- gonist, Mr. Fox, protected either of them from the insolent familiarity, and for aught we know, the injustice with which writers have treated them? What latitude of invective has the King's minister escaped upon the subject of the present war ? Is there an epithet of contumely, or of reproach, that hatred or that fancy could sug-tsi;, that in net publicly lavished upon the'n "^ Dr you no* fijid tie words, advocate, of « THE PRESS." 2S7 despotism, robber of the public treasure, murderer of the King's sub- jects, debaucher of the public morality, degrader of the constitution, tarnisher of the British empire, by frequency of use lose all meaning whatsoever, and dwindle into terms, not of any peculiar reproach, but of ordinary appellation ? And why, gentlemen, is this permitted in that country ? I'll tell you why ; because in that country they are yet wise enough to see that the measures of the state are the proper subject for the freedom of the press ; that the principles relating to personal slander do not apply to /■uiers or to ministers ; that to publish an attack upon a pubhc minister, without any regard to truth, but merely because of its tendency to a breach of the peace, would be ridiculous in the extreme. What breach of the peace, gentlemen, I pray you, in such a case ? Is it the tendency of such publications to provoke Mr. Pitt or Mr. Dundas to break th^ head of the writer, if they should happen to meet him ? No, gentle- men ; in that country this freedom is exercised, because the people feel it to be their right ; and it is wisely suffered to pass by the state, from a consciousness that it would be vain to oppose it ; a consciousness confirmed by the event of every incautious experiment. It is suffered to pass from a conviction that, in a court of justice at least, the bulwarks of the constitution will not be surrendered to the state; and that the intended victim, whether clothed in the humble guise of honest industry, or decked in the honours of genius, and virtue, and philosophy, whether a Hardy or a Tooke, will find certain protection in the honesty auw spirit of an English jury. But, gentlemen, I suppose Mr. Attorney-General will scarcely wisli to carry his doctrine altogether so far. Indeed, I remember, be declared himself a most zealous advocate for the liberty of the press. I may, therefore, even according to him, presume to make some obser- vations on the conduct of the existing government. I should wish to know how far he supposes it to extend ; is it to the compositioii of lampoons and madrigals, to be sung down the grates by ragged baiiad- mongers to kitchen-maids and footmen ? I will not suppose that he means to confine it to the ebullitions of Billingsgate, to those cataracts of ribaldry and scurrility, that are daily spouting upon the miseries of our wretched fellow-sufferers, and the unavailing efforts of those wIko have \ aiuly laboured in their cause. I will not suppose that he confines it to the poetic licence of a birth-day ode ; the Lanreat would not use such language ! In which case I do not entirely agree with him, that the truth or the falsehood is as perfectly immaterial to the law, as it is to the Laureat ; as perfectly unrestrained by tl-e law of the land, as it is by any law of decency or shame, of modesty or decorum. But as to the privilege of censure or blame, I am sorry that th*: learned geutleman has not favoured you with his notion of the liberty of tie press. Suppose an Irish Viceroy acts a very little absurdly, may the press Ajuture to be respectfully comical upon that absurdity ? The learned couiriel does uot, at least in terms, give a negative to that. But lot me treat you honestly, and go further, to a more material point ; sup- ?88 " THE FRESS." pose an Irisii Viceroy does an act that brings scandal upon bis mastoid that fills the mind of a reasonable man with the fear of approaching despotism ; that leaves no hope to the people of preserving themselves and their children from chains, hut in common confederacy for commoE safety. What is that honest man in that case to do ? I am soiTV the riijht honourable advocate for the libertt/ of i/ie press has not told you his opinion, nt least in any express wordw. 1 will therefore veature to give you my far hnmbler thoughts upon the subject. [ think an honef^t man ought lo tell ihe people frankly and boldly Jf their peril ; and I must say I can imagine no villany greater than tliat of his hoidiug a traitorous silence at such ii crisis, except the vil* luuy and baseness of prosecuting him, or of finding him guilty for such an honest discharge of his public duty. And I found myself on the tnown principle of the revolution of England, namely, that the crown tself may be abdicated by certain abuses of the trust reposed ; and thai there are possible excesses of arbitrary power, which it is not only the right, but the bounden duty, of every honest man to resist, at the risk of his fortune and his life. Now, gentlemen, if this reasoning be admitted, and it cannot be denied ; if there be any possible event in whicli the people are obliged to look only to themselves, aud are justified in doing so ; can you be BO absurd as to say, that it is lawful for the people to act upon it when it unfortunately does arrive, but that it is criminal in any man to tell tbem that the miserable event has actually arrived, or is imminently approaching? Far am I, gentlemen, from insinuating that (extreme fis itis) our misery has been matured into any deplorable crisis of thfe Jdud, from which I pray that ilie Almighty (iod may for ever preserve us! But 1 am putting my principles upon the strangest ground, and most favourable to ray opponents, namely, that it never can be criminal to say any thing of government but what is false ; and I put this in the extreme, in order to demonstrate to you, a fortiori, that the privi- lege of speaking truth to the people, which holds in the last extremity, must also obtain in every stage of inferior importance ; and that, how- ever a court may have decided, before the late act, that the truth waK immaterial in case of libel, since that act, no honest jury can be governed by such principle. Be pleased now, gentlemen, to consider the grounds upon which this publication is called a libel, and criminal. Mr. Attorney-General tells you it tends to excite sedition and insur- rection. Let me again remind you, that the truth of this charge is not denied by the noble prosecutor. What is it then that tends to excite sedition and insurrection ? " The act that is charged upon the prose- cutor, and is not attempted to be denied ?" And, gracious God ! gen- tlemen of the jury, is the public statement of the King's representativre this, " I have done a deed that must fill the mind of every feehng or •hiuking man witli horror and indignation ; that must alienate everj tian that knows it from the King's gorernment, and endanger the sepa- ration of this distracted empne : the traverser has had the guilt o2 publishiL'g this f^ict, which I r»iva*>lf Aelinowledsre, au(? ^ t.ray you to « THE press/' 28^ find him guilty T Is this the case which the Lord Lieutenant of Ire- land bring-s forward ? Is this the prmciple for which he ventures, at a dreadful crisis like tlie present, to contend in a court of justice ? la this the picture which lie wishes to hold out of himself to the justice and lumanity of his own countrymen ? Is this the history which he wishes to be read by the poor Irishmen of the South and of the I^orth, by the Mster nation, and the common enemy .•• With the profoundest respect, permit me humbly to defend his Excel- lency, even against his own opinion. The guilt of this publication he ia pleased to think consists in this, that it tends to insurrection. Upon what can such a fear be supported ? After the multitudes that ban perished in this unhappy nation within the last three years, unhappinesa which has been borne with a patience not paralleled in the history of nations, can any man suppose that the fate of a single individual could lead to resistance or insurrection ? But suppose that it might, what then ought to be the conduct of aa honest man ? Should it not be to apprise the government of the coun- try and the Viceroy— you will drive the people to madness, if you per- jevere in such bloody councils ; you will alienate the Irish ration ; you will distract the common force ; and you will invite the common enemy ? Should not an honest man say to the people — the measure of your •filiction is great, but you need not resort for remedy to any desperate expedients. If the King's minister is defective in humanity or wisdom, his royal master, your beloved sovereign, is abounding in both. Ai such a moment, can you be so senseless as not to feel, that any one oi /ou ought to hold such language ; or is it possible you could be so infa- tuated, as to punish the man who was honest enough to hold it ? or ia "% possible that you could bring yourselves to say to your country, tlial Bt such a season the press ought to sleep upon its post, or to act like the perfidious watchman on his round, that sees the villain wrenching &e door, or the flames bursting from the windows, while the inhabitant « wrapt in sleep, and cries out that " 'tis past five o'clock, the morning ^ fair, and all well ?" On this part of the case I shaU only put one question to you. I dc not affect to say it is similar in all its points ; I do not affect to comparo the humble fortunes of ^Mr. Orr with the sainted names of Kussell o» Sidney ; still less am I willing to find any likeness between the present period and the year 1688. But I will put a question to yon, completel;^ parallel hi principle ; When that unhappy and misguided monarch haci shed the sacred blood, which their noble hearts had matured into a fit cement of revolution, if any honest Englishman had been brought to trial for daring to proclaim to the world liis abhorrence of such a deec^ what would you have thought of the English jury that couli have said —we know in our hearts what he said was true and honest, but we '/nil 5ny, upon our oatlis, that it was false and criminal ; and we will, by that base subserviency, add another item to the catalogue of public wrongs, and another argument for the necessity of an appeal to heavea for redress ? Gentlemen, I am perfectly Kware that what. J '«v may be easily mis- ^0 " THE PRESS.*' construed ; but if you Ikteu to me, with the same fairness luat I address Tou, I cannot be misunderstood. When I show you the full extent of Your poHtical rights and reraaules ; when I answer those slanderers of British liberty, who degrade the monarch into a despot, who pervert the steadfastness of law into the waywardness of will ; when I show you ihe inestimable stores of political wealth, so dearly acquired by our ancestors, and so solemnly bequeathed ; and when I show you how Touch of that precious inheritance has yet survived all the prodigality Uf their posterity, I am far from saying that I stand in need of it aU apon the present occasion. No, gentlemen, far am I indeed from such u sentiment. No inan more deeply than myself deplores the present melancholy state of our unhappy country. Neither does any man more fervently wish for the return of peace and tranquillity, through the natural channels of mercy and of justice. I have seen too much of force and of violence to hope much good from the continuance of them oi; the ono side or the retaliation of them on another. I have of late een too much of political rebuilding, not to have observed, that ia demolish is not the shortest way to repair. It is with pain and anguish that I sho uld search for the miserable right of breaking ancient ties, or going in quest of new relations, or untried adventures. No, gentlemen the case of rqy client rests not upon these sad privileges of despair. T trust, that as to the fact, namely, the intention of exciting insurreo* :ion, you must see it cannot be found in this publication ; that it is the mere idle, unsupported imputation of malice, or panic, or falsehood, A.nd that as to the law, so far has he been from transgressing the limits, uf theco n^titiitioT'.tJiat whole resrion?- lie between hi-n and those limita which he has not trod, and which I pray to heaven it may never he Ufecessaiy for any of us to tread. Gentlemen, Mr. Attorney-General has been pleased to open anothei battery upon this pubUcation, which I do trust I shall silence, unless 1 flatter myself too much in supposing that hitherto my resistance has not been u tterly unsuccessful. He abuses it for the foul and insolent familiarity of its address. I do Jearly understand his idea ; he considers the freedom of the press to be the licence of offering that paltry adulation which no man ought to atoop to utter or to hear ; he supposes the freedom of the press ought to be hke the freedom of a king's jester, who, instead of reproving the faults of which majesty ought to be ashamed, is base and cunning eoough, under the mask of servile and adulatory censure, to stroke down and pamper those vices of which it is fooKsh enough to be vain lie would not have the press presume to tell the Viceroy, that the prerogati ve of mercy is a trust for the benefit of the subject, and not a gaudy feather stuck into the diadem to shake in the wind, and by the waving >of the gorgeous plumage to amuse the vanity of the wearer. He would not have it to say to him, that the discretion of the crown as to mercy, is like the discretion of a court of justice as to law ; and tliat in the one case, as well as the other, wherever the propriety of the exercise of it appears, it is equally a matter of right He would have t!ie press all fierceness to the people, and all sycophancy to povr r ; )♦« " THE PKKSS.'" 291 would consider tlse mad udu frenetic outratts of authority, like tke awful and inscrutable dispensations of Providence, and say to the unfeel- ing and despotic spoiler, in the blasphemed and insulted language of religious resignation, " the Lord hath given, and the Lord hdXh taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." But let me condense the generality of the learned gentleman's inYOC- tive into questions that you can conceive. Does he mean that the air of this publication is rustic and uncourtly ? Does he mean, that when " Marcus" presumed to ascend the steps of the castle, and to address the Viceroy, he did not turn out his toes as he ought to have done ? But, gentlemen, you are not a jury of dancing-masters : or does the learned gentleman mean that the language is coarse and vulgar ? Kthis be his cotnplamt, ray client has but a poor advocate. I do not pretend to be a mighty grammarian, or a formidable critic; but I would beg leave to suggest to you, in serious humility, that a free press can be supported only by the ardour of men who ffeel the prompt- ing sting of real or supposed capacity ; who write from the enthusiasm of virtue, or the ambition of praise, and over whom, if you exercise the rigour of a grammatical censorship, you will inspire them with as mean an opinion of your integrity as of your wisdom, and inevitably drive them from their post ; and if you do, rely upon it, you will reduce the spirit of publication, and with it the press of this country, to what it for a long interval has been — the register of births, and fairs, and funerals, and the general abuse of the people and their friends. Gentlemen, in order to bring this charge of insolence and vulganfry tO the test, let me ask you, whether you know of ar;y language whicfl could have adequately described the idea of mercy denied, where it ought to have been granted ; or of any phrase vigorous enough to convey the indignation which an honest man would have felt upon such a subject ? Let me beg of you for a moment to suppose that any one of you had been the va'iter of this very severe expostulation with the Viceroy, and that you had been the witness of the whole progress of this never-to-be- forgotten catastrophe. Let me suppose that you had known the charge upon which Mr. Orr was apprehended — the charge of abjuring that bigotry which had torn and disgraced his country — of pledging himself to restore the people of his country to their place in the constitution — and of binding himself never to be the betrayer of his fellow- labourers in that enterprise : that you had seen him upon that charge removed from his mdustry, and co?i fined in a gaol ; that through the slow and lingering progress of twelve tedious months you had seen him confined in a dungeon, shut out dom the common use of air and of his own limbs ; that day after day you nad marked the unha^jpy captive cheered by no sound but the cries of his family, or the clinking of chains ; that you had seen him at last brought to his trial ; that you had seen the vile and perjured informer deposing against his life ; that you had seen the drunken, and worn-out, ftfid terrified jury give in a verdict of death ; that you had seen the same jury when their retm-nine: sobrietv had brought back their conscience 21»2 " THE PRESS." prostrate themselvca before the humanity of tlie bench, and pray thiiX the mercy of the crown might save their characters from the reproach cf an involuntary crime, their consciences from the torture of eternal self-condemnation, and their souls from the indelible stain of innoceni blood. Let me suppose that you had seen the respite given, and that contrite E.nd honest recommendation transmitted to that scat where mercy was presumed to dwell — that new and before unheard-of crimes are dis- covered against the informer — that the royal mercy seems to relent, and that a new respite is sent to the prisoner — that time is taken, as tlie teamed counsel for the crown has expressed it, to see whether mercy could be extended or not '. — that after that period of lingering delibe- ration passed, a third respite is transmitted — that the unhappy captive himself feels the cheering hope of being restored to a family that he hiid adored, to a character that he had never stained, and to a country that he had ever loved — that you had seen his wife and children upon their knees, giving those tears to gratitude, which tlieir locked and frozen hearts could not give to anguish and despair, and imploring the bless- ings of Eternal Providence upon his head, who had graciously spared the father, and restored him to his children — that you had seen the olive branch sent into his little ark, but no sign that the waters had subsided. "Alas! Nor -wife, nrr chUdren more shall he behold— Nor friends, nor sacred home !" No ceraph mercy unbars his dungeon, and leads him forth to light aud life ; but the minister of death hurries him to the scene of suffering an4 of shame, where, unmoved by the liostile array of artillery and armed men collected together, to secure, or to insult, or to disturb him, he dies with a solemn declaration of his innocence, and utters his last breath, in a prayer for the liberty of his country. Let me now ask you, if any of you had addressed the public earuiK)n 80 foul and monstrous a subject, in what language would you have con* veyed the feelings of horror and indignation? Would you liave stooped to the meanness of qualified complaint ? — would you have checked your feelings to search for courtly and gaudy language ? — would you have been mean enougli — but I entreat your forgiveness — I do not think meanly of you. Had I thought so meanly of you, I could not suffer my mind to commune with you as it has done ; had I thought you that base and vile instrument, attuned by hope and by fear into discord and falsehood, from whose vulgar string no groan of suffering could vibrate, no voice of integrity or honour could speak, let me honestly tell you, I should have scorned to fling my hand across it — I should have left it to a fitter minstrel. If I do not, therefore, grossly err in my opinion of you, I could use no language upon such a subject as this, that must not lag behind tlie rapidity of your feelings, and 'that would not disgrace those feelings, if it attempted to describe them. Gentlemen, I am not unconscious that the learned counsel fo-r the* crown seemed to address you with a. couiidoncA of a v*»»*y different kind' •• THE PKJ::?* 293 hPi seemed to expect from you a kind and respectful sympathy with tho feelings of the Castle, and with the griefs of chided authority. Perhapb gentlemen, he may know you better than I do. If he does, he has spoken to you as he ought ; he has been right in telling you, that if the reprobation of this writer is weak, it is because his genius could not make it stronger ; he has been right in telling you, that his language has not been braided and festooned as elegantly as it might — that he has not pinched the miserable plaits of his phraseology, nor placed his patches and feathers with that correctness of millinery which became ao exalted a person. If you agree with him, gentlemen of the jury — if you think that the man who ventures, at the hazard of his own life, to rescue from the deep the drowning honour of his country, you must not presume upon the guilty familiarity of plucking it up by the locks. I hare no more to say ; do a courteous thing. Upright and honest jurors, find a civil and obliging verdict against the printer ! And when you have done so, march through the ranks of your fellow-citizens to your own homes, and bear their looks as you pass along. Retire to the bosom of your fami- hes and your children, and when you are presiding over the morality of the parental board, teil those infants, who are to be the future men oi Ireland, the history of this day. Form their young minds by your pre- cepts, and confirm those precepts by your own example — teach them how discreetly allegiance may be perjured on the table, or loyalty be forsworn in the jury-box ; and when you have done so, tell them the story of Orr — tell them of his captivity, of his children, of his crime, of his hopes, of his disappointments, of his courage, and of his death; and (vhen you find your Httle hearers hanging from your lips — when you see their eyes overflow with sympathy and sorrow — and their young hearts bursting with the pangs of anticipated orphanage — teil them that you had the boldness and the justice to stigmatize the monster who had dared to publish the transaction ! Gentlemen, 1 believe I told you before, that the conduct of the Vico- foy was a small part, indeed, of the subject of this trial. If the vindi- cation of his mere personal character had been, as it ought to have been, the sole object of this prosecution, I should have felt the most respect- ful regret at seeing a person of his high consideration r ome forward in a court of public justice.- in one and the same breath to admit the truth, and to demand the punishment of a publication like the prese^it, to pre- vent the chance he might have had of such an accusation being disbe Ueved, and, by a prosecution like this, to give to the passing stricture o. ft newspaper that life and body, and action and reality, to prove it t' all mankind, and make the record of it indelible. Even as it isj I d< own I feel the utmost concern that his name should have been soiled ij being mixed in a question of which it is the mere pretext and scapo P^«t. iilr. Attorney-General was too ynse to state to you the real question, ST the object which he wished to be answered by your verdict. Do yoa t^member that he was pleased to say that this publication was a base and Jbnl misrepresentatiot of the virtue and wisi'om of the governuiont, pjid T {R»* *' THE PIIESS. a false an audacious statement to the world, that tne King's j^^OTer.* ment in Ireland was base enough to pay informers for taking away m^ J&ves of the people ? ^Vhen I heard this statement to-day, I doubtec wliether you were aware of its tendency or not. It is now necessary that I «ihould explain it to you more at large. yoi\ cannot be ignorant of the great conflict between prerogative and privilege which hath convulsed the country for the last fifteen years ; when I say privilege, you cannot suppose that I mean the privilege of the House of Commons,—! mean the privileges of the people. YoM are no strangers to the various modes by which the people laboured to approach their object. Delegations, conventions, remonstrances, resolutions, petitions to the parliament, petitions to the throne. It might not be decorous in this place to state to you, with any sharp- ness, the various modes of resistance that were employed on the other side ; but you, all of you, seem old enough to remember the variety ol acts of parliament that have been made, by which the people were deprived, session after session, of what they had supposed to be the known and established fundamentals of the constitution, the right of public debate, the right of public petition, the right of bail, tlie right of trial, the right of arms for self-defence ; until the last, even the relics of popular privilege became superseded by a military force ; the press extinguished ; and the state found its last entrenchment in the grave of the constitution. As little can you be strangers to the tremendous confederations of hundreds of thousands of your countrymen, of the nature and objects of which such a variety of opinions have been propa- jated and entertained. The writer of this letter presumed to censure the recal of Lord Fitzwilliam, as well as the measures of the present Viceroy. Into thiji subject I do not enter ; but you cannot yourselves forget that the conciliatory measures of the former noble lord had produced an almost miraculous unanimity in this country ; and much do I regret, and sure I am that it is not without pain you can reflect, how unfortunately the conduct of his successor has terminated. His intentions might have been the best ; I neither know them nor condemn them, but their terrible effects you cannot be bhnd to. Every new act of coercion has been followed by some new symptom of discontent, and every new attack provoked some new paroxysm of resentment, or some new combination of resistance. In this deplorable state of affairs — convulsed and distracted within, and menaced by a most formidable enemy from without — it was thought that public safety might be found in union and conciliation ; and • epeated applications were made to the parhament of this kingdom, for 4 calm inquiry into the complaints of the people. These applicfttioui! were made in vain. Impressed by the same motives, Mr. Fox brought the t^ame subject before the Commons of England, and ventured to ascribe the perilous state of Ireland to the severity of its government. Even liis stupendous abihties, excited by the liveliest sympathy with our sufferings, and t'Tiimated by the most ardont zeal to restore the strength and the uqu^ " THE PRESS.** 2S>t if the empire, were repeatedly exerted without success. The fact oi discontent was denied — the fact of coercion was denied— and the con- sequence was, the coercion became more implacable, and the disconten more threatening- and irreconcilable. A similar anplication was made in the beginring of this session to the Lords of Great Britain, by our illustrious countryman,* of whom I to not wonder that my learned friend should have observed, how much irtue can fling pedigree into the shade ; or how much the transient honour of a body inherited from man, is obscured by the lustre of an intellect derived from God. He, after being an eye-witness of this country, presented the miserable picture of what he had seen ; and, te the astonishment of every man in Ireland, tlie existence of those facts was ventured to be denied ; the conduct of the Viceroy was justified and applauded ; and the necessity of continuing that conduct was insisted upon, as the only means of preserving the constitution, the peace, and the prosperity of Ireland. The moment the learned counsel had talked of this publication as a false statement of the conduct of the government, and the condition of the people, no man could be at a loss £.' see that the awful question, which had been dismissed from the Com< Kons of Ireland, and from the Lords and Commons of Great Britain. is now brought forward to be tried by a side wind, and, in a collatera] vi'iy, by a criminal prosecution. The learned counsel has asserted that the paper which he prcsecutet is only part of a system formed to misrepresent the state of Ireland and the conduct of its government. Do you not, therefore, discovei that his object is to procure a verdict to sanction the parliaments of both countries in refusing an inquiry into your grievances ? Let m ask you, thc^, are you prepared to say, upon your oath, that thosfc measures of coercion, which are daily practised, are absolutely necessary and ought to be continued ? It is not upon Finnerty you are sitting iu judgment ; but you are sitting in judgment upon the lives and liberties of the inhabitants of more than half of Ireland. You are to say thai it is a foul proceeding to condemn the government of Ireland ; that it is a foul act, founded in foul motives, and originating in falsehood and sedition ; that it is an attack upon a govern"aient, under which the people are prosperous and happy ; that justice is administered with mercy ; that the statements made in Great Britain are false — are the efiusions of party or of discontent ; that all is mildness and tranquillity ; that there are no burnings — no transportations ; that you never travel by the light of conflagrations ; that the gaols are not crowded month after month, from which prisoners are taken out, not for trial, but foi embarkation ! These are the questions upon which, I say, you must yirtually decide. It is in vain that the counsel for the crown maytcL you that I am misrepresenting the case — that I am endeavouring tc raise false fears, and to take advantage of your passions — that the question is, whether this paper do a libel or not — and that the circum- Itancea of the country h£"e nothing to do v;ith it. Such assertiocs * Lord iloira. 21)'^ •' THE PRESS." must be vain. The statement of the counsel for tne crown Tias forced the introduction of those important topics ; and I appeal to your owb- hearts whether the country is misrepresented, and whether the govern- ment is misrepresented. I tell you, therefore, gentlemen of the jury, it is not with respect to Mr. Orr, or Mr. Finnerty, that your verdict is now sought. You are called upon, on your oaths, to say, that the government is wise and merciful — the people prosperous and happy ; that military law ought to be continued ; that the constitution could not with safety be restored tc Ireland ; and that the statements of a contrary import by your advocate% '■p either country, are libellous and false. I tell you these are the questions ; and I ask you, if you can have the front to give the expected answer in the face of a community who know the country as well as you do ? Let me ask you, how you could recon- cile with such a verdict, the gaols, the tenders, the gibbets, the confla- grations, the murders, the proclamations that we hear of every day in the streets, and see every day in the country ? What are the prosecu- tions of the learned counsel himself, circuit after circuit? Merciful God! what is the state of Ireland, and where shall you find the wretched inhabitant of this laud ! You may find him, perhaps, in a gaol, the only place of security — I had almost said of ordinary habitation I If you da not find him there, you may see him flying with his family from the ilames of his own dwelling — lighted to his dungeon by the conflagration of his hovel ; or you may rind his bones bleaching on the green fields of Uis country ; or you may find him tossing on the surface of the ocean, and mingling his groans with those tempests, less savage than his per- secutors, that drift him to a returnless distance from his family and Ids home, without charge, or trial, or sentence. Is this a foul misrepre- sentation ? Or can you, with these facts ringing in your ears, and staring in your face, say, upon your oaths, they do not exist ? You are called upon, in defiance of shame, of truth, of honour, to deny the suffer- ings under which you groan, and to flatter the persecution that tramples you under foot. Gentlemen, I am not accustomed to speak of circumstances of thia kind ; and though familiarized as I have been to them, when I cotiae to speak of them, my power fails me — my voice dies within me. I am not able to call upon you. It is now I ought to have strength — it is now I ought to have energy and voice. But I have none ; I am like the Unfortunate state of the country — perhaps, like you. Tliis is the time In which I ought to speak, if I can, or be dumb for ever ; in which, if you do not speak as you ought, you ought to be dumb for ever. But the learned gentleman is further pleased to say, that the traver- ser has charged the government with the encouragement of informers. This, gentlemen, is another small fact that you are to deny at the hazard cf your souls, and upon the solemnity of your oaths. You are upon vour oaths to say to the sister country, that the government of Ireland tses no such abominable instruments of destruction as informers. Lei Jae ask you honestly, what do you feel, when in my hearing, when in Qte face of fliia audience, you »''e called upon to give a verdict that '* TIIE PRESS." 297 every man of us, and every man of you know, by the testimony of your own eyes, to be utterly and absolutely false ? I speak not now of the public proclamation for informers, with a promise of secrecy, and of extravagant reward ; I speak not of the fate of those horrid wretches who have been so often transferred from the table to the dock, and iiom the dock to the pillory : I speak of what your own eyes have seen, day after day, during the course of this commission, from the box where you are now sitting ; the number of horrid miscreants, who acknow- ledged, upon their oaths, that they had come from the seat of govern- ment — from the very chambers of the Castle — where they had been worked upon, by the fear of death and the hope of compensation, t6 give evidence against their fellows ; that the mild, the wholesome, and merciful councils of this government are holden over these catacombs of living death, where the wretch that is buried a man, lies till his heart has time to fester and dissolve, and is then dug up a witness ! Is this a picture created by a hag-ridden fancy, or is it fact ? Hav^ you not seen him, after his resurrection from tliat region of death and. corruption, make his appearance upon the table, the living image o^^ life and of death, and the supreme arbiter of both ; Have you not marked vphen he entered, how the stormy wave of the multitude retired at his approach? Have you not seen how the human lieart hewed to the su^jremacy of his power, in the undissembled homage of deferential horror ? how his glance, like the lightning of heaven, seemed to rive the body of the accused, and mark it for the grave, while his voice warned the devoted wretch of woe and death — a death which no innocence can escape, no art elude, no force resist, no antidote prevent. There was an antidote — a iuror's oath ! — bub even that adamantine chain, that bound the integrity of man to the throne of eternal justice, is solved and molten in the breath that issues from the informer's mouth : con- science swings fromber moorings, and the appalled and aflfrighted jurof consults his own safety m the surrender of the victim : — "Et qiiee sibi quisque timebat, Unius ii. mjseri exitiimi conversa tulere." Informers are worshipped in the temple of justice, even as the devil has been worshipped by Pagans and savages — even so in this wicked coun- try, is the informer an object of judicial idolatry — even so is he soothed by the music of human groans — even so is he placated and incensed by the fumes and by the blood of human sacrifices. Gentlemen, I feel I must have tired your patience ; but I have beer forced into this length by the prosecutor, who has thought fit to intro- duce those extraordinary topics, and to bring a question of mere politics to trial, under the form of a criminal prosecution. I cannot say I am surprised that this has been done, or that you should be solicited by the game inducements, and from the same motives, as if your verdict waa A vote of approbation. I do not wonder that the government of Ire- land should stand appalled at the state to which we arre reduced. I wonder not that they should start at the public voice, and labour to stifle or contradict it. I wonder not that at this arduous crisis, when the very eziatej^^-e of the empire is at stake, and when its strongest and 298 THE PKESS.'- most precious limt) is not girt with the sword for battle, "but pressed bji the tourniquet for amputation ; when they find the coldue.ss of deat^ already begun in those extremities where it never ends ; that they are terrified at what they have done, and wish to say to the surviving par- ties of that empire, " they cannot say that we did it." I wonder uo{ iat they should consider their conduct as no immaterial question for A eourt of criminal jurisdiction, and wish anxiously, as on an inquest of blood, for the kind acquittal of a friendly jury. I wonder not that they should wish to close the chasm they have opened, by flinging you into the abyss. But trust me, my countrymen, you miglit perish in it, but you could not close it j trust me, if it is yet possible to close it, it can be done only by truth and honour ; trust me, that such an effect could no more be wrought by the sacrifice of a jury, than by the sacrifice of Orr. As a state measure, the one would be as un'^ise and unavailing as the other ; but while you are yet upon the brink, while you are yet risible, let me, before we part, remind you once more of your awfu^ •dtuation. You are upon a great forward ground, with the people at your back, «nd the government in your front. You have neither the disadvantages aor the excuses of jurors a century ago. No, thank God I never was there a stronger characteristic distinction between those times, upon which no man can reflect without horror, and the present. You have leen this trial conducted with mildness and patience by the court. We liave now no Jefferies, with scurvy and Tulgar conceits, to browbeat the prisoner and perplex his counsel. Such has been the improvement of manners, and so calm the confidence of integrity, that during the defence of accused persons, the judges sit quietly, and show themselves worthy *f their situation, by bearing, with a mild and merciful patience, f -le little extravag^t'icies of the bar, as you should bear with the little extra- yagancies of the press. Let me then turn your eyes to that pattern of mildness in the bench. The press is your advocate ; bear with its excess — bear with every thing but its bad intention. If it come as a villanous slanderer, treat it as such ; but if it endeavour to raise the honour and glory of your country, remember that you reduce its power to a nonentity, 'if you stop its animadversions upon public measures. You should not check the efforts of genius, nor damp the ardour of patriotism. In vain will you desire the bird to soar, if you meanly or madly steal from it its plumage. Beware lest, under the pretence of bearing down the licentiousness of the press, you extinguish it altoge- ther. Beware how you rivsd the venal ferocity of those miscreants, who rob a printer of the means of bread, and claim from deluded roy- alty the reward of integrity and allegiance. Let me, therefore, remind ^ou, that though the day may soon come ^hen our ashes shall be scat- tered before the winds of heaven, the memory of what you do cannci die ; it will carry down to your posterity your honour or your shame.- - In the presence and in the' name of that ever living God, I do therefor conjure you to reflect, that you have your characters, your consciences, thdl voa have also the character, perhaps tlie ultimate dustu y of your FKCNEY — HIGH TREASON, 1798. 299 Country, in your hands. In that awful name, I do conjure you to have mercy upon your country and yourselves, and so judge now, as you wil. hereafter he judged : and I do now submit the fate of my client, and of that country whicn we have yet in common, to your disposal. Ttie Prime Sergeant (Hon. James Fitzgerald) shortly replied ; Judge Dov.-nea charge weakly, but notnidely ; and, after a short absence, the jury returned " Guilty" on the iaacA paper. On tne following day, the 23rd of December, Mr. Finnerty was brought up for Judgment Mr. Finnerty stated that he had been token out of prison to Alderman Alexander's offlc^ und there threatened with public whipping, if he did not give up the author of the hbcl fie boldly defended the letter, but was most respectful to the Bench. Judge Downes seiv enced him to two years' imprisonment from the day of his arrest, to stand in the pillory or an hour, pay a fine of £20, and at the expiration of his imprisonment to give security Edmself in £500, and two bailsmen in £250 each for his good behaviour. On the 30th o December, Mr. Finnerty did actually .stand in the pillory, and the rest of this miscellaneom and iriquitous sentence was also carried oat. FOE MR. PATRICK FINNEY [high teeason.] January 16ih, 1798. On the 31st of May, 1797, Patrick Finney was arrested at Tuite's public house, In Thomas- street. He was indicted for High Treason, at the Commission held in Dublin, in July, 1797, and on Tuesday, the 16th of January, 1798, was brought to triaL Mr. Kidgevay ouened the indictment, which was in subsiance as follows : — The first count of the indictment charged — " That Patrick Finney, yeoman, on the 30th day of April, in the 37th year of the King, and divers other days, at tlie city of Dublin, being a false traitor, did compass and imagine the death of our said Lord the King, and did traitorously and feloniously intend our said Lord the King to kill, murder, and put to death." The overt acts laid were as Tollows ; — " 1. Adhering to the persons exercising the power* of government in France, in case they should invade, or cause to be Invaded this kingdom of Ireland, they being enemies to the ICing, and at war. 2. That the conspirators afore said did meet, &c., confer, consult, and deliberate, about adhering to the persons exercising the powers of government in France. 3. Adhering to the persons exercising the powers o* govei-nment in France. 4. Conspiring that one or more persons should be sent into France, to excite an invasion of Ireland. 5. Conspiring that one or more persons should be sent into France, to excite an invasion of tliis kingdom, and to make war therein ; and for that purpose did aslc, lev>', and receive, &c, from other traitors, money, to wit, from each £20, to defi-ay the expenses of the persons to be sent. 6. That conspiring, &c., they did send into France four persons unknown, to excite the persons exercising the powers of government in France to invade this kingdom, and make war therein. 7. Conspiring to send, and sending, four persons into Fi ance, to persuade invasion, and to aid them in invading, and raising, and making war; and Finney, then and there, demanding and receiving money, viz. £20 t defray the charges of said persons. 8. That said Patrick Finney became a United Irishman for the pm-pose of assisting the persons exercising the powers of government in France, an being met to the number of forty-eight other traitors, did divide into four splits, each o, which contained twelve traitors, and each split did then choose one to be secretary, to con suit on behalf thereof with other spUts, under the denomination of baronial meetings, for the purpose of adhering and making war, in case of an invasion of Ireland from France, an^ than and there conspiring an attack upon the Castle of DubUn, «fec., and to deprive hi Majesty of the stores and ammunition therein ; and said Finney, to facilitate such attack did advise and commend other traitors to view White's Court, &c., and give their opiuioi to their several splits, so that their secretaries might report the same to their baronisi meetings. 0. Adhering to the persons exercising the powers of government in France, &a., and with forty-eight other conspirators, divided into four splits, each containing twelve, e€ich split clioosing a secretary to confer for the purpose of adhering to the enemy in case ol invasion, .and confederating and agroeinV? that * violent attack should be maiblln, and disclosed to him what had passed. Mr. Higgins told O'Brien he was right to «Teal the matter, and brought him to Lord Portarlington, who brought him to one of tha aommitteo-rooms of the House of Lords, where he was examineil by one of the Lord Lieu- lexiant'a secretaries. It was then thought expedient, that attention should be paid to thli society, seeing its dangerous tendency, in order to counteract the designs entertained. O'Brien, conceiving that he might he in some danger from a society formed upon such prin- ciples, was advised to enlist in one of the regiments of dragoons then quartered in Dublin, ftnd to attend the society, to learn their designs. With this view, O'Brien attended at Coghran's house, in Neunnarket, and was admitted on giving the pass-word " Mr. Green." He there found the prisoner at the bar, with forty others assembled ; he was desired to My sixpence to the funds of the S^^iety; he said he had not then sixpence; they told hiir i.e was to return In the evening, a:iu that it made no difference, whether he then paid, oi -OQght it in the evening. Finney informed him and the society that the money collected Tas to constitute a fund for the purpose of the society ; that upon that day there was to be 8 collection from the United societies in Dublin, sixpence from each man, and that there vasto be collected that evening from the various societies, 10,000 sixpences ; and hefurther jiformed them (for he was an active man at that meeting) that there was to be a great •mineral, that of one Ryan, a millwright, whose corpse lay at Pimlico, which was to be? attended by all the societies in Dublin ; that after the funeral, that particular society was again to assemble at the same place, Coghran's." Various other meetings were stated in a very moderate speech, and O'Brien swore firmly to the facts. Curran cross-examined the man calmly, and tempted him into confidential jisolence. The ruffian described his career as the hanger-on of an excise officer, drinkinf and extorting in public houses ; he candidly avowed not only that he had practised coining, jut he identified a receipt for coining, which he had, in a missionary spirit, given to another person ; he admitted that, when told that Mr. Roberts of Stradbally would give evidenco figainst his character, he (having a sword and pistol in his hands,) had said he "would settle ;im." For this he made a trivial explanation. Peter Clarke swore that on the 31st of JKay, Finney gave him a copy of th.e United Irish test, and Lord Portarlington sw)re that 3"Brien told him of one or two of the early meetings. Curran was to have opened tha uefence ; but a principal witness being absent, a chaise was despatched for him, and Mr. el'Nally set to speak against time.* Tlie court had then to adjourn for twenty rainut(>s' •^Sft. Tlien Curran, after examining some persons of the middle class to prove O'Brien » t.famy of character, and one to Finney's general loyalty, spoke as follows : — » My Lords, atd Gentlemen of the Jury. In the early part of thia inal, I thought I should have had to address you on the most importa*nt ♦ Mr. M'Nally has marked, on his copy of the speech, that he spoke for an hourazid tbif* ^oarters, and that the speech was reported h^r " Leonard M'Xally. jun." rixNiSii^ — HIGH THEASON, 1798. 301 ^ccaaion possible, on this side of the grave, a man labouring for Vil«,cii .E.e casual strength of an exhausted, and, at best, a feeble advocate. But, gentlemen, do not imagine that I rise under any such impressions ; do not imagine that I approach you sinking under the hopeless difficul- Ues of my cause. I am not now soliciting your indulgence to the inadequacy of my powers, or artfully enlisting your passions at the side e.f my client. No, gentlemen ; but I rise with what of law, of con- science, of justice, and of constitution, there exists within this realm, at my back, and, standing in froui, of that great and powerful alliance, I demand a verdict of acquittal for my client I What is the opposition of evidence ? It is a tissue which requires no strength to break through ; it vanishes at the touch, and is sundered into tatters. The right honourable gentleman who stated the case in the first stage of this trial, has been so kind as to express a reliance, that the counsel for the prisoner would address the jury with the same candour which he exemplified on the part of the crown ; readily and couftdently do I accept the compliment, the more particularly, as in my cause I feel no temptation to reject it. Life can present no situation wherein the iiiimble powers of man are so awfully and so divinely excited, as in defence of a fellow-creature placed in the circumstances of my client ; and if any labours can peculiarly attract the gracious and approving eye jz heaven, it is when God looks down on a human being assailed by human turpitude, and struggling with practices against which the Deity has placed his special canon, when he said " Tliou shalt not bear falsi witness against thy neighbour ; thou shalt do no murder." Gentlemen, let me desire you again and again to consider all the cu'cumstances of this man's case, abstracted from the influence of prejudice and habit; and if aught of passion assumes do:iiinion orei you, let it be of that honest, generous nature that good men must feel when they see an innocent man depending on their verdict for his life ; to this passion I feel myself insensibly yielding ; but unclouded^ though not unwarmed, I shall, I trust, proceed in my great duty. Wishing to state my client's case with all possible succinctness which ihe nature of the charge admits, I am glad my learned colleague has acquitted liimself on this head already to such an extent, and with such ability, that anything I can say will chance to be superfluous ; in truth, that honesty of heart, and integrity of principle, for which all must give aim credit, uniting with a sound judgment and sympathetic heart, have given to his statement all the advantages it could have derived fron: ftiese qualities. He has truly said that "ihe declaratory act, the 25th of Edward 111.^ isthiit on which all charges of high treason are founded ;" and I trust the observation will be deeply engraven on your hearts. It is an ad, made to save the subject from the vague and wandering uncertainty of the law. It is an act which leaves it no longer doubtful whether a man ^liall incur conviction by his own conduct, or the sagacity of crown con- struction : whether he shall sink beneath his own guilt, or the cruet and barbarous refinement of crown prosecution. It has been most h-ptly called the blessed a^t : and oh 1 may the great God of jui^ticw ard K02 rl.NNKT — HIGH. TKEAfciO^', 1798. of mercy gire repose and eternal blessing to the souls of those honest men by whom it was enacted ! By this law, no man shall be convicted uf high treason, but on proveable evidence ; the overt acts of treason, fis explained in this law, shall be stated clearly and distinctly in tho L'harg-e ; and the proof of these acts shall be equally clear and distinct in order that no man's life may depend on a partial or wicked allegation. ft does every thing for the prisoner which he could do himself, it doca every thing but utter the verdict, which alone remains with you, and which, I trust, you will give in the same pure, honest, saving spirit, in which that act was formed. Gentlemen, I would call it an omnipotent act, if it could possibly appal the informer from our courts of justice ; but law cannot do it, religion cannot do it, the feelings of human nature frozen in the depraved heart of the vrretched informer, cannot be thawed I Law cannot prevent the envenomed arrow from being pointed at the intended victim ; but it has given him a shield in the integrity of a jury ! Every thing is so clear in this act, that all must understand : the several acts of treason must be recited, and proveable conviction must follow. What is proveable conviction? Are you at a loss to know ? Do you think if a man comes on the table, and says, " By lirtue of my oath, I know of a conspiracy against the state, and such and such persons are engaged in it," do you think that his mere allega- tion shall justify you in a verdict of conviction ? A witness coming on Jhia table, of whatsoever description, whether the noble lord who has been examined, or the honourable judges on the bench, or IVIr. James O'Brien, who shall declare upon oath that a man bought powder, ball, and arms, intending to kill another, this is not proveable conviction : the unlawful intention must be shown by cogency of evidence, and the credit of the witness must stand strong and unimpeached. The law means Eot that infamous a^ssertion or dirty ribaldry is to overthrow tlw character of a man; even in these imputations, flung against the victim, there is fortunately something detergent, that cleanses the character it was destined to befoul. In stating the law, gentlemen, I have told you that the overt act must be laid and proved by positive testimony of untainted witnesses ; and iri so saying, I have only spoken the language of the most illustrious writers on the law of England. I should, perhaps, apologize to you for detaining your attention so ong on these particular points, but that in the present disturbed state of the public mind, and in the abandonment of principle, which it but too frequently produces, I think I cannot too strongly impress you with the purity of legal distinction, so that your souls shall not be harrowed with those torturing regrets, which the return of reason would bring along with it, were you, on the present occasion, for a moment to resign it to the subjection of your passions; for these, though sometimes amiable in their impetuosity, can never be dignified and just, but under the control of reason. The charge against the prisoner is two-fold : compassing and imagin- rv? t)»n KiLig's death, and adliprirp' to the King's enemies. To be FIKNEY — HIGH TREASON, 179S. .5U3 bocurate on this head is not less my intention than it is my interest ; for if I fall into errors, they will not escape the learned counsel who is to oome after me, and whose detections will not fail to be made in the correct spirit of crown prosecution Gentlemen, there are no fewer than thirteen overt acts, as described, accessary to support the indictment ; these, however, it is not necessary to recapitulate. The learned counsel for the crown has been perfectly candid and correct in saying, that if any of them support either speciei of treason charged in the indictment, it will he sufficient to attach the guilt. I do not complain that on the part of the crown it was not found expedient to point out which act or acts went to support the indictment . neither will I complain, gentlemen, if you fix your attention particular]^ on the circumstances. Mr. Attorney-General has been pleased to make an observatior which drew a remark from my colleague, with which I fully agree, thao the atrocity of a charge should make no impression on you. It was the judgment of candour and liberality, and should be yours ; nor thougli. you should more than ansTfer the high opinion I entertain of you, and though your hearts betray not the consoHng confidence which your look? mspire, yet do not disdain to increase your stock stock of candour and liberality, from whatsoever source it flows ; though the abundance of my client's innocence may render him independent of its exertions, your Ci, ^utry wants it all. You are not to suffer impressions of loyalty, >r an enthusiastic love for the sacred person of the King, to give your judgments the smallest bias. You are to decide from the evidence which you have heard ; and if the atrocity of the charge were to have any influence with you, it should be that of rendering you more incre- dulous to the possibility of its truth. I confess I cannot conceive a greater crime against civilized society, be the form of government what it may, whether monarchial, republicai), or, I had almost said, despotic, than attempting to destroy the life of the person holding the executive authority ; the counsel for the crown cannot feel a greater abhorrence against it than I do ; and happy am I, at this moment, that I can do justice to my principles, and the feelings of my heart, without endangering tire defence of my client, and thai defence is, that your hearts would not/eel more reluctant to the perpe- tration of the crnnes with which he is charged, than the man who there stands at the bar of his country, waiting until you shall clear him from the foul and unmerited imputation, until your verdict, sounding life and honour to luu senses, shall rescue him from the dreadful fascination of the informer's eye. The overt acts in the charge against the prisoner are many, and al apparently of the same nature, but they, notwithstanding, admit of a rery material distinction. This want of candour I attribute to the base imposition of the prosecutor on those who brought him forwai'd. You find at the bottom of the charge a foundation-stone attempted to be laid by O'Brien, — the deliberations of a society of United Irish- men, and on this are laid all the overt acts. I said the distinction was >f moment, because it ia eudeavour«vt Ui be held forth to the public, tc 804 FINNEY — HIGH TREASON, 179B fUb. Europe, that, at a time like tliis, of peril and of danger thero arc h one province alone, one hundred and eleven thousand of your cxma* orjinen combined for the purpose of destroying the King, and th^ tranquillity of the country, which so much depends on him, an assertioa which you should consider of again and again, before you give it any 'vther existence than it derives from the attainting breath of the informer. If nothing should induce that consideration but the name v»f Irishman, the honours of which you share, a name so foully, and, as I shall demonstrate, so falsely aspersed, if you can say that one fact of O'Brien's testimony deserves belief, all that can from thence be inferred is, that a great combination of mind and will exists on some public subject. Wfiat says the written evidence on that subject? What are the obligations imposed by the test-oath of the society of United Irishmen ? Is it unjust to get rid of religious differences and distinctions ? Would to God it were possible. Is it an offence against the state, to promote a full, free, and adequate representation of all the people of Ireland in parliament ? If it be, the text is full of its own comment, it needs no comment of mine. As to the last clause, obliging V) secrecy: Now, gentlemen of the jury, in the hearing of the court, I submit to the opposite counsel this question. I will make my adversary my arbiter. Taking the test-oath, as thus written, is there any thing of treason in it ? However objectionable it may be, it certainly is not treasonable. I admit there may be a colourable combination of words to conceal a really bad design ; but to what evils would it not expose society, if, in this case, to suppose were to decide. A high legal authority thus *jf)eaKS on this subject : " Strong, indeed, must the evidence be which goes to prove that any man can mean, by words, any thing more than what is conveyed in their ordinary acceptation." If the test of any parti- cular community were an open one — if, like the Loudon Corresponding Society, it was to be openly published, then, indeed, there might be a reason for not usijig words in their common application ; but, subject to no public discussion, at least not intended to be so, why should the proceedings of those men, or the obligation by which they are connected, be ex[)ressed in the phraseology of studied concealment ? If men meet in secret, to talk over how best the French can invade this country, to what purpose is it that they take an engagement different in meaning ? Common sense rejects the idea ! Gentlemen, having stated these distinctions, I am led to the remain- ing divisions of the subject you are to consider. I admit, that because man merely takes this obligation of union, it cannot prevent hia becoming a traitor if he pleases ; but the question for you to decide :n would then be, whether every man who takes it must necessarily be a traitor Independent of that engagement, have any superadded facta been proved against the prisoner? What is the evidence of O'Brien ' Whafc has he stated? Here, gentlemen, let me claim the benefits of thp^t (:T\3at privilege, which distinguishes trial by juij ia tb's cactitry froui v^ riNNEY — niGH TREASON, 17So. 303 the world. Twelve men, not emerging from the must and cobwebs of a study, abstracted from human nature, or only acquainted with its extravagancies ; but twelve men, conversant with life, and practised in those feelings which mark the common and necessary intercourse between man and man, such are you, gentlemen. How, then, does Mr. O'Brien's tale hang together? Look to its X)mmencement. He walks along Thomas-street, in the open day (a rtreet not the least populous in this city), and is accosted by a man, who, without any preface, tells him he'll be murdered before he goes half the street, unless he becomes a United Mshman ! Do you think this is a probable story ? Suppose any of you, gentlemen, be a United Irishman, or a Freemason, or a Friendly Brother, and that you meet me walking innocently along, just like iMr. O'Brien, and meaning no harm, would you say, *' Stop, ;Mr. Curran, don't go further, you'll be murdered before you go half the street, if you do not become a United Irishman, a Freemason, or a Friendly Brother." Did you ever hear so eoaxing an imitation to felony as this? " Sweet Mr. James O'Brien' come in and save your precious life — come in and take an oath, or you'ii oe mm'dered before you go half the street ! Do, sweetest, dearest Mr. James O'Brien, come in, and do not risk your valuable existence." What a loss had he been to his King, whom he loves so marvellously 1 Well, what does poor ISIr. O'Brien do ? Poor, dear man, he standa petrified with the magnitude of his danger,— all liis members refuse their office, — ^lie can neither run from the danger, nor call out for ftSfiistance ; his tongue cleaves to his mouth, and his feet incorporate irith the paving-stones ; it is in vaia that his expressive eye silently implores protection of the passenger ; he yields at length, as men have done, and resignedly submits to his fate. He then enters the hou^e, and being led into a room, a parcel of men make faces at him ; but mark the metamorphosis : well nxiy it be said, that " miracles will never cease ;" he who feared to resist in open air, and in the face of fchfc pubuc, becomes a hravo when pent up in a room, and environed by sixteen men, and one is obliged to bar the door, while another swears him, which after some resistance, ia accordingly done, and poor Mr. O'Brien becomes a United Irishman, for no earthly purpose whatever, but merely to save his sweet life. But this is not all, — the pUl so bitter to the percipiency of his loyal palate, must be washed down ; and, lest he should throw it off his stomach, he is filled up to the neck with beef and whiskey. What fu»- ther did they do * Mr. O'Brien, thus persecuted, abused, and terrified, would have gone and lodged his sorrows in the sympathetic bosom of the Major ; bvt to prevent him even this little solace, they made him drunk. The ne.tt evening they used him in the like barbarous manner ; so that he wa4 not only sworn against his will, but, — poor man, — he was made druiils Jgainst his inclination. Thus was he besieged with united beefsteaks tnd whiskey ; and aa-ainst such potent assadants not even Mr. 0'Bri»j;i lould prevail. Whether all uiis wliiskey that he has been forced to drink hfts pro- S06 .-i.N.\EY HIQH TREASOxN, Uya uuced the effect or not, Mr. O'Brien's loyalty is better than his memory. In the spirit of loyalty he became prophetic, and told Lord Portarling- ton the circumstances relative to the intended attack on the ordnanco s,tore3 full three weeks before he had obtained the information tlirough moral agency. Oh ! honest James O'Brien, honest James O'Brien ! Let others vainly argue on logical truth and ethical falsehood ; but if I can once fasten him to the ring of perjury, I -will bait him at it, until his testimony shall fail of producing a verdict, although human nature were as vile and monstrous in you as she is in him ! He has made a vmtaJce! but surely no man's life is safe if such evidence were admis- sible : what argument can be founded on his testimony, when he swears he has perjured himself, and that any thing he says must be false ? I must not believe him at all, and by a paradoxical conclusion, suppose, against " the damnation" of his own testimony, that he is an i(/nest man! Strongly as I feel my interest keep pace with that of my client, I >'ould not defend him at the expense of truth ; I seek not to make the witness worse than he is : whatever he may be, God Almighty convert ^is mind I May his reprobation, — but I beg his pardon, — let your verdict stamp that currency on his credit ; it will have more force than any casual remarks of mine. How this contradiction in Mr. O'Brien's evidence occurred, I am at no loss to understand. He started from the Deginning with an intention of informing against some person, no matter against whom ; and whether he ever saw the prisoner at the time he g-ave the information to Lord Portarliugton, is a question ; but none, that he fabricated the story for the purpose of imposing on the hones' zeal of the \aw officers of the crovm. Ha\ing now glanced at a part of this man's evidence, I do not mean to part with him entirely ; I shall have occasion to visit him again ; but before I do, let me, gentlemen, once more impress upon your minds the ibservation which my colleague applied to the laws of high treason, that if they are not explained on the statute-book, they are explained on the Iiearts of all honest men ; and, as St. Paul says, " though they know not tho law, they obey the statutes thereof." The essence of the charge submitted to your consideration tends, to the dissolution of the connexion between L'eland and Great Britain. I own it is with much warmth and self-gratulation that I feel this calumny answered by the attachment of every good man to the British x)nstitution. I feel, — I embrace its principles : and when I look on you, the proudest benefit of that constitution, I am relieved from the ^ears of advocacy, since I place my client under the influence of its Bacred shade. This is not the idle sycophancy of words. It is not cry- ing '•' Lord ! Lord !" but doing "the will of my Father who is in heaven." If my client were to be tried by a jury of Ludgate-hiil shopkeepers, ho would, ere now, be in his lodgiiig. The law of England would not l^uffer a man to be cruelly butchered in a court of justice. The law of England recognises the possibdity of villains thirsting for the blood of tljeir fellow-creatures ; and the people of Ireland have no cause to b--> Kf'vedulous of th*^ f;.ict. FININJEI — HIGil TKEASON, 179S. SOj in that country, St. Paul's is not more public tlian tlie cliarge made ag-ainst the poorest creature that crawls upon the soil of England. There must be two Avituesses to convict the prisoner of high treason. 'Che prisoner must have a copy of the jurors' names, by whom he may „»ventualiy be tried ; he must have a list of the witnesses that are to be produced against him, that they may not, vampii-e-like, come crawlin^ out of tlie grave to drink his blood ; but that, by having a list of their names and places of abode, lie may inquire into their characters and modes of life, that, if they are infamous, he may be enabled to defend himself against the attacks of their perjury, and their subornation. There must, I say, be two witnesses, that the jury may be satisfied.^if they believe the evidence, that the prisoner is guilty ; r.nd if thers bt but one witness, the jury shall not be troubled witli the idle folly of istenirg to the prisoner's defence. If there be but one witness, there IS the less possibility of contradicerjury ? What said Mr. Clarke? I laid the foundation of the evidence by asking O'Brien, did you ever pass for a revenue officer ? I call, gentlemen, oi your knowledge of the human character, and of human life, what was the conduct of the man ? Was it what you would have acted, if yo had been called on in a com't of justice ? Did he answer me candidly ? Do you remember his manner ? " Not, sir, that I remember ; it could not be when I was sober," « Did you do it at all ?" What was the answer — " I might, sir, have done it ; but I must have been drunk. I never did anything dishonest. ' Why did he ansv/er thus ? Because hp did imagine he would have been opposed in his testimony, he not only added perjury to his prevarication, but he added robbery to both. There are thousands of your fellow-subjects waiting to know, if the fact charged upon the nation of 111,000 men ready to assist the common enemy be true ; if upon the evidence of an abandoned wretch, a common cheat, a robber, and a perjurer, you will convict the prisoner at the bar. As to his being a coiner, I will not pass that felony in navmeiit among his other crimes, but I w,^ offer it bv itself : 1 will 312 FiNNEY HIGH TREASON, 1798. offer it as an emblem of his conscience, copper-washed — I will offer it by itself. What has O'Brien said ? "I never remember that I did pretend to be a revenue officer ; but I remember there was a man said something about whiskey ; and I remember I threatened to complain, and he war' a little frig-htened — and he gave me three and three pence !" I asked hira, " Did his wife give you anything?" " There was three and three pence between them." "Who gave you the money?" "It was aU I g;ot from both of them | Gentlemen, would you let him into your house ad a servant ? Suppose one of you wanted a servant, and went to the other to get one ; and suppose that you heard that he personated a revenue officer; that lie had threatened to become an informer against persons not having licences, in order to extort money to compromise the actions, would you take him as a servant ? If you would not take him as a servant in exchange for his wage^, would you take his perjuries* in exchange for the life of a fellow-subject? Let me ask you, how would you show your faces to the public, and justify a barter of that kind, if you were to establish and send abroad his assignats of perjury to pass current as the price of human blood ? How could you bear the tyranny your consciences would exercise over you ; the dagger that would turn upon your heart's blood, if in the moment of madness you could suffer by your verdict the sword of justice to i-iii on the head of 9, victim committed to] your sworn humanity, to be massacred in youf presence by the peijured and abominable evidence that has been offered ! But does it stop there ? Has perjury rested there ." — No. What said the honest-looking, unlettered mind of the poor farmer ? What said Cavanagh ? «! keep a pubL'c-house, — O'Brien came to me, mid -grO" tended he was a revenue officer ; — I knew not 'but it might be so ; — he he told me he was so — he examined the httle beer I had, and my cask of po?t>cr.*' And, gentlemen, what did the villain do ? While he was dipping his abandoned tongue in perjury and in blood, he robbed the wretched man of two guineas. Where is he now? Do you wonder ho is afraid of my eye ? that he has buried himself in the crowd ? that he has shrunk into the Avhole of the multitude, when the witness endea- voured to disentangle him and his evidence ? Do you not feel that he was appalled with horror by that more piercing and penetrating eye that looks upon him, and upon me, and upon us all? The chords of his keart bore testimony by its flight, and proved that he fled for the same. But does it rest there ? No. Witness upon witness appeared for the prisoner, to whom, I dare say, you will give that credit you must deny to O'Brien. In the presence of God they swore, that they "would not believe him upon his oath, in the smallest matter." Do you know hiui» gentlemen of the jury ? Are you acquainted with James O'Brien ? If fou do, let him come forward from that crowd where he has hid himself, ind claim you by a look. Have you been fellow companions ? If jom have, I dare say you will recognize him. Have I done with him yet? No ; while there is a thread of his villany together, I will tatter it, lest you should be caught with it. Did he dare to say to the solicitor for the crowii, to the counsel that are prosecuting the prisoner, that " therr FINNEY — HIGH TREASON, 1798. 313 IS some one witoess on the surface of the globe that mil say, he believes I am not a villain ; but I am a man that deserves some credit on my oath in a court of justice ?" Did he venture to call one human hein|f to that fact ? But why did they not venture to examine the prisoner's witnesses, as to the reasons of tlieir disbelief? What, if I was bold enough to say to any of you, gentlemen, that I did not think you deserved credit on your oath, would not the first question you would ask be the reason for that opinion ? Did he venture to ask that queS' tion ? No. I think the trial has been fairly and humanely carried on. Mrs. Moore was examined ; she imderweut cross-examination — the ere arrested at Oliver Bond's woollen warehouse, in Bridge-street. MacNevhi, Thoma* Smmet, and Sampson, were in the warrant with Bond ; but not being punctual at the meet- ing, were not taken for s(jme days. A warrant had, at the same time, been issued against Lord Edward ; but he escaped, and lay concealed. The plac^ of MacNevin, Enmiet, and O'Connor were filled. John Siiearea was one of the New Directory. But Rejniolds, though suspected, retained his intimacy On the 19th of May, just four days before the rising was to take place. Lord Edward avas pounced on, and, on the 21st, the t\To Sheares were arrested. Tims the insurrection begaa» without its designers to lead it, and without time to replace them. On the night of the 23rd May, the stopping of the mail coaches was the signal for insur- rection. Next day the peasantry of Kildare, Wickluw, and parts of Meath arose. They were generally met and- defeated : but they succeeded at Prosperous, and partially in othsr places. On the 26th, the Meath people were defeated at Tara. On the 27th, the Wexford men won the battle of Oulard— the next day, stormed Enniscorthy — on the 30th, got Wex- ford town by capitulation, and immediately swept the cotmty. On the 5th June, the insur- gents stormed Ross, got drunk in the town, and were driven out with much execution t.nd. on the 9th, another of their masses failed in an attack on Arklow. The Wexfori insurrection began thenceforth to decline. On the 21st of June, the battle of Vinegar Hill was gained by General Lake. ^Meantime, the Antrim rising had been stopped by » battle in that to'R-n, on the 7th of June ; and the success of that of Down, at Saintfleld, on the 10th Jime, was over-balanced by the total defeat of Munroe and his Presbyterians, at Ballinahinch, on the 12th. Kildare and Wicklow continued a partizan war ; and a column of Wexford fugitives forced their way to the Bo>me, and there, utterly worn out, were cut to pieces. Tliis was on the 13th of July, the morning when the Sheares were convicted. On the 17th July, Lord Castlereagh announced the final defeat of the rebellion.* Perhaps the reader -will forgive these dates, as he may better appreciate, by means of them, the moral atmosphere wherein these next speeches of Curran were spoken. Keury and John Sheares Mere the sons of a Cork banker. The elder was a man of fine person vain and weak face, and vainer and weaker mind— some eloquence and warmth, and shoAVT manners. In ''jS, he was forty-five years old, and was married to a second wife, by whom'he had a large family. John was thirty-two — a man of fimmess, feeling, and ready intellect. He was, at the tims of his deatii, engaged to a Miss Steele. nenrj''s property was £1,200 a-year, which he encumbered ; John's £3,000, on which he ,Ired, after lending his brother money. Miss Steele says he bouglit " nothing but books." They resided in Baggot-street (now No. 130), and there Henry was arrested. John was arrested at Surgeon Lawlcss's, in French -street. They had been United Irishmen from 1793, and John was a frequent chairman, and apparently a man of M-eiyht in " The Union." He contributed to " The Pi-ess"—yra,a pecuUarly active with his brother in pushing the organization in Cork— and became, as we have seen, one of the Executive, after the arreata at Bond's, in March, '98. --.^ ' Strange to say, it was not till the 10th of May that they first met their betrayer ; but ht ■waa a skilful and zealous artist, and in eleven days He contrived to win their intimacy, share their liospitality, gain their secrets, and hand them to the executioner ! Unrivalled Arm- strong ! This John Wameford Armstrong was a man of good family, and a Captain in the Kinc'j County Militia, then stationed at Loaghlinstown Camp, beiween Dublin and Bray. On the 10th May. he went to the shop of Byrne, a bookseller, in Grafton-street, and a notoriouj memberof the United Irish Society. He was in the habit of buying there the books cur- rent among the liepubhcans, and Bj-me (a feeble, but not treacherous, m^n) was absurd enough to introduce him to Henn- Sheares.t Henrj- declined communication, and went *way ; but John (who had before noticed Annstrong in the shop) soon came in, was intro Inced, and plunged headlong into communication with Armstrong. Frequent inten-iewi Ijllowed. The means of taking the Castle, Island-bridge Barraclcs, and Lehuimstowa * If I add, that the French., under Humbert, entered Killala Bay on the 22iid of August- carried Castlebar on the 27th of August — and surrendered, at Ballinamucii, ^n the 8th Sep tember ; and that Hardy's flotilla was taken on the 11th October, with Tone, who died ma the 19th of November, the reader -nill have a short chronology of the " Rebellion of '98 " t At Armstrong's request, says the brief; at Byrne's oa\ti desire, said Captain Armstrong, to a conversation with Dr. Madden, which wiU aopear in the Third, and most ii ^ereetioft tienes of " The United Irishmen." HENRY SHEASES, 1798. 317 (LoughlinstowTi) Camp, ^rere constant topics. On the '20th (Sunday) he dined at Baggot- Btrtet, on John's invitation, and with the earnest approval of Lord Castlereagh; was informcij bj John, on the part o' the Executive, that lie was to command the King's Ctimty foroi 'and discussed many raw, but important, projects. Armstrong had formed the acquaintance lo get them in his clutches ; tliey were so, and on the 2l3t of May they were taken. On the 26th of June. Chief Justice Lord Carleton, Baron George, and Justices Crook shank. Chamberlain, and Daly, opened the Special Commission. After the Grand J-urie» for Dublin City and County were sworn, they were addressed by Lord Carleton ; and thee numerous prisoners were arraigned. True bills were found against Samuel Neiison, Z^Iichael B}Tne, Henry and Jolm Sheures, John M'Cann, and Oliver Bond. The Coui't assigned* i.'r Ciu'ran and Mr. M'Nidly to John Sheares ; Mr. Plunket, for Henry Sheares ; and Mr. Arm ttrong Fitzgerald, as agent for both ; and then adjourned to the 4th July. On the -Ith July, Lord Carleton, Barons Smith and George, and Justices Crookshank anQ Daly, sat ; and Henry and John Sheares being put to the bar, their indictment for High rreason was read by the Clerk of the Cro-w-n. The first count stated sixteen overt act* riie second count was for associating as United Irishmen, &c. Mr. M'Xally objected, after some delay, that John Decluzeau, one of the grand jurors wla ^uud the bills, Mas an alien, not naturalized, and hied a plea in court. The Cro-\Tn replied- \acL Outran supported the plea as follows : — My lords, we have looked over this replication, and we find that the J^entlemen concerned for the crown have thought proper to plead in three ■ways. The subject matter of our plea in abatement came very recently to our knowledge. To suppose that an alien had been upon the grand iury finding a bill of indictment involving the duty of allegiance was a rare thing ; the suspicion of it came late to our knowledge. It would have been our duty to be prepared, had we known it in time; but as we did not, and as it is a plea of great novelty, we hope the court wil, not think it unreasonable to give us time till to-morrow to answer thia pleading. The Court over-ruled the application. IVh'. Curran — ]VIy lords, before we rejoin, it may be prudent to con- sider, whether this rephcation should not be quashed. There are three distinct matters in the replication, and they are repugnant to one another One is, that the juror is not an alien ; the second and third contain averments that he is an alien. Clearly, in civil cases, a party cannot plead double matter, without the leave of the court ; even the statute tvhich gives that benefit, does not admit it without a special motion, in order that the court may see whether the pieas can stand together. But even that holds only in civil cases, and by the authority of an. ac^ of parliament. Therefore, your lordships will consider, whether a repili cation of this kind, consisting of three parts, contradictory and repug- nant, ought to be answered. Lord Carleton— In civil cases, certainly, the right of pleading double arises from the k± of parliament. As to the objection you now make, you must avail yourself of it in sont •ther wav. We will not quash the replication upon motion. A rejoinder and demuiTcr of insufficiency were then filed on the part of the prisoners. Mr. Curran— My lords, it is my duty to suggest such reasons as occur to -me in support of the demurrer filed here on the part of the prisoners My lords, the law of this country has declared that in order to the con-. riction of any man, not only of any charge of the higher species of cri- minal ofi"ences, but of any criminal charge whatsoever, he must be coir * The rif^ht tohave counsel assigned, and to get a copr of the indictment, <«ras concedea to prisoner? by the 5th George III., an act introduced by the father of the Sheares, when a member of the Irish parlUment. 3lfc HENRY SHEABES, 1798 noted upon the finding of two juries ; first, of the grand juy, vftiO ietermine upon the guilt in one point of view ; and, secondly, by tirb »orroborative finding of the petty jury, who establish that guilt in a more* direct manner ; and it is the law of this country, that the jurors who ihall so find, whether upon the grand, or whether upon the petty inquest, shall be _pro6i et legates homines omni exceptione majores. They must be open to no legal objection of personal incompetence. They must: be capable of having freehold property ; and, in order to have freehoid property, they must not be open to the objection of being born under the jurisdiction of a foreign prince, or owing allegiance to any foreign power. Because the law of this country, and, indeed, the law of everj country in Europe, has thought it an indispensable precaution, to trust :io man with the weight or influence which territorial possession may ^ive him, contrary to that allegiance which ought to flow from every man having property in the country. This observation is empliatically forcible in every branch of the cri- ininal law ; but in the law of treason, it has a degree of force and cogency that fails in every inferior class of oflence, because the ver- point to be inquired into in treason, is the nature of allegiance. The general nature of allegiance may be pretty clear to every man Every man, however unlearned he may be, can easily acquire such a notion of allegiance, whetlier natural and born with him, or whether it »e temporary, and contracted by emigration into another country, he way acquire a vague, uutechnical idea of allegiance, ibr liis immediate Oersonal conduct. But I am warranted in snying. that the constitution does not suppose, that any foreigner has any direct idea of alles,;innce, but what he owes to his original prince. The constitution suppos^es, and takes for granted, that no foreigner has such an idea of our peculiar and precise allegiance, as qualifies him to act as ajuror, where that is the question to be inquired into ; and I found myself upon this known principle, that though the benignity of the English law has in many cases, where strangers are tried, given a jury half composed of foreigners and half natives, thai benefit is denied to any man accused of treason, for the reason I have stated ; because, says Sir W. Blackstone, " aliens are very improper judges of the breach of allegiance." A foreigner is a most improper judge of what the allegiance is which binds an English subject to luL constitution. And, therefore, upon that idea of utter incompetency iu a stranger, is every foreigner directly removed and repelled from the possibility of exercising a function tliat he is supposed utterly unable to discharge. If one Frenchman shall be suffered to find a bill of indictment betweea oiir Lord the King and his subjects, by a parity of reasoning, may twenty-three men of the same descent be put into the box, with autho- rity to find a bill of indictment. By the same reason that the coui*t may communicate with one man, whose language they do not Know may they communicate with twenty-three natives of twenty-three dif- ferent countries and languages. How ftir do I mean to earrv ^his ' Thus far that every statu^A. "c HENRI SHE ARES, 17y^. 8l! means oy wliicli allegiancfc may be shaken olT, dvA any kind of benefit or privilege conferred upon an emigrating; foreigner, is for ever to be considered by a court of justice vvitli relation to that natural incompe- tency to perform certain trusts, which is taken for granted, and estab- lished by the law ot England. I urge it with this idea, that v/hether the privilege is conferred by letters patent, making the foreigner a ienizen, (u- whether by act of parliament, making him as a native sub- ject, the letters patent, or act of parliament, should be construed secun- dum snbjcctcDH materiam ; and a court of justice will take care, that no privilege be supposed to be granted, incompatible with the origiuiVi situation of the party to whom, or the constitution of the country h. which, it is conferred. Tiierefore, my lords, my clienis have pleaded, that the bill of indict- ment to which they have been called upon to answer, has been found, among otiiers, by a foreigner, born under a foreign allegiance, and mca- pable of exercising the right of a jiu'or, upon the grand, or the petty inquest. That is the substance of the plea in abatement. The couuseJ for the crovD Lave replied, and we have demurred to the second and third parts oi the replication. My lords, I take it to be a rule of law, not now to be qtiestloned, that 'here is a distinction in our statute laws ; some are of a public, some of a private nature. That part of the legislative edict w^hich is considered as of a public nature, is supposed to be recorded in the breasts of the King's judges. As the King's judges, you are the depositories and the records of the public law of tiie country. But wherever a priviite indulgence is granted, or a mere personal privilege conferred, the King's judges are not the depositories of such laws, though enacted with the same publicity ; you are not the reposi- tories of deeds or titles which give men franchises or estates, nor of tliose statutes which ease a man of a disability, or grant him a privilege. With regard to the individual to whom tiiey relate, they are mere pri- vate acts, muniments, or deeds, call them by what name you please Chey are to be shown as private deeds, to such courts as it may be thought necessary to bring them forward. Therefore, if there be any act of parliament, by which a man is enabled to say he has shaken offthedis* ability which prevented him from intermeddling in the political or judi^ cial arrangement of the country ; if he says he is no longer to be consi- dered as an alien, he must show that act specially to the court in his pleading. The particular authority, whether by letters of denization, "r act of parliament, must be set forth, that the court may judge of ihem, that if it be by act of parliament, the court may see whether he comes within the provisions of the act. This replication doeis iio Buch thing. The second and the third parts were intended to be founded upon the fctatute of Charles II., and also, I suppose, upon the subsequent statute, made to give it perpetuity, with certain additional requisites. The statute of Charles recites, that the kingdom was w^asted by the unfor- tunate troubles of that time; and that trade hid deceased, for want ol ^20 HENRY SHEAEE8, 1798. merclmnts. Atler thus stating generally the grievances which had afflicted the trade and population of the country, and the necegaity cl encouraging emigration from abroad, it goes on and says, that stranger? ^ay be induced to transport themselves and families, to replenish thfc iountry, if they may be made partakers of the advantages and free exer- cise of their trades, -without interruption and disturbance The grievance was the scarcity of men ; the remedy was tne encour- v'gement of foreigners to transport themselves : and the encouragement given was such a degree of protection, as was necessary to the full exer- cise of their trades, in dealing, buying, and selling, and enjoying the fullest extent of personal security. Therefore, it enacts, that all foreign- ers, of the Protestant religion, and all merchants, &c., who shall, within the term of seven T/eai's, tr3in^:)ort themselves to this co an cry, shall be vieemed and reputed natural-born subjects, and mai/ implead and he impleaded^ and prosecute and defend suits. The intention was, to give them protection for the purposes for which they were encouraged to come here ; and therefore the statute, instead of saying generally they shall be subjects to all intents arod purposes, Bpecifically enumerates the privileges they shall enjoy. If the legisla- ture intended to ms-ke them subjects to all intents and purposes, it had nothing more to do than say so. But not having meant any such thing, the statute is confined to the enumeration of the mere hospitable rights snd privileges to be granted to such foreigners as come here for special purposes. It states, that he may implead, and shall be answered unto, that he may prosecute and defend suits. Why go on and tell a man» who is to all intents and purposes a natural-born subject, that he may implead and bring actions ? I say, it is to all intents and purposes absurd and preposterous. Hall privileges be granted in the first instance, why mention 2^cirticidar parts afterwards ? A man would be esteemed absurd, who by his grant gave a thing under a general description, and afterwards granted the particular parts. What would be thought of a man who gave another his horse, and then said to the grantee, " I also give you liberty to ride liira when and where you please ?'* What was the case here ? The government of Ireland said, we want men of skill and industry, we invite you to come over, our intentioD is, that if you be Protestants, you shall be protected : but you are not to be judges, or legislators, or kings. We make an act of parliament giving you protection and encouragement to follow the trades for your knowledge in which we invite you ; you are to exercise your trade as a Tiatural-born subject. How ? With full power to make a bargain and enforce it : we invest you with the same power, and you shall have the fiiime benefit, as if you were appealing to your own natural form of pub- lic justice ; you shall be here as a Frenchman in Paris, buying and sell- ing the commodities appertaining to your trade. Look at another clause in the act of parliament, which is said to make a legislator of this man, or a juror, to pass upon the life and death of a fellow-subject, no, not a fellow- subject, but a stranger. It says, -* 7011 may uurchase an estate , ^Q- i'on mav enioy it, without beinK HEMiY SJJEABES, 1798. 321 a trustee for the crown." Wliy was that necessary, if he were a subject io all intents and purposes f '$' This statute had continuance for the period of seven years only: that is, it limited the time in which a foreigner might avail himself of it« benefits to seven years. The statute 4 George I. revives it, and makes It perpetual. I trust I may say, that whenever an act of parliament is /nade, giving perpetuity to a former act, no greater force or operatioii can be given to the latter, than would have been given to the former, had it been declared perpetual at the time of its enactment. An act of that kind is merely to cure the defect of continuance ; therefore, it does no more than is necessary to that end. Then how will it stand? Thus: that any man, who, within seven years after the passing of the act of Charles II. performing the requisites there mentioned, shall have the privileges thereby granted for ever thereafter. The court would assume the office of legislation, not of construction, if they inferred or supplied by intendment, a longer period than seven years ; there is nothing in the subsequent act, changing the term of seven years limited in the former; it is not competent to a court of justice to alter of extend the operation of a statute by the introduction of clauses not to be found in it. It is the business of the legislature to enact laws, of the court to expound them. it is worthy ol' observation, my lords, that this subseq^uent statute fjiis annexed certain explicit conditions to be performed by the person who is to take the benefit of the preceding act ; for it is provided, tha* no person shall have the benefit of the former act, unless he take the several oaths appointed to be taken by the latter ; among which, is the oath against the Pretender, which is not stated in the replication. There is a circumstance in the latter act, which, with regard to the argument, is extremely strong, to show, that the legislature did not intend to grant the universal franchise and privilege to all intents and purposes. It revives every part of the former, save that part exempt- ing aliens from the payment of excise. WiU it be contended, that an aUen should be considered as a natural-born subject to all intents and purposes, and yet be exempt from the payment of excise ? It is, absurd, and impossible. Put it in another point of riew. What is an act of naturaJization? It is an encroachment upon the common law rights, which every man born in this country has in it ; those rights are encroached upon and taken away by a stranger. The statute therefore should be construed with the rigour of a penal law. The court, to be sure, will see, that the stranger has the full benefit intended for him by the statute ; but they will not give him any privilege inconsistent with the rights of the natural-born subjects, or incompatible with the fundamental principles of the constitution into which he is admitted ; and I found myself upon this, that after declaring that he shall be considered as a natural-born subject, the act states such privileges only as are necessary to the exer- cibe of trade and the enjoyment of property. Therefore, it comes back to the observation just now made. Is not my man nleading a statute of naturaliaaiio" hy wiiidx he claims to be S22 TfflNKV SILEASES, 179S. oonsidered as a natural-born subject, bound to set forth a complianc •viith all the requisites pointed out by that statute ? He is made a native to a certain exrtent, upon complying witli certain conditions ; is he nof bound to state that compliance ? Here he has not stated them. B\r i go farther ; I say, that every condition mentioned in the statute ot Charles, should be set forth in the second part of the replication ; that he came with an intent of settling ; that he brought his family and hk (took : t]iat lie took the oaths before the proper magistrates ; and after % minute statement of every fact, he should state the additional oath required by the statute George I. But, my lords, a great question remains behind to be decided upoa I know of no case upon it. I do not pretend to say, that the industry of other men may not have discovered a case. But I would not be sur- prised, if no such ca,se could be found ; if since the history of the admin- istration of justice in all its forms in England, a stranger had not becD found intruding himself into its concerns ; if through *he entire history of our courts of justice, an instance was not to be fouim, of the folly of ^ stranger interfering upon so awful a subject, as the breach of alle giance between a suoject and his king. My lords, I beg leave upon this part to say, t»iat it would be a most formidable thing, if a court of justice would pronounce a determination big with danger, if they said that an alien may find a bill of indictment inyolving the doctrine of allegiance. It is permitting him to inter- meddle in a business of which he cannot be supposed to have any knowledge. Shall a subject of the Irish crown be charged with a breach of his allegiance upon the saj-ing of a German, an Italian, a Frenchman, or a Spaniard ? Can any man suppose any thing moro monstrous or absurd, than that of a stranger being competent to form an opinion upon the subject? I would not form a supposition upon it. At a time when the generals, the admirals, and the captains of France are endeavouring to pour their armies upon us, shall we permit their petty detachments to attack us injudicial hostility? Shall we sit inac- tive, and see theu" skirmishers take off our fellow-subjcscts by explosions in a jury room? When did this man come into the country? Is the raft upon which he floated now in court? What has he said upon the back of the biU? What understandiag had he of it? If he can write more than hit own name, and had wrote ignoramus upon the back of the indictment, he might have written truly j he might say, he knew notliing o^ tiie matter. He says "iie is naturalized j I am glad ot it ; you are welcome to Ire- land, Sir ; you shall have all the privileges of a stranger, indepeuaeut of the invitation by which you came ; if you sell, you shall recover tlie price of your wares, you shall enforce the contract ; if you purchase an jstate, you shall transmit it to your children, if you have any — if nat, your devisee shall have it. But you must know, that in this constittt* tion, there are laws binding upon the court as strongly as upon you the statute itself which confers the privileges you enjoy, makes you iiif^apable of discharging offices Why' Bec-Huse they go to the funi HENRY SHEARES, 1798. 323 daiuentals of tiie constitution, and belong- only to those men who have an interest in that constitution transmitted to them from their ancestors Therefore, my lords, the foreigner must be content ; lie shall be kept apart from tlie judicial functions ; in the extensive words of the act of parliament, he shall be kept from " all places of trust whatso- ever." If the act had been silent in that part, the court would notwith^ standing be bound to say, that, it did not confer the power of filling the lugli departments of tiie state. The alien would still be incapable of sitting in either house of parliament, he would be incapable of advis- ing with the king, or holding any place of constitutional trust what- ever. What ! shall it be said, there is no trust in the office of a grand juror? I do not speak or think lightly of the sacred office confided to your lordships, of administermg justice between the crown and the subject, or between subject and subject : I do not compare the office ot a grand juror to that. But, in the name of God, with regard to the .ssues of life and death, with regard to the consequences of imputed or established criminality, what difference is there, in the importance of the constitution, between the juror who brings in a verdict, and the judge who pronounces upon that verdict the sentence of the law ? Shall it be said, that the former is no place of trust ? What is the place of trust meant by the statute ? It is not merely giving a thing to another, or depositing for safe custody, it means constitutional trusty the trust of executing given departments, in which the highest confidence must be reposed in the man appointed to perform them. It means not the trust of keeping a paltry chattel, it means the awful trust of keeping the secrets of the state, and of the king. Look at the weight of the obligation imposed upon the juror ; look at the enormous extent of the danger, if he violate or disregard it. At a time like the present, a time of war, what ! is the trust to be confided to the conscience of a Frenchman ? But I am speaking for the lives, of my clients, and I do not clioose, even here, to state the terms of the trust, lest I might furnish as many hints of mischief, as I am anxious to furnish arguments of defence. But shall a Frenchman, at this moment, be entrusted with tliose secrets upon which your sitting upon that bench may eventually depend. What is the inquiry to be made ? Having been a pedlar in the country, is he to have the selling of the country, if he be inclined to do so? Is he to have confided to him tho secrets of the state ? He may remember to have had n. first allegiance, that he has sworn to it : he might find civilians to aid his perfidious logic, and to tell him, that a secret communicated to him by the human- ity of the country which received him, might be disclosed to the older and better matured allegiance sworn to a former power ! He might give up the perfidious use of his conscience to the integrity of the older title. Shall the power of calling upon an Irishman to take his trial before an Irish judge, before "the country," be left to the broken speech, the lingua franca, of a stranger coming among you and saying, " I was naturalized by act of parliament, and I cannot carry on my trade, without Healing in the blood of your citizens ?" He holds uo your statute as bis nrc»tectiocM» -vnd flings il Against you* Si^ JENRY SHE ARES, 1798 libertj', claiming the right of exercising" a judicial function, fe^nng dt the same time the honest love for an older title to allegiance. It is a love which every man ought to feel, and which every subject of this country would feel if he left this country to-morrow, and were to spend his last hour among the Hottentots of Africa. I do trust in God there is not a man who hears me, who does not feel, that he would carr? with him to the remotest part of the globe, the old ties which bound him to his original friends, his country, and his king : I do, as the advocate cf my clients, of my country — as the advocate for you, my lords, m hose elevation prevents you from the possibility of being advocates for your* selves,— for your children, stand up and rely upon it, that this art ofr parliament has been confined to a limited operation ; it was ena^itei for a limited purpose, and will not allow this meddling stranger to lasa upon the life, fame, or fortune of the gentlemen at the bar, — of ue^ their advocate, — of you, their judges, — or of any man in the nati )n It is an intrusion not to be borne. My lords, you deny him no advantage that strangers ought to ha e. By extending the statute, you take away a right from a native of tie country, and you transfer one to an iutermeddHng straua'er. I do n>t mean to use him with disrespect ; he may be a respectable and worthy man ; but whatever he may be, I do, with humble reliance upon the justice of the court, deprecate the idea of communicating to him that nigh, awful, and tremendous privilege, of passing upon life, of expound - xug the law in case of treason ; it being a fundamental maxim that strangers will, most improperly, be called upon to judge of breaches of allegiance between a subject and his sovereign. The objection being over-ruled, the Court adjourned. On Tliursday, the 12th Jul)', at nine o'clock, the trial came on. Jlr. Webber opened, and the Attomev-General (Toler) stated, the case. Alderman Alexander proved that he found in John's open desk, in Baggor-street, the following paper. (The words in italics were lined ; those between crotchets were struck across with a pen) : — Trishmf.x. f" Your country is free; all those monsters who usurped its government to oppreaa iH. people a.w in our hands, except such as have] *' Your ■■uuntry is free and you are about to be avenged [already] that vile government which lias so long and so crueily oppressed you is no more ; some of its most atrocious mon- stors iKive already paid the forfeit of their lives, and the rest are in our hands [waiting their fate]. Tlw natiu^il flag, the sacred green, is at this moment flying over the ruins of despot- ism"'i::,ud hat capital which a few hours past [was the scene] witnessed the debauchery, the niacuinations] plots and crimes of your tyrants, is now the citadel of triumphant patriotism a7id virtue Arise, then, united sons of Ireland ; arise like a great and powerful people, determined to [live] be free or die; arm yourselves by every means in your power, >nd rush like lions on your foes ; consider, that [in disarming your enemy] for every enemy you disarm, you arm a friend, and thus become doubly powerful ; in the cause of liberty, toaction is cowardice, and the coward shall forfeit the property he has not the cotirage to protect. Let his arms be seized and transferred to those gallant [patriots^ spirits who wanlv and wUl use l-^em; yes, Irishmen, we swear by that eternal justice, in whose cause yoo fight, that the brave patriot, who survives the present glorious struggle, and the family cS him who has fallen, or shall fall hereafter in it, shall receive from the hands of a gratefii nation, an ample recompense out of [those funds] that property which the crimes of our enemies [shall] have forfeited into its hands, and liis name i.too] shall be inscribed on tlio national record of Irish revolution, as a glorious example to all posterity ; but we likewise 9wear to punish robbery with death and infamy. " "We also swear that we will never sheath the sword until every [person] being in the country is restored to those equal rights, which the God of nature has given to aU men antil an order of things shall be established, in which no superiority shall be acknowledgeo imong the citizens of Erin, but that [which] of Tirtne and talent [shall entitle to]. ** C^ for thoBO degeneratft wretcha* who turn their iworda ttgnin jt tLeir n*tiTe oountry L'h*' national vetiJ^eance awaits them. Let tlieia tuid no quiu'ier uuless tiiej' aiiail prove Iheir repentance by speedily deserting, exchanging from the standard of slavery, for that of freedom, under which their former errors may be bmied, aud they may share the glory aao. idvantages that are due to the patriot bands of Ireland.] •' Many or the military feel the love of liberty glow within their breasts, and have [already :o] joined the national standard : receive [those] with open arms, such as shall foUow .so glorious an example, they can render signal service to the cause of fr'^e'lom, and shall toe rewarded according to their deserts : but for the wretch who turns his sword against his native country, let the national vengeance be visited on Mm, let him £Qd no quarter. tw« other crimes demand *' Rouse all the energies of your souls ; call forth aU the merits and abilities which i: vicious government consigned to obscm-ity, and under the conduct of your chosen leaderc march w^ith a steady step to victory ; heed not the glare of [a mercenary] hired soldier}-, oi aristocratic yeomanry, they cannot stand the vigorous shock of freemen, [close with them mar. to man, and let them see what \-igour the cause of freedom can.] Their trappings and their arms will soon be your.s, and the detested government of England to which we vow eternal hatred, shaU learn, that the treasures [she, it] they exhaust on [their mercenary] its accoutered slaves for the purpose of butchering Irishmen, shall but fuxthei' enable us to turn their swords on its devoted head. "Attack them in ever)- direction by day and by night; avail yourselves of tht natui'a. advantages of your country, which are innumerable, and with which you are better acquainteJ than they: where you cannot oppose them in full fores, constantly harass their rear and their Hanks; cut off their provisions and magazines, and prevent them as much aspossible from uniting their forces ; let whatever moments you cannot [pass in] devote to fighting f )i your country, be [devoted to] passed in learning how to fight for it, or preparing the means of war ; for war, war alone must occupy every mind, and ever>- hand in Ireland, until iti long oppressed soil be purged of all its enemies. '"Vengeance, Irishmen, vengeance on your oppressors. Remember what thousands ot your dearest friends have perished by their [murders, cruel plots] merciless orders ; remera- bertheir burnings, their rackings, their torturings, theii- militaj-y massacres, qnd their lega. miu'ders. . Remember ORR." The kindness of a Conservative:fi'iend has put me in possession of the briefs in tins case The present oisTier of them was, in '98, an apprentice to Mr. A. Fitzgerald, agent for the defence, and was employed to -write down the defence, from John Sheaves' dictation. These 'jriefs (for the 4th aud, 12th July) possess, therefore, tmusual interest. They are clear masculine, and sagacious. In them John Sheares iDlainly enough tells his counsel to save his brother at his expense. The back is torn off the brief for the 4th, which contains the main case for the defence but the '■ additional brief, on behalf of the Prisoners," is directed to " George PonscHiby Esq.,"' and "with you, J. P. Curran, Wm. C. Plunket, Leonard M'Nally ;" yet formally Cur ran only spoke for Henry Sheares. The brief must have struck dismay into the counsel's heart. Covered in the usual language of advocacy, it disclosed that, on the 10th of May, John had undei taken to find out -what United Men were in Armstrong's regiment ; that Armstrong entreated secrecy ; that the two brothers were caUed on in Baggot-street, at four o'clock, on same day, by Arm- strong, and there discussed with him the taking of Lehaunsto-\vn. On the evening of thf 11th, and twee on the 12th, they met. On Sunday, .^Vrmstrong dined ^vith them, and Joh o wrote doASTi many names of officers and men, including Captain Crofton. Lieutenant Wil- kinson, &c., who could be relied on. A retmn of the -number of organised and of armed men in the different counties was also On the same paper, . Tliis paper was found on John's person when he was arrested. ,It seems to have gi'eatly alarmed him and his agent. It was not only proved, but A. Kearney swore that he aud John Sheares were at a meeting in 'Werburgh-street, where the calculations were made. Annstrong may for a moment have doubted which to sell himself to — the United Irish, or the Castle ; for he expressed great anxiety about his commission in case of a revolution, ana " to which the prisoner John replied, that*it was more than probable they woitld make iiin: Ojlonel. as Colonel Lestrange was a violent man against them." So it ran first in the brief, tiur was altered to, " that they ought rather make him Colonel, as Sir Laurence Par- sons had resigned." He had a bargainer's eye on every one — even on Parsons, his patron and benefa'^or ; ftr he asked John Sheares, if Sir Lamence was "united," and that he'd Uke to talk to ium ou tihe subject. Here is Armstrong at home with the family on Sunday night, whom he cronched Uke • cliark next day : — •' Dtffing dinner, and until the females withdrew, the most perfect picture of domestl* :r.ppines5, that could soften the most obdurate heart was presented in the family then coi- iccted togetlier. It consisted of the prisoners' mother and sister, and the wife and three pusxg children of the prisoner Henry, on all of whom he doats with the tenderest affecticr. fei; coald not this scene move the prosecutor fiom lis pumosed trcachec ' On the e,'^ X S26 JiE.\»lY SHEARES, 1795. tra?y, tie was very lively, aud seemed to enjoy the r-iia he meilitated. Wiieu the win.i had •ircolated prettj- freely, the prosecutor again reni-\ved the political theme — spoke iu the hfli-shest terms of the government, and particularly of the C!ianceUor, Speaker, and Mme others, whom. he tenned the prime movers of aU the cracities, military and civU, that M-era inflicted on the people. Among many other instau'-es which he cited to inflame the ])a* sioiis of the prisoners, he mentioned one that deserves notice. He said he was on gassd on? night at the Castle, when a guard ^\'as demanded of him to quell some tumult in the Lihci- ties; that the orders expressly given by Major SiiT to him ^^-ere, to desire the officer vhc was to command the party going on that service, to be sure to shed blood enough — to spare neither man, woman, nor child — and, at his peril, to take no prisoners ; that he did, accord- ingly, give those orders, and that the oflBcer enth-e)y disobeyed them, . and brought back some prisoners, for which he was violently abused by Major Sirr." In nothing does John's superiority appear more than in his self-sacrificing care for hi? trotiher. Surely this is a clear direction to his counsel to save Henrj" at any rate " It 13 suggested to counsel, tliat as the only means by which any of the overt acts, com- mitted exclusively by the said John, can attach upon the said Henry, arise from the alleged omT-ersation, <&c., of both the prisoners, in presence of the prosecutor, for the pm-pose of overturning the government, &c., the entire force of the prisoners' defence should be direct,!d 1)0 show, in the &:st instance, that at these interviews nothing occurred but conversatjoi.-j started by the prosecutor himself, and afterwards distorted by him into criminal consulta- tiona ; and, secondly, that whatever consultations can be expected to have passed bet^veeii the prosecutor and John, Henry had no concern in— ncr.e of the overt acts laid in the fndictment having been committed in his presence, nor with his concurrence or kno^^•ledge. Possessed of complete domestic happiness, he felt it a duty he owed his family and sel^ to avoid engaging in any political controversy, by which he had already so severely injured ttenL The same motives actuated the said John to preserve to the said Hemy the full advantage of this prudent resolution, though more addicted, from nature and situation, to inditlge his own political propensities ; he endeavoured to avert from the said Henry any inconvenience or injury that might result from his (the said. John's) conduct. But the arti- flce of the prosecutor baffled him, and apparently connected both in this transaction. Yet when it is cousideredi^that at the flrst introduction between the prosecutor and the prisoner Henry, which certainly was entirely unsought fbr by the latter, no political conversation whatsoever took place ; that he, Henry, was never present when any of the names of ofli- cers or sergeants were written or produced ; that at two of the meetings bets^een the pro- secutor and John, Henry was absent ; that iu no Instance did Henry take ^^^ him any part, or promise to do any act, nor to procure any of the information soughu ibr ; that no writing, or other document \vhatsoever, was found in his possession; that though John, M< brother, lived in liis hou.se, their papers were wholly distinct, and those of each secret and cnkno^ra to the other ; that it can in no instance be shOAvn that Henry associated with any individual suspected of being concerned in this rebellion." In reference to the prcjclaraation, after many palliations, and speaking of it as a rude and !\-pothetical " scroll," as it sm-ely was, the brief (oi rather John Sheares) says:— •' But Avhat the real object of it was c&nnot appear, bu<- by explanation and e\ideuce of ■Jie writer's opinions, relative to points mentioned therein. (The justification of his opinions sn some of taese points is considered by the prisoner, in whose desk these papers were foimd, of more importance than 6is personal safety.)" Poor fellow ! e^•erJ' one's testimony, man's and woman's, goes to show that he was the more humane, as he \^as the braver and the more earnest, of the brothers. There i;> one other fact about Armstrong, better told in the brief than in any narrative:-^ " Wlien taken to the guard-room at the Castle, another instance occuri'ed of the prisoner John's total unconsciousness that any intercourse he had had with the prosecutor was of a crijitiiial nature. While there in custody, the prosecutor entered — expressed his surprise and concern at seeing the prisoner there — inquired if there was any danger of prisoner, or if the government had any charge against him — oflfered his services in the most friendlj manner. Prisoner, instead of suspecting or fearing him, as he naturally would have don^ if conscions he could iiijai-e him, felt and expressed himself as liighly grateful for such friendly attention. Said all he feared was that a certain paper had been fomid in his desk; that if it was, he would certainly be committed ; recommended to the prosecutor to witli- firaw immediately from the room, lest any injurious suspicion might attach upon him, if seen in conversation with the prisoner ; (prisoner thought that prosecutor's anxiety for aim made him forget his formei caution relative to their acquaintance;) prisoner requested ^rosecator that he would call upon his family and pacify their fears, wliich he promised U. do, and departed."* • Captaiii Armstroag was accused in Dr. Maddeu's " United Irishmen,' and in Mr. Wil Uam Curran's noble Memoir of his Father, of lia\ing played with Henry Sheares' children, Ke considered this error so important as to seek two interviews for the correction of it The minutes of one of these meetings will a^'wear in Dr. Madden'* Third Series, Kod wl'J 5xnusv or amaze the reader of it .lENKY SUEARES, 179b. 32? Toior's* speech was as saa^uiiiaiy and eoiiuised as possible. Ajmsti-ong was examined hy Sauriii. aiid swore to the facts we have stated (he had _nt occasion for perjury) ; and his cross-examination only proved him blood-thirsty, an Atieist and a traitor. He was good enough for crowu and jurj . Application was limde for adjournment, hut in vjiin. Mr. G. Ponsonby opened for Henry tnd Mr. Plunket for John Shear^.s. Jlr. M-Nally pressed some law poiats with little effect Diree vritnesses wjre examined to prove Captain Armstrong an Atheist; two that he wm ar avowed Repuh-ican and rebel. Several witnesses were examined to the character oi the Sheares. It was then twelve at night— the trial had begun at nine ; and worn with filteen hourfl of anxiet}', in a crowded court, in the midst of a red hot summer, Curran rose and said :— My Lord, before I address you or the Jmy, I would wish to make one preliminary observation ; it may be an observation only, it may be a request ; for myself, I am indifferent, but I feel I am now unequal to the duty— I am sinking under the w eight of it. We all know the charac- ter of the jury ; the interval of their separation must be short, if it should be deemed necessary to separate them. I protest I have sunk under this trial. If I must go on, the court must bear with me, the jury may also beai* with me : I will go on, until I sink. But -after a sitting of sixteen hours, with only twenty minutes' interval, in these times, I should hope it would not be thought an obtrusive request, to liope for a few hours' interval for repose, or rather for recollection Lord Carleton— What say you, iir. Attorney General? Mr. Attorney- General— My lords, I feel sucbpubUc inconvenience from adjourning caset of this kind, that I cannot consent. The counsel for the prisoners cannot be more exhausted than those for the prosecution- If they do not choose to speak to the evidence, we shall give up our right to speak, and leave the matter to the court altogether. They have had tivo speeches already [Mr. Ponsonby had spoken], and leaving them vmrepHed to is a grear concession- Lord Carleton— We would be glad to accommodate as much as possible. I am as much ^Khausted as any other ; but we think it better to go on. Mr. Curran — Gentlemen of the jury, it seems that much has been conceded to us. God help us ! I do not know what has been conceded to me, if so insignificant a person may have extorted the remark. Per- haps it is a concession, that I rise in such a state of mind and bodv, oi collapse and deprivation, as to feel but a little spark of indignation raised by the remark, that much has been conceded to the counsel for the pri- soner ; much has been conceded to the prisoners ! Almighty and mer- ciful God who lookest down upon us, what are the times to which wc are reserved, when we are told, tliat much has been conceded to prison- ers who are put upon their trial at a moment like this, of more darl>. ness and night of the human intellect, than a darkness of the natural period of twenty-four hoiB's ; that pubhc convenience cannot spare a respite of a few hom*s to those who are accused for their lives, and that much has been conceded to the advocate, almost exhausted in the poor remark which he has endeavoured to make upon it. My countrymen, I do pray you, by the awful duty which you owe your country, by that sacred duty which you owe your character (and I know how you feel it), I do obtest you, by the Almighty God, to have mercy upon my cuent, to save liim, not from guilt, but from the base- ness of his accuser, and the pressure of the treatment under which I am sinking:. *Toler had *»eeu made Attorney, f.ad Stewart Solicitor-General on the 10th ot Jaiy, 328 HENRY SHEAliES, l798 With what spirit did you leave your habitations this day ? with Waai ftate of mind and heart did you come here from your families ? with what sentiments did you leave your children, to do an act of great pub- lic importance, to pledge yourselves at the thi-oue of eternal justice, by the awful and solemn obligation of an oath, to do perfect, cool, impar- tial and steady justice, between the accuser and the accused ? Have you come abroad under the idea, that public fury is clamorous for blood . l^at you are put there under the mere formality or memorial of death, tid ought to gratify that fury, with the blood for which it seems to thirst ^ If you are, I have known s6me of you, more than one, or t^o, or three, in some of those situations, where the human heart speaks its nonest sentiments. I tliink I ought to know you well, you ought to know me, and there are some of you, who ought to listen to what so obscure an individual may say, not altogether without some degree of personal confidence and respect. I will not solicit your attention by ?aying the greatest compliment which man can pay to man ; but I say hold you in regard as being worthy of it ; I will speak such knguage as 1 would not stoop to hold, if I did not think you worthy of it. Gentlemen, I will not be afraid of beginning with what some Uaay think I should avoid, the disastrous picture which you must hare met r.pon toir way to this court. A more artful advocate might endeavour vO play with you, in supposing you to possess a degree of pity and of feeling beyond that of auy other human being. But I, gentlemen, am not afraid'^of beginning by warning you against those prejudices which all must possess ; by speaking strongly against them ; by striking upon the string, if not strong enough to snap it, will wake it into vibration. Unless you make an exertion beyond the power almost of men to make, • ou are not fit to try this cause. You may preside at such an execu- tion as the witness would extol himself for— at the sentence flowing from a very short inquiry into reason ; but you are not fit to discharge tlie iiwful trust of honest men, coming into the box, indifferent as tliey stand unsworn, to pronounce a verdict of death and infamy, or of existence .•=jQd of honour. You have only the interval between tliis and pronoun- cing your verdict to reflect, and the other interval when you are resigning apyour last breath, between your verdict and your grave, when jcii. may lament that you did not act as you ought. Do you think I want to flatter your passions ? I would scorn myself for it. I want to address your reason, to call upon yoiur consciences, to remind you of your oaths, and the consequence of that verdict, which, upon the law and the fact, you must give between the accuser and the accused. Part of what I shall say must of necessity be addressed to the court, for it is matter of law ; but upon this subject, every observation in point of law is so inseparably blended with the fact, that I cannot pre- tend to say, that I can discharge your attention, gentlemen, even when I address the court. On the contrary, I shall the more desire your at- tention, not so much that you may understand what I shall say, as what the court shall say. Gentlemen, this indictment is founded upon the statute 26th Ed- ward in. IIENKY sheares, 1798. S29 Tlie statute itself begins with a melancholy observation on the prone- tiess to deterioration which has been found in all countries unfortunately to take place in their criminal law, particularly in the law respecting high treason. The statute begms with reciting, that in the u^icertainty of adjudications, it became ditHcult to know what; was treason, and wliat jvas not ; and to remove further difficulty, it professes to declare all species of treason, that should thereafter be so considered; and by thus regulating the law, to secure the state and the constitution, and the persons of those interested in the executive departrpents of the govern- ment, from the common acts of violence that might be used to then* destruction. The three first clauses of the statute seem to have gone a §;reat way indeed upon the subject ; because the object of the provisions was td protect the person, and I beg of jou to understand what I mean by per- son, I mean the natural person ; I mean no figure of speech;, not th« monarch in the abstract, but the natural man. The first clause was made without the smallest relation to the executive power, but solely to the natural body and person. The words are " when a man doth compass or imagine the death of the King, or of our lady his Queen, or ^heir eldest son and heir, and thereof be, upon sufficient proof, attainted of open deed by men of his condition, he shall be a traitor." Thia X say relates only to the natural person of the King. The son and heir of the King is mentioned in the same manner, but he has no power and therefore a compassing his death, must mean the death of his natu- ral person, and so must it be in the case of the King. To conceive the purpose of destroying a common subject, was once a felony of death and that was expressed in the same language, compassing and imagin- ing the death of the subject. It was thought right to dismiss that severe rigour of the law in the case of the subject, but it was thought right tq continue it in the case of the King, in contradistinction to all the sub- jects within the realm. The statute, after describing the persons, describes what shall be evidence of that high and abominable guilt : it must appear by opea deed ; the intention of the guilty heart must be proved by evidence of the open deed committed towards the accomplishment of the design. Perhaps in the hurry of speaking, perhaps from the mistakes of report- ers, sometimes from one, and sometimes from the other, judges ai-e too often made to say, that such or such an overt act is, if proved to have been committed, ground upon which the jury must find the party guilty of the accusation. I must deny the position, not only in the reason of the thing, but I ani fortified by the ablest writers upon the law of treason. In the reason of the thing, because the design enter- tained, and act done, are matters for the jury. Whether a party compassed the King's death or not, is matter for the jury : and there- fore if a certain fact be proved, it is nonsense to say, that such a con- clusion must follow ; because a conclusion of law would then be pro- nounced by the jury, not by the court. I am warranted in this b/ the writers cited by Mr. Justice Foster ; and therefore, gentlemen, upon the first count in the indictment vou gre. to decide a plain matter of 330 HENRY SHEARES, 1798. fact, 1st, whether the prisoner did compass and imagine the death o' the King ? and whether there be any act proved, or apparent means taken, which he resorted to for the perpetration of the crime : Upon this subject, many observations have ah-eady been made before me. I will take the liberty of makini,'' one, I do not know whether it has been made before. Even in a case where the overt act stated has of its own nature gone to the person of the King, still it is left to the Hiry to decide, whether it was done with the criminal purpose alleged, or not. In Russell's case, there was an overt act of a conspiracy to seize the guards ; the natural consequence threatened from an act oi gross violence so immediately approaching the King's person, might fairly be said to affect his life ; but still it was left to the jury to decide, whether that was done for the purpose of compassing the Kling's death. I mention this, because I think it a strong answer to those kind of expressions, which in bad times fall from the mouths of prosecutors, neither law nor poetry, but sometimes half metaphysical. Laws may be enacted in the spirit of sound policy, and supported by superior reason ; but when only half considered, and their provisions half enu- merated, they become the plague of the government, and the grave of principle. It is that kind of refinement and cant which overwhelmed the law of treason, and brought it to a metaphysical death ; the laws are made to pass through a contorted understanding, vibratory and confused, and, therefore, after a small interval from the first enactment of any law in Great Britain, the dreams of fancy get around, and the h,sv is lost in the mass of absurd comment. Hence it was that the Btatute gave its awful declarations to those glossaries ; so that if any case arise, apparently within the statute, they were not to indulge themselves in conjecture, but refer to the standard, and abide by the law as barked out for them. Therefore, I say, that the issue for the jury here is to decide in the words of the statute, whether the prisoners did compass the deatli of the King ; and whether they can say, upon their oaths, that there is any overt act proved in evidence, manifesting an intention of injury to the natural person of the King ? I know that the semblance of authority may be used to contradict me : if any man can reconcile himself to the miserable toil of poring over the records of guilt, he will find them marked, not m black, but in red, the blood of the unfortunate, leaving the marks of folly, bar- barity, and tyranny. But I am glad that men, who in some situations appear not to have had the pulse of honest compassion, have made sober reflections in the hour of political disgrace. Such has been the tate of Lord Coke, who, in the triumph of insolence and power, pursued a conduct which, in the hour of calm retreat, he regretted in the lan- guage of sorrow and disappointment. He then held a language which I willingly repeat, " that a conspiracy to levy war, was no act of com- passing the murder of the King.'' There he spoke the language of law and of good sense ; for & man shall not be charged with one crime, and convicted of another. It is a narrow and a cruel policy, to make a cou- Epiracy to levy war an act of compassing the King's death ; because it is a sei^ari- te uui distinct ofience ; because ^-t. is calling upon the hones'. HENRY SliEARES, 1798. 331 affections of the heart, and creating* those pathetical effusions, which confound all distinct principles of law, a grievance not to be borne ir a state where the laws ought to be certain. This reasoning is founded upon the momentary supposition that the evidence is true ; for you are to recollect the quarter from whence it comes : there has been an attempt by precipitate confession, to transfer cruiit to innocence, in order to escape the punishment of the law.— Here, gentlemen, there is evidence of levying war, which act, it is said tends to the death of the King : that is a constructive treason, calcu, lated as a trap for the loyalty of a jury ; therefore you should set bounds to proceedings of that kind ; for it is an abuse of the law, to make one class of offence, sufficiently punished already, evidence Ox another. Every court, and every jury, should set themselves against crimes, when they come to determine upon distinct and specified guilt : they are not to encourage a confusion of crimes, by disregarding the distinction of punishments ; nor show the effusion of their loyalty, bj an effusion of blood. I cannot but say, that when cases of this kind have been under judgment in Westminster-hall, there was some kind of natural reason to excuse this confusion in the reports — the propriety of making the person of the King secure. A war immediately adjoining the precincts of the palace, a riot in London, might endanger the life of the King ; but can the same law prevail in every part of the British empire ? It may be an overt act of compassing the King's death to levy war in Great Britain ; but can it be so in Jamaica, in the Bahama isles, oi ir Corsica, when it was annexed to the British empire ? Suppose at that time a man had been indicted there for compassing the King's deaths and the evidence was, that he intended to transfer the dominion of th« island to the Genoese, or the French ; what would you say, if you were told, that was an act by which he intended to murder the King ? B5 seizing Corsica, he was to murder the King ? How can there be anj immediate attempt upon the King's life, by such a proceeding ? It is not possible, and therefore no such consequence can be probably infer- red ; and therefore I call upon you to listen to the court witk respect, but I also call upon you to listen to common sense, and consider, whether the conspiring to raise war can in this country be an overt act of compjissing the King's death in this country ? I will go further : if the statute of Edward III. had been conceived to make a conspiracy to levy war an overt act of compassing the King's death, it would be unnecessary to make it penal by any subsequent statute ; and yet subsequent statutes were enacted for that purpose ; which I consider an unanswerable argument, that it was not considered as coming within the purview of the clause against compassing the King's death. Now, gentlemen, you will be pleased to consider what was the evi- dence brought forward to support this indictment. I do not think it necessary to exhaust your attention, by stating at large the evidence given by Captain Armstrong. He gives an account which we shall have occasion to examine, with regard to its aedibility. He state! 832 HENRY SHEARES, 17i^». his introduction, first to Mr. Henry Sheares, afterwards to his brother ; and he stated a conversation which you do not forget, so strange has it been ! But in the whole com'se of his evidence, so far from making ioy observation, or saying a word in connexion with the power at war vvith the King, he expressly said, that the insurrection, by whomsoever srepared. or by what infatuation encouraged, was to be a home exer lion, independent of any foreign interference whatever. And therefore- I am warranted in saying, that such an insurrection does not come vrithin the first clause of the statute. It cannot come within the second, of adhering to the King's enemies ; because that means his foreign ene- mies ; andTiere, so far from any intercourse with them, they were tota-Uy disregarded. Adhering to the King's enemies means co-operating with them, sending them provisions, or intelligence, or supplying them with arms. But I venture to say, that there has not been any one case deciding .hat any act can be an adherence to a foreign enemy, which was not calculated for the advantage of that enemy. In the case of Jackson, Hensey, and Lord Preston, the parties had gone as far as they could in giving assistance. So it was in Quigley's. But in addition to this, 1 must repeat, that it is utterly unnecessary the law should be other- wise ; for levj-ing war is, of itself, a crime ; therefore it is unnecessary, by a strained construction, to say, that levying war, or conspiring to levy war, should come within any other clause equally penal, but not so descriptive. But, gentlemen, suppose I am mistaken in both points of my argu- ment ; suppose the prisoners (if the evidence were true) did compass the King's death, and adhere to the King's enemies ; what are you to found your verdict upon ? Upon your oaths : what are they to be founded upon ? Upon the oath of the witness : and what is that founded upon ? Upon this, and this only, that he does believe that there is an eternal God, an intelligent supreme existence, capable ot inflicting eternal punishment for offences, or conferring eternal com- pensation, upon man, after he has passed the boundary jC the grave' But where the witness believes he is possessed of a perishing soul, anc that there is notliing upon which punishment or reward can be exerted, he proceeds regardless of the number of his offences, and undisturbed by the terrors of exhausted fancy, which might save you from the fear, that your verdict is founded upon perjui-y. I suppose he imagines that the body is actuated by some kind of animal machinery. I know not in what language to describe his notions. Suppose his opmiou of the beautiful system framed by the Almighty hand to be, that it is all folly and blindness, compared to the manner in which he considers him- self to have been created ; or his abominable heart conceives its ideas ; or his tongue communicates his notions. Suppose him, I say, to think 80 ; what is perjury to him ? He needs r.o creed, if he thinks his miser- able body can take eternal refuge in the grave, and the last puff of his nostrils can send his soul into annihilation ! He laughs at the idea of ftternal justice, and tells you that the grave, into which he sinks as a /og, forms an entrenchment against the throne of God, and the van- p'eance of exasperated juatioe ! KIESS/ Si-mAHEJ-:, 1798. 333 JJo you uot feel, my fellow-countrymen, a sort of anticipated cousc»- latioD, in reflecting-, that Religion — which gave us comfort in our early days, enabled us to sustain the stroke of affliction, and endeared U3 to one another, — when we see our friends sinkiug into the earth, fills U3 with the expectation that we rise again ; that we but sleep for a whiic^ to wake for ever ? But what kind of communion can you hold, what interchange expect, what confidence place, in that abject slave, tha^ condemned, despaired of wTetch, who acts under the idea that he is only the folly of a moment, that he cannot step beyond the threshold of tha ^^rave, that that which is an object of terror to the best, and of hope ti the confiding, is to him contempt or despair ? Bear with me, my countrymen ; I feel my heart run away with me— the worst men only can be cool. What is the law of this country? — If the witness does not believe in God, or a future state, you cannot swear him. What swear him upon ? Is it upon the book, or the leat ? You might as well swear Mm by a bramble, or a coin. The ceremony of kissing is only the external symbol, by which man seals himself to tlie precept, and says, '•' May God so help me, as I swear the truth. He is then attached to the divinity, upon the condition of telling truth j and he expects mercy from heaven, as he performs hk undertaking. But the infidel ! — By what can you catch his soul, or by what can you aold it ? You repulse him from giving evidence ; for he has no con- icicnce, no hope to cheer him, no punishment to dread ! What is the evidence touching that unfortmiato young man ? Wlif. said his own relation, Mr. Shervington ? He had talked to him freely^ had known him long. What kind of character did he give of him ? Paine was his creed and his philosophy. He had drawn his maxims of politics from the vulgar and furious anarchy broached by Mr. Paine. His ideas of religion were adopted from the vulgar maxims of the same man, the scandal of inquiry, the blasphemer of his God as of his Iving. He bears testimony against himself, that he submitted to the under- taking of reading both his abominable tracts, that abominable abomin- ition of all abominations, Paine's "Age of Reason," professing to teach "nankind, by acknowledging that he did uot learn himself! working upon debauched and narrow understandings. Why not swear the wit- ness upon the vulgar maxims of that base fellow, that wretched outlaw and fugitive from his country and his God ? Is it not lamentable to • see a man labouring under an incurable disease, and fond of his own blotches ? "Do you wish," says he, "to know my sentiments with regard to poK- tics? I'^have learned them from Paine ! I do not love a King, and if no other executioner could be found, I would myself plunge a dagger into the heart of George III., because he is a King, and because he is mj King. I swear by the sacred mi^'sal of Paine, I would think it a meritorious thing to j^lunge a dagger into his heart, to whom I had devoted a soul, which Mr. Paine says I have not to lend." Is this the casual efi'usion of a giddy young man, not considering the meaning of what he said ? K it were said among a parcel of boarding-school misses, ".']ievp he might think he was giving specimens of his courage by nobly rf34 HENUr SHEAltES, donying religion, there might be some excuse. There is a latitude Essumed upon some such occasions. A little blasphemy and a little obscenity passer- for wit in some companies. Bud recollect it was not to a little miss, whom he wished to astonish, that he mentioned these sentiments ; but a kinsman, a man of boiling loyalty. I confess I did .lOt approve of his conduct in the abstract, talking of running a man Jirough the body ; but I admired the honest boldness of the soldier who capressed his indignation in such warm language. If Mr. Shervington wore true. Captain Armstrong must be a forsworn witness ; it comes io that simple point. You cannot put it upon other ground. I put it to your good sense, I am not playing with your understandings, I am putting foot to foot, and credit to credit. One or other of the two must be perjured : which of them is it ? If you disbelieve Captain Armstrong, can you find a verdict of blood upon his evidence ? Gentlemen, I go further: I know your horror of crime — your warmth of loyalty. They are among tlie reasons why I respect and regard you.. I ask you, then, v/ill you reject such a witness ? or would you dismiss the friend you regarded, or the child you loved, upon the evidence of such a witness ? Suppose him to tell his own story : — " I went to your friend, or your child — I addressed myself in the garb of friendship — in the smile of confidence, I courted confidence, in order to betray it — I iraduced you, spoke all the evil I could against you, to inflame him — i told him, your father does not love you." K he went to you, and told •'ou all this — that he inflamed your child, and abused you to your friend, ind said, " I come now to increase it, by the horror of superadded .TTielty," would you dismiss from your love and afiection the child or i-fie friend you had loved for years ? You would not prejudge them You would examine the consistency of the man's story — you would lis* ten to it with doubt, and receive it with hesitation. Says Captain Armstrong — " Byrne v;as my bookseller ; from him I bought my little study of blasphemy and obscenity, with wliich I amused myself." " Shall I introduce Mr. Sheares to you ?*' — not saying which What is done then ? He thought it was not right till he saw Captain Clibborn. Has he stated any reason why he supposed Mr. Shearea Tad any wish at all to be introduced to him ? — any reason for supposing . "^liat Byrne's principles were of that kind ? — or any reason, why he ima- 2jined the intercourse was to lead to anything improper ? It is most -material that, he says, he never spoke to Byrne upon political subjects; flierefore, he knew nothing of Byrne's principles, nor Byrne of his. But the proposal was made, and he was so alarmed, that he would not give an answer till he saw his Captain. Is not this incredible. There is one circumstance which made an impression upon my -nind : that he assumed the part of a public informer, and, in the firsi 'nstance, came to the field with pledgets and bandages ; he was scarcely jff the table, when a witness came to his credit. It is the first time that I saw a witness taking fright at his own credit, and sending up p. person to justify his character. Consider how he has fortified it : he told it all to Captain Clibbor;. He saw him every evening when '^e returned, like a bee, with his thigha HENRY SHEARES, 179^. 335 loaded with evidence. \Vliat is tiie defence ? That the witness is unworthy of belief. My clients say. their lives are not to be touched by such a man ; he is found to be an informer — he marks the victim ! You know the world too well, not to know that every falsehood is reduced to a certain degree of malleability by an aUoy of truth. Such stories a\ these are not pure and simple falsehoods : look at your Oateses, you: Bedloes, and Dugdales ! I am disposed to believe, shocking- as it is, that this witness had tlie heart, when he was surrounded by the little progeny of my client — wheu he was sitting in the mansion in wliich he was hospitably entertained— when he saw the old mother supported by the piety of her son, and t\u children basking in the parental fondness of the father — that he saw the scene, and smiled at it ; contemplated the havoc he was to make, consigniHg them ta the storms of a miserable world, without having an anchorage in the kindness of a father ! Can such horror exist, and not waken the rooted vengeance of an eternal God ? But it cannot reach this man beyond tlie grave. Tlierefore, I uphold him here. I can imagine it, gentlemen, because, when the mind becomes destitute 04 the principles of morality and religion, all within the miserable being i£ left a black and desolate waste, never cheered by the rays of tenderness and humanity. Wlien the belief of eternal justice is gone from the soul of man, horror and execution may set up their abode. I can belie>e that the witness — with what view, I cannot say — with what hope, I car- not conjecture — you may— , 'Id meditate the consigning of these two men to death, their children to beggary and reproach, abusing the hos- pitality with which he wo^ received, that he might afterwards come here and crown his work, havjag obtained the little spark of txuth by which his mass of falsehood -jcus to be animated. I talked of the iironsistency of the story. Do you believe it, ge» tlemen ? The case of my client is, that the witness is perjured ; anr» you are appealed to. " n the name of that ever-living God, whom you revere but whom he despivioth, to consider, that there is something to save him from the baseness of such an accuser. But I go back to the testimony ; I may wander from it, but it is my duty to stay with it. Says he: "Byrne makes an important applicatioii. — I was not accustomed to it ; I never spoke to him, and yet he, with whom I had no connexion, introduces me to Sheares — this is a true brother." You see, gentlemen, I state this truly — he never talked to Byrne about politics. How could Byrne know his principles ? By inspi- ration ? He was to know the edition of the man, as he knew the edi- tion of books. " You may repose all confidence." I ask not is thi^ true ; but I say it can be nothing else than false. I do not ask you tc say it is doubtful ; it is a case of blood, of life or death ; and you ara to add to the terrors of a painful death, the desolation of a family — over- whelming the aged with sorrow, and the young with infamy. Gentloi men, I should disdain to reason with you ; I am pinning your minds down to one point, to show you to demonstration, that nothing can save your minds from the endence of such perjury ; not because you may think it may be false, but because it is impossible it can be true. I uut £.36 (lEJSRY SHEARES. 1798, Into one of the scales of justice that execrable perjmy, and 1 put into ;.i>e other, the life, the fame, the fortune, the children of my client. Let not the balance tremble as you hold it ; and, as you hold it now, so 'iiay the balance of eternal justice be held for you. But is it upon his inconsistency only I call upon you to reject him ? / call in aid the evidence of his own kinsman, Mr. Shervington, and Mr. Droup^ht ; the eyidence of Mr. Bride and Mr. Graydon. Before you ran believe Ai-mstroug, you must believe that all those are perjured. W);at are his temptations to perjury ? The hope of bribery and reward, /jid he did go up with his sheets of paper in his hand : here is one, it speaks treason— here is another, the accused grows paler — here is a tliird, it opens another vein. Had Shervington any temptation of thai kind ? No ; let not the honest and genuine soldier lose the credit of it, lie has paid a great compliment to the proud integrity of the King, his master, when he did venture, at a time like this, to give evidence, " I would not have come for one hundred guineas." I could not refuse the effusion of my heart, and exclaiming, may the blessings of God pou: upon you, and may you never want a hundred gumeas ! There is another cu'cumstauce. I think I saw it strike your attention, my lords ; it was the horrid tale of the three servants whom he met upon the road. They had no connexion \rlth the rebels ; if they had, they were open to a summary proceeding. He ^ungs up one, shoots a second, and administers torture to the body of the third, in order to make him give evidence. Why, my lords, did you feel nothing stir within you ? Our adjudications had condemned the application of tor- tire for the extraction of evidence. When a wild and furious assassin /lad made a deadly attempt upon a life of mu^h public consequence, it was proposed to put him to the torture, in order to discover his accom- plices. I scarcely know whether to admire most the awful and impres- sive lesson given by Felton, or the doctrine stated by the judges of the 'and. " No," said he, " put me not to the torture ; for in the extravar- >-ance of my pain, I may be brought to accuse youi'selves." What say the judges ? " It is not allowable by the law and constitution of Eng- land, to inflict torture Ti.yan any man, or to extract evidence under the coercion of personal tcifferings." Apply that to this case: if the unfor- tunate man did himself dread the application of such an engine for the extraction of evidence, let it be an excuse for his degradation, that hje Bought to avoid the pain of body by public infamy. But there is anothei jbservation more applicable : — Says Mr. Drought, " Had you no feelr ing, or do you think you will escape future vengeance ?" '^ Oh, Sir, 1 thought you knew my ideas too well, to talk in that way." Merciful God ! Do you think it is upon the evidenxje of such a man that you )ught to consign a fellow-subject to death ? He who would hang up 3 miserable peasant, to gratify caprice, could laugh at remonstrance, apc^ say, '* You know my ideas of futurity." If he thought so little of murdering a fellow- creature, without trial and without ceremony, what kind of compunction can he feel within himself, when you are made the instruments of his savage barbarity ? He kills a miserable wretch, looking, perhaps, for bread for his chilqiren. IIENRT SHEARES, 1798. 337 .'ind vho falls, unaccused, uncondemned. What compunction can he t^oel at sacrificing other victims, when he considers death as eternal oleep, and the darkness of annihilation. These victims are at tlit Qioment led out to public execution ; he has marked them for the grav« —he will not bewail the object of his own work : they are passing through the vale of death, while he is dozing over the expectancy ol inniliilation. Gentlemen, I am too weak to follow the line of observation I had marked out ; but I trust I am warranted in saying, that if you weigh the evidence, the balance will be in favour of the prisoners. But there is another topic, or two, to which I must solicit your atten- tion. If I had been stronger, in a common case, I would not have said so much ; weak as I am here, I must say more. It may be said that the parole evidence may be put out of the case ) attribute the conduct of Armstrong to foUy, or passion, or whatever else you please, you may safely repose upon the written evidence. This calls for an observation or two. As to Mr. Henry Sheares, that Ymt^ ten evidence, even if the hand-writing were fully proved, does not apply to him. I do not say it was not admissible. The writings of Sydnoy found in his closet were read, justly, according to some ; but I do not •wdsh to consider that now. But I say, the evidence of Mr. Dwyer has not satisfactorily established the hand-writing of John. I do not say it is not proved to a certain extent ; but it is proved in the very slightest manner that you ever saw paper proved : it is barely evidence to go to you ; and the witness might be mistaken. An unpublished writing cannot be an overt act of treason ; so it is taid down expressly by Hale and Foster. A number of cases have xjcurred, and decisions have been pronounced, asserting that writings are not overt acts, for want of publication ; but if they plainly relate to an overt act proved, they may be left to the jury for their consideration. But here it has no reference to the overt act laid ; it could not be intended for publication until after the unfortunate event of revolutioi had taken place ; and therefore, it could not be designed to create insur rection. Gentlemen, I am not counsel for Mr. John Sheares, but 1 would be guilty of cruelty, if 1 did not make another observation. This might be an idle composition, or the translation of idle absurdity from the papers of another country. The manner in which it was found leads 'jie to think that the more probable. A writing designed for such an event as charged, would hardly be left in a writing-box, unlocked, in a room near the hall-door. The manner of its finding also shows two things : that Henry Sheares knew nothing of it, for he had an opportunity of destroying it, as Alderman Alexander said he had ; and further that ho could not have imagined his brother had such a design ; and it is impo*- sible, if the paper had been designed for such purposes, that it would not be communicated to him. There is a point to wliich I wiU beseech the attention of your lordships. I know your humanity, and it will not be applied merely because I am exhausted or fatigued. You have only one witness to an overt act of treason There is no decision upor. the point in this country. JacV 338 HEMtY SHEARES, 1798. son's case was cne first ; Lord Cloumel made allusion to the point ; but a. jury ought not to find guilty upon the testimony of a single witness. It ifi the opinion of Foster, that by the common law one witness, if believed, vras sufficient. Lord Coke's opinion is, that two were necessary: they fije great names : no man looks upon the Avorks of Foster with more veneration than myself, and I would not compare him with the depre- ciated credit of Coke ; I would rather leave Lord Coke to the character wliich Foster gives iiiin ; that he was one of the ablest lawyers, inde- pendent of some particulars, that ever existed in England. In the wild extravagance, heat, and cruel reign of the Tudors, such doctrines of >eason had gone abroad, as drenched the kingdom with blood. By the construction of crown lawyers, and the shameful complaisance of juries^ many sacrifices had been made, and therefore, it was necessary to prune away these excesses, by the statute of Edward VL, aud, therefore, there is every reason to imagine, from the history of the times, that Lord Coke was right in saying, not by new statute, but by the common iaw, confirmed and redeemed by declaratory acts, the trials were regu- hted. A law of Philip and Mary was afterwards enacted ; some think it was repeal of the statute of Edward VI., some think not. I mention this ^-iversity of opinions, with this view, that in this country, upon a new point of that kind, the weight of criminal prosecution will turn the scale in favour of the prisoner, and that the court will be of opinion, that the statute 7th Wm. III. did not enact any new thing, unknown to the common law, but redeemed it from abuse. What was .the state oi England ? The King had been declared to have abdicated the throne: prosecutions, temporizing juries, and the arbitrary construction of judges, condemned to the scafi'old those who were to protect the crown, men who knew, that after the destruction of the cottage, the palace was endangered. It was not, then, the enactment of anything new ; ii was founded on the caution of the times, and derived from the maxims of the constitution. I know the pee\ishness with which Burnet jbserved upon that statute ; he is reprehended in a modest manner by Foster ; but what says Blackstone, of great authority, of the clearest head atid the profoundest reading? He agrees with Montesquieu tb*^ French philosopher : — " In cases of treason, there is the accused's oath of allegiance to 'counterpoise the information of a single witness ; and that may perhaps be one reason, why the law requires a double testimony to convict him: though the principal reason undoubtedly is, to secure the subject from Deing sacrificed to fictitious conspiracies, which have been the engines jf profligate and craft}- politicians in all ages."* Gentlemen, I do not pretend to say, that you are bound by an English act of prwliament. You may condemn upon the testimony of a single witness. You, to be sure, are too proud to listen to the wisdom of an English law ! Illustrious independents ! You may murder under the seinblance of judicial forms^ Ixcciuse you are proud of your bleesed in<1n. «, Biackstorie a Corameataries, 86e. HENRS SHEARES, 1798. 339 pendence! You pronoimce that to be legally clone which would be murder in England, because you are proud ! You may imbrue your hands in blood, because you are too proud to be bound by a foreign act of parliament ; and when you are to look for what is to save you from the abuse of arbitrary power, you will not avail yourselves of it, because It is a foreign act of parliament ! Is that the independence of an Irish /ury ? Do I see the heart of any Englishman move, when I say to hin^ " thou servile Briton, you cannot condemn upon the perjury of single witness, because you are held in by the cogency of an act of par- liament/' If power seeks to make victims by judicial means, an act of parlia- ment would save you from the perjury of abominable malice. Talk not of proud slavery to law, but lament that you are bound by the inte- grity and irresistible strength of right reason ; and at the next step bewail, that the all-powerful Author of nature has bound himself hi the illustrious servitude of his attributes, which prevent liim from thinking what is not true, or doing what is not just. Go, then, and enjoy your independence. At the other side of the water, your verdict upon the testimony of a single witness would be murder. But here you can mur der without reproach, because there is no act of parliament to bind yoL to the ties of social life, and save the accused from the breath of a per- jured informer. In England, a jury could not pronounce conviction upon the testimony of the purest man, if he stood alone; and yet, wha( comparison can that case bear with a blighted and marred mformer, where every word is proved to be perjury, and every word turns back upon his soul ? I am reasoning for your country and your children. Let me not reason in vain. I am not playing the advocate ; you know I am not-— your conscience tells you I am not. I put this case to the Bench the statute 7 Henry HI. does not bind this country by its legislative cogency ; and will you declare positively, and without doubt, that it u not common law, the enactment of a new one ? Will you say it has no weight to influence the conduct of a jury, from the authority of a great and exalted nation— the only nation m Europe where liberty has seated herself? Do not imagine, that the man who praises liberty is singing an idle song ; for a moment, it mav be the song of a bird in his cage — I know it may. But you are now standing upon an awful isthmus, a little neck of land, where liberty has found a seat. Look about you— look at the state of the country— the tribunals that dire necessity has. introduced. Look at this dawn of law, admitting the functions of a /ury ; I feel a comfort— methinks I see the venerable forms of Holt and Hale looking down upon us, attesting its continuance. Is it your spinion that bloody verdicts are necessary — that blood enough has no« b'een shed— that the bonds of society are' not to be drawn dose again, nor the scattered fragments of our strength bound together, to make jhem of force, but they are to be left in that scattered state, in which every little child may break thei \ to pieces ? You will do more towards tranquillizing the country, by a verdict of mercy. Guard yourselve against the sancuinaiy excesses of prejudice or revenge ; and thoug o40 flJEXRY SlirJAUES, l79b vou think there ia a great call of public justice, let no unmerited via dm fall. Gentlemen, I have tired you — I durst not relax. The danger ot mv client is from the hectic of the moment, which you have fortitude, J trust, to withstand. In that belief, I leave him to you ; and as you deai justice and mercy, so may you find it ; and I hope that the happy ccti- pensation of an honest discharge of your duty may not be deferred til' '- future existence, which this witness* does not expect, but that yoL I'aay speedily enjoy the benefits you will have conferred upon your country Mr. Prime Sergeant replied in a long and not candid gpeech. Mr. Henry Sheares — My lord, I msli to say a word. Lord Carleton— It is not-regidar, after the. counsel for the crovm have closed. I askeJ /on at the proper time, you then declined. However, go on. Mr. Henry Sheares— My lord, after the able and eloquent defence which has been mad* for me by my counsel, it would ill become me to add anything to it. But there is one part of it which appears to me not to have been suiSciently dwelt upon. It is respecting thaf oaper. I protest most solemnly, my lords, I knew nothing of it ; to know of it, and leave t where it was when the magistrate came, were a foUy so glaring, that I cannot besupposeo to have been guilty of it. When the Alderman rapped at the door, I asked, what was the matter? After he was admitted, he said he wanted my papers; I told him they were there. 'Ty lords, is it possible, I could commit myself and all I hold dear, by so egregious an act )f folly ? Having the dearest sources of happiness around me. should I sacrifice them and myself, by leaving such a document in an open uniting box? My lords, I beg your lordships' pardon. I thank you for this indulgence; it would be irre- gular for me to expatiate fui'ther. The evidence of Captain Armstrong is one of the most ingenious and maliciously fabricated stories, -svith respect to me, I ever heard of My lords, r should think. I could not be legally implicated by any paper found in that way. Lord Carleton charged elaborately, reading the e^-iderce thoroughly, and Justice Crook - •bar.k and Baron Smith eoncirrred. Tlie jury asked for the papers, which, with the prisoner's consent, were taken tc thejnrj room. They then retired for seventeen minutes, and broTlght in a verdict, finding both the prisoners GiiiLTT. As soon as the verdict was pronounced, the prisoners clasped each other in their arms. It being now near eight o'clock on Friday morning, the Court adjourned to three o'clock. "When the Court met in the afternoon, the Attorney-General moved that the prisoner* b" brouglit up for judgment. Mr. M'Nally tried to make a point, on the v. ant of venue for tlie " war" alleged in the indictment. The point was at once set aside, as at best only affectmg '"Tie count, and then the prisoners were brought up The Clerk of the Cvovm read the indictment, and asked them what they had to say, why udgment of death and execution should not be awarded against them, according to law. Mr. Henry Sheares — My lord, as I had no notion of dying such a death as I am about to jeet, I have only to ask your lordship for sufficient time to prepai'e myself and family for tt. I have a wife and six children, and hope your humanity wiU allow me some reasonable time to settle my affairs, and make a provision for them. (Here he was so overwhelmed mfh 'ears that he could not proceed.) Mr. John Slieaves— My lord, I \vish to say a few words before the sentence is pronounced, •*ecause there is a weight pressing upot my heart, much greater than that of the sentence .'hich is to come from the Court. There has been, my lord, a weight pressing upon my nind from the first moment I heard the indictment read upon which I was tried ; but that weight lias been more peculiarly and heavily pressing upon my heart, wheii I found the \ccusation in the indictment enforced and supported upon the trial ; and that weight would be left insupportable, if it were not for this opportunity of discharging it. It should be insupportable, smce a verdict of my country has stamped that evidence as well foimded- Do not think, my lords, that I am about to make a declaration against the verdict of tho Jury, or the persons concerned in the trial ; I am only about to call to yoiu: recollection a part of the charge, wliich my soul shudders at; and if I had not this opportunity of renoun- cingit before your lordships and this auditory, no courage wotild be sufficient to suppojT inx Hie accusation, my lords, to which I allude, is one of the blackest kind, and peculiarly painful, because it appears to have been founded upon my own act and deed, and to be given under my own hand. The accusation of which I speak, while I linger here yet a minute, Ifs " Uiat A lu.ldinq out to the r.eople of Ireland a dii-cction to give no quarter to the trocpe /rm«trons OLIVER BOND, 179S. 341 'Jglitlag for its defence." My lords, let me say this and If there be any acquaintances It, thia crowded court, I will not say my intimate frir'ui'.s, but acquaintances, who do not know Vhat what I say is truth, I should be reputed t>it ATetch which I um not, I say ; if any acquaintance of mine can believe, that I could utter a recommendation of givmg no quar- ter to a yielding and unoflfending foe, it is not the death that I am about to suffer wMch I deseiTe — no punishment could be adequate to such a crime. My lords, I can not only acquit my soul of such an intention, but I declare in the presence of that God, before whom I must shortly appear, that the favourite doctrine of my heart was, that no human being ihould suffer death. Out where absolute necessity required it. My lords, I feel a consolation in making this declaration, which nothmg else could affor(J me ; because it is not only a justification of myself, but where I am sealing my life witi; that breath, which cannot be suspected of falsehood, what I say may make some imprea sion on the minds of men not hC/^dhig the same doctrine. I declare to God, I know nj crime but assassmation, Avhichcan eclipse or equal that of which I am accused- I discerg no shade of guilt between that, and taking away the life of a foe, by putting a bayonet U, his breast, when he is yielding and surrendering. I do request the bench to believe that soners to-morrow. Court— Be it so. Henry Sheares MTote a letter fuU of suppUcation and promise to Barrington, to carry to the Chancellor. Barrington says, that through a set of trivial accidents, a delay occurroG in acting on this, but that he finally reached Green-uti-eet, with a respite, in time to see tbf hangman holding his old friend's dripping head, and crying, "behold the head of a traitor.'' John -wTote a letter of deep love and comfort to liis sister Julia, and he died (as did Henrj'. too, when he rea^*^ came to his doom), placidly and well FOR OLIVER BOND [high treason.] special commission, green-street, 2Uh July, 1798. Three days after the Sheares died, John M'Cann was tried, defended by Curran, convictej and hanged. On the 20th, BjTne was tried, and similarly defended, with a like fatQl Curran's speeches are not reported. On the 23rd of July, Oliver Bond, an eminent woollen draper- of Bridj^'e-street, and ' shrewd, kind man, was out to the b^r V 542 0LiVi.K BOND, ijyb. The officer of the court chargr.a the prisoner as follows : — **Mr. Oliver Bond, you stand indicted, for, that not having the fear of God hefore yoiu 8ye«, nor the duty of your allegiance considering, but being moved and seduced by tha lKstig£.tion of the de\il, you did. -with other false traitors, conspire and meet together, aiij oontriving and imagining with all your strength this kingdom to disturb, and to overturn by force of arms, other than, martial law— and your hbevties will be flown, never, nevei n) return 1 Your country will be desolated, or only become the gaol vi the living ; until the informer, fatigued with slaughter and gorged with blood, snail slumber over the sceptre of perjury. No pen shall be found to undertake the disgustmg oflice of your historian ; and some future age shall ask —What became of Ireland ? Do you not see that the lega^ carnage which takes piace day after day has already depraved the feel ings of your wretched population^ which seems impatient and a'amurous 362 OLIVER BOI.T), 1798. for the amusement of an execution. It remains with you — iu your deUr?< inination it lies — whether that population shall be alone composed of Tour species of men: the informer, to accuse — the jury, to find guilty — the judge, to condemn — and the prisoner, to suffer. It regardeth not me what impressions your verdict shall make on the fate of this country but you it much regardeth. The observations I have offered — tlie warn- ing I have held forth — I beoueath you wilh all the solemnity of a dyinp bequest ; and, oh ! may the acc^uittal of your accused fellow-citizen, whir, tal^es refuge in your verdict from the vampire who seeks to suck his blood, be a blessed and happy promise of speedy peace, confidence, and security, to this wretched, distracted, and self-devouring country ! By the common law, no subject can be deprived of life, but by a trial of his fellow-subjects ; but in times when rebellion prevails in any country, men may suffer without the semblance of a trial by their equals. From the earliest period of history down to the present, there have been seen iu some parts of the earth, instances where jurors have done little more than record the opinions given to them by tlie then judges ; out that i^' the last scene of departing liberty. ; have read that, in the period of the rebellion, in the last century, in England, jurors on trials, by the common law of the land, have been Bwayed in their determination by the unsupported evidence of au Informer; and after-times have proved their verdi'^t was ill-founded, the 'jinocency of the convicted persons afterwards appearing. Trials on charges of high treason are of the utmost moment to the country, not merely in respect of any individual, but of the necessity there is that the public should know the blessings of trial by jury, and that the jurors should solely determine on their verdict by the evidence, and maturely weigh the credit cfthe icifnesses against any prisoner — At several of these trials of late date some of you have been present, and you know that the object of the court and the jurors is to investi- gate the truth from the evidence produced. The jurors are sworn to try. and to bring in a true verdict according to the evidence. One witness has been examined on this trial, who, I think, does not deserve credit ; but it is you who are the sole judges whom you will give credit to Though you know this witness has given evidence on two former trials, and though the then jury did give credit to his testi- mony ; yet you are not to determine on your verdict, on the faith or precedent of any former jurors, but you are to be solely guided by your own consciences. You will observe we have had here two witnesses to Impeach the character of Mr. Reynolds, that were not produced on the formei trials , and you will no doubt throw out of your minds whatever did not come this day before you in evidence, on the part of the prose- cution, and recollect that which will come before you on the part of the prisoner's defence. Yon will find your verdict flowing from con. (fscious integrity, and from the feelings of honourable minds, notwit.'i- atanding the evidence of the witness Reynolds, who has been examined upon the table, and whose testimony I need not repeat to you. Perhap? you may be iuc*iined to think he is a perjured witness ; perhaps you wil not believe th.> atorv ho, his told against the prisoner at tl\o h?r and OLITER BOND, 1798 35S of liis ov7n turpitude. You will do well to consider it was tliroujli a perjured witness that a Russell and a Sydney were convicted in tha ?eign of James II. If juries are not circumspect to determine only by 5ie evidence adduced before them, and not from any extraneous matter, aor from the slightest breath of prejudice, then what will become of our boasted trial by jury ; then what will become of our boasted con- stitution of Ireland ? In former times, when jurors decided contrary 1.0 evidence, it created great effusion of blood. Let me ask, will you, gentlemen, give a verdict through infirmity of body, or through misre- presentation, or through ignorance ? You, by your verdict, wiU give an answer to this. Gentlemen of the jury, you wiU weigh in your minds, that many inhuman executions did take place in former times, though the then accused underwent the solemnity of a trial. The verdicts of those jurors are not in a state of annihilation, for they remain on the page of his- .;ory, as a beacon to future jurors. The jtidges before whom the then accused were tried, have long since paid the debt of nature ; they caauot now be called to account, why they shrunk from their duty. I call upon you, gentlemen of the jury, to be firm in the exercise of the solemn duty you are now engaged in. Should you be of opinior. to bring in a verdict of condemnation against my unfortunate client, for myself I ought to care nothing, what impressions may actuate your minds to find such verdict ; it is not for me, it is for you, to consider ^hat kind of mea you. condemn to die, and before you write his bloody sentence to weigh marurely, whether the charge against the prisoner is fully proved. If you should, on the evidence you have heard, condemn the prisoner to death, and afterwards repent it, I shall not live among you to trace any proof of your future repentance. I ouid I rose to tell you what evidence we had to produce on behulf of my client, the prisoner at the bar. We shall lay evidence before you, from which you can infer, that the witness produced this day was a. perjured man. We have only to show to you, as honest men, that the witness is not deserving of credit on his oath, we have nothing more to off"er on behalf of my client, the prisoner at the bar. It is your province to deliberate in your consciences on the evidence you will hear, whether you will believe the witness you have heard, on liis oath, or not. And now I ask you, will you, upon the evidence you have heard, take away the life of the prisoner at the bar, separate him from hi-* v/ife and from his little children for ever ? I told you I was to state to you the evidence which we had to brmg forward on behalf of my unfortunate client. I tell you it is to discredit the testimony of Mr. Reynolds. When you have heard our evidence to tills point, I cannot suppose you will give your verlict to aoom to death the unhappy and unfortunate prisoner at the bar, and entail infamy L.pon his posterity. We will also produce respectable witnesses to the "kktherto unimpeached character of the prisoner at the bar, and prove Uiat he was a man of fair honest character. You, gentlemen of the jury, have yourselves known him a number of years in this city ; let rae H3k you, do you not know that toe prisoner at the bar lias alwa^ 354 OLIVER BOND, 1798. borne the character of a man of integrity, and of honest fame? and, gentlemen of the jury, I call upon you to answer my question bv your verdict. "^I feel myself impressed with the idea in my bosom, that you -will give your verdict of acquittal of the prisoner at the bar ; and that by your verdict you will declare on your oaths, that you do not believe one syllable that Mr. Reynolds has told you. Let me entreat you to put in one scale the base, the attainted, the un- founded, the perjured witness ; and in the opposite scale, let me advise yon to put the testimony of the respectable witnesses pro- duced against Mr. Eeynolds, and the witnesses to the prisoner's hitherto unimpeached character; and you will hold the balance with justice, tempered with merey, so as your consciences in future mil approve. Let me depart from the scene of beholding human misery, should the life of my client by your verdict be forfeited ! Should he live, by your verdict of acquittal, he would rank as the kindest father, and protector of his little children ; as the best of hus- Dauds and of friends ; and ever maintain that irreproachable characte* he has hitherto sustained in private life. Should our witnesses excid- pate the prisoner from the crimes charged on him, to the extent charged in the indictment, I pray to God to give you the judgment and under- standing to acquit liim. Do not imagine I have made use of auy arguments to mislead your consciences, or to distress your feelings: no, but if you conceive a doubt on your minds, that the prisoner is innocent of the crime of high treason, I pray to God to give you firmness of mind to acquit him. I now leave you, gentlemen of the jury, to the free exercise of your own judgments in the verdict you may give. I have not by way of supphcation addressed you in argument ; I do not wish to distress your feehiigs by supplications ; it Vk'ould be most unbe- fitting to your candour and understanding ; you are bound by your ocjths to find a true verdict according to the evidence ; and you do not deserve the station of jurors, in which the constitution has placed yea, if you do not discharge the trust the constitution has vested in you, to "Jive your verdict freely and indifi"erently, according to your consciences. Mr. Bond was foand Guilty. It was said at the time that Bond died of apoplexy in prison, during the negodatioo Jrhich followed his conviction ; but there is much evidence to sliow he was mm'dered.* On the following morning (the Insurrection being hopelessly suppressed), the state pri- soners opened a negociation with governm.ent, and a compact made by Lord Clare, Lord Castlereagh, and Mr. Cocke, on behalf of ministers, securing the Uvea of all the leaders v/hc vislied to agree to the treaty. On tJie other hand, these leaders were to describe the state ;>f the United Irish affairs, so far as they could, without implicating individuals. BjTne, aowever, was hanged ; but tlic compact was finally settled on the 29th, at the Castle, by ''deputies from the gaols." Tlie government broke the compact. They, not only in thet niess, but by their indemnity act, described the United Leaders, as confessing guilt, and 2raving pardon, neither of wliich they did. Instead of being allowed to go abroad, thej verekept in gaol here for a year, and then thrust into Fort George, from whence fcbey were ^ot released, till the Treaty of Amiens, in 1802. * See Madden's " United Ireland," vol. 1., p. 214. LADY PAMELA FITZGERALD. 35S FOR LADY PAMELA FITZGERALD AND HER CHILDREN. [against attainder bill.] BAR OF THE IRISH COMMONS— IN COMMITTEE August 20th, 1798. Ill the reiy agony caused by Lord Edwaid's death, his dear noble brother Henry wrote to I^rd Lieutenant Camden ii letter ending thus : — " One word more, and I have done, as ' alone am answerable for this letter. Perhaps you will still take compassion on his wife ana three babes, the eldest not four years old. The opportunity that I ofter is to protect their ecttte for them from violence and plunder. You can do it if you please." The appeal was vain, and on tlie 27th of July, Toler introduced a bill into the Commona. to attaint Lord Edward Fitzgerald, Cornelius Grogan, arf penal laws lessens the value of life, and when you lessen the value of Kfe, you lessen the fear of death. Look to the history of England upon this subject with respect to treason. Xotv/ithstanding all its formidable arriiy of death, of Saxon forfeiture, and of feudal coii'uption of blood ; in what country do you read of more treasons or of more rebellions? And why? Because these terrors do not restrain the traitor. Beyond all other delinquents he is likely to be a person of that ardent, enthusiastic and intrepid spirit, that is roused into more decisive and desperate daring by thepro- ■gpect of peril. Mr. Yorke thinks the child of the traitor may be reclaimed to his .oyalty by the restitution of his csia'jo. Mr. Yorke perhaps might have reasoned better if he had looked to the still greater likelihood of mak ing hiai a deadly enemy to the sts^te by the ignominy inflicted on his father, and by the loss of his ovu inheritance. How keenly did Hanni- bal pursue his vengeance which he had sworn against Rome ? Hov much more enthusiastically would he have pursued his purpose, had that oath beerx taken upon a father's grave, for the avenging of a father*? sufferings, for the avenging of a father's wrongs ! If 1 am called upon to give more reasons why this precedent has no! been for more than a century and a half repeated, I will say, that a bib of attainder ^ the result of an unnatural union of the legislative and judicial functions , in which the judicial has no law to restrain it ; iu which the legislative has no rule to guide it, unless passion and preju- dice, which reject all rule and law, be called rule and law. It puts the lives and properties of men completely at the mercy of an arbitrary anc despodc power. * Beocaria oa Crimes and Puniabmeats. LADY PAMELA FITZQERALD. 36L Such were the acts of posthumous attainder in Ireland, in die reign ff flie Arbitrary Elizabeth, who used these acts as a mere moue of rob^ oiag an Irisli subject, for the beneht of an English minion. Such was the act of 9th William III., not passed for the same odious and despi- cable purpose, but for a purpose equally arbitrary and unjust — the pur- pose of transferring the property of the country from persons professing cr;e religion into the hands of those professing another — a purpose manifested and avowed by the remarkable clause in that act, which sayea the inheritance to the heir of the traitor, provided that heir be a Pro- testant I Nor was it so brutally tyrannical in its operation, inasmuch as it gave a right to traverse and a trial by jury to every person claiming a right ; and protected the rights of infants, until they should be of age, and capable to assert those rights. There are yet other reasons why that precedent of the regicides wa£ »iot followed in Great Britain. A government that means honestly wiU appeal to the affections, not to the fears of the people. A state must be at the last gasp, when it is driven to seek protection in the abandonment of the law — that melancholy avowal of its weakness and its fear. Therefore it was not done in the rebellion of 1715, nor in that of 1745. I have hitherto abstained from adverting to the late transactions o. Ireland : but I could not defrttud my clients, or their cause, of so preg- nant an example. In this country, penal lavrs have been tried beyond any example of uny former times. What was the event ? the race between penalty and crime was continued, each growing fiercer in the conflict, until tho penalty could go no furtlier, and ih,. fugitive turned upon the breathless pursuer. From what a scene of wretchedness and horror have we escaped 1 But I do not wish to annoy you by the stench of those unburied and tnrotted examples of the havoc and the impoteuce of penal law pushed to its extravagance. I am more pleased to turn your attention to the happy consequences of temperate, concihatory government — of equal law Compare the latter with the former, and let your wisdom decide betweeii the tempest and the calm. I know it is a delicate subject, but let me ))resume to suggest what must be the impression upon this grieved and anxious country, if the rigour of the parliament shall seem at war with the mildness of the government, if the people shall have refuge in the mercy pf the crown from the rigour of their own representatives. But if, at |he same moment, they shall see the convicted and attainted secured in *heir lives and in their property by the wise lenity of the crown, while the parliament is visiting shame, and misery, and want, upon the cradle «)f the unprotected infant, who could not have offended — but I will not follow the idea, I will not see the inauspicious omen : I pray that hea^ \'en may avert it. One topic more you Mill permit me to add. E/ery act of tnc sort ought to have a practical morality flowing from its principle. If loyalty and justice require that these infants should be deprived of bread, mui^ \l not be a v'olation vof that principit*, to give them food or shelter 162 ^APPER TAKDT, 180U. Must not every loyal and ju3t man wish to see them, in the words o^ the famous Golden Bull, " always poor and necessitous, and for eve-, iccompanied by the infamy of their father, languishing in continued indigence, and finding their punishment in living, and their relief ia. dying?" K the widowed mother should carry the orphan heir of her anfortunate husband to the gate of any man who might feel himselt touched with the sad vicissitudes of human affairs, who might feel a compassionate reverence for the noble blood that flowed in his veins, nobler than the royalty that first ennobled it, that like a rich stream rose till it ran and hid its fountain ; — if, remembering the many noble qualities of nis unfortunate father, his heart melted over the calamities of the child ; if his heart swelled, if his eyes overflowed, if his too preci- pitate hand were stretched out by his pity or his gratitude to the poor excommunicated sufferers, how could he justify the rebel tear, or the traitorous humanity ? I shall trespass no longer upon the patience for which I am grateful one word only, and I have done ; and that is, once more earnestly and solemnly to conjure you to reflect, that the fact, I mean the fact of guilt .tr innocence, which must be the foundation of tliis bill, is not now, after che death of the party, capable of being tried, consistently with the liberty of a free people, or the unalterable rules of eternal justice ; and that as to the fi>rfeiture and the ignominy which it enacts, that only can DC punishment which lights upon guilt, and that can be only vengeance which breaks upon innocence I Tlioiigh great exertions were made to stop the bill, it reached the Lords, and passed in September. A tiuai etfori was uow made by Lady Edward's friends. A memorial was presented ta Qie King, setting out ^\-ith the tenderest and most eloquent wisdom the reasons, from th« constitution, from justice, and from clemency, for stopping this bilL The names to th« Memorial are " Richmond" (the Duke). " W. OgiMe" (Lord Edward's step-father), " Henry Fitzgerald." " Charles James Fox," " Henrj' Edward Fox," " Holland." This document, and Dany letters written by the Duchess of Leinster to the Royal Family, vrill be found in the appendix to Moore's touching and simple narrative of " The Life and Death of Lord Edward nizgerald." This too was for the time unsuccessful, and the bill received the Royal assent ii October ; but the execution of the attainder was delayed, and the estate was sold la Ctiancery for a mortgage, and bought for £10,500, by Mr. OgiMe, who cleared the property, snd restored it to Lady Edward. She, a sensitive, vehement creature, w-ent to France, and married there imprudently. She separated from her second husband, and after living lon/t in retirement at Toulouse, died in poor lodgings in the Rue Richepanse, Paris, in November, 183L An appUcation for the reversal of the attainder was made in 1799 ; GoTemmeat agreed to bilng it forward in the United Pai-liament ; but ii did net pass till 1819. NAPPER TANDY [fob not surrendering on a charge of HIQH TKSA80V, UNDER AN ATTAINDER ACT.] COURT OF KING'S BENCH. 3Iai/ I9th, 1800. Ji the case of the Dublin Mayoralty, we have already noticed James Napper Tandy, flo Aow presents himself again— no longer the fierce Tribune of the Common Council, but a rtiained prisoner, under a double accusation of treason. He was declared a traitoi bv act of parliament— it was easy to prove him so in feet ; he was dragged to Ireland as a maa .Ireadv condemned. NAPPER TANDY, 1800 363 He was a Dublin merchant, of respectable family, and ooiained mnch civic influence by his bustling and patriotic conduct. In 1773-4. he became a Common Councilman, and • member of the Trinity Guild-* He commanded the Volunteer Artillery, and had his gun« cast with " Free Trade or else " on them. He became tho head of tlie Radical partv in the Common Cottncil, and, as we have seen, materially aided their triumph in the Lord Mayor's case, in 1790. He was secretary to the first Dublin meeting' of the United Irisn Society, held on Novembei'' 9tli, 1791, at " The Eagle," in Eustace Street, and there Tona'f Declaration and Test (which had been first agreed to in Belfast, on October Utli, 1791) were ■idopted-t His signature is to two other documents of theirs. j\.t the meeting of the Dublin Volunteers, at Pardons, in Cope-street, and ot which so Tovch appears in Rowan's case, Tandy was busy distributing Drennan's " Citizen Soldiers" proclamation ; and during the discussions which followed on it in Parliament, Toler spoka insolently of Tandy. For this Tandy challenged hi-n :$ but Toler took it into his head -not to fight, and complained to the House of Commons. Tne speaker isnaed his warrant against randy, who was arrested at his house in Chancer)' lane ; but he went into a back-room, 'Jiut the door on the Commons' otflcer, and escaped through a window. The Privy Coimcil \r«Qed 2, proclamation, ofiferine £">0 reward for Tandy's arrest, and Tandy brought actioi against the Lord Lieutenant OVeslna-Ju-.d) and tlie Privy Couaciilurs who .•signed the n'-oclamation ; but after long discussions, in which Simon Butler and Tliomas Addis Emm-t ^ost ably supported Tandy's case, the subpoenas were quashed.§ In February, 1793. Taudy tod Rowan were prosecuted as Defenders. Tandy fled to America Francis Graham, magistrate, was prosecuted for having suborned Corbally, a tailor, .-.o awear this charge against them : but Graham was acquitted, and on his acquittal pro ;< cuted and convicted Corbally for perj ury. !| - Thus he lived in perpetual tumoil, and enjoyed it. He was emploj' sd by the United Irish in the French negociation. and ior this left America in '93, and having been marked out by the Secret Committee, he was thd rirst of fifty-one persons^ included in an attainder act (38th George III., c 80), by -which it was •ieclared that tmless the persons named in it sur- cendered oc or before the 1st December, 1795. tney would be held convict traitors, and :1jffer death, confiscation of gods, and corruption of blood accordingly. He trU'd to join aumbert's Expedition in the Autumn of tna„ vear, but, fortunately for himseh". missed doing so, and after being part of a day cu the Donegal coast, sailed Siifely to Norway. Ua the 24th of November lie and Harvey Alon-is'* (Montmorenci), Corbet, and BlackwaU, were irrested by English agents in llambuj-gh, pvt tii prison, and finally bror^ght to Ireland. A habeas corpus was issued; but it was not.mitil the 10th of February tlrat the paixies were brought from Kilmainhara to the King's Bench. On that day they were arraigned, and on the 12th pleaded specialty that they had been arrested within the time allowed by the act of parliament. Issue was joined on the facts, and after delays, allowed to the prisoners to procm-e the attendance of Sii- James Crawford (British envoy at Hamburgh at the time o* the arrest) the trial of both Taudy and Morris took place on the 19th of May, 1800, befort^ Lord Kiiwarden. Mr Ridgeway opened the prisoner's plea, and Curran supported it &. follo^vs : — My Lords, and you, Geiitleraen of the Jui*y, I am in this case of coun- sel for Mr. Tandy, tlie prisoner at the bar. I could have wished it had been the pleasure of the gentlemen who conduct this business on the part of the crown, to have gone on first. The subject itself is of a very novel nature in this country ; but certainly it is the right of the crown, and which the gentlemen have thought proper to follow, to call on the counsel for the prisoner to begin ; and, therefore, it is my duty, my lords, to submit to you, and to explain, under the direction of the court, to you, gentlemen of the jury, what the nature of the question ig that you are sworn to try. An act of parliament was passed in this country, which began to b^ • He then resided in Dorset -street. t See the proceedings of the " Society of United Irishmen of Dublin," published in Dublin, >y the Society, in 1794, with this motto, "Let the Nation stand." I See liis letter to Rowan on the subject in Drummond's Life of Rowan, page ] 64. § The proceedings are in the " United Irish" volume, referred to in the last ncte but ono. l! These cases exist in pamphlet reports, and are highly interesting. % Among the 51, were Wolfe Tone, Lewins, Surgeon Lawless, M'Cormick, Michael Eey- aolds, and several Presbyterian clergymen. •■* Of Knockalton, in the county Tipperary. He became a General Officer in the Fren' h B(c\lOS.—jSee OX'oimcr's ''MiiUarv JJemotra of the Irish Cia'ion.'' ^4 KAPFER TANDY, 800. Elaw on the 6th of Octcher, 1798. On that day it re<"eived the royal EEsent. By that law it is stated, that the prisoner at tlie bar had been guilty of acts .r? treason of many different kinds ; and it is enacted, that he shall stand atcinted of high treason, except he should, on or before the 1st day of December following, surrender himself to one of the judges of this court, or to one of his Majesty's justices of the peace, for the purpose of becoming amenable to that law, from wliich he was sup- posed to have fled, in order to abide his trisl for any crime that might Ce alleged against him. It was a law not passed for the purpose of absolutely pronouncing any judgment whatsoever against him, but for the purpose of compeU Kng him to come in and take his trial : and nothing can show more strongly, that that act of parliament has not established anything touch- ing the fact of the prisoner's guilt ; because it would be absurd, in one and the same breath, to pronounce that he was guilty of high treason, and then call upon him to come in and abide his trial ; and the title of the act speaks that it is an act not pronouncing sentence against the prisoner, but that it is an act in order to compel him to come forward. This act creates a parliamentary attainder, not founded on the estab- lishment of the prisoner's guilt of treason, but on his contumacious avoidance of trial, by standing out against a trial by law. I make this observation to you, gentlemen of the jury, in order that you may, in the first instance, discharge from your minds any actual belief of any crimi- nality in the prisoner at the bar ; and that for two reasons : first because a well-founded conviction of his guilt, on the authority of this statute, might have some impression on the minds of men sitting in judgment on the prisoner ; but for a more material reason, I wish to put it from your minds, because his guilt or innocence has nothing tc do with the issue you are sworn to try. Gentlemen, the issue you are called to try is not the guilt or the inno- cence of the prisoner : it is therefore necessary you should understand exactly what it is The prisoner was ca led on to show cause why he should not suffer lleath pursuant to the enacting clause of the statute, and he has put in a plea, in which he states, that before the time for surrender had expired, namely, on the 24th of November, 1798, seven days before the day he liad for surrendering had expired, he was, by order of his Majesty, arrested, and made a prisoner, in the town of Hamburgh ; and, in con- sequence of such arrest, it became impossible for him to surrender him- self, and become amenable to justice within the time prescribed ; and the counsel for the crown have rested the case on the denial, in point of fact, of this allegation ; and, therefore, the question that you are to try is simplified to this — " I was arrested," says the prisoner, '' whereby" it became impossible for me to surrender" — to which the counsel for the crown reply — " You were not arrested at the time alleged by you, whereby it would have become impossible for you to surrender." This I conceive to be the issue, in point of fact, joined between the parties, and on which it is my duty to explain the evidence that wiU be offered. Mr. Tandy is a subject of this country ar I has never been in it from TAPPER lAICDY, 1800. 355 Ibe time this act of parliament passed until he was brought into it after his arrest, on tlie 24th of November, 1798. On that day he was in the town of Hamburgh. He had seven days, in which time it was practi- cable for him to arrive in this country, and surrender himself, according Xo the requisitions of the act of attainder. Every thing that could be »f value to man was at stake, and called on him to make that surren- der. If lie did not surrender, his life was forfeited — if he did not sur- render, his fortune was confiscated — if he did not surrender, the blood > ikn'a " Ireland from its Union," voL L 870 SIS HENRT HAT^S. AGAINST SIR HENRY HAYES. [abduotiox of miss pike.] cork spring assizes. April Uthy 180.1. Sis Hksry Beown Hates, Knight, wag the son of Mr. Attwell Hayes, a wealthy dttien OJ Cork. At the time of the occurrence for which Cuiran prosecuterl Mm, Sir Henry was 4 vrtdower, with several children, and being a man of address and fortune, and " cutting t great dash," Avas popular in Cork. It is said that his expenses had exceeded his mean*, and that he was induced to the abduction of Miss Pike, to retrieve his affairs. The attempt at such an offence was then a capital felony under the statute law. Mary Pike M-as the only child of Mr. Samuel Pike, a Cork banker, of a respectable Quakei ftmiily, who had died some time before, leaving her a fortune of over £20,000. Her mother was in weak health, resident in the city of Cork, and maintaining her connection Hith fthc Society of Friends, which Miss Pike and many of her relatives had abandoned- In 1797, Miss Pike, then twenty-one years old, resided with a relation, Jlr. Cooper Pen- rose, at a beautiful demesne, called "Wood-hill, near Cork. Sir Henry Hayes rode thereon Sunday, the 2nd July, 1797, and professing a desire to see the place, it was'sho^-n to hira by Mr. Penrose, and he was finally (though previously unknoum) asked to dinaer by Jlr. Pen- rose, and then met Miss Pike for the first time. Mr. Penrose proved on the trial that Mu Pike sat at a side -table, with one of his daugliters. Sir Heniy was captivated or content vnth. this acquaintance. He vncote to Dr. Gibbiags^ Mrs. Pike's physician ; and liaving learned Dr. Gibbings' handwriting from the reply, thii fetter, ia close inaitation of that writing, was sent to Wood-hill '— " " TO COOPER PEXR03E, ESQ. ••Dbab Sie, — Our friend, Mrs. Pike, is taken suddenly ill; she wishes to seeMisa Pikdu Wc ■nronld recommend dispatch, as we think she has not many hours to live. "Yours, (tec, ' Robert Gibbi>:g3.*' Tills precious document reached 'Mr. Penrose after midnight of July the 22nd, and as 800B as possible. Miss Pike, accompanied by Miss Penrose, and a ilrs. Richard Pike, set off in Mr. Penrose's carriage. The night was wet and stormy. They liad not gone far when tlieli carriage was stopped by armed men, Miss Pike's name ascertained, and her person identi fled by a muffled man. The traces of their carriage were tlien cut ; and Miss Pike, placeo In a chaise with a lady, who seems to have been a sister of Sir Henry s. A-as driven ofl under amounted escort, to Mount- Vernon. She was carried from the gute up the steej avenue by the muffled man. Her treatment then, Miss Pike thus describes in her evl dence : — Q, How didyou get into the house ? A. He took me in his arras into the ■ What happened after you got into the house ; were there lights in the par^ ,■ There was a snuff of a candle just going out. Miss Pike, be so good as to tell wiiat happened after you got into the parlour; did any >ther persons make their appearance ? Yes, two women. Did you see any body else in the house that niglit, but Sir Hemy and the tvro women' [ did not until the next morning. Did you see auy other persons ia that house at any time after ? Yes, a man in priest's &abits. Was it that night or next morning ? It was next morning. At break of day, was it ? Yes. Did anything particular happen then ? Before that, I was forced up stairs. Uy whom ? By Sir Henry Hayes and his sister. jter you were forced up stairs, did anything particular happen ? Before that, ther« was a kind of ceremony read, and they forced a ring on my finger ; before I was taken uy stairs, there was a kind of ceremony of marriage, and a man appeared dressed in the liabic of a clergyman. Court — You said something abont a ring? A ring was attempted to be forced on mj Ouger. which I threw away. After you were forced up stairs, and after this kind of a ceremony of marriage was p«r tormed, did anything particular liappen above stairs? I was locked into a room. What sort of a room '! A small room with two windows. What happened after that ; do you recollect anything more ? There was tea btoo^^ \:h end after that Sir Henry Haj-es came up. SIR HENRY HA ZES. 371 After tea was ■brought up, an ' after Sir Henry came up stairs, did anything liaTpen ? Court— It is now about four years ago ; aao. therefore, meatioa only what yoa remember. I rememher his father coming up. It yr&a after that ? Before my uncle came to t-ake me home. Court -Was the room furnished or unfurnished ? There was a bed and a table in it. Do ynu recollect anything that passed after Sir Henry's coming up : and if you do, state it to tl»d Ooiul ? I recollect perfectly his coming in and out, and behaving in the mdes* manner, and saying I was his -wife. Were you restored shortty after ? About eight o'clock next morning. Was or was not any part of that transaction between you and Sir Henry Hayea with your consent or against it ? Against it entirely. Did you write anything while at Vernon-Mount ? Yes ; I \rrote a note directed to my Vicle. How did you come to write that letter ? I was anxious to get to my friends, ancl repeat* bdly asked for pen and ink. It Vrii£ at length brought to you ? Yes ; and as well as I can recollect, I wrote to my nncle, to let him know where I was. * Sir Henry Hayes absconded. Government offered £1000 for his apprehension, and ICsa Pike's relatives offered anotlier reward— both in vain. He was outlawed, but retamed to Cork, and lived there without concealment, and Miss Pike went to reside In Bath. Abon,''' two years after, Hayes wrote to her a polite letter, offering to stand his trial at the r\tm assizes. Upon this the outlawiy was reversed by consent, and an applicatior to remov flae venue to Dublin city having failed, the case came on at the Spring assizes of Cork, on Oie 13th day of April, 1801, before Mr. Justice Day. There were two indictments, one for the abduction, another for proctiring it, but on com- fcig into court the Crown quashed the second indictment. The sustained Indictment had two comits, one for abduction with intent to marry, the other charging a still baser purpose. The Counsel for the prosecution were — ilessrs. Cnnan. Hoare. Townsend. Goold, Burton. Waggett, and Wilmotc; the agent, Mr. Richard Maitin. The prisoner's Counsel wen- Messrs. Quin, Keller White, Grady, FitzgeraJ'^.. Hitchcock. Franks, and Dobbin: theasent was Mr. Fleming. The trial excited great interest, and Sir Henry came j^to court attended by nnmeron? n<\ influential fiiei ds. Witnesses havi'v- been ordered out of court, Curran sp Jke as follows — My Lord and Gentleraeu of the Jury — It is my duty, as one of th counsel in this prosecution, to state to your lordship, and to you, gen tieraen of the jury, such facts as I am instructed will be established by evidence, in order that you may be informed of the nature of the offence charged by the indictment, and be rendered capable of understanding that evidence, which, without some previous statement, might appear irrelevant or obscure. And I shall make a few such observations, in point of law, on the evidence we propose to adduce, with respect to the manner in which it will support the charge, if you shall believe it to be true, as may assist you in performing that awful duty which you are now called upon to discharge. In doing so, I cannot forget upon what very different ground from that of the learned counsel for the prisoner, I find myself placed. It is the privilege, it is the obligation, of those who haye to defend a client on a trial for his life, to exert every force, and to call forth every resource, that zeal, and genius, and sagacity cao suggest. It is an indulgence in favour of life — it has the sanction of usage — ^it has the permission of humanity ; and the man who should linger one single step behind the most advanced limit of that privilege, dnd should faU to exercise every talent that heaven had given him, in that defence, wo*ild be guilty of a mean desertion of his duty, and an abandonment of 'his cUent. Far different is the situation of Mm who is concerned for the crown Cautiously should he use his privileges —scrupulously should he keej' within the duties of accusation. His ta.sl< ia to lay fairly the n^-tiire Q 872 SIR HENRY HAYES. the case before the court and the jury. Should he endeavour to gain a verdict otherwise than by evidence, he were unworthy of speakinsf in a court of justice. If I heard a counsel for the crown state anytMtjg that I did not think founded in law, I should say to myself, " GodgT-ant that the man who has stated this may be an ignorant man, because hi? ig-norance can be his only justification." It shall, therefore, be luy endeavour, so to lay the matters of fact and of law before you, as sLaU enable you clearly to comprehend them, and finally, by your verdici \r do complete justice between the prisoner and the public. My Lord, and Gentlemen of the Jury, this is an indictment, I'ound by the grand jury against the prisoner at the bar, for having felon' O'dsly carried away Mary i'ike, with intent against her will to marri. ner; there is another charge also, that he did feloniously carry her away with intent to defile her. There was a former statute maae on this subject, enacting the pun- ishment of death against any man that should, by violence, carry away a female, and actually marry or defile her. But it was found that young jreatures, the victims of this sort of crime, from their natural timidity, and the awful impression made upon tliem in an assembly hke the pre- sent, were often unequal to the task of prosecution, and that offevcp^ against that statute often passed unpunished, because the natural oeli- cacy and modesty of the sex shrunk from the revolting details that were anavoidable on such trials. It, therefore, became necessary to enac^ n new law upon the subject, making the taking away with intent t«. mairy or defile, although, in fact, no such marriage or defilement ha(f taken place, felony of death. Thus was suppressed the necessity of a those shocking, but necessary, details, that v/ere otherwise required. Of the enormity of the crime, I trust I need say but little. 1 trust in God there could not be found in this great city twelve men, to whom it could be necessary to expatiate on the hidr ..'s enormity of such an offence. It goes to sap the foundation of all civil society ; it goes to check the working of that natural affection, which heaven has planted in the breast of the parent for the child In fact, gentlemen of tho fury, if crimes like this shall be encouraged and multipHed by impunity, why should you defraud your own gratifications of the fruits ox your industry? — why lay up the acquisitions of self-denying toil, as a\x advancement for your child? — why check your own appetites to give her all ? — why labour to adorn her person or her mind with useiesr, with fatal accomplish.ments ? You are only decking her with tempta- tions for lust and rapine ; you are refining her heart, only to n»ake her fet*! more profoundly the agony of riolation and of dishonour. Why, then, labour to multiply the inducements of the ravisher? — why labour to augment and to perpetuate the sufferings of the victim ? Instea^i of telling you my opinion of the enormity of this crime, I will teU you that of the legislature upon it : — the legislature has deemed it a crirtve deserving the punishment of death. I will now state to you the facts as I am instructed they will appeaj to you hi evidence. The priso"^r at the bar land considering his education, his age, m* SIR ilEWRY B^YES- 373 rank, and situation m society, 1 do regret, from my soul, that he i? there), married mariy years ago ; his wife died, leaving him the survi- ^ \ing parent of, I believe, many children. Miss Mary Pike is the only child of a person, whom, I suppose, you all knew — Mr. Samuel Pike, of this city. He had devoted a long life to a very persevering and suc- cessful industry, and died advanced in years, leaving this his only child^ entitled to all the fruits of his laborious and persevering application, The property she is entitled to, I understand, is very great, indeed.— At the time of the transaction, to which your attention must he called, jlie was living in the house, and under the protection, of an universally respected member of society, Mr, Cooper Penrose. From the moment her mind was susceptible of it, no expense v/as spared to give her every accomplishment that she was capable of receiving; and in tlie house of her own father, while he lived, and in the house of Mr. Penrose, when she came under his protection, hc-r mind was formed to the most correct principles of modesty, and delic^y, and decorum, witli those additioua) chaiacteristics, humility and reserve, that belong to that m.ost respect- able sect of which her father was a member. The prisoner at the bar, it seems, had heard of her, and had heard of her property ; for it is a material circumstance in this case, that he never by any accident had seen her, even for a moment, until he v/ent to see and identify her person, and mark her out the victim of his projected crime. He was not induced by the common motives that influence young men — by any individual attachment to the mind or the person of the lady. It will appear, that his first approach to her was meanly and perfidiously contrived, with the single purpose of identifying her per- son, in order that he might feloniously steal it, as the title-deed of her estate. Some time before the 22vA of Jdy, in the year 1797, he rode down to the residence of Mr. Penrose. Mr. Penrose has a country-house, Huilt in a very beautiful situation, and which attracts the curiosity of strangers, who frequently go to see it. The prisoner at the bar went into the grounds as one of these, and seemed to observe every thing with great attention. Mr, Penrose imme- diately came out to him, and conducted him to whatever objects he sup- posed might gratify his curiosity. He affected to be much entertained;^ he lingered about the grounds until the hour of Mr. I'enrose's dinner approached. Mr. Penrose, quite a stranger to the prisoner at the bar, was not, I suppose, very anxious to invite a perfect stranger in among his family, more desirous, probably, of enjoying the little exclusive con- fidential intercourse of that family. However with that good nature, (.vliich any man of his cordial and honest turn of mind will feel it his duty •,o exercise, he did invite Sir Henry Hayes to dinner. The invitation was accepted of; and thus the first step towards the crime he meditated, was an abuse of the sacred duty which the hospitality of his host imposei^ upon him, as a man, and as a gentleman. He placed himself at the ftiendly and unsuspecting board, in order to the accomplishment of his design, by the most unfeeling and unextenuated violation of the rights nf the host, whom he made his dupe — of the lady, whom he marked as 374 0iR HENRY HAYES. hi3 victim — aud of the law, which he determiued to trample upon, and disgrace by the commissioa of a felony of death. There, when the eyo of the prisoner could escape from the smiles that were la\'ished upon him —those honest smiles of 'respect and cordiiility, that come only from the leart— it was to search the room, to find out who probably was the per- son that he had come to identify. H<^ made his observation, and took his departure; but it was not a departure for the last time Mrs. Pike, the widow, mother of the prosecutrix, was then in Cork, in a dangerous state of health. In order to get Miss Pike out of the hands of Her protector, a stratagem was aaoptea. Dr. Gibbiag-s was the attend- ing physician upon her mother ; it does not appear that the prisoner knew Dr. Gibbings' hand- writing : it was necessary that a letter should be sent, as if from Dr. Gibbings ; but to do so with effect, it was necessary that a letter should be written to Mr. Penrose in a hand- writing, bearing such such a similitude to the doctor's, as might pass for genuine. To quali^ himself for tliis, the prisoner at the bar made some pretext for sending a written message to Dr. Gibbings, which procured in return, a written answer from the doctor. Thus was he furnished with the form of the hand-writing of Dr. Gibbings, which he intended to counterfeit ; and accordingly there was written, on the 22nd day of July, 1797, a letter, 80 like the c'laracter of Dr. Gibbings' that he himself on a slight glance would be apt to take it for his own. It was in these words : — "Dear Sir, — Our friend, Mrs. Pike, is taken suddenly ill ; she wishes to see Miss Pike ; we would recommend despatch, as we think she has not many hours to live. Yours Robert Gibbings." Addressed " to Mr. Cooper Penrose." The first step to the crime was a flagrant breach of hospi- tality, and the second, towards the completion, was the inhuman fraud of practising upon the piety of the child, to decoy her into the trap of the ravisher, to seduce her to destruction by the angehc impulses of tha* feeling that attaches her to the parent —that sends her after the hour of midnight, from the house of her protector, to pay the last duty, and to receive the parting benediction. Such was the intention with which the prosecutrix, of a rainy night, between one and two o'clock in the morn- ing, rose from her bed ; such was her intention ; it was not her destina- tion ; it was not to visit the sick bed of a parent ; it was not to carry a daughter's duty of consolation to her dying mother ; it was not for that she came abroad ; it was that she might fail into the hands of precon- certed villany ; that she should fall into that trap, which was laid for her, with the intenaou to despoil her of every thing that makes human exis- tence worth the having, by any female wha has any feeling of delicacy or honour. ^ I should state to you, tuat she left the house of Mr. Penrose, in his car- riage, attended by two female relations, one of them his daughter and H'hen they had advanced about half way to Cork, the carriage was Sud- denly met by four or five men. They ordered the coachman to stop. One of them was dressed in a great coat, and armed with pistols, and had the lower part of his face concealed, by tying a handkerchief round it. ^ The ladies, as you may suppose, were exceedingly terrified at such a circ ujnatancc aa tliia . They asked, as well as extreme terror would permit. SIR HENEY HATES. 875 Vha;t they sought for ; they were answered, " they must be searched." On looking about, they observed another chaise, stationed near the placii where they were detained. It will appear to you, tliat Miss Pike was taken forcibly out of the carriage from her friends ; that she was placed in the other clmise which 1 have u.eutioned ; in which she found, shame to tell it — she found a woman. The traces of Mr. Penros.fc's chaise were Jien cut ; and the ladies that came in it, left of course to find their way, as well as they could, and return in the dark. The carriage, into which the prosecutrix was put, drove oflf towards Cork ; the female that was with her will appear to you to have been the sister of tlie prisoner. Happy ! happy for her ! that death has taken her away from being the companion of his trial, and of his punishment, as she was the accomplice of his guilt : but she is dead. The carriage drcve on to the seat belonging to the prisoner at the bar, called Mount- Vernon, in the liberties of the city j at the bottom of his avenue, which it seems is a steep ascent, and of considerable length, the horses refused to go on ; upon which the prisoner rode up to the chaise, dismounted from his horse, which he gave to one of his attendants, opened the door, took the prosecutrix out, and carried her, struggling in his arms, the whole length of the avenue, to his house. When he arrived there, he carried her up stairs, where she saw a man, attired in somewhat like the ilress of a priest ; and she was then told that she was brought there to marry the prisoner at the bar. In what fictme of mind the miserable wretch must have been, any man, that has feelings, must picture to himself. She had quitted the innocent and respectable protection of her friends, and family, and fovjid herself — good God ! wliere ?— in the power of an inexorable ravisher.and surrounded by his accompKces : she looked iu every mean and guilty countenance ; she saw the base unfeel- ing accomplices induced by bribe, and armed for present force, bound and pledged by the community of guilt and danger, by the felon's neces- gdty, to the future perjury of self-defence. Thus situated, what was she to look to for assistance? What was she to do ? Was she to implore the unfeeling heart of the prisoner ? As well might she have invoked her buried father, to burst the cerements of the grave, and rise to the protection of his forlorn and miserable child. There, whatever sort of ceremony they thought right to perform, too)'' ^lace, something was muttered in a hmguage which she partly did net liear, and partly could not understand ; she was then liis wife — she wa. Chen Lady Hayes. A letter was then to be written to apprise her miserable relations of their new afi&nity. A pen was put into her hand, and she consented to write, in hopes that it might lead to her deUverance ; but wlien the sad scroll was finished and the subscription only remained, neither entreaties aor menaces could prevail upon her, desolate and forlorn as she was, to write the odious name of the ravisher. She subscribed herself by tte surname of her departed father ; as if she thought there was some myste- dous virtue in the name of her family, to which she could chng in thsit Uour of terror, as a refuge from lawless force and unmerited sufi'ering. A ceremony of marriage ha,d taken place : a ring wa.i forced upon her 876 ilR HENilY HATES. iing-er ; she tore it off, and indignantly daslied it from her : slie was then forced into an adjoining- chamber, and the prisoner brutally endeavoured to push her towards the bed. My lord, and gentlemen of the jury, you will soon see this young lavlj. You will see that whatever grace or proportion her person possesses, it does not seem formed for much power of resistance, or self-defence. But there is a last eftort of sinking modesty, tliat can rally more than the powers of nature to the heart, and send them to every fibre of the frame, where they can achieve mor^ than mere vulgar strength can do upon any ordinary occasion : that effort she did make, and made it with effect : and in that instance, innocence was crowned with success. Baffled and frustrated in his purposes of force, he sought to soften, to conciliate. " AvA do you not know me ?" said be. " Don't you know who I am }" " Yes," answered she, " I do know you ; I do now remember you did go to my cousin's, as you say you did. I remember your mean intrusion, you are Sir Henry Hayes." How natually do the parties sup- port their characters ! The criminal puts his questions under the con- sciousness of guilt, as if under the forecast of his present situation. The iixuocent victim of that guilt regards him already as his prosecutrix ; ehe recognizes him, but it is only to identify him as a malefactor, and to disclaim him as a husband. Gentlemen, she remained in this captivity, until her friends got intel- ligence of her situation. Justice was applied to. A party went to the house of the prisoner, for the purpose of enlargiiig her. The prisonei at the bar had fled. His sister, his accomplice, had fled. They left behind them Miss Pike, who was taken back by lier relations. Infor- mations were lodged immediately. The prisoner absconded. It would be base and scandalous to suffer a crime of that kind to pass with impunity, without doing every thing that could be done to brings the offender to justice. Government was apprised of it. Government felt as it ought. There was offered by proclamation, a reward to a consi- derable amount for taking the prisoner. The family of Miss Pike did as. they ought. They offered a considerable additional sum, as the reward for his apprehension. For some time he Kept in concealment the rewards were offered in vain ; the process of the law went on ; air 'ndictment, to the honour of this city, to the honour of the national character, was found; they proceeded to the outlawry of the prisoner. What I have stated hitherto reflects honour upon ail persons con- cerned, except the unhappy man at the bar, and his accomplices ; but what I am about to relate, is a circumstance that no man of feeling oS humanity can listen to without indignation. Notwithstanding that outlawry ; notwithstanding the publicly-offered rewards, to the amount of near one thousand pounds, for the apprehension of the prisoner at the bar, (would to God the story could not be told in a foreign country! would to God it were not in the power of those so ready to defame as, to adduce such a circumstance in corroboration of their charge !) for Bear two years did the prisoner live in public, almost in the heart of your city ; reading in every newspaper, over his tea, the miserabh^ pro ciamation of impotent public juatice, of the lawa dctied tini/ trample SIR HENRY HATES. 377 upon. The second city in the nation was made the hiding--place — no I tio ! not the hiding'-plaee, wliere guilt hid its heaa — but the receptacle where it walked abroad, unappalled, and threw your dei^raded city into the odious predicament of being a sort of public accessory and accom- plice in his crime, by giving it that hideous appearance of protection and impunity. Here he stayed, basking in the favour of a numerous kindred and acquaintance, m a widely-extended city. Sad reverse ! It was not for guilt to fly ! It was for guilt to stand, and bay at public justice ! It was only for innocence to betake itself to flight ! It was not the ravislier that fled. It was the lielpless female, the object of his crime, the victim of his felony ! It was hers to feel that she could despair of even personal protection in that country which harboured and cherished the delinquent I It was she who was hunted, a poor fugitive from her family and her home ; and was forced to fling nerself at the feet of a foreign nation, a suppliant for personal protec- tion. She fled to England, where slie remained for two years. A few months ago, previous to the last term, a letter was written and sent to Miss Pike, the prosecutrix, by the prisoner. The purport of it was, to state to her, that his conduct to her had been honourable and delicate, and asserting, that any lady, possessed of the smallest particle of humanity, could not be so sanguinary as to wish for the blood of an individual, however guilty ; intimating a threat, that her conduct upon this occasion would mark her fate through life ; desiring aer to vdthdraw her advertisements, saying, he would abide his trial a<" the assizes of Cork ; boasting his influence in the city in which he lived, thanking God he stands as high as any man in the regards of rich au'3 Boor, of which the inefiicacy of her present and former rewards must convince her. He thought, I suppose, that an inter/al of two years, during wliich he had been an outlaw, and had resided among his friends, had brought Ihe public mind to such a state of honourable sympathy in his favour as would leave any form of trial perfectly safe. After this he thought proj'P.?" 10 appear, and the outlawry was reversed without opposition by coui^sei Ibr the prosecution ; because their object was not to take advan tage of any judgment of outlawry, upon which he might be executed; Dut to admit him to plead to the charge, and take his trial by a jury of his country. He pleaded to that indictment in the court above, and accordingly he now stands at the bar of this court for the purpose of trial. The publicity of his living in this city, of his going to festivals and •wDtei-tainments, during the course of two years, did impress the miuds of tlie friends of this unhappy lady, with 'such a despair of obtalTiing public justice, that they did struggle hard, not, as it is said, to try the oflfence'^by a foreign jury ; but, to try the oSence at a distant place, in the capitid v.here the authority of the court might keep public justice in some sort of countenance. That application was refused, and justly did you, my lord, and the learned judges, your brethren, ground your- selves upon the rea>A)u which you gave. "We will not," said you, "give « iudicial sanation to a renroach of such a scandalous atrocity upon anv 378 '^^ HENRY HAYE5. county in the land, much less upon the second city in it." " I da remember," said one of you, " a case, wliich happened not twenty years since. A similar crime was committed on two youn^ women of tliC uame of Kennedy ; it was actually necessary to guard them throug-h two counties with a military force as they went to prosecute ; that mean and odious bias, that the dregs of every community will feel by natural sympatliy with every thing base, was in favour of tlie prisoners. Every means were used to try and baffle justice, by practising upon the modesty and constancy of the prosecutrixes, and their friends : but the infatuated populace, that had assembled together to celebrate the tri- umph of an acquittal, were the unwilling spectators of the vindication of the law. The court recollected, that particular respect is due tc the female, who nobly comes forward to vindicate the law, and give protection to her sex. The jury remembered what they owed to their oaths, to tlieir families, to their country. They felt as became the !athers of families, and foresaw what the hideous consequence would be of impunity, in a case of manifest guilt. They pronounced that verdict wliich saved their characters ; and the offenders were executed." I am glad that the Court of King's Bench did not yield to the despair which had taken place in the minds of those who were anxious to bring the prosecution forward. I am glad the prisoner was sent to this bar, in order that you may decide upon it. I have stated to you, gentlemen of the jury, the facts that I conceive material ; I have stated that it was necessary, and my duty, as counsel for the crown, to give you an exact idea of the nature of the offence, of the evidence, and of the law ; that you may be enabled to combine the whole case together, and to prono'unce such a verdict as shall fairly decide the question, which you are sworn to try, between the public and the prisoner. Any thing I say, either as to the fact, or as to the law ought not to attract any thing more than bare attention for a single moment ; it should make no impression upon your belief, unless con- firmed by credible evidence. I am merely stating facts from instruction ; but I am not a witness. I am also obliged, as I told you, to make observations as to the law but that is wholly submitted to the court ; to which it is your duty, as well as mine, to bow with all becoming deference and respect. My lord, the prisoner is indicted as a principal offender, upon the Ktatute ; and therefore, it is necessary that the jury shall understand what kind of evidence is necessary to sustain that charge. Formerly there was a distinction taken by courts of justice between two species of principals ; the one, a principal at the doing of the very act ; the other, a principal in the second degree, who was then considered as an accessory at the fact : a distinction in point of law, which, as Mr. Jus- tice Forster observes, was a great inconvenience in the course md order of proceeding against accomplices in felony ; tending, as it plainly did, to the total obstruction of justice in many ca&es, and tu great delay in others ; and which induced the judges, from a principle of true political justice, to come into the rule now established: "Thaf all persons present, aidinfi" and ritcLtin/j. are principals " Snt HENRY HAYES. »i79 I now proceed to show what kind of presence it is that will make a man eoncurring in the crime, in judgment of tlie hiw, " present, aiding and assisthig :" which to explain, I shall read the words of the last- mentioned writer, as follows ; " When the law requireth the presence of the accomplice at the perpetration of the fact, in order to render him a principal, it doth not require a strict, actual, immediate presence ^uch a presence as would make him an eye or ear witness of what passeth." And I may thus exemplify this case : " Several persons set out together, or in small parties, upon one common design, be it mur- der, or other felony ; or for any other purpose, unlawful in itself ; and each taketh the part assigned him: one to commit the fact, others to jratch at proper stations, to prevent a surprise, or favour, if need be, the escape of those who are more immediately engaged ; they are all (provided the fact be committed,) in the eye of the law, present at it For it was made a common cause with them ; each man operated in his station, at one and the same instant, towards the same common end : and the part each man took, tended to give countenance, encour- agement, and protection, to the whole gang, and to ensure the success of their common enterprise." If the prisoner at the bar formed a design of doing the illegal act //ith which he is charged, namely, running away with Miss Pike, in order to marry or defile her ; if he p'-ojected the perpetration of it by dividing liis accomplices in such manner, as that each might contribute liis part to its success ; that it was made a common cause ; that what each man did, tended to secure the success of the common enterprise ; then every person so acting, although not an eye or ear witness of what was done, yet hi the eye of the law is guilty. He is a principal, and pun- ishable as such. Suppose, that some should guard at Mr. Penrose's bounds ; othen guard at different stations on the road ; others guard at the bridge j Dthers remain at the house at Mount- Vernon. In that case, I should iot hesitate to say, in point of law, tliat the man stationed at the back ioor of Mr. Penrose's house (supposing her to be taken out by violence,) ihe men guarding on the road and at the bridge ; nny, the priest that waited at Mount- Vernon to celebrate the marriage, were all a con> bination of one coiumon power ; acting each man in his station, to pro- duce the hitended effect ; and, as such, were all equally principals iu Uie offence. But in the present case it is not necessary to argue upon a construc- tive presence ; for here is an actual presence. If what I have stated should be supported by the witnesses, there is full ground to convince the jury, that Sir Henry Hayes was the person in disguise, who put her mto his carriage, when taken out of Mr. Penrose's ; particularly when the circumstance is considered, that he went to the house in order to identify her person, for that kni)wiedge of her person would have been useless, unless he had been present at the first taking of her. If the jury beheve he was there at such first taking, he was actually ^ireseni and guilty. But, supposing the jury to doubt, strange as the ^oiibt must be, yet 'f tb"^re shall be evidence to satisfy them, that the S80 Sm HENHY HAFES. prisoner, at the bottom of the hill leading to his house, took her ouC of his carriage, and led her to the house, that is, as to him, a taking and carrying away, clearly within the statute. There cannot be the leasr doubt, that every step the chaise proceeded from Mr. Penrose's to Mount- Vernon, that every man who joined the cavalcade, and became an assistant in the project, became a principal iu the entire transaction, and guilty of carrying her away, contrary to the statute. In further illustration, suppose this case. A highwayman stops a traveller, and proceeds to rob him ; and another comes up to the assis- tance of that robber ; there is not the least doubt, that the man who ioins in the robbery a little later, is equally guilty with the former in the eye of the law. This is applicable to the presciit case. Thus I have stated the nature of the case, and what I conceive to be the law touching that case. I know not what kind of defence may be set up. There are some defences whicli, if they can be established clearly, must acquit the prisoner. If he did not do this, if she was not taken away, or if Sir Henry took no share in the transaction, there can be no doubt in the case. It will be for your consciences to say, whether this be a mere tale of the imagination, unsupported by truth, and uncor- roborated by evidence. It is material, however, to state to you, that, as soon as guilt is once estabhshed in the eye of the law, nothing that the party can do can have any sort of retrospect, so as to purge that criminality, if once completed. It is out of the power of the expuing victim of a death-blow, to give any release or acquittal to his murderer ; it is out of the power of any human creature, upon whom an illegal offence has been committed, by any act of forgiveness to purge that original guilt ; and, therefore, the semblance of a marriage is entirely out of the case. In the case of the Misses Kennedy, the young ladies had been obliged to submit to a marriage, and cohabitation for a lenath of time, yet the offenders were most justly convicted, and suffered death. It is, therefore, necessary for you to keep your mhids and understand- ings so fixed upon the material points of the charge, as that, in the course of the examination, no sidelong view of the subject may mislead or divert your attention. The point before you is, whether the crime was once committed ; and if so, nothing happening after can make any sort of difference upon the Bubject. It has been my most anxious wish to abstain, as far as was consistent with my duty, from every the remotest expression of con- tumely or disrespect to the unhappy prisoner at the bar ; or to say or to do anything that might unhinge his mind or distract his recollection, so as to disable him from giving his whole undisturbed reflection to the consideration of his defence ; but it is also a sacred duty, which every man placed in my situation owes to public justice, to take care, under the affectation of false humanity, not to suffocate that charge which it is his duty to unfold, nor to frustrate the force of that evidence which it is his duty to develop. Painful must it be to the counsel, to the jury, and the court, who are bound by their respective duties to prosecute, to convict, and to pronounce and to draw down the stroke of public jus- SIR liLiXOi'r HATES. 381 tice, even upon the guilty Iiend : but de:'.\cable would they all be, if, lustead of surrendering: the criminal ^^ u.e law, tliey could abandon tiB lavr to the criminal ; if, instead of liaring- mercy upon outragedjustice jnd injured innocence, they should s»] not S82 SIR UKNRT HATES. Was there any intei-poaition used with you to induce you to come into court this movTi. tDg? No, there wjis not. Did any person describe the dress or person of Sir Henry to you before you came Int/i court ? No, sir. Will you now say upon y Jui oath, that if. at tlie time you cp.me into court and sat upon the table, you were asked the qaestion. th;tt you could have said positively you knew Si* /feniy Hayes? No, I could not, because lie niigiit liave been very much dis£;uised. Mr. andMiss Penrose, Dr. Gibbiiigs, and Mr. Richard Tike proved the other facts. Mr. 4uin .spckc for tlie prisoner, but declined to call witnesses, and pressed for an acquittal L iiw, fi-om the insufficiency of the evidence under the statute of abduction. Curran shortl> Teplied, as follows : — It is the undoubted privilege of tlie crofm to reply in all crimiua\ cases, not only to a point of law, but if the prisoner's counsel speak t( evidence, the crown is warranted to reply. I mig-lit by law have pre- vented such speaking altog-etlier ; but I will never oppose such indul- gence to a prisoner. The evidence adduced upon die part of the crowu has not been attempted to be denied by a single witness, and therefore I think it would be absurd to go about to establisli the credibility of testimony uncontroverted, even by the prisoner. I feel myself, there- fore, only called upon to answer the objections in point of law. Much has been said about that indictment which was quashed ; the observa- tions on that, as far as they go, are a complete answer to themselves. It is undoubted law, that if a man be indicted as a principal, and acquitted, and afterwards indicted as an accessory before the fact, that the formei acquittal is a conclusive plea in bar. The law is clearly settled in that case, and an acquittal upon the present indictment would be a complete bar to any prosecution upon the second ; thei'cfoie it was, that the 'iecond indictment was quashed. We sent up that indictment in fact, because we did not, with precise exactness, know how the evidence would turn ou: upon the trial. The second indictment was a mere charge of an accessorial olience ; but feeluig, that to bring forward the real merits of the case, we shoold go upon the first indictment, we thought it would be an act of unwarrantable vexation not to apprise the prisoner, the court, and the jury, that tliat was the only charge against him. And therefore, it is, that that indictment should be dis- missed entirely from the subject. The argument contended for is, that the evidence adduced does not support the indictment ; to that, and that alone, it is necessary for me to reply : the only question is, whether there is suflicient evidence to maintain the indictment. [Reads the indictment.] On this a question of law occurs. What is a taking and carrying away? I see no possibility that the jury can disbelieve that the man who took her out of Mr. Penrose's carriage was the prisoner at the bar, who went before to identify her. lie could not make use of that k.>c^ wledge of her person ou that occasion, if he was not there ; he .hciild have shown that he was then in some other phice, but ta do so was not attempted. Observe upon the latter part of the transaction, ou the carriage proceeding viith her in it to the passage leading to Mount- Vernon, that there a man dressed as the lady describes, alit from hia horse ; but there has been strong evidence that he did not come from the house ; took the handkerchief from his face, took her in his arms, and carried her in his arms from the foot of the hill to Mount- Vernoi: house, and where that marvia;.ie was absolutely solemnized. Upou thr- SIR HENRY HATES. 383 part of -the qaestion there does, to be sure, arise a question — Was thai a taking and carrying away within the statute ? I do admit that the taking and carrying away are essential ; but it is not being the ^rst taker that is necessary witliin the act of parliament : for if ten different persona had rescued her from one another, and another had taken her into the place, where, &c., he would be guilty, because he had taken her, and carried her away. The question, therefore, is, Was there a taking wiihi»i the act or not ? Mr. Quin has argued from two case^ that he sup^wses similar to the present ; the one was burglary, the othec was murder. They differ materially in this from the present, that thej are things done at one moment of time, and in the present cass, a con* tinuance of the force is a continuance of the taking, upon the statute of Henry VII. ; there must be an actual marriage in order to constitute the offence ; but in England, as well as here, there must be a previoiE taking and carrying away ; therefore, what is there considered as sucli must be in this country, a taking and carrying away. 2 Hawkins, 315. Also, if a woman be taken away by force in one county, and carriei into another, and there married, the offender may be Indicted, and triew in the second county upon the statute of Henry VII., because it is continuation of force, and of such kind as amounts to forcibly taking within the statute ; and so it is, if the prisoner at the bar had taken her by foi ce in an adjoining county, and brought her into this. You have an unquestionable authority, and a most respectable on& stating that a continuance of force in the county where the indictmeuT Is laid, is a sufficient taking and carrying away within the statute. Suppose a man hires a gang of people to seize a woman in Dublit and bring her down by force ; in the last stage, he goes and takes her in his arms, and carries her into his house ; will any one say that because- he had not seized her in the first instance himself, that his seizing her ly force, in tlie last stage, is not a taking within the statute ? The simple question to be decided upon is this, in point of law, whe- ther the taking her out of that chaise, in which she was brought to the avenue of the prisoner, was a sufficient taking, and whether the carrying Tier up to his house, was such a carrying away, as, added to the taking brought the present case within the statute. To support tliis, I shall cite the case of the King and Lapyard, aa indictment on which tlie facts were, — " That Mrs. Hobart, coming out of the play-house, had an attempt made by the prisoner to snatch hei ear-ring from her ear ; it appeared that the snatch at it was so violent, that it tore thruugh her ear. When she went home, she found not only Ihat the ear-ring had not been taken away by the prisoner, but actually 6)un:l it sticking in the curls of lier hair." It was necessary, then, that fliere should be a taking, and also a carrying away; and t'he question was, whether the facts did amount to that carrying and taking away The judge gave into the doubts proposed by the prisoner's counsel. 1 sball mention two cases, one where a man turned a cart from a hori- zontal to a perpendicular position to get at the goods ; the other casp was, where a person reinoved a parcel into the head of a wagon, in order to steal it, which had been before in the tail of it, and in each. 1-^84 llEVEY V. MAJOR Slltrt. case there wa^, jud'^'^d a sufficient taking and carrying awaj. A mau lodged at an inn, and in tlie morning took the sheets out of his bed, and carried them into the stable and another stole them. The jury found the prisoner guilty ; but judgment was respited, and the case submitted to the consideration of the twelve judges, who were of opinion that he was guilty of the charge of felony laid in the indictment. Compare ihese to the present case. Miss Pike was taken by force out of the chaise ; she was carried by force up the avenue ; she was taken by fore© *uto a room. What would become of the law, if miserable subterfuges of this kind could have any effect ? The circumstances of this caaj aiake it ridiculous to suppose that the conduct of the prisoner was froir" any motive of hospitality, as has been insinuated, for she stated other facts jnconsistent with such a defence. Every fact, if the jury believed the prosecution, was by force, and against her consent. Let me remind the jury that such an idea as this ought not to go abroad, that a gang may .">e hired by a man, to force away a woman, and that that mau, meeting her in the last stage of the transaction, shall completely commit a felony against the statute, with impunity. The judge charged fairly, and after an hour's deliberation the jury found the prisoner Guilty, but recommended him to mercy. The law point on the insuflficiency of the evi- rioiice was referred to the twelve judges, and decided against Sir Henry, but the recom- r.KJKhition to mercy was acceded to. and he was transported. IIEVEY V. MAJOR SIRE,. KING'S BEXCn. Mm/ llth, 1802. As i n ilius:ralion of the abominable government of Ireland at tlie time of tlm tnal, and tOC sonity{S,r» before, this case is mrst interesting, and Curran's speech equal to the occisioo. Her ■■ \Mis n brewer in Dublin, and in '98 acted as a yeoman in the Roebuck cavair^ xJappfiiing to be in court during a trial, and seeing a rs-scal whom lie had once employed, ou thi- table, lie said what he thought of him, and was then obliged to give evidenee aaainst the witness's character, and the prisoner was acquitted, for this he was seized ou by Major SiT and his gang, forced into prison, obUged to give up a valuable mar? ti-> Sandys, a com- rade of Sirr's, was then hurried to Kilkenny, tried by Court-martial, an. sentenced to be Ijuxg ed. Lord Cornwallis saw the report of the trial, and released Havey. In September, 1801, Major Sirr met llevey iu the Commercial Buildings, tiireatened h..'xi. and when Heve^ Jefied him, Sirr thnist the unfortunate man into the provost prlso:: In the Castle, tU' ne sign ed a submission. For this the -action was brought. Lord iUl warden (Arthur Wolfe) and a special jury tried the case CuiTan opened for ite plain tiff :— This is the most extraordinary action I have ever met with. ^ It must proceed from the most unexampled impudence in the plaintiff, if he has brought it wantonly, or the most unparalleled miscreancy iu the defen- dant, if it shall appear supported by proof. The event must stamp the most con dign and indelible disgrace on the guilty defendant, unless an unworthy verdict should shift the scandal upon another quarter. On the record the action appears short and simple. It is an action ")f trespass, vi el armis for an assault, battery, and false imprisonment- AlSVET V. MA J OH SIRR. 385 ^fct the facts t^at led to it, that explain its nature, and its enorniity* and, of course, that should measure the damages, are neither short nor simple. The novelty of them may surprise, the atrocity must shock your feelings, if you have feelings to he shocked. But 1 do iiot mean to addres.^ myself to any of your proud feeliugs of liberty — the se:i>:oL for that IS pust. There was, indeed, a time, when, in addressing a ^ury upon very ibferior violations of human rights, I have felt my bosom glow and sweh w^th the noble and elevating consciousness of being a free- man, speakiijg to free-men, and in a free-country; where, if 1 was noC ible to communicate the generous flame to their bosoms, I was not At least so cold as not to catch it from them. But that is a sympathy v/hich I am not now so foohsh as to aftect either to inspire, or to par- ticipate. I shall not insult you by the bitter mockery of such an atiec- tation ; buried as they are, I do not wish to conjure up the shades of (departed freedom to flutter round their tomb, to taunt or to reproach them. Where freedom is no more, it is a mischievoi^^- orofanation to use her language ; because it tends to deceive the man who is no longer free, upon the most important of all points — that ifc., cie nature of the situation to which he is reduced ; and to make him confound the .itentiousuess of words with the real possession of freedom. I mean not, therefore, to call for a haughty verdict, that might humble the jisolence of oppression, or assert the fancied rights of independence. Far from it ; I only ask for such a verdict as may make some reparation 5)r the most extreme and unmerited sufieriug, and may also tend to some probable mitigation of the public and general destiny. 1 or this \)urpose I must carry back your attention to the melancholy period of 1798. It was at that sad crisis that tlie defendant, from an obscure aidividual, started into notice and consequence. It is in the hot- bed o* public calamity that such portentous and inauspicious products are accelerated without being matured. From being a town-major, a name ycarcely legible in the list of public incumbrances, he became at once invested wdth aD the ved jwwers of the most absolute authority. The ;ife and i-nu liberty ui every miLu seemed lu be g-iveu up to his disposal WiLh this gentleman's extraordinary elevation begins the story of the sufferings and ruin of the plaintiff. It seems, a man of the name of M'Guire was prosecuted for some olience against the state. Mr. Hevey, the plaintiff, by accident was in court ; he was then a citizen of wealth and credit, a brewer, in the first iine of that business. Unfortunately for him, he had heretofore employer the witness for the prosecution, and found him a man of infamous chs^ ':acter. Unfortunately for himself, he mentioned this circumstance if I'ourt. The counsel for tlie prisoner insisted on his being sworn • ht vias sc The jury were convinced that no credit was due to the •»^itues5 or the crovm, and the pr fsoner was accordingly acquitted. lu a day O" 'WO after, Major Sirr met the plamtifl" in the street, a.sked how he dared \Sy interfere in his business, and swore, *' Bj God, he would teach him LOW to meddle with his people.''* Gentlemen, there are two classes of prophets, one lliat derive their wedictions f-^m real or fancied inspiration, and aie &ouiei im es mistokea 386 HEVEY V. MAJOR SIRR. And another who prophecy what tliey are determined to bring aDOu; themselves. Of this second, and by far the most authentic class, was tiu Major ; for heaveii, you see, has no monopoly of prediction. On the following evening, poor Hevey was dogged in the dark into some lonely alley ; there he was seized, he knew not by whom, nor by what authority — and became in a moment to his family and his friends, as if he hg.d never been. He was carried away in equ^xl ignorance of his crime and of his destiny, whether to be tortured, or hanged, or trans- ported. His crime he soon learned ; it was the treason which he had committed against the majesty of Major Sirr. He was immediately cod- ducted to a new place of imprisonment in the Castle-yard, called the Provost. Of tliis mansion of misery, of which you have since heard so much, Major Sandy was, and I believe yet is, the keeper — a gentleman •of whom i know how dangerous it is to speak, and of whom every pru- dent man will think and talk with all due reverence. He seemed a twin star of the defendant, — equal in honour, in confidence ; — equal also (for who could be superior ?) in probity and humanity. To this gentleman was my client consigned, and in his custody he remained about seven weeks, unthought of by the world as if he had never existed. . The oblivion of the buried is as profound as the oblivion of the dead ; his family may have mourned his absence or liis probable death ; but why should I mention so paltry a circumstance ? The fears or the sorrows of the wretched give no interruption to the general progress of things The sun rose and the sun set, just as it did before — the business of the government, the business of the castle, of the feast, or the torture went on with their usual exactness and tranquillity. At last Mr, Hevey was discovered among the sweepings of the prison, and was to be disposed of. He was at last honoured with the persona; notice of Major Sandys. " Hevey (says the Major), [ have seen you *ide, I think, a smart sort of a mare ; you can't use her here ; you had better give me an order for her." The plaintiff, you may well suppose, by this time had a tolerable idea of his situation ; he thought he might have much to fear from a refusal, and something to hope from compli- mce ; at all events, he saw it would be a means of apprising his family that he was not dead;— he instantly gave the order rc*([uired. The Major graciously accepted it, saying, " Your courtesy will not cost yoii much : you are to be sent down to-morrow to Kilkenny, to be tried fot your life ; you will most certainly be hanged ; and you can scarcely think that your journey to the other world will be performed on horse- back." The humane and honourable Major was equally a prophet with his compeer. The plaintiff on the next day took leave of his prison, as he supposed for the last time, and was sent under a guard to Kilkenny then the head-quarters of Sir Charles Asgil, there to be tried by a, court- martial for such crime as miglit chance to be alleged against him. In any other country the scene that took place on that occasion might excite no little horror and astonishment ; but with us, these sensations have become extinguished by frequency of repetition. I am instructed that a proclamation was sent forth, offering a reward to any man who would come forward and give any evidence against the traitor Hevey . IIEVEY V. ilAj li MliR. 387 An imuappy wretch who had been shortly before condemned to die, and was then lying ready for execution, was allured by the proposal. I15 integrity was not fir-u enough to hesitate long between the alternative proposed ; pardon, favour, and reward, with perjury on one side — the rope and the gibbet- uu the other. His loyalty decided tlie question against his soul. He was examined, and Hevey was appointed by the jeutence of a ~-ild, and no doubt enlightened court-martial, to take the ulace of the with ^s. and succeed to the vacant halter. Hevey, you may -suppose, now thought his labours at an end ; but he H'as mistaken ; his hour was not yet come. You, probably, geutlemen, or you, my lords, are accounting for his escape, by the fortunate recol- lection of some early circumstances that might have smote upon the sensibility of Sir Charles Asgil, and made him believe that he was in iebt to Providence for the life of one innocent, though convicted victim. But it was not so ; his escape was purely accidental. The proceedings upon this trial happened to meet the eye of Lord rJoruwallis. The freaks of fortune are not always cruel ; in the bitter- ness of her jocularity, you see she can adorn the miscreancy of the slave m the trappings of power, and rank, and wealth. But her playfulness h not always inhuman ; she will sometimes in her gambols, fling oii ipon the wounds of the sufierer ; she will sometimes save the captive from the dungeon and the grave, were it only that she might afterwards e-consign him to his destiny, by the reprisal of capricious cruelty upon Santastic commiseration. Lord Cornwallis re;id the traiisuiiss of llevey's condenjuation ; his heart recoiled from the detail of stupidity ard bar- Darity ; he dashed his pen across the odious record, and ordered that Hevey should be forfbwiih libft'-ated. I cannot but highly honour him for his conduct in this iustaoce ; nor, when I reeoiit-cL ais pj(ju,':«,r siuua- tion at that disastrous period, can I much blame iiiui for not having acted towards that court with the same vigour and indignation which he hath since shown with respect to those abominable jurisdictions. Hevey was now a man again — he shook the dust ofl" his feet agaiust his prison gate ; nis heart beat the response to the anticipated embrace of his family and his fiiends, and he returned to Dublin. On his arrival here, one of the first persons he met with, was his old friend Majof fiandys. In the eye of poor Hevey, justice and humanity had shorn the Jlajor of his beaois — he no longer regarded him with respect or terror. He demanded his mare ; observing, that tliough he might have travelled to heaven on foot, he thought it more comfortable to perform his earthly rt)urneys on horseback. " Ungrateful villain," says the Major ; " is this Ihe gratitude you show to his Majesty and to me, for our clemency to you? You shan't get possession of the beast, which you have forfeited by your treason ; nor can I suppose, that a noble animal 'that had been honoured with conveying the weight of duty and allegiance, could con- descend to load her loyal loins with the vile burden of a convicted trai- tor." As to the Major, I am not surprised that he spoke and acted as he did. He was no doubt astonished at the impudence and novelty of one calling the privileges of official plunder into question. Hardened by numberless iusUnces of that mode of unpunished acquiiition, he had 888 UEVET V. MAJOR SIER. erected the frequency of impunity into a sort of warrant of spoil and rapine. Ono of these instances I feel I am now bringing to the memory of vour lordship. A learned and respected brother barrister* had a silver jup ; the Major heard that for many years it had borne an inscription of " Erin go Bragh" which meant " Ireland for ever." The Major con- sidered this perseverance in guilt for such a length of years, as a forfeit- are of the dehnquent vessel. My poor friend was accordingly robbed of his cup. But upon writing to the then Attorney-General, that excel- lent officer felt the outrage, as it was his nature to feel everything that was barbarous or base ; and the Major's sideboard was condemned to in:.: grief of restitution. And here, let me say, in my own defence, that this is the only occasion upon which I have ever mentioned this cn-cumstance with the least appearance of lightness. I have often told the story in a way that it would not become me to tell it here. I have told it in the spirit of those feelings w^liich were excited at seeing that one man could be sober and humane at a crisis when so many thousands were drunk and bar- barous. And probably my statemoit was not stinted ]>y the recollection that I lield that person in peculiar respect and regard. But little doea it signify, whether acts of moderation and humanity are blazoned by grati- tude, by flattery, or by friendship ; they are recorded in the heart from Thich they sprung; and in the hour ofadverr;e vicissitude, if it should 3ver come, sweet is the odour of their memory, and precious is the balm of their consolation. • But to return : Hevey brought an action for his mare. The Major not choosing to come into court, and thereby suggest the probable suc- cess of a thousand actions, restored the property, and paid the costs oi the suit to the attorney of Mr. Hevey. It may perhaps strike you, my lord, as if I were stating what was not relevant to the action. It is materially pertinent ; I am stating a system of concerted vengeance and oppression. These two men acted in con- cert: they were Archer and Aimweil.f You master at Lichfield and I at Coventry. You are plunderer in the gaol, and I tyrant in the street. And in our respective situations we v/ill co-operate in the common cause ^i robbery and vengeance. And I state this, because I see ^iajor Sandya li court : and because I feel I can prove the fact beyond the possibihty <}f denial. If he does not dare to appear, so called upon, as I have called upon him, I prove it by his not daring to appear. If he doea venture to come forward, I will prove it by his own oath, or if he ventures to deny a syllable that I have stated, I will prove it by irrefragable evi- '?jence that his denial was ftilse and perjured. Thus far, gentlemen, we tave^ traced the plaintifi' througli the strange vicissitudes of barbarous Lnprisnnment, of atrocious condemnation, and of accidental dehverance. Here Mr. Ciirran described the feelings of the plaintiff and of his family upon hisrestora- ou ; his difficulties on his return, his struggle against the aspersions or. hi.s ckaracter, hi« ■enewed industiy, his gradual success, the implacable maliguitj- of Sirr and of Sandys, and the immediate cause of the present action. J • Kr M'NaUv * '«svo chai-acters in the " Bsf.ux Sti-atagcm." t So iu th« JReporfi. XFVEY V MAJOR SIRB. 380 Turee years liad elapsed since the deliverance of my client ; the public atmosphere Lad cleared — the private destiny of Hevey seemed to havo brighteiied — but the malice of his enemies had not been appeased. On the 8th of September last, Mr. Kevey was sitting in a public coffee-house ; Major Sirr was there. Mi\ Hevey was informed that the Major had at that moment said, that he (Hevey) ought to have been hanged. Tho plaintiff v/as fired at the charge, he fixed his eye on Sirr, and asked, il he had dared to say so ? Sirr declared that he had, and had said it truly Hevey answered that he was a slanderous scoundrel. ^ At the instant, Sirr rushed upon him, and, assisted by three or four of his satellites, who liad attended him in disguise, secured him, and sent him to the castlo guard, desiring that a receipt might be given for the villain. He was sent thither. "The ofiioer of the guard chanced to be an Englishman, but lately arrived in Ireland ; he said to the bailiff's. — If this were in England, I should think this gentleman entitled to bail, but I don't knovr the laws of this country : however, you had better loosen those irons on iiis wristsj or 1 think they may kill hkn. Major Sirr, the defendant, soon arrived, went into his office, and returned v;ith an order which he had written, and by virtue of which >ir. Hevey was conveyed to the custody of his old friend and gaoler, Major Sandys. Here he was flung into a room of about thirteen feet by twelve — it was called the hospital of the provost. It was occupied by six beds, in which were to lie fourteen or fifteen miserable wretches, some of them sinking under contagious diseases. On his first entrance^ the light that was admitted by the opening of the door, disclosed to him a view of the sad feUow-sufferera, for whose loathsome society he was once more to exchange the cheerful haunts of men, the use of open air and of his own limbs; and where he was condemned to expiate the disloya. hatred and contempt which he had dared to show to the overweening and felonious arrogance of slaves in ofllce, and minions in authorilv here he passed the first night, without bed or food. The next morning his humane keeper, the Major, appeared. Tlie plaintiff demanded " why he was so imprisoned ;" complained of hungers and asked for the gaol allowance. Major Sandy's replied with a torrenl of abuse, which he concluded by saying — "Your crime is your insolence io Major Sirr ; however, he disdains to trample upon you — ^you may appease him by proper and contrite submission : but unless you do so, you shall rot where you are. I tell you this, that if government will not protect us, by God wo will not protect them. You will probably (for I know your insolent and ungrateful hardiness,) attempt to get out by «j Habea's Corpus ; but in that you will find yourself mistaken, as sucb c rafical deserves." Hevey was insolert enough to issue a Habeas Corpus, and a return was ma^e upon it — " that Hevey was in custody under warrant from General Craig, on a charge of treason." Tliat this return was a gross falsehood, fabricated by Sirr, 1 am instructed to assert. Let liim proTe the truth of it if he can. The Judge before whom this return wae hcought, felt that he had no authority to liberate the unhappy prisoner 2 B ^^^ HEYEY V. MAJOR SIRR. a-nd thus, by a most inhuman and malicious lie, my client was again remanded to the horrid mansion of pestilence and famine. Mr. Curraii proceeded to describe the feelings of Mr. Hevey— the despair of his friends— tho ruin of las aflfairs — tlie insolence of Sandys — his offer to set him at large, on conditi:* of making an abject submission to Sirr— the indignant rejection of Hevey— the supplication of Lis father and sister, rather to submit to an enemy, however base and odious, thanperisu In sach a situation ; the re]uignance of Hevey— the repetition of kind remonstrances; and the final submission of Ilevey to their entreaties — his signing a submission dictated by Sandys, and his en-argement from conflneaent. Thus wa-s he kicked from his gaol into the common mass of his feUow- slaves, by yielding to the tender entreaties of the kindred that loved him, to sign, what was in fact, a release of his claim to the common rights of a human creature, by humbling himself to the brutal arrogance of a, pampered slave. But he did sufifer the dignity of his nature to be sub* dued by its kindness : he has been enlarged, and he has brought the pre- sent action. As to the fa«f,s I have stated, I shall make a few observations, it might be said for the defendant, that much of what was stated may not appear in proof. To that I answer, that I would not have so stated, if I had not seen Major Sandys in court. I therefore put the facts against him in a way v/hich I thought, the most likely to rouse him to a defence of lis o\m character, if he dared to be examined as a witness. I have, I trust, made hitn feel that he has noway of escaping universal detestation, but by denying those charges, if false. Ajid if they are not denied, being thus publicly asserted, my eniii'e ease is admitted — his original oppres- sion in the provost is admitted — his robbery of the cup is admitted — his robbery of the mare is admitted — the lie so audaciously forged on the Habeas Corpus is admitted — the extortion of the infamous apology is admitted. Again, I challenge this worthy compeer of the worthy Major to make his election between proving his guilt by his own cor- poral oath, or by the more credible modesty of his silence, I have now given you a mere sketch of this extraordinary history. No country, governed by any settled laws, or treated with common humanity, could furnish any occurrences of such unparalleled atrocity ; and if the author of Caleb Williams,* or of the Simple Story,t were "to read the tale of this man's sufferings, it might, I think, humble the Tanity of their talents (if they are not too proud to be vain), when they saw how a much more fruitful source of incident could be found in the infernal workings of the heart of a malignant slave, than in the richest copiousness of the most fertile and creative imagination. But it is the de^^tiny of Ireland to be the scene of such horrors, and to be stung bj such rentiies to madness and to death. And now 1 fee* a sort ot melancholy pleasure, in getting nearly rid of this odious and nauseous subject. It remains for me only to makt a fev observations as to the damages you ought to give, if you believe th^ case of the plaintiff to be as I have stated. I told you before, that lieither pride nor spirit belong to our situation ; I should be sorry to influence vou into any apish affectation of the port or stature of freedom or maepenaence. Qcdwln. ' Mr*. Jncbbald xiEVEY MAJOR SIRK. 391 But my ad'/ice to you is, to give the full amount of the damages laid In the declaration ; and I will tell you why I give you that advice ; I think no damages could he excessive, either as a comjjensation for the injury of tlie plaintiff, or as a punishment for the savage barbarity of the defendant; but my reasons for giving you this advice lie mucb deeper than such considerations ; they spring from a view of cur presenf most forlorn and disastrous situation. You are now in the hands ot another country ; that country lias no means of knowing your real con- dition, except by information that she may accidentally derive from transactions of a public nature. No printer would dare to publish the thousand instances of atrocity which we have witnessed, as hideous sa the present, nor any one of them, unless he did it in some sort of con- fidence, that he could scar-^ely be made a public sacrifice by brutal force, for publishing wliat was openly proved in a court of justice. Mr. Ciisran here made some pointed observations on the state of a country where tlft freedom of the press is extinguished, and wliere anotlier nation, by whose indolent mercy, or whose instigated furj', it may be spared or sacrificed, can know nothing of the extent o£ its sufferings, or its delinquency, but by casual hearsay. I know that those philosophers have been abused, who think that men are born in a state of war. I confess I go further, and firmly think they cannot be reclaimed to a state of peace. When I see the conduct of man to man I believe it. When I see the list of ofiences in every criminal code in Europe — when I compare the enormity of their crimes with the still greater enormity of their punishments, I retain no doubt upon the subject. But if I could hesitate as to men in the same community, I have no doubt of the inextinguishable malignity that will for ever inflame nation against nation. Well was it said, tliat a "nation has no heart." — Towards each other, nations are uniformly envious, vindictive, oppres- sive, and unjust. What did Spain feel for the murders or robberies of the West? nothing. And yet, at that time, she prided herself as much as England ever did on the elevation of her sentiment, and the refine- ment of her morality. Yet what an odious spectacle did she exhibit her bosom burning with all the fury of rapine and tyranny ; her mouth full of the pious praises of the living God, and her hands red with the blood of his innocent and devoted creatures. When I advise you, therefore, to mark your feeling of the case before you, do not think I mean that you could make any general impression on the morality or tenderness of the country whose property we are become. I am not so foolish as to hope any such effect ; practical justice and humanity are virtues that require laborious acts, and mortifying privations ; expect not, therefore, to find them, — appeal not to them. But there are principles and feeUngs substituted in their place, a stu- pid preference and admiration of self, an affectation of humanity, and a fondness for unmerited praise ; these you may find, for they co&t nothing, and upon them you may produce some effect. When outrage- of this kind are held up to the world, as done under the sanction of their authority, they must become odious to mankind, unless they let ftiil some reprobation ou the imrriediate instilments and abettors of o92 HF.VET V. rOAJOK SfRR. hoici! dceas. An Irish Lord Lieutenant will shrink from the imputation of countennncing' them. Great Britain v/ill see tha-o it cannot be her interest to encourage such an infernal spirit of subaltern barbarity, that reduces man to a conditJw.i lower tlian that of the beast of the field. They will be ashamed of employing- such instruments as the present defendant. When the government of Ireland lately gave up the celebrated O'Brien* to the hands of the executioner. I have no little reason to believe that tficy suffered as they deserved on the occasion. I have no doubt but that your verdict this day, if you act as you ought to do, will produce a similar effect. And as to England, I cannot too often inculcate upon you that she knows nothing of our situation. — When torture was the daily and ordinary system of the executive government, it was denied in London, witli a profligacy of effrontery equal to the barbarity with which it was exhibited in Dublin ; and if the facts that shall appear to-day should be stated on tlie other side of the water, I make no doubt that very near one hundred worthy persons would be ready to deny their existence upon their honour, or, if ue^^^a- =5ary, upon their oaths. I cannot but observe also to you, that the real state of one country IS more forcibly impressed on the attention of another by a verdict on such a subject as this, than it could be by any general description. — When you endeavour to convey an idea of a great number of barba- rians practising a great variety of cruelties upon an incalculable multi- tude of sufferers, nothing defined or specific finds its way to the heart ; Dor is any sentiment excited, save that Of a general, erratic, unappro- priated commiseration. If, for instance, you wished to convey to the mind of an English matron the horrors of that direful period, when, in defiance of the remonstrance of the ever-to-be-lameuted Abercromby, our poor peopJe were surrendered to the licentious brutality of the soldiery, by the authority of the state, you would vainly endeavour to give her a gene- ral picture of lust, and rapine, and murder, and conflagration. By endeavouring to comprehend every thing, you would convey nothing. When the father of poetryf wishes to pourtray the movements of conteudmg armies, and an embattled field, he exemplifies only, he does not describe ; he does not venture to describe the perplexed and pro- miscuous conflicts of adverse hosts, but by the acts and fates of a few individuals he conveys a notion of the vicissitudes of the fight, and the fortunes of the day. So should your stcxy to her keep clear of generalities ; instead ot exhibiting the picture of an entire province, select a single object; and even in that single object do not release the imagination of your hearer from its task, by giving more than an outline. Take a cottage ; place the affrighted mother of her orphan daughter at the door, the paleness of death upon her face, and more than its agonies in her heart ; her aching eye, her anxious ear struggling through the mist of closing 'vifly, to catch the approaches of desolation and ^honour. The ruflfian .See iicte, Crjrrim's defence of Vhmcj f Jlooiei. HEVEY V. MAJOR SliUl 393 pang arriTes ; tb^ feast of plunder begins ; the cup of madness kindles m its circulation. The wandering glances of the ravisher become con- centrated upon the shrinking and devoted victim. You need not dilate, you need not expatiate ; the unpolluted mother, to whom you tell the story of horror, beseeches you not to proceed ; she presses her child to her heart, she drowns it in her tears : her fancy catches more than an angel's tongue could describe ; at a single view she takes in the whole miserable succession of force, of profanation, of despair, of death. So it is in the question before us. If any man shall hear of this day's transaction, he cannot be so foolish as to suppose that we have been confined to a single character, like those now brought before you. No, gentlemen ; far from it ; he will have too much common sense not to know that outrages like this tire never solitary ; that where the public calamity generates imps like these, their number is as the sands of the sea, and their fury as insatiable as its waves. I am therefore anxious that our masters should have one authenti- cated example of the treatment which our unhappy country suffers under the sanction of their authority ; it will put a strong question to their humanity, if they have any— to their prudence, if their pride will let them listen to it ; or, at least, to that anxiety for reputation, to that pretension to the imaginary virtues of mildness and mercy, which even countries the most divested of them are so ready to assert their claim to, and so credulously disposed to believe that claim allowed. There are some considerations respecting yourselves, and the defen- dant, to which I should wish Co say a word. You may, perhaps, thinH ycur persons unsafe, if you find a verdict against so considerable a per- son. I know his power, as well as you do — I know he might send you *o the Provost, as he has done the plaintiff, and forge a return on any writ you might issue for your deliverance — I know there is no spot on Ihe devoted nation (except that on which we now are), where the story of oppression can be told or heard ; but I think you ca7i have no well- founded apprehensions Tliere is h time when ciuelty and oppressioa become satiated and fatigued ; in that satiety at least you will find your- selves secure. But there is still a better security for you— the grati- tude of the worthy defendant. If anything could add to his honours and his credit, and his claims, it would be your verdict for the plaintiff* for in what instance have you ever seen any man so effectually accre- dited and recommended, as by the public execration ?— what a man, for instance, might not O'Brien have been, if the envy of the gibbet had not arrested the career of his honours and preferments ! In every point of view, therefore, I recommend to you to find, and to find hberally, for the plaintiff; I have founded my advice upon the rea» circumstances of your situation ; I have not endeavoured to stimulate you into any silly hectic of fancied liberty. I do not call upon you to expose yourselves by the affectation of vindicating the cause of freedom and humanity ; much less do I wish to exhibit ourselves to those, whose property we are, as indignant or contumacious under then- authority Fax from it -, they are unquestionably the proprietors of us ; they are enilticd of right to drive us, and to v/orlc us : but we may be permitted 394 KEVEY V. MAJOR SIRR. modestly to suggest, that for their own sakea, and for their (. Kn Inte- rest, a line of moderation may be drawn — that there are excesses of infliction that human nature cannot bear. With respect to her western negroes, Great Britain has had the wis- dom and humanity to feel the justice of this observation, and in some degree to act upon it ; and I have too high an opinion of that great and philosophic nation, not to hope that she might think us not undeserving of equal mildness — provided it did not interfere with her just authority Dver us. It would, I should even think, be for her credit, that having the honour of so illustrious a rider, we should be kept in some sort of condition, somewhat bordering upon spirit, which cannot be maintained, if she suffers us to be utterly broken down by the malicious wanton- ness of her grooms and jockeys. This cause is of no inconsiderable expectation ; and in whatever light you. regard it, — whether with respect to the two countries or to Ireland singlvj or to the parties concerned, or to your own sense of character and public duty, or to the natural consequences that must flow from the event, you ought to consider it with the most profound attention before you agree upon your verdict. James Molloy, Esq., Samuel Rainey, and PatricK Maguire were examined, to prove tlie vccorrences in the Commercial Buildings, and the facts of the imprisonment and relearse. llr. William Fletcher opened the defence, and examined Mr. Hall, to show that Hevey was the aggressor, but this he failed to do. Mr. W. C. Plunket replied for the defendant ; Mr. 3onah Harrington followed for the plaintiff. After a just charge from Lord Kilwarden the Jury retired, and shortly returned with a verdict for the plaintiif, £150 damages, with costs. Counsel for the plaintiff— Messrs. Curran, Baixington, Ball , Orr, M Nally, and Wallace ; agent, Jlr. Cooke. Counsel for the defendant— Messrs. Fletcher, Plunket, Jonas Greene, Sidgeway, and Kemmis, agent, Mr. Thomas Kemmis, Cro-svn -Solicitor. On the publication of the trial, by Stockdale, Major Sandys wrote him a letter, dated *' Dublin Barracks, October 13th, 1802," in which he abused Curran and Stockdale, and said he was " subpoenaed" by the plaintiff, and was in court, ready to be examined. Stockdale's reply is very sharp. It aflarms th© accuracy of the report, and denies his liability for Mr. Curraru Two of the paragraphs are worth preserving : — " It is certainly very wonderful, and perhaps might appear incredible, if the fact did not stand upon the acthority of Major Sandys himself, that considering all the circumstances of the transaction, the part that he took in it, and the light in which he appeared at the trial, le was not examined as a witness on the part of the plaintiff. This must, I am persuaded, iave been a great disappointment to him — but I can only feel for his disappointment, I cannot remedy it ; nor can I, any more than he can himself, account for it ; if I were to pre- sume to offer a conjecture as to the cause of that extraordinary omission, I should, perhaps, ascribe it to the polite indiscretion of the counsel on both sides, each of whom seemed dis- posed to make a compliment of the Major to the other, and each of whom seemed also obstinately determined not to accept that compliment. " Major Sandys has very stoutly and manfully declared, that as he utterly denies the charges that have been brought forward against him, so he is ready to meet and refute any further charges that may be brought forward ; that is, I presume, by utterly denying them —a mode of refutation chat should always have great weight, but which, in the present instance, after unluckily missing the only opportunity that has occurred of putting thai denial into the most solemn form, in a court of justice, and after a serious deliberation at several months upon the subject, ought, In the judgment of every rational and CJidid man. to be absolutely conclusive." Spite of this success, Hevey was victimized ; the long imprisonment made him a baufc rL.pt. PoTcrtv and sorrow broke his sr-^'d. te died a pauper lunatv* shortly after. OWEN KIR WAN, 180t ^^ FOR OWEN KIRWAiJ [high treason.] SPKCIAL COMMISSION GREEN-STREE l Zliursday, 1st September, 1803. Tub failure of the risings and invasiions of 179S broke the faith of some, the prfzrciplcs oi others, and tlie hopes of many ; Init tlie causes of discontent increased. The horril revenge which followed the defeat of the rebels — tlie treaclujry of Government to the United Irish leaders in 1708, and to the Catholics in 1801— and the extinction of the Constitution of '82. were added to tlie political slavery of the Catholics, and the desperate poverty of tliu people. The revival of the war after the short peace of Amiens,, and the aUenaticn fn?ai England caused by the first blight of the Union, increased the strength and hopes of reTOi.ti« tion. Robert Emmet's insurrection was, then, not so ill-timed as most ^vriters allegat His friends were far Iiigher than is commonly supposed ; Uut he did not sufflciantly a_iaw for the ettects of religious feud in Ulster, or the depression of the people elsewhere. Strll his chances were not slight ; and the insufficiency of his agents, not of his frieu'ia, joL-ijJ tCi his o^vn rashness and softness of character, were the main causes of his defeat. I shall not repeat the common mistakes as to this insui-rection, nor att«mpt to anticijist* the full and most strangely true account of it, about to appear in the Third Serias of I>i Maddens, " Unit«--d Irishmen." Kobert Emmet and his associates accumulated pikes, guns, cartridges, materisls for street deteiices, and considerable camp equipage, in different stores in Dublin, the principal ol thein being in Mass-lane. He had arranged for the arrival in Dublin of bodies of 5>easan.ti7 from the neighbouring counties, and the commencement of the insurrection there on the 23rd July, ISOo ; while Thomas Russell was to head another movement in the county Down Government were in possession of much vagus information ; yet so conceited and absolute was Mr. Secretary Marsden (then the real governor of Ireland), that he allowed the Lord Lieutenant to go to the Lodge in the Phoenix Park, late on the 23rd, without an additional gojrd, and left the public functionaries, military and civil, without distinct instructions. The nignt was unusually dark for the time of the year, and, favoured by it, a mob assam- Uod about nine o'clock, and at ten (the hour agreed on) a number of them received arm* i'cKu. the depot, in Mass-lane. A signal rocket was then fired — Emmet and some of his friends turned out, and a rush was mado towards the Castle. The mob acted like a n>ob- ^>t confused, violent, and alarmed — paused and wavered — butchered Colonel Brown, Lord I'll [warden, and some otners, who could not fight— &i;d ctn Crom the Are of a few small oodies of troops who were first hurried against them. Tf^e leaders, in disgust, abandoned them ; the insurrection was over long before morning. All that remained was for Govern- ment to proclaim, try, hang, and oppress. They did all vigorously. A Special Commission was issued, and it opened its sittings on the 31st of August, the Judges being Lord Norbury Jlr. Justice Finucane, and Barons George and Daly. Nine- teen persons were tried before the Commission : — one, Walter Clare, was respited; anothei; Joseph Doran, was acquitted ; the. rest, including Robert Emmet, were hanged. Russell shared the same fate in Downpatriclc Curran, aided by Ponsonby and M'Nally, was counsel for several of the prisoners ; but his only speech was for Owen Kirwan. Kirwan was tried on the 1st day of September. He was a tailor and clothes dealer, reei dent at 64, Plunket-street, Dublin, and exorcised no influence m the msun-ection. The Attorney General (O'Grady,* afterwards Viscount Guillamore), stated the ca£^^ The witnesies called were Edward \Vilson aud Mr. Douglas, who proved the scene iii Thomas-street ; Lieuteiiaut Coltman, who proved the taking of arms, stores, and especially rockets, in Mass-lane ; Thomas Rice, who proved Emmet's proclamations ; Benjamin Adams, who swore that, on the firing of the signal rocket, he saw Kirwan turn out f>\J3i his shop, with a pike on his shoulder at the head of several men ; and Joseph Adams, who confirmed Benjamin's evidence. Curran then, hopeless It would seem of saving the prisoner, but anxious to serre tht coofltry (for which he then hoped, at best, a slavish repose^ spoke as follows : — • He was appointed Attorney-General June the 7th, 1803. John Scewart, made Attorney- General on the 6tli of December, 1800, came between Toler and O'Grady. James WCtw- itndwasSnlicitor-Genei *l during these trials, and contlatiedso till November, wlieu PIuoImS viaccidtKl him. 396 OV/EN KIKV/Ai;, 18U'd. It has become my duty to state to the court aud jury the defence of the prisoner at the bar. I was cliosen for that very unpleasant task, ivithout my concurrence or knowledge ; but as soon as I was apprised of It, I accepted it without hesitation. To assist a human being, labour- ing under the most av/ful of all situations — trembling in the dreadful alternative of honourable life or ignominious death — is what no man, worthy of the name, could refuse to man ; but it would be peculiarly base in any person who had tlie honour of wearing the King's gown, to leave the King's subject undefended, until a sentence pronounced upon hira had shown, that neither in fact nor in law could any defence avail him. I cannot, however, but confess, that 1 feel no small consolation when I compare my present with my former situation upon similar occasions. In those sad times to which I allude, it was frequently my fate to come forward to the spot where I now stand, with a body sinking under infir- mity and disease, and a mind broken with the consciousness of public salamity, created and exasperated by public folly. It has pleased hea- ven that I should live to survive both those afflictions, and I am grate- ful to its mercy. I now come here through a composed and quiet city — I read no expression in any face, save such as marks the ordinary foeungs of social life, or the various characters of civil occupation — I see uo frightful spectacle of infuriated power or suffering humanity — I see no tortures — I hear no shrieks — I no longer see the human heart charred in the lame of its own wild and paltry passions, black and bloodless, capable mly of cateliing and communicating that destructive fire by which it devours, and is itself devoured. I no longer behold the ravages of that odious bigotry by which we were deformed, and degraded, and disgraced — a bigotry against which no honest man should ever miss an opportunity of putting his country- men, of all sects and of all descriptions, upon their guard. Is is the accursed and promiscuous progeny of servile hypocrisy — of reu^orseiees lust of power — of insatiate thirst of gain, labouring for the destruction >f man under the specious pretences of religion. Her banner stolen !rom the altar of God, and her allies congregated from the abysses Mr. Attorney-General — My lord, I hope Mr. Curran will excu.s« me or inter:*nyting him. No aJusion was vs&li to the act of parliament or the commission in this case ; and althougli I o any insular acquwition ; and of course he should guard against the pos- sibility of danger, by so complete and merciless a thraldom as would make an effort of resistance physically impossible. Perhaps, my lords, and gentlemen, I may be thought the^ apologist, instead of the reviler of the ruler of France. I affect not either char - acter — I am searching for the motives of his conduct, and not for til e OWEN KIRWAN, lS03. -'^^ topics of his justification. I do not affect to trace those motives to any depravity of heart or of mind, v.'hich accident may have occasioned for a season, and which reflection or compunction may extinguish or allay, and thereby make him a completely different man, with respect to France and to the world ; I am acting more fairly and more usefully by my country, when I show, that his conduct must be so swayed by tlie per- manent pressure of his situation, by the control of an unchangeable and inexorable necessity, that he cannot dare to relax or relent, without becoming the certain victim of his own humanity or contrition. I may be asked, are these merely my own speculations, or have other? m Ireland adopted them ? I answer freely, non meus hie sermo est. It is, to my own knowledge, the result of serious reflection in numbers of our countrymen. In the storm of arbitrary sway, in the distraction of torture and suffering, the human mmd had lost its poise and its tone; and was incapable of sober reflection ; but, by removing those terrors from it, by holding an even hand between all parties, by disdaining the patronage of any sect or faction, the people of Ireland were left al liberty to consider her real situation and interest ; and happily for her- self, I trust in God, she has availed herself of the opportunity. With respect to the higher orders, even of those who thought they had some cause to complain, I know this to be the fact, they are not so blind as not to see the difference between being proud, and jealous, and punctihous in any claim of privilege or right between themselves and their fellow-subjects, and the mad and desperate depravity of seeking the redress of any dissatisfaction that they might feel, by an appeal to force, or by the dreadful recourse to treason and to blood. As to the humbler orders of our people, for whom I confess I feel the greatest sympathy, because there are more of them to be undone, and because, from want of ediLcatlon, they must be more liable to delu- sion ; I am satisfied the topics to which I have adverted, apply with still greater force to them, than to those who are raised above them. I have not the same opportunity of knowing their actual opinions ; but if their opinions be other than I think they ought to be, would to God they were present in this place, or that I had the opportunity of going into their cottages — and they well know I should not disdain t plunder, that there are few churches co rob Can you then doubt that he would reward Ms rapacious generals and soldiers by parcelling out the soil of the island among them, an by dividing you into lots of serfs, to till the respective lands to wlncu you belong, or sending you as graziers to enjoy the rocks of Malta and Gibral r ? Can you suppose that the perfidy and treason of surrendering your country to an invader, would, toyournevr master, be any pledge of your new alliegance ? Car. you suppose that while a single French soldier was wiiiing to accept an acre of Irisfc ground, that he would leave that acre in the possession of a man, who ))ad shown himself so wickedly and so stupidly dead to the suggestions of the most obvious interest, and to the ties of the most imperious moral obligations ? To what do jou look forward with respect to the aggrandizement of your sect ? Are you Protestants ? he has abolished ProtestanLism with Christianity. Are yoa Catholics ? do you think he will raise you to the level of the Pope ? Perhaps, and I think, he would not ; but, if he did, could you hope more privilege than he has left his Holiness? And what privilege has he left bun? he has reduced his religion to be a mendi- cant for contemptuous toleration, and he has reduced his person to beggary and to rags. Let lae ask you a further question. Do you think he would teel any kind-hearted sympathy for you ? Answer yourselves by asking, what sympathy does he feel for Frenchmen, whom he is ready by thousands to bury in the ocean, in the barbarous gambling of his wild ambition ? What sympathy, then, could bind him to you? He is not your country- man. The scene of your birth and your childhood is not endeared to his heart, by the reflection, that it was also the scene of his : he is not your fellow-Christian ; he is not, therefore, bound to you by any simi- larity of duty in the vrorld, or by any union of nope beyond the grave. What, then, could you suppose the object of his visit, or the consequence of his success ? Can you be so foolish as not to see, that he would use you as slaves, while he held you ; and that when lie grew weary, which he soon would become^ of such a worthless and precarious possession, he would carry you to market in some treaty of peace, barter you foi some more valuable concession, and surrender you to expiate, by youi punishment and degradation, the advantage you had given him byyoul follies and your crimes. There is another topic on which a few words might be addressed to the deluded peasant of this country : he might be asked, — What could you hope from the momentary success of any eflbrt to subvert the govern- ment by mere intestine convulsion ? Could you look forward to the nope of liberty or property ? Where are the characters, the capacities, and the motives of those that have embarked in those chimerical pro- jects - you see them a despicable gangof needy adventurers; desperatP from guilt and poverty ; uncountenanced by a suigie individual of pro- "bity or name ; ready to use you as the instruments, and equally ready to abandon you by treachery or flight, as the victims of their crimes, i-'or a short interval, murder and i\ nine might have their sway ; bui do o^yEN KIR WAN, 1803. 408 not oe such fools as to think, that though robbing'mignt make a few persons poor, it could make many rich. Do not be so silly as to confound the destruction of property with the partition of wealth. Small must be your slia-re of the spoil, and short your enjoyment of it. Soon, trust me, very soon, would such a state of things be terminated by the very at»ocities of its authors. Soon would you find yourselves subdued, ruined, and degraded. If you looked back, it would be to character destroyed, to hope extinguished. If you looked forward, you could see only the dire necessity you had imposed upon rour governors, of acting towards you with no feelino-s Init those of abhorrence and self-preservation, of ruling you by a system ot coercion of which alone you would be worthy, and of loading you with taxes (that is, selling the food and raiment which your honest labour might earn for your family,) to defray the expense of that force, by which only you could be restrained. Say not, gentlemen, that I am inexnusabiy vain when I say, would to God that 1 had an opportunity of speaking this plain, and, I trust, not absurd, language to the humblest orders of my countrymen. vVhen I see what sort of missionaries can preach the doctrines of villany and folly with success, I cannot think it very vain to suppose, that they would listen with some attention and some respect to a man who was addressing plain sense to their minds, whose whole hfe ought to be a pledge for his sincerity and affection, who had never in a smgie instance deceived, or deserted, or betrayed them, who had never been seduced to an abandonment of their just rights, or a connivance at any of their excesses, that could threaten an injury to their character or their condition. But perhaps I have trespassed too much upon your patience, by what may appear a digression from the question. The motive of mv doinar so, i. perceive by your maiiigent hearing, you perfectly comprehend. But I do not consider what I have said as a mere irrelevant digression, with respect to the immediate cause before you. The reasoning cornea to this : the present state of this country shows, that nothing could bf so stupidly and perversely wicked asaprojectof separation, or of FrencL connexion ; and, of course, notliing more improbable than the adoption of such a senseless project. If it be then so senseless, and thergtfore so improbable, how strong ought the evidence to be on which you should be warranted in attesting on your oaths, to England and France, so odious an imputation on the good sense and loyalty of your country. Let me revert again to the evidence which you have heard to support so incredible a charge. I have already observed on the contemptible smallness of the number, a few drunken peasants, assembled in the out- lets ; there, in the fury of intoxication, they committed such atrocities as no man can be disposed to defend or extenuate ; and having done so, they flee before a few peace-officers, aided by the gallantry of Mr, Jus- tice Drury, who, even if he did retreat, as has been insinuated, has at least the merit of having no wish to shed the blood of his fellov/-Chris- tians, and is certainly entitled to the praise of preserving the life of £ mo."'; valuable citizen and loyal subject. 104 OWEN RIRWAN, 1803. In this whole transaction, no attempt, however feeble or ill direct is made on any place belongino; to or connected with the government They never even approach the barrack, the castle, the magazines. N'» leader whatsoever appears ; nothing that I can see to call for your ver- dict, except the finding the bill, and the uncorroborated statement of the Attorney-General. In that sta*ement, too, I must beg leave to guard you agahist mistake in one or two particulars. As to what he said of my Lord Kilwarden, it was not unnatural to feel as he seemed to do at the recollection, or to have stated that sad event as a fact that took place; on that occasion, hut I am satisfied he did not state it with the least intention of agitating your passions, or of letting it have the smallest influence on your judgment.'] In your inquiry into a charge of treason, you are to determine upoii evidence ; and what is there in this case to connect the prisoner witli .the general plan or the depot which was found ? I do not say that the account of tliese matters was not admissible evidence ; but I say, that the existence of these things without a design, or proof of a design, with- out connexion with the prisoner, cannot affect his life ; for you cannot found a verdict upon construction or suspicion. The testimony of Adams seemed to have been brought forward aa evidence of greater cogency. He saw the prisoner go out with a bag half full, and return with it empty. I niii at a loss to conjecture whac they would wish you to suppose was contained in it: — but men are seen it his house ; does it follow that he was connected with the transactions in Thomas-street ? The elder Adams does not appear to have stateJ any thing material but his own fears. The proclamation may be evi- dence of a treasonable conspiracy existing ; but it is no evidence against the prisoner, unless he be clearly connected with it ; and in truth wher> I see the evidence on which you are to decide, reduced to what is lega. or admissible, I do not wonder that Mr. Attorney-General himself sliould, apon the first trial, have treated this doughty rebellion with *iie laughte: and contempt it deserved.* Where now is this providential escape of the government ancHhe castle ? why, simply in this, that nobody attacked either the one oi the other ; and that there were no persons that jould have attacked either. It seems not unlike the escape v/hich a young man had of being shot ttirough the head at the battle of De'>cingen, by the providential inter- ference by which he was sent twenty miles ofi" on a foraging party, only .en days before the battle. I wish from my heart that there may be now present some wortliy gentleman, who may transmit *.o Paris a faithful account of what has this day passed. If so, I think some loyal absentee may possibly find an account of H in the Puhliciste or the Moniteur, and perhaps somewhat in this way : " On the 23rd of July last, a most splendid rebellion displayed her stand- ard in the metropolis of Ireland, in a part of the city, which, in their language, is called the Poddle. The band of heroes that came forth at the call of patriotism, capable of bearing arms, at the lowest calcula- tion must have amoimted to little less than two hundred persona. The OVEN KIB^VAN, 1803. 405 rcbeUion advanced with a most intrepid step, till she canie to the Bite of the old Four Courts and Tholsel. There slie, espied a decayed pL- Iciy, on which she mounted, in order to reconnoitre, but she found to her great mortification, that the rebels had staid behind. She there- fore judged it right to make her escape, which she effected in a masterlj manner down Dirty Lane; the rebels at the same time retiring in Komo disorder from the Poddle, behig hard pressed by the poles and lanterns of the watchmen, and being additionally galled by Mr. Justice Drury, who came to a most unerring aim on their rear, on which he played without any intermission, with a spy-glass from his dining-room windLw Rarb antecedentem scelestum deseruit pcena pede claudo. " It is clearly ascertained that she did not appear in her own clothet-. for she threw away her regimental jacket before she Hed, which has been picked up, and is now to ho. seen at Mr. Carleton's, at sixpence a head for grown persons, and threepence for a nurse and child. It was thouglit at first to be the work of an Irish artist, who might hare taken measure in the absence of the wearer ; but by a bill and receipt found in one -jf the pockets, it appears to have been made by the actual body-tailor of her August Highness the Consort of the First Consul. At present it i- but poorly ornamented, but it is said that the Irish Volunteers hare entered into a subscription to trim it, if it shall be ever worn again." Happy, most happy, it is for those islands, that those rumours which are so maliciously invented and circulated, to destroy our confidence in each other, to hivite attack, and dispirit resistance, turn out, upon inquiry, to be so ludicrous and contemptible, that we cannot speak of them with- out laughter, or without wonder that they did not rather form the mate- rials of a farce in a puppet-show, than of a grave prosecution in a court of justice. There is still, gentlemen, another topic material to remind you of this is the first trial for treason that has occurred since the union of these islands. No effectual union can be achieved by the mere letter of a statute. Do not imagine that bigotry can blend with liberality, or bar- barism with civilization. If you wish to be really united with Great Britain, teach her to respect you, and do so by showing; her that you are fit objects of wholesome laws — by showing that you^are as capable of rising to a proud equality with her in the exercise of social duties and civil virtues, as every part of the g'lobe has proved you to be in her fleets and her armies; show her that you can try this cause as she would try it ; that you have too much sense and humanity to be borne aw^y in your verdict by despicable panic, or brutal fury ; show her, that in prosecutions by the state, you can even go a step beyond her, and tiUat you can discover and act upon those eternal principles of justice, wliich it has been found necessary in that country to enforce by the coercion of law : you caimot but feel that I allude to their statute which requires two witnesses in treason. Our statute doe? not contain that provision; but if it were vric-e tc enact it there as a law, it cannot be other than wise to adopt it hen^ iu a principle ; unless you thiik it discreet to-hold it out as your opinioL. that the life of man is not so valuable hrr?. and ought not to be as r< cure 2c i06 JOHA C0STL2Y, l»04. as iu Ihe otlier part of the empire; unless you wish to prove your capa- bility of equal rights and equal liberty with Britain, by consigning to She scaflold your miserable fellow-subject, who if tried in England on the same charge and the same evidence, would by law be entitled to a rerdict of acquittal. I trust you will not so blemish yourselves — I trust you will not be gatisfied even with a cold imitation of her justice, but on this occasion j^ou will give her an example of magnanimity, by rising superior to the passion or the panic of the moment. If in any ordinary case, in any ordinary time, you have any reasonable doubt of guilt., you are bound by every principle of law and justice to •Acquit. But I would advise you, at a time like this, rather to be lavish than parsimonious in the application of that principle ; even though you had the strongest suspicion of his culpability, I would advise you to acquit ; you would show your confidence in your own strength, that you felt your situation too high to be affected in the smallest degree by the fate of so insignificant an individual. Turn to the miserable pri- soner himself— tainted and blemished as he possibly may be, even him you may retrieve to his country and his duty, by a salutary effort of seasonable magnanimity. You will inspire him with reverence for that institution which knows when to spare, as well as when to inflict ; and which, instead of sacrificing him to a strong.suspicion of his criminality, is determined, not by the belief, but by the possibility of his innocence, and dismisses him with indignation and contemptuous mercy. A feeble attempt Avas made to prove that Kirwan slept at home on the 23rcl; and witnesses were also examined to prove his gencrU loyalty. Baron George then charged, and in Ave minutes after, the jury found a verdict of Guiltx. He waa sentenced on the 2nd of Sep- tember, and hiiDj^ed in Thomas-atreet, on the 3rd. AGAINST ENSIGN JOHN COSTLEY. [conspiracy to mdkder.] essions-house, green-strebt. February/ 23rd, 1804. Tag following! speech is chiefly valuable, aa illustrating the placid »nd Just majiabf la which so vehement an advocate as Curran could discharge hia duty as prosecutor. Costley was an ensign in the Roscommon Militia. He was arraigned before Baron George and Jlr. Justice Day at Green-stMeet. Dublin, on the 21st of Februaiy, 1S04, on an indictment, charging him and Charles Frazer Frizell with having conspired to' murder the Rev. William Ledwich, parish priest of Rathfamham, in tbe county Dublin. Other indictments charged burglary in the houjse of Catherine Byrne, wtth mtent to murder. There was one count for a common assault On Thursday, the 23rl, the trial came on, and after Mr. O'Gr&dy, jun., had opened fht pleadings, Cmran stated the case for the crown as foUows :— My lords, and gentlemen of the jury, I am concerned in this cause as counsel for the crown— that is, as counsel for the law and for the public jieace, by putting the charge, that has been found by the indictment JOHN COSTLEY, lb04 -iUV firm, Slid dispassionate inquiry, before you. Gentlemen of the Jur\,. to enublc you to fulfil to the public the awful, heavy, and severe duty of finding the prisoner at the bar guilty, 'f he be guilty, and that aTaul, solemn, and equallv bounden duty vou owe to the prisoner himself, to acquit him, if he shall appear to be inno- eent of the charges brought against him. It becomes my duty at present, and painful is that duty, and painfu* imst it be to every man who acts as counsel for the crown against the life of a fellow-subject, painful must it be in proportion to the sad con* fiction that he feels in his mind that the prosecution must be suo tessful. It is my duty, gentlemen of the jury, to apprise you of the nature of the charge, as well as to apprise you of the circumstances that will be given in evidence to support that charge, that you may understand, in some previous degree, the law by which you are to be dii-ected, and that vou should have some previous knowledge of the nature of the evidence ;liat shall be adduced for the purpose of substantiating that charge. The prisoner has been given in charge to the jujy on an indictment stating, that he, with others, did conspire to kill and murder William Ledwich, who is prosecutor in this cause. That offence is made capital by the statute laws of the country j and, gentlemen, I would be glad to [juard you against a mistake, that in common parlance arises on this subject. A conspiracy to kiU ai:d murder does not owe its criminality to the length of time it may occupy in its progress, from its first con- ception to its ultimate adoption — a conspiracy may be formed the very instant before the step is taken to put it into eflecfc. If a number of people meet accidentally in the street, and conspire together to kill and ■aiurder at the moment, it is as essentially the crime of conspiracy as if it' had been intended for a year before, and hatched for that year to the moment of its accomplishment. On the charge of burglary alleged against the prisoner at the bar, it becomes requisite to be equally clear and explicit, that ycu may com- yreheud how essential it is, that two cu'cumstances shall go to compose fhis species of crime, which is also made capital, and consequently liable to the punishment of death. It becomes necessary before you cau decide on a verdict of guilt on this indictment, that two circumstances shall be proved to your satisfaction. The first of these is, the breaking open of the dwelhng or habitation of any of his Majesty's subjects any time aft^r night-fall ; and the next essential ingredient is, that such breaking must lia re been efiected with design or intent to commit a felony. These distinct and separate facts you must combine in proof before the charge of burglary can be sustained ; so far, that should you be satisfied that a breaking into a dwelling or habitation at a late hour of the night was accomplished, it becomes necessary, m addition, that you should have a? r.troug and forcible a conviction on your minds, that such breaking iutr the house or dwelling was designed and perpetrated with the intent to (X)mmit a felony, before you can venture to bring m a verdict of guilty As to the burglary charged against the prisoner at the bar, you will per- ceive th&t the indictment lavs the breaking into the habitation of the prt>- 40S iJOHN COSrrLEY, 1J504. gecutor, with intent to kill ai»d murder liim ; an act, which, if perpetrated, would constitute a capital felony in itself, and the intention of which, con- nected with the fact of brealdng into the house, forms an indictment on grounds sufficiently finn to form the capital crime of burglary. It may be equally necessary to hint to you, gentlemen of the jury, that the statute which makes burglary a capital offence, does not lay :lown a distinct species of felony, 3ie commission of which must previ. jusly occupy the intention — it does not discriminate between the intention of committing a r"M'der and committing a robbery; so that, on this principle, if you shall reconcile it to your minds in the course of the evidence wliich shall be adduced, that the prisoner at the bar broke into the habitation alluded to, with intent to murder, the crime of bui-glary is effectually constituted ; and you are bound, by the sacred oath you have tals en, to bring in a sentence of conviction. But if the evidence shall not appear to you sufficiently strong to reconcile your consciences to the belief, that the prisoner at the Tsar, let the fact of his breaking open the house be ever so inconti'overtible, did form the design or inten- tion to commit the murder alleged, then, gentlemen of the jury, your understandings vtdll suggest to you, that it becomes an imperious duty on you to bring in a verdict of acquittal. I feel it is my duty to make these preliminary observations by wliich you might at least be directed to that more minute and precise exposi- tion of the law, which you will have the satisfaction of hearing from the iourt. I also feel, that the man who stands up in a court of justice, iwes to the jury whom he addresses, the duty of elucidating any matter of law suggested by the nature of the case in which he becoines an advo- cate, and a studied anxiety not to aggravate or strain its circumstances beyond a fair and liberal construction of that law. I repeat, gentlemen, that I feel it becomes a duty equally awful and imperious on bis coi>- science, to view the object of explanation in all its points and bearings, with uniform and impartial investigation. The more momentous ami important the object of inquiry becomes, the more ardent must liia anxiety be not to mislead ; and the delicacy, which that advocate must feel in a predicament of this nature, becomes a principle to govern the consciences and the oaths of persons delegated to expound the law iji more exalted situations. I have hitherto stated two material charges a^insfc the prisoner at the bar, in which your judgments will be exercised. Those of a les* important or inferior nature, I do not think it equally neceesary to dilat» towards proper objects, which will ultimately terminate with a liiglic-' power, who is bound to administer justice in mercy. Gentlemen of the jury, 1 have endeavoured to state to you tliose prii> iples and maxims of the criminal laws of youi* country, by which you /annot l^il to perceive the boundaries which the sound policy of our gen- eral law has affixed to each department. Finding* the facts against the prisoner at the bar, according to the evidence wliich shall be laid befort you, will not preclude him from mercy, should he be conceived a prope. subject for it, a conaideratinn which ynu. aa honest and humane men, must feel a superior gratification in contemplating. But, on the other band, reflect that it is not because you suspect a culprit, that ^-ou must, find him guilty ; for the wise policy of the law itself has it, that the more nideous are the circumstances of the oflence, so much the more shall Christian charity induce you to be incredulous as to its perpetration. And, on that principle, the practice of the courts is grounded, which eruires that solemn and pathetic appeal to God, from the officer, praying jy send the culprit a good dehverance. Therefore, unless a true convit tion shall remove all rational doubt from your minds before you take upon you to pass a verdict on the life or Hberty of your fellow-creature, it will be, as I before have stated, your bouuden duty unreservedly to acquit. But if conviction shall supersede all doubt, and clear up all embarrassment, you are equally bound to consider that pardon and cnercy to the culprit are lodged in other breasts than yours. I shall conclude, gentlemen of the jury, with only one observation, that is, in your discussion of the several charges exhibited against the prisoner at the bar, you will not permit anything 1 have said, or any statement of the evidence I have laid before you to make an exclusive impression on you. The Rev. William Ledwich proved that on the 8rd of Febrnaiy he was lofJging at Cathe- rine Byrae's house at Kathfaniham, that about ten o'clock on that mght Frizell atid Costiey. ■with a party of their yeomen, came to the liouse, aud endeavoured to force him away to the guard-house; that he resisted, was struck at witli a sword^ aud finally escaped over Lon? Ely 's wall at the back of the house. Other witnesses proved tluit the prisoner aud his party fired into the hoiL&e, and also broke the doors and windows to force their way in. Mr. Egan opened Liie defence, using tlm cross-examination of the prosecutor's witncsseB,- to prove tliat Costley was only drunk and intemperate, and iuxd got into a riot, and called Lord Erris and Colonel Cauilleld to testily to hiscliaracter. After a reply from ilr. il'lsally and a charge from Judge Day, the jury acquitti'd tin- iiri.-,oner on all the cl.arses except th* assault. Oa Vuat hi was found Qutltv ««<' **^ 't <»e *•<* '5aa*^«ni;ecl to two years' immison 'Tieufc ili Massy v. headfozkp. MASSY 0. HEADFORT. [for criminal C0NTERSATI02?.] ZNNIS SUMMER ASSIZES. July 2:th, 1804. TitB Eer. Charies Massy, second son of Sir Hugh Massy, Bjirt., was a evcrgyman, deriTing arge income from clmich livings. In March, 1796, he married against his father's vrish, 4 Miss Rosslev/^in, then eighteen years of age, and of remarkable heauty. By her he had cm 3on. He was residing, in 1803, at Doouas, on the Clare hank of the Sliannon, ahout five- miles ahove Limerick. The Marquis of Headfort, with his regiment of Meath Militia, -was then quartered in Limerick, his lordship residing in the Earl of Limerick's house. Mr I.Iassj--, -when at one time a rector in Meath, had kuoiMi the dowager Lady Bective and the Headfort fiimily ; so, when Ids wife hecame acquainted \nth Lord Headfort in Limerick- he veiy naturally asked the Marquis to Doonas — his wife was rather fond of society and di»- plaT, hut, then. Lord Headfort was fifty years old. The res-ult of the visit was, that on a Sunday morning after the Cliristmas of 1803, whilp VTr. Massy was perfonning service in his chmxh, Mrs. Massy eloped with Lord Headfort, ano for this the action vras hrought. Damages were laid at £40,000, and the case was tried at he Clare Summer Acsizes before Baron Smith and a special jury. An immense bar Avas employed for the plaintifT; they were — John Philpot Curran, Bar- 'holomew Hoare, JTenry Deane Grady, Thomas Carey, John Whyte, Amory Hawksworth vv'^illiam O'Regan, Thomas Lloyd, William M'Mahon, and George Bennet, Esqrs. ; agent, Anthony Hogan, Esq. The Counsel for the defence were George Ponsonby, Thomas Qnin, riioiii;v.s Goolu, John riaiicka, Chailes Burton, Richard Pennefather, Esqrs. ; agent, James Simms, Esq. Mr. George Bennet opened the pleadings. Mr. Hoare stated the case, describing Lord Headfort as " this hoary veteran in whom, like Etna, tlie snow above did not quench the flames below.'" His speech throughout is masculine, original, and to the point ; while his Cornish plunderer has been cited as ar, instance of the highest eloquence. Here it is : — "The noble lord proceeded to the completion of his diabolical project, not with the rasli precipitancy of youth, but with the most cool and deliberate consideration. The Cornish ])lunderer. intent on spoil, callous to every touch of humanity, shrouded in darkness, holds out false lights to the tempest-tossed vessel, and lures her and her pilot to that shore upoc which slie must be lost for ever, the rock miseen, the ruffian invisible, and nothing appa rent but the treacherous signal of security and rei)ose ; so this prop of the throne, this piUar of the state, this stay of religion, the ornament of the peerage, this common protector of the people's privileges and of the crown's prerogatives, descends from these liigh grounds of character to muffle himself in the gloom of his own base and dark designs, to play before the eyes of th.e deluded wdfe and the deceived husband the falsest lights of love to the one, and of ft-iendly and hospitable regards to the other, until she is at length dashed upon that hard bosom, where her honour and happiness are wrecked and lost ever ; the agonised hus- band beholds the niin with those sensations of misery and of horror which you can better feel than I describe ; she, upon whom he had embarked all his hopes and all his happinesa in this life, the treasure of all his earthly felicities, the rich fund of aU his hoarded joys, sunk before his eyes into an abyss of infamy, or if any fragment escape, escaping to solace, to gratify, to enrich her vile destroyer." Five witnesses proved the marriage and elopement, the happiness of Mr. Massy'fi home, «nd the fortune of Lord Headfort. Mr. Quin opened the defence, not denying the fact, but the injury. He alleged that Mr; Hassy's character was so light that it was gross folly or worse of her husband, to hav*. tlirown her into Lord Headfort's way. To prove this he examined Colonel Pepper, Captaia Charleton, and Mr. George Evans Bruce.* Mr, Ponsonby followed on the same side, witk great skill, and then Curran said : — Never so clearly as in the present instance have I observed that safe- guard of justice, which Providence hath placed in the nature of ma^ :y^ch is the imperious dominion with which truth and reason wave tneii socptre over the human intellect, that no solicitations, however artfu^, 12 talent, however commanding, can reduce it from its allegiance, lu * struck at for (amongst other things), his evidence in this case, oy Harry Deane Grady. in !.i.e " Nosegay," a once celebrated, but .new happily forgotten flatire. ^lAiJSl V. flEAUFOK'i 413 j/ioi ;)rtioii to the humility of our submission to its rule, do we rise iut'^ oome faint emulation of that ineffable and presiding divinity, whose char- cictoristic attribute it is, to be coerced and bound by the inexorable laws of its own nature, so as to be all- wise and all-just from necessity, rath el than election. You have seen it in the learned advocate,* who has pr^ ceded me, most peculiarly and strikingly illustrated. You have seen even his .;reat talents, perhaps the first in any country, languishing under a lause too weak tD carry him, and too heavy to be carried by him. He vas forced to dismiss his natural candour and sincerity, and having no merits in his case, to substitute the dignity of his own manner, the resources of his own ingenuity, against the overwhelming difficulties with v;Iiich he was surrounded. Wretched client ! unhappy advocate ! what a combination do you form ! But such is the condition of guilt, its com- mission mean and tremulous, its defence artificial and insincere, its prose- cution candid and simple, its condemnation dignified and austere. Such has been the defendant's guilt, such his defence, such shall be my address, and such, I trust, your verdict. The learned counsel has told you, that this unfortunate woman is not to be estimated at forty thousand pounds. Fatal and unquestionable is the truth of this assertion. Alas ! gentlemen, she is no longer worth anything — faded, fallen, degraded, and disgraced, she is worth less than nothing! But it is for the honour, the hope, the expectation, the tenderness, and the comforts that have been blasted by the defen- dant, and hare fled for ever, that you are to remunerate the plaintiff, by the punishment of the defendant. It is not her present value which jou are to weigh, but it is her value at that time, when she sat basking in a husband's love, with the blessing of heaven on her head, and its purity in her heart : when she sat amongst her family, and adminis- tered the morahty of the parental board: estimate that past value, com- pare it with its present deplorable diminution, and it may lead you to form some judgment of the severity of the injury, and the requisite extent of the compensation. The learned counsel has told you, you ought to be cautious, because your verdict cannot be set aside for excess. The assertion is just ; but has he treated you fairly by its application ? His cause would not allow him to be fair — for, why is the rule adopted in this single action Because this being peculiarly an injury to the most susceptible of all numan feelings — it leaves the injury of the husband to be ascertained by the sensibihty of the jury, and does not presume to measure the jus- tice of their determination by the cold &nd chilly exercise of his own discretion. In any other action it is easy to calculate. If a tradesman's arm i» "nat off, you can measure the loss which he has sustained ; but the wounc of feeling, and the agony of the heart cannot be judged hy any standarc with which I am acquainted. And you are unfairly dealt with, when you are called on to appreciate the present suffering of the husband, bv the present guilt, delinquency, and degradation of his wife. As weD Tiight you, if csiled on to give compensation to a man for the murde? " Mr Ponsoabv. 414 MAS^T ''•. HEA^DFOir;-. of his dearest friena, fiud ine rueasiire ot his injury, \r/ weighing ihv ftshes of the dead. But it is not, g-entlemen of tlie jury, by weighing the ashes of the dead, that you would estimate the loss of the survivor. The learned counsel has referred you to other cases, and other coun- tries, for instances of moderate verdicts. I can refer you to some authentic instances of just ones. In the next country, £15,000 againsi a subaltern officer. In Travers and McCarthy, £5,000 against a ser- vant. In Tighe against Jones, £10,000 against a man not worth ft shilling. What then ought to be the rule, where rank, and power, and wealth, and station, have combined to render the example of his crime more dangerous — to make his guilt more odious — to make the injury to the plaintift' more grievous, because more conspicuous? I affect no levcl- llu- tcnuiliarity, when I speak of persons in the higlier ranks of society —distinctions of orders are necessary, and I always feel disposed ta treat them with respect — but when it is my duty to speak of the crimes by which they are degi'aded, I am not so fastidious as to shrink from Iheir contact, when to touch them is essential to their dissection. In ihis action, the condition, the conduct, and the circumstances of ttw? party, are justly and pecuHarly the objects of your consideration. Who are tlie parties? The plaintiff, young, amiable, of family, and education. ^ Of the generous disinterestedness of his heart you can form an opinion even from the evidence of the defendant, that he declined an aUiance, which would have added to his fortune and consideration, and which he rejected for an unportioned union with his present wife. She, too, at that time, was yoimg, beautiful, and accomplished ; and felt her affection for her husband increase, in proportion as sh« remembered the ardour of his love, and the sincerity of his sacrifice. Look now to the defendant ! — I blush to name him ! I blush ta name a rank which be has tarnished — and a patent that he has worse tlian cancelled. High in the army— high in the state — the hereditary councillor of the king — of wealth incalculable : — and to this last I advert witli an indignant and contemptuous satisfaction, because, as the only instrument of his guilt and shame, it will be the means of his punish- ment, and the som'ce of compensation for his guilt. But let me call your attention, distinctly, to the questions you have to consider. The first is the fact of guilt. Is this noble lord guilty? liis counsel knew too well how they would have mortified his vanity had they given the smallest reason to doubt the splendour of his achieve ment. Against any such humiliating suspicion he had taken the most studious precaution by the publicity of the exploit. And here, in this tourt, and before you, and in the face of the country, has he the unpa- ralleled effrontery of disdaining to resort even to a profession of inno- cence. His guilt established, your next question is, the damages you should give. You have been told, that the amount of damages should depend on circumstances. You will consider these circumstances, whether oi aggravation or mitigation^ MASSY V. HEADFOkr. 416 His learned counsel contend, that tlie plaintiff has been the author of his own suffering-, and oug'lit to receive no compensation for the IB consequences of his own conduct. In what part of evidence do you iin^ SLoy foundation for that assertion ? He indulged her, it seems, in dress — ^generous and attached, he probably indulged her in that point beyond his means ; and the defendant now impudently calls on you to find au excuse for the adulterer in the fondness and liberality of the husband. But you have been told that the husband connived. Odious and mpudent aggravation of injury, to add calumny to insult, and outrage to dishonour. From whom, but a man hackneyed in the paths of shame and vice — from whom, but from a man having no compunctions in his own breast to restrain him, could you expect such brutal disregard fot the feelings of others ; from whom, but from the cold-blooded TCteran seducer — from what, but from the exhausted mind, the habitual com- munity with shame — from what, but the habitual contempt of yirtup, and of man, could you have expected the arrogance, the barbarity, and folly of so foul, because so fA&e an imputation ? He should have reflected, and have blushed, before he suifered so Tile a topic of defence to have passed his hps. But ere you condemn liim, let him have the benefit of the excuse, if the excuse be true. You must have observed how his counsel fluttered and vibrated, between what they call connivance and injudicious confidence ; and hovr in afiecting to distinguish, they have confounded them both together. If the plaintifl" has connived, I freely say to you, do not reward the wretch who has prostituted his wife, and surrendered his own honour do not compensate the pander of his own shame, and the wilhng instru- ment of his own infamy. But as there is no sum so low to which that defence, if true, ought not to reduce your verdict, so neither is any so high to which such a charge ought not to inflame it, it tbe charge be false. Where is the single fact in this case on which the remotest suspicion of connivance can be hung ? Odiously has the defendant en leavoured to make the softest and most amiable feelings of the heart the pretext of his slanderous imputations. An ancient and respectable prelate, the husband of his wife's sister, is chained down to the bed of sickness, per- naps to the bed of death ; in tliat distressing situation, my client suffered that wife to be the bearer of consolation to the bosom of her sister ; he- had not the heart to refuse her, and the softness of his nature is now charged on liim as a crime. He is now insolently told, that he connived at his dishonour, and that he ought to have foreseen, that the mansios of sickness and sorrow would have been made the scene of assignation Aud of guilt. On this charge of connivance I will not farther weary jrou or exhaust myself; I will add nothing more, than that it is as falsV as it is impudent, that in the evidence it has not a colour of support ^d that Dy your verdict you should mark it with reprobation. ;;, The other subjoct, namely, that he was indiscreet in his confidence, does, I think, call for some discussion, for I trust you see that I affect (&t any address to your passions by v/bicli you may be led away fron ^16 AlASSY V. 11£ADF0BT, the subject — I presume merely to separate the parts of this affectiag :^se, and to lay them item by item before you, with coldness of detail ind not with any colouring or display of fiction or of fancy. Honour, able to himself was his unsuspecting confidence, but fatal must we admit it to have been, when we look to the abuse committed upon it. But where was the guilt of this indiscretion ? He did admit this noble lord to pass his threshold as his guest. Now the charge which this noble lord builds on this indiscretion is, " Thou fool ! thou hadst confidence .n my honour, and that was a guilty indiscretion: thou simpleton I thou: thoughtest that an admitted and cherished guest would have respected the laws of honour and hospitality, and thy indiscretion "vvas guUt ; thou thoughtest that he would have shrunk from the meanness and barbarity of requiting kindness with treachery, and thy indiscretion was guilt." Gentlemen, what horrid alternative in the treatment of wives would such reasoning recommend ? Are they to be immured by worse thau eastern barbarity ? Ai*e their principles to be depraved, their passions sublimated, every finer motive of action extinguished by the inevitable consequences of thus treating them like slaves ? Or is a liberal ana generous confidence in them to be the passport of the adulterer, and me justification of his crimes ? Honourably, but fatslly for his own repose, he was neither jealous, suspicious, nor cruel. He treated the defendant with the confidence of a friend, and his wife with the tenderness of a husband. He did leave to the noble Llarquis the physical possibility of committing against him the greatest crime which can be perpetrated against a being of an amiable heart and refined education. In the middle of the day, at the moment of divine worship, when the miserable husband was on his ' nees, directing the prayers and thanksgiving of his congregation to their God, that moment did the remorseless adulterer choose to carry off the deluded victim from her husband, from her child, from her char- acter, from her happiness, as if not content to leave his crime confined to its miserable aggravations, un'^.:,:.; he gave it a cast and colour of fac- titious sacrilege and impiety. Oh ! how happy had it been when he arrived at the bank of the river with the ill-fated fugitive, ere yet he had committed her to that boat, of which, like the fabled bark of Styx, the exile was eternal — how happy at that moment, so teeming with misery and with shame, if you, my lord, had met him, and could have accosted him in the character of that .^ood genius which had abandoned him. How impressively might you have pleaded the cause of the father, of the child, of the mother, and even of the worthless defendant himself. You would have said : " Is this the requital that jou. are about to make for respect and kindnessj and confidence in your honour? Can you deliberately expose this young; man, ra fiio bloom of life, with all his hopes before him — can you expos* nim, a wretched ourcasL from society, to the scorn of a merciless world? Can you set him adrift upon the tempestuous ocean of his own passions, ■<\t this early season, when they we most headstrong ; and can you cut iiim out from the moorings of tho^e domestic obligations by whose cable be raio'ht ride at g:ifsty irorr. fl:r:r f.nvbuleuea r " Think of, if you ean IilASSY C. HEADFOKT. 417 eonceire it, what a powerful influence arises from the sense of home, from the sacred religion of the heart in quelling the passions, in reclaim- ing the wanderings, in correcting tlie discords of the human heart ; do not cruelly take from him the protection of these attachments. ** But if you have no pity for the fatlier. have mercy at lea^t upon his innocent and helpless child; do not condemn him to an education scan- dalous or neglected ; do not strike him into that most dreadful of all Iruman conditions, the orphanage that springs not from the grave, that tTallB not from the hand of Providence, or from the stroke of death, hut comes before its time, anticipated and inflicted by the remorseless cruelty of parental guilt." For the ])Oor victim herself, not yet immolated, while yet balancing upon the pivot of her destiny, your heart could not be cold, nor your tongue be wordless. You would have said to him : " Pause, my lord, whUe there is yet a moment for reflection. What are your motives, what your views, what your prospects from what you are about to do ? You are a married man, the husband of the most amiable and respect- able of women ; you cannot look to the chance of marrying tliis wretchod fugitive ; between you and such an event there are two sepulchres tc pass. What are your inducements ? Is it love, think you ? No, do not give tnat name to any attraction you can find in the faded refust of a violated bed. Love is a noble and generous passion ; it can bt bounded only on a pure and ardent friendship, on an exalted respect- on an implicit confidence in its object. Search your heart, examine your Judgment, do you find the semblance of any on these sentiments to bind you to her? Wliat could degrade a mind to which nature or education had given port, or stature, or character, into a friendship for her ? Could you repose upon her faith ? Look in her face, my lord : 5he is at this moment giving you the violation of the most sacred of human obligations as the pledge of her fidehty. She is giving you the most in-efragable proof, that as she is deserting her husband for you, BO she would without a scruple abandon you for another. Do you anti- cipate any pleasure you might feel in the possible event of your becom- ing the pai-ents of a common child ? She is at this moment pro^-ing t-o you tliat she is as dead to the sense of parental a,s of conjugal obligation and that she would abandon your offspring to-morrow, with the same facility with which she now deserts her ov/n. Look then at her conduct as it is, as the world must behold it, blackened by every aggravation that can make it either odious or contemptible, and unrelieved by a single circumstance of mitigation, that could palliate its guilt, or retrieve it from abhorrence. " Mean, however, and degraded as this woman must be, she will stil] (if you take her with you), have strong and heavy claims upon you. The force of such claims does certahily depend upon circumstances ; before, therefore, you expose her fate to the dreadful risk of your caprice or ingratitude, in mercy to her, weigh well the confidence she ean place in your future justice and honour : at that future time, much nearer than you tliJik, by what topics ean her cause be pleaded to a sated appetite, to a heart that reT)ei8 hpT, to a ju£!t judgment in whicj' She iierer could Laye been valued or respected ? Here is not the cast of an unmarried woman, with whom a pure and generous friendship may insensibly have ripened into a more serioua attachment, untU at last her heart became too deeply pledged to be reassumed. If so cir- cumstanced, without any husband to betray, or child to desert, or motive to restrain, except n^hat related solely to herself, her anxiety for your aappmess made her overlook r-vo^y other consideration, and coramit her history to your honour ; in such a case, the strongest and the highest that man's imagination can suppose, in which you at least could see nothing but the most noble and disinterested sacrifice ; in which you could iind nothing but what claimed from you the most kind and exalted sentiment of tenderness, and devotion, and respect ; and in which the most fastidious rigour would find so much more subject for sympathy than blaiue ; let me ask you, could you even in that case, answer for youp own justice and gratitude ? " I do not allude to the long and pitiful catalogue of paltry adven fcures, in which it seems your time has been employed ; the coarse anc^, vulgar succession of casual connexions, joyless, loveless, and unendeared. But do you not find upon your memory some trace of an engagement of th.e character I have sketched ? Has not your sense of what you would owe in such a case, and to such a woman, been at loast once put to tho test of experiment ? Has it not once, at least, happened that such a woman, with all the resolution of strong faith, flung her youth, her hope, her beauty, her talent, upon your bosom, weighed you against the world, which she found but a feather in the scale, and took you as an equivalent ? How did you then acquit yourself ? Did you prove your- ^elf worthy of the sacred trust reposed in you ? Did your spirit so associate with hers, as to leave her no room to regret the .-4'lendid and disinterested sacrifice she had made ? Did her soul find a pillow in the tenderness of yours, and support in its firmness ? Did you preserve her high in her own consciousness, proud in yom* admiration and friendship, .-nd happy in your affection ? You might have so acted ; and the man that was worthy of her would have perished rather than not so act, as to make her delighted with having confided so sacred a trust to his honour. Did you so act ? Did she feel that, however precious to your heart, she was still more exalted and honoured in your reverence and respect ? Or did she find you coarse and paltry, fluttering and unpur- posed, unfeeling, and ungrateful ? You found her a fair and blushing flower, its beauty and its fragrance bathed in the dew of heaven. Did you so tenderly transplant it, as to preserve that beauty and fragrance unimpaired ? Or did you so rudely cut it, as to interrupt its nutriment, to waste its sweetness, to blast its beauty, to bow its faded and sickl-^ nead ? And did you at last fling it like * a loathsome weed away Y If then to such a woman, so clothed with every title that could ennoble, and exalt, and endear her to the heart of man, you would be cruelly and capriciously deficient, how can a wretched fugitive like this, ir. every point her contrast, hope to find you just ? Send her then away.. Rend her back to her home, to her child, to her husband, to herself." Alas I there waa no one to bold sudx langunge to this noble defeiw MASfiY V. SKADPOKT. 411} dant ; he did not hold it to himself. But he paraded his despicable prize ia his owu carriage, with liia own retinue, his own servants ; this veteran Paris hawked his enamoured Helen from this western quarter of the island to a sea-port in the eastern, crowned with the acclamations Cf a senseless and grinning rabble, glorying and delighted, uo doubt, in ue leering and scofiing admiration of grooms, and ostlers, and waiters, (•gS he passed. In this odious contempt of every personal feeling, of public opinion, of common humanity, did he parade this woman to the sea-port, whence lie transported his precious cargo to a country, where her example may De less mischievous than in her own ; where I agree with my learned colleague in heartily wishing he may remain with her for ever. We ;ii'e too poor, too simple, too unadvanced a country, for the example of such achievements. When the relaxation of morals is the natura^ growth and consequence of the great progress of ai'ta and wealth, it is accompanied by a refinenient that makes it less gToss than shocking ; but for such paUiations we are at least a century too young. I adviiie you, therefore, most earnestly to rebuke this budduig mischief, by letting the wholesome vigour and chastisement of a liberal verdict speak what you think of its enormity. In every point of view in which I can look at the subject, I see you are called upon to give a verdict of bold, and just, and indignant, and exemplary compensation. The injury of the plaintiff demands it from your justice ; the delinquency of the defendant provokes it by its enor- mity. The rank on which he has relied for impunity calls upon you to tell him, that crime does not ascend to the rank of the perpetrator, but the perpetrator sinks from his rank, and descends to the level of his delinquency. The style and mode of his defence is a gross aggravation uf his conduct, and a gross insult upon you. Look upon the different subjects of liis defence as you ought, and let dim profit by them as he deserves. ' Vainly presumptuous upon hia rank, he wishes to overawe you by that despicable consideration. lit- rext resorts to a cruel aspersion upon, the character of the unhapp}* plaintiff, wliom he had already wounded beyond the possibility of repa- ration : he has ventured to charge hioi with connivance. As to that, [ will only say, gentlemen of the jury, do not give this vain boaster a pretext for saying, that if her husband CfwmiYed in the offence, the jury also connived in the reparation. But he has pressed another curious topic upon you. After the plain- tiff had cause to suspect his designs, and the likelihood of their being- fa tally successful, lie did not then act precisely asjlie ought. Gracious God ! what an argument for him to dare to advance ! It is saying this U^ him: — ^*' I abused your confidence, your hospitality; I laid a. base ylan for the seduction of the wife of your bosom ; I succeeded at last, so as to throw in upon you that most dreadful of ail suspicions to a mat fondly attached, proud of his wife's honour, and ti^mblingiy alive to hii own J that you were possibly a dupe to the confidence in the wife, as much as in the guest. In this so pitiable distress, wluch I myself ha4 studiously and deliberately contrived for you, between hope and feaij ^2VJ •*.^sx o K-ir>»DFnRT find doubt and love, and jeaiouslj and shame; one moment shrinkiui^ from the cruelty of your suspicion ; the next, fired with indignation at the facility and credulity of your acquittal ; in this labyrinth of doubt, m this frenzy of Buffering-, you were not collected and composed ; yon did not act as you might have done, if I had not worked you to mad- ness; and upon that very madness which I have inflicted upon you, upon the very completion of my guilt, and of your misery, I will build my defence. You will not act critically right, and therefore are unworthy of compensatior.." Oentlemen, can you be dead to the remorseless atrocity of such & iefence ! And shall not your honest verdict mark it as it deserves. But let me go a little further ; let me ask you, for I confesa I have no distinct idea — What should be the conduct of a husband so placed, and who is to act critically right ? Shall he lock her up, or turn her out, or enlarge or abridge her liberty of acting as she pleases ? Oli, di'eadful Axeopagus of the tea-table ! how formidable thy inquests, how tremendous thy condemnations ! In the first case, he is brutal and barbarous ; an odious eastern despot. In the next ; what I turn an innocent woman out of his house, without evidence or proof, but merely because he is vile and mean enough to suspect the wife of his bosom, fvnd the mother of his child ! Between these extremes, what interme- diate degree is he to adopt ? I put this question to you — Do you ai this moment, uninfluenced by any passion as you no\7 are, but cool and collected, and uninterested as you must be, do you see clearly this pro- per and exact line, which the plaintiff should have pursued ? I much question if you do. But if you did or could, must you not say, that he was the last man from whom you should expect the coolness to discover, or the steadiness to pursue it ? And yet this is the outrageous and insolent defence that is put forward to you. My miserable client, when his brain was on fire, and every fiend of hell was let loose upon his heart, should then, it seems, have placed himself before his mirror : he should have taught the stream of agony to flow decorously down his forehead : he should have composed his features to harmony; he should have writhed with grace, and groaned in melody. But look farther to this noble defendant, and his honourable defence. The wretched woman is to l)e successively the victim of seduction, and of slander. She, it seems, received marked attentions. Here, I con- fess, I felt myself not a little at a loss. The witnesses could not describe what these marked attentions were, or are. They consisted, not, if jou believe the witness that swore to them, in any personal approach, or contact whatsoever, nor in any unwarrantable topics of discourse. Of what materials, then, were they composed ? Why, it seems a gentle- man had the insolence at table to propose to her a glass of wine ; and she, oh, most abandoned lady ! instead of flying Hke an angry parrot at Ins head, and besmirching and bescratching him for his insolence, tamely find basely replies, "Poit, sir, if you please." But, gentlemen, why do I advert to this folly, tliis nonsense ? Not surely to vindicate from censure the most innocent and the most delisrht- •"'.il intercourse of social kindness, or harmless and cheerful cmir! t-sv ilASSY V. HEADFORT. 421 "where virtue is, tliest are most virtuous." But 1 am soliciting youB attention, and your feeling, to the mean and odious aggravation, to the unblushing and remorseless barbarity, of falsely aspersing the wretched vvoman he had undone. One good he has done, he has disclosed to you the point in which he can feel ; for how imperious must that avarice he, which couia resort to so vile an expedient of frtgality ? Yes, I will say, that, with the common feelings of a man, he would have rather Suffered his thirty thousaii^ a year to go as compensation to the plaintiff, than have saved a ^.hilhng of it by so vile an expedient of economy. He woula rather have starved with her in a gaol, he would rather have sunk with her into the ocean, than have so vilified her — than have so degraded himself. But it seems, gentlemen, and indeed you have been tdd, that long as the course of his gallantries has been, and he has grown gray in the service, it is the first time he has been called upon for damages. To how many might it have been fortunate, if he had not that impunity to Doast ? Your verdict will, I tmsfc, put an end to that encouragement to guilt, that is built upon impunltv. The devil, it seems, has saved the noble Marquis harmless in the past ; but your verdict will tell him the term of that indenmity is expired — that his old friend and banker has no more effects in his hands — and that if he draws any more upon him, he must pay his owl bills himself. You will do much good by doing so : you may not enlighten his consciensej nor touch his heart ; but his frugality v<-iil understand the hint. It will adopt the prudence of age, and deter hmi from pursuits, in which, though he may be insensible of shame, he will not be regardless of expense. You will do more — you will not only punish him in his tender point, but you will weaken him in his strong one, his money. We have heard much of this noble Lord's wealth, and much of his exploits, but not much of his accomplishments or his wit ; I know not that his verses have soared even to the " poet's comer." I have heard it said, that an ass laden with gold could find his way through the gate of the strongest city. But, gentlemen, lighten the load upon his back, and you will completely curtail the mischievoug faculty of a grave animal, whose momentum lies, not in his agility, but his weight ; not in the quantity of his motion, but the quantity of hia matter. There is another ground on which you are called upon to give most liberal damages, and that has been laid by the unfeeling vanity of the defendant. This business has been marked by the most elaborate pub- licity. It is very clear that he has been allured by the glory of the chase, and not the value of the game. The poor object of his piu-suit could be of no value to him, or he could not have so wantonly, and cruelly, and unnecessarily abused her. He might easily have kept this unhappy intercourse an unsuspected secret. Even if he wished for elopement, he might easily have so contrived it, that the place of her retreat would be profoundly undiscoverable. yet, though even the expense, a point so tender to his delicate sensi- bDity, of concealing:, c luH noi be one-fortieth of the cost of publishinp 2 D 42L iCAS^ V. EEiJoroEr. her, Ids vanity decided him in favour of glory and jnihHciiy. By that election, he has, iu fact, put forward the Irish nation, and it3 character, so often and so variously calumniated, upon its trial before the tribunal of the empire ; and your verdict will this day decide whether an Irish jury can feel with justice and spirit upon a subject that involves conju- gal affection and comfort, domestic honour and repose, the certainty of issue, the weight of public opinion, the gilded and presumptuous crimi. nality of overweening rank and station. I doubt not but he is at this moment reclined on a silken sofa, antici- pating that submissive and modest verdict, by which you will lean gentlv on his errors ; and expecting from your patriotism, no doubt, that you wi& think again, and again, before you condemn any great portion of the immense revenue of a great absentee, to be detained in the nation that produced it, instead of being transmitted, as it ought, to be expended in tlie splendour of another country. He is now probably waiting for the arrival of the report of this day, wliich I understand a famous note- taker has been sent hither to collect. Let not the gentleman be disturbed. Gentlemen, let me assure you, it is more, much more, the trial of you, than of the noble Marquis, of which this imported recordei' is at this moment collecting materials. His noble employer is now expecting a report to the following effect : — " Such a day cume on to be tried at Ennis. by a special jury, the cause of Charles Massy against the most noble the Marquis of T .idfort. It appeared that the plaintiff's wife was young, beautiful, and captivating ; the plaintiff himself, a person fond of this beautiful creature to distraction, and both doating on their child. But the noble Marquis approached her ; the plume of glory nodded on his head. Not the goddess Minerva, but the goddess Venus, had lighted up his casque with ' the fire that never tires, such as many a lady gay had been dazzled with before ' At the first advance she trembled ; at the second, she struck to the redoubted son of Mars, and pupil of Venus. The jury saw it was not his fault (it was an Irish jury) ; they felt com- passion for the tenderness of the mother's heart, and for the warmth of )he lover's passion. The jury saw on one side, a young, entertaining gallant ; on the other, a beauteous creature, of charms irresistible. They recollected that Jupiter had been always successful in his amours, although Yulcan had not always escaped some awkward accidents. The jury was X)mposed of fathers, brothers, husbands, but they had not the vulgar jealousy, that views little things of that sort with rigour ; and, wishing to assimilate their country in every respect to England, now that they are united to it, they, like English gentlemen, returned to their box, vith a verdict of Qd. damages, and Qd. costs." Let this be sent to England. I promise you, your odious secret will not be kept better than that of the wretched Mrs. Massy. There is not a bawdy chronicle in London, in which the epitaph which you would have written on yourselves will not be published ; and our enemies wiU delight in the spectacle or our precocious depravity, in seeing that we can be rotten before we are ripe. I do not suppose it ; I do not, cannot, will not relieve it ; I will not harrow up myself with the anticipated apprehension There is auother consideration, gentlemen, which I think most impo. WASSY r. liEADrOKT- iZ3 riouslj demands even a vindictive reward of exemplary damages — and thai is, the breach of hospitality. To us peculiarly does it belong to avenge the violation of its altar. The hospitality of other countries is a matter of necessity or conven* lion — in savage nations, of the first* in polished, of the latter but the hospitality of an Irishman is not the mnning account of posted and •egercd courtesies, as in other countries ; it springs like all his qualities, '\is faults, his virtues, directly from his heart. The heart of an Irish- man is by nature bold, and he confides ; it is tender, and he loves ; it is generous, and he gives ; it is social, and he is hospitable. Tliis sacrile- gious intruder lias profaned the religion of that sacred altar so elevated in our worship,, so precious to our devotion : and it is our privilege tc- avenge the crime. You must either pull down the altar, and abolish the worship ; or you must preserve its sanctir'y undebased. There is no alternative between the universal exclusion of all mankind from your threshold., and the most rigorous punishment of him who is admitted and betrays. This defendant has been so trusted, has so betrayed, and you ought to make him a most signal example. Gentlemen, I am the more disposed to feel the strongest indignation and abhorrence at this odious conduct of the defendant, when I consider the deplorable condition to which he has reduced the plainti^S, and per- haps the still more deplorable one that the plaintiff has in prospect before him. What a progress has he to travel through, before he can attain the peace and tranquillity which he has lost ? How like the wounds of the body arc those of the mind ! how b'lming the fever ! how painfu* the suppuratior. ! hov/ slow, how hesitating, how relapsing the process to convalescence ! Through what a variety of suffering, what new scenes and changes must my unhappy client pass, ere he can re-attain, should he ever re-attain, that health of soul of which he has been despoiled by the cold and deliberate machmations of this practised and gilded seducer ; If, instead of drafwmg upon his incalculable wealth for a scanty retri- bution, you were to stop the progress of his despicable achievement\3, by reducing him to actual poverty, you could not even so punish him beyond tlie scope of his offence, nor reprise the plaintiff beyond the measure of his suffering. Tjet me remind you, that in this action, the law not only empowers you, but that its policy commands you to consider the public example, as well as the individual injury, when you adjust the amount of your verdict I confess I am most anxious that you should acquit your- selves worthily upon this important occasion. I am addressing you as fathers, husbands, brothers. I am anxious that a feeling of those high relations should enter into and give dignity to your verdict. But I confess, I feel a ten-fold soHcitude when I remember that I am addressing you as my countrymen, as Irishmen, whose characters as jurors, as gentlenen, must find either honour or degradation in the result of your decision. Small as must be the distributive share of that national estimation, that can belong to so unimportant an individual as myself, ye< ( do own I am tremblingly solicitous for its fate. Perhaps it appears of more value to me, because it is embarked on the same bottom with yours ; perhaps the community of peril, of common safety, or common wreck. 424 JUDGE JOHNSON. gives a consequence to my share of the risk, which I could not be vain enough to give it, it it were not raised to it by that mutuality. But wh^; etoop to think at all of myself, when I know that you, gentlemen of th« ]ttiT — when I know that onr country itself rre my clients on this day, and must abide the alternative of honour or of infamy, as you shall decide. But I will not des^ord, I will not dare to despond. I have every trust, sad hope, and confidence in you. And to that hope I will add my most fervent prayer to the God of all truth and justice, so to raise, and enlighten, and fortify your minds, that you may so decide, as to preserve to yourselves while you live, the most delightful of all recollections — that of acting Justly ; and to transmit to your children the most precious of all inheri- tances — the memory of your virtue. Baron Smirh charged, and 'after a trial of twel/w Lours' duration, the Juiy dt midnigl,.1 fcnnd for the plaintiif, £10,000 damages, with costs. FOR JUDGE JOHNSON- [habeas coRrus.j COURT OF EXCHEQUER. B^yOIUB CHZIF BAHON LORD AVONMOBE AKD THE CTECOi HAK'^NS. February 4thf 1805 JoHKsow was called to the Irish Bar in Michaelmas Term, 1776, and obtained an Mliy reputation for ability. Notwithstanding the prevalent opinion that Mr. Jebb wTot« the letters of " Guatimozin and Considicus"— those admirable arguments for nationality"- - there is mnch evidence in favour of Mr. Johnson's authorship of some of them at least.* In June, 1800, he was made one of the Justices of the Court ot" Common rieas in Ireland.^ On the 5th of Novomber, 1803, a letter, signed " Juvema," was published in Cobbd. » Political Register. It was ■written in a bold and bitter style, and having narrated the E,tory of the Trojan Horse, applied it to Lord Hardwicke's stupid, plausible, and vicioua ruie in Ireland. In that and subsequent papers Lord Ilard'wicke was described as " a very eminent breeder of sheep in Cambridgeshire ;" Lord Chancellor Redesdale is calied "a veiy abla Kud strong-bunt Chancery pleader from Lincoln's Inn ;" Mr. Secretary Marsden appears as " a corrapt, unprincipled, rapacious plunderer, preying upon the property of the state;" and Justice Osborne as "the most corrupt Instrument of a debased and degraded government, lending himself as a screen to conceal them from the disgrace their actions would naturally t»ring upon them." These are the strongest passages, and whav vtie relied on in the prosecution. CobV.a was prosecuted for these. publications, as llhelltng Lords Hardwlcke and Eedes- 4ale, Mr. Maisdan, and Judge Osborne; he wt» trifcvl at Westminster, before Lord Ellen- Dorough, on the 4th of Jlay, 1804. The Attorney-General prosecuted ; Mr. Adam defended Oobbett, and called Lord Minto, Charles Yorke, Wmdham, Lord Henry Stewart, Ac, tc swear to Cobbett's ultra-loyalty ; but in ten minutes the Jury fovmd him g^iiiity of the libel In one of the " Juvema" articles (that published on the 10th of Deceiober), Pranket, tten Solicitor-General for Ireland, was attacked on many grouDds, hut especially for hk • They were originally published in the Freernan's Journal The first is dated 16th of April, 1779. They were reprinted in a -pamphlet, which ranks with Pollock's "Letters ol Owen Roe," and Drennan's " Orellana," at the head of Irish political literature, during the Volunteer Revolution. Indeed for the union of strong sense, and dear, impetuous elo majj.ortation 432 JUDGh JOHNSON has been interrupted by the writ before you, and upon the return ot that writ arises the question upon which you are to decide the legality or illegality of so transporting him for the purpose of trial. I am well aware, my lords, of the limits of the present discussion ; if the law were ilear in favour of the prosecutors, a 'most momentous question might arise — how far they may be delinquents, in daring to avail themselves of such a law for such a purpose? But I am aware that such is not the present question ; I am aware that this is no court of impeachment ; and, Jierefore, that your inquiry is, not whether such a power bath been criminally used, but whether it doth in fact exist ? The arrest of the defendant has been justified by the advocates of the £rown, under the forty-fourth of his present Majesty. I have had the curiosity to inquire into the history of that act, and I find that in the month of May, 1804, the brother-in-law of one of the present prose- cutors obtained leave to bring in a bill, to " render more easy the apprehending and bringing to trial offenders escaping from one part of the United Kingdom to another, and also from one county to another ;" that bill was brought in ; it travelled in the caravan of legislation anheeded and unnoticed, retarded by no difficulties of discussion or debate, and in due fulness of season it passed into a law, which was to ••ommence from and after the 1st of August, 1804. This act, like a young Hercules, began its exploits in the cradle. In the November following, the present warrant was issued, under its sup- posed authority. Let me not be understood to say that the act has been slided through an unsuspecting legislature, under any particular influence, or for any particular purpose : that any such man could be found, or any such influence exist, or any such lethargy prevail, would not, perhaps, be decent to suppose. Still less do I question the legis- lative authority of parliament. We all know that a parliament may attaint itself : and that its omnipotence may equally extend in the same way to the whole body of the people. We know also that most unjust and cruel acts of attainder have been obtained by corrupt men in bad "■imes: arifJ if T could bring myself to say, which I do not, that thia act jias contrived for the mere purpose of destroying an obnoxious mdivi- iual, I should not hesitate to call it the most odious species of attaindel that could be found upon the records of legislative degradation ; because, for the simple purpose of extinguishing an individual, it would sweep ihe liberty of every being in the state into the vortex of general ana undistinguished destruction. But these are points of view upon which the minds of the people of Ireland and England may dwell with terror, or indignation, or apathy, according as they may be fitted for liberty or for chains : but they are not points for the court ; and so I pass them by. The present arrest and detention are defended under the forty-fourth of the King : art tht^y warranted by that act ? That is the only question for you to decide and you will arrive at that decision in the usual course, by inquiring, first, how tlie law "tood before upon the sulject ; next, what the imper- fection or grievance of that law was ; and, tbir/Wv. what La the remed"" intended to be applied by the act in auestiou JUDGE JOHICSON. 43o Firsfc, then, how stood the law lierore ? Upon this part, it would he a paraxie of useless learning to go farther back than the statute of Charles, the Habeas Corpus Act, wliich is so justly called the second Magna Charta of British liberty : what was the occasion of the law ? Lhe arbitrary transportation of the subject beyond the realm; that base and malignant war, which the odious and despicable minions of power are for ever ready to wage against all those who are honest and bold enough to despise, to expose, and to resist tliem. Such is the oscitancy of man, that he lies torpid for ages under these aggressions, until at last some signal abuse — the violation of Lucrece, the death of Virginia, the oppression of William Tell — shakes him from his slumber. For years had those drunken gambols of power been played in England ; for years had the waters of bitterness been rising to the brim; at last, a single drop caused them to overflow, — the oppression of a single individual raised the people of England from their sleep. And what does that great statute do ? It defines and asserts the right, it points out the abuse, and it endeavours to secure the right, and to guard against the abuse, by giving redress to the suf- ferer, and by punishing the offender. For years had it been the practice to transport obnoxious persons out of the realm into distant parts, under the pretext of punishment, or of safe custody. Well might they have been said, to be sent " to that undiscovered country, from whose bouine no traveller returns ;" for of these wretched travellers, how few ever did return ? But of that flagrant abuse, this statute has laid the axe to the root It prohibits the abuse ; it declares such detention or removal illegal ; it gives an action against all persons concerned in the offence, by con- txiving, writing, signing, countersigning, such warrant, or advising or assisting therein. That you may form a just estimate of the rights which were to be secured, examine the means by which the infringemen was in future to be prevented and punished. The injured party has a civil action against the offenders ; but the legislature recollected, that the sneaking unprincipled humility of a servUe packed jury naght do homage to ministerial power, by compensating the individual with nominal damages. The statute does that, of which I remember no other instance — it leavet the jury at liberty to give damages to any extent, above five hundred pounds ; but expressly forbids them to find a verdict of damages below it. Was this sufl&cient ? No. The offenders incur a prcemunire. — Thfty are put out of the King's protection ; they forfeit their lands and goods ; they are disabled from bearing any office of trust or profit. Did the statute stop there ? The legislature saw, in then* prospective wisdom, that the profligate favourite, who had committed treason against the ICing by the oppression of his subjects, might acquire such a dominion over the mind of his master, as by the exertion of preroga- tive to interrupt the course of justice, and prevent the punishment of his crime; if, therefore, the guilty minister of such abuse should attenapt to pour poison into the sovereign's ear, and talk to liim of mercy, tins statute dashes tlie phial from his hand — it takes away the nrerogative 431 JUDGE JOUNSON. of pardon. An biilvrarks like these ever constructed to repel the incur, sions of a coutemptible enemy ? Was it a trivial and ordinary occasioD which raised this storm of indignation in the parliament of that day: Is the ocean ever lashed by the tempest, to waft a feather, or to drown a fly • Thus haughtily and jealously does the statute restrain the abuses that may be committed against the liberty of the subject by the judge, the jury, or the minister. One exception, and one exception only, does it contain : it excepts from its protectiouj by the sixteenth section, persons who may have committed any capital offence in Scotland or Ireland. If the prmciple of that exception were now open to discussion, sure I am, that much might be said against its policy. On the one side, you would have to consider the mischief of letting this statute protect a capital offender from punishTcent, by prohibiting his transmission to that jurisdiction where his crime was committed, and where alone he could be tried On Che other, you would have to weigh the danger to be feared from the abuse of such a power, which, as the Habeas Corpus A:t stood, could not be resorted to in any ordinary way, but 'wbs confitied to the sole and exclusive exercises of the advisers of the prerogative. You v\-onld have to consider whether it was more likely that it would be used against the guilty or tlie obnoxious ; whether it was more likely to be used as an in^truinent of justice against die bau, or a pretext of oppression against the good ; and, finally, whether you might not apply to the subject the humane maxim of our law, that better it is that one hundred guilty men should escape, than that one innocent, and, let me add, meritorious man, should suffer. But our ancestors have consi- dered the question ; they have decided ; and, until we are better satis- tied than I fear we can be, that we have not degenerated from their virtue, it can scarcely become us to pass any light or hasty condemna lion upon their wisdom. In this great statute, then, my lords, you have the line of demarcation between the prerogative and the people, as well as betweer the crimi- nal law and the subject, defined with all the exactness, and guarded by every precaution, that human prudence could devise. Wretched must that legislature be, whose acts you cannot trace to the first unchange- able principles of rational prerogative, of civil liberty, of equal justice 1 In this act "you trace them all distinctly. By this act you have a solemn legislative declaration, " that it is mcompatible with liberty to send any subject out of the realm, under pretence of any crime supposed or alleged to be committed in a foreign jurisdiction, except that crime be capital.*' Sueh were the bulwarks v.'hich our ancestors placed about the sacred temple of Kberty, such the ramparts by which they sought to bar cut the ever-toiling ocean of arbitrary power ; and thought (generous credulity !) that they liad barred it out from their posterity for ever. Little did they foresee the future race of vermin that would work their way through those mounds, und let back the inundation ; little did they foresee that their labours were so like those frail and transient works that threatened for a while the haughty crimes and battlements of Troy, but so soon vanished before :UDGE JOIINSOK 4:85 iiie force of the trident and the impulse of the watera ; or that they were ;;till more like the forms which the infant's finger traces upon the beach, the next breeze, the next tide, erases them, and confounds them with the barren undistinguished strand. The ill-omened bird that lights upon it, sees nothing to mark, to allure, or to deter, but finds all one oblite- rated unvaried waste : — •' Et sola sccum sicca spatiatur arena." Still do I hope that this sacred bequest of our ancestors will have a more prosperous fortune, and be preserved by a more religious and successful care, a polar st^r to the wisdom of the legislator, and the integrity of the judge. As such will I suppose its principle not yet brought into disgrace and as such, with your permission, will I still presume to argue upon that principle. So stood the law, till the two acts of the twenty-third and twenty- fourth of George II. which relates wholly to cases between county and county in England. Next followed the act of the tliirteenth of his present Majesty, which was merely a regulation between England and Scotland. And next came the act of the forty-fourth of the presenf. reign, upon which you are now called on to decide, which, as between county and county, is an incorporation of the two acts of George II. ttnd fis between England, Scotland, and Ireland, is nearly a transcript of the thirteenth of the King. Under the third and fourth section of this last act, Hhe learned coun- sel for the learned prosecutors (for really I think it candid to acquifc ihe Lord Lieutenant of the folly or the shame of this business, and .0 suppose that he is as innocent of the project, from his temper, as he nust, from his education, be ignorant of the subject) endeavour to jus- tify this proceeding. The construction of this act they broadly and expressly contend to bo this : — First, they assert that it extends not only to the higher crimes but to all offences whatsoever. Secondly, that it extends not only to persons who may have committed offences within any given jurisdic- tions, and afterwards escaped or gone out of such jurisdictions, but tc all persons, whether so escaping or going out, or not. Thirdly, that it extends to constructive offences, that is, to offences committed against the laws of certain jurisdictions, committed in places not within themi by persons that never put their feet within them, but, by construction of law, committing them within such jurisdiction, and of course triable therein. Fourthly, that it extends peculiarly to the case of libels against the persons entrusted with the powers of government, or with offices ic the state. And, fifthly, that it extends not only to offences committed after the commencement of the act, but also to offences at any period, however remotely, previous to the existence of the statute ; that is, thai it is to have an ex post facto operation. I'he learned prosecutors have been forced into the necessity of sup- porting these last monstrous positions, because, upon the return of the writ, and upon the affidavits, it appears, and has been expressly admitted in the a^'fijumeut ; First, thj:t the supnosei? libel upon those noble and 436 JUTGE JOHNSOIT. learned prosecutors relates to the unhappy circumstances tliat too^ place in Ireland, on the twenty-third of July, 1803, and of course must nave been published subsequent thereto. And, secondly, that Mr. Justice Johnson, from the beginning of 1802 to the present hour, was never for a moment in England, but was constantly a resident in Ire- land ; so that his guilt, whatever it be, must arise from some act, of necessity committed in Ireland, and by no physical possibility committed, or capable of being committed, in England. These are the positions upon which a learned chancellor and a learned ^udge come forward to support their cause, and to stake their character, each in the face of his country, and both in the face of the British empire ; these are the positions, which, thank God, it belongs to my nature to abhor, and to my education to despise, and which it is this (lay my most prompt and melancholy duty to refute and to resist— .aost prompt in obeying, most grieved at the occasion that calls foT Such obedience. We must now examine this act of ttie forty-fourth of the King, and 01 doing so, I trust you will seek some nobler assistance than can be pun pleton as to think that the danger of forgery makes a shade of differ* ence in the subject. I know too well that calendar of saints, the Irish justices ; I am too much in the habit of prosecuting and defending them every term and every commission, not to be able to guess at what price a customer might have real warrants by the dozen ; and, without much sagacity, we might calculate the average expense of their endorsement at the other side of the water. But further yet, the act provides that the expense of such transmission shall be paid at the end of the jour- ney, by the place where the crime has been committed, but, who is tc supply the expenses by the way ? what sort of prosecutors do you thini the more likely to adv nee those expenses — an angry minister or a vii^ dictive individual ? I can easily see thai such a constTwOtion would furnish a most effec- tual method of getting rid of a troublesome political opponent ; or a "rival in trade ; or a rival in love ; or of (quickening the undutiful linger- ing of an ancestor that felt not the aiaturity of his heir ; but I cannol bring myself to believe, that a sober legislature, when the common rights of humanity seem to be beaten into their last entrenchment, and to make their last stand, — I trust in God, a successful one, — in the British empire; would choose exactly that awful crisis for destroying the most vital prin- ciples of common justice and liberty, or of showing to these nations, thai their treasure and their blood were to be wasted in struggling for the noble privilege of holding the right of freedom, of habitation, and of sountry, at the courtesy of every little irritable officer of state, or of our worshipful Rivets, and Bells, and MedUcots, and their trusty and well- beloved cousins and catchpoles. But, my lords, even if the prosecutor should succeed, which for tho honour and character of Ireland I trust he cannot, in wringing froDi the bench an admission that all offences whatsoever are within this act he will have only commenced his honourable cause — he wUl only have arrived at the vestibule of atrocity. He has now to show that Mr Johnson is within the description of a malefactor, making liis escapa into Ireland, whereby his offence may remain unpunished, and liable tc be arrested under a warrant endorsed in that place whither or wher such person escape, go into, reside, or be. For this inquiry you must refer to the 2Srd and 24th of George II. The first of these, 23rd, cap. II, recites the mischief, " that persons against whom warrants are granted, escape into other countries, and thereby avoid being punished.'* The enacting part then gives the remedy : " the justice for the place mto wtich such person shall have i?one or escap«£l shall endorse the 442 JUDGE JOHNSON. original warrant, and the person accused shall thereunder be sent to the justice v/ho granted it, to be by him dedt with," &rc. If fjords can be plain, these words are so, they extend to persona actually committing crimes within a jurisdiction, and actuaHy escaping •nto some other, after warrant granted, and thereby avoiding trial. 1.^ this act there were found two defects : first, it did not comprehend pa- rous changing there abode before wairant issued, and whose removing- as not being a direct flighi from pursuit, could scarcely be called a escape ; secondly, it did not give the second justice a power to bail. And here you see how essential to justice it was deemed, that the per*- son arrested should be bailed on the spot and at the moment of arreal ff the charge was bailable. Accordingly, the 24th of George II., cap., 55, was made : after recit- ing the former act, and the class of offenders thereby described, namely, actual offenders actually escaping, it recites, that " whereas, such offen- ders may reside, or be in some other county before the warrant granted, and without escaping or going out of the county after such a warrant granted ;" it then enacts, " that the justice for such place where such person shall escape, go into, reside, or be, shall endorse, &c. and may bail, if bailable, or transmit," Szc. Now the construction of these two acts taken together is manifestly this : it takes in every person, T/ho being in any jurisdiction, and com- mitting an offence therein, escaping after warrant, or without escaping after warrant, going into some other jurisdiction, and who shall there reside, that is permanently abide, or shall be, that is permanently, so as to be called a resident. xfow here it is admitted, that Mr. Johnson was not within the realm of England since the beginning of 1802, more than a year before the offence existed ; and therefore you are gravely called upon to say that '^e is the person who made his escape from a place where he never waai yad mto a place which he had never left. To let in this wise an^ numane construction, see what you are called upon to do ; the statute .jiakes such persons liable to arrest if they shall have done certain things ; K) wit, " if they shall escape, go into, reside, or be ;" but if the fact of simply being, i. e., existing in another jurisdiction, is sufficient to makn them so liable, it follows of course, that the only two verbs that imply doing any thing, that is escape or go into, must be regarded as super- fluous ; that is, that the legislature had no idea whatsoever to be con- veyed by them when they used them, and, therefore, are to be altogether expunged and rejected. Such, my lords, are the strange and unnatural monsters that may be produced by the union of malignity and folly. I cannot but own, that I feel an indignant, and perhaps ill-natured satisfaction, in reflecting that my own country cannot monopoHze the derision and detestation that such a production must attract. It was originally conceived by tlie wisdom of the east ; it has made its escape, and come into Ireland, tinder the sanction of the first criminal judge of the empire ; here, I *rust in God, we shall have only to feel shame or anger at the insolence c/f the visit, without the melancholy a gravatiou of such 8,n execrable ^UDGE JOHNaON. 448 jjucst continuing to reside or to be among U3. On the contrary, I Trill not cfesmiss the cheering expectation from my heart, that your decisioi:, my lords, will show the British nation, that a country, kaying as just and as proud an idea of liberty as herself, is not an unworthy ally in the great contest for the rights of humanity ; is no unworthy associate in "existing the progress of barbarity and military despotism, and in defendi mg against its enemies that great system of British freedom, in which we have now a common interest, and imder the ruins of which, if i^ snould be overthrown, we must be buried in a common destruction. I am not ignorant, my lords, that this extraordinary construction haR received the sanction of another coun., nor of the surprise and dismay mth which it smote upon the general heart of the bar. I am awari that I may have the mortification of being told in another country Oi^ that unhappy decision, and I foresee in what confusion I shall hang down my head when I am told it. But I cherish, too, the consolatory hope, that I shall be able to tell them that I had old and learned friend, whom I would put above all the sweepings of their hall, who was of a different opinion ; who had derived his ideas of ciyil liberty from the purest fountains of Athens and of Rome ; who had fed the youthful vigour of his studious mind with the theoretic knowledge of their wisest philosophers and statesmen ; an*f who had refined that theory into the quick and exquisite sensibility of moral instinct, by contemplating the practice of their most illustrious examples ; — by dwelling on the sweet-souled piety of Cimon — on the anticipated Christianity of Socrates ; — on the gallant. and pathetic patri- otism of Epaminondas ; — on that pure austerity of Fabricius, whom to move from his integrity would have been more difficult th^ to have pushed the sun from his course. I would add, that if he had seemed to hesitate, it was but for a moment ; that his hesitation was like the passing cloud that floats across the morning sun, and hides it from the view, and does so for a moment hide it, by involving the spectator, without even approaching the face of the luminary. And this soothing hope I draw from the dearest and tenderest recollections of my life ; from the remembrance of those attic nights and those refections of the gods which we have partaken with those admired, and respected, and beloved companions who have gone before us ; over whose ashes the most precious tears of Ireland have been shed. Eere Lord Avonmore could not refrain from bursting into tears. Yes, my good lord, I see you do not forget them ; I see their sacred forms passing in sad review before your memory ; I see your pained and Boftened fancy recalling those happy meetings, where the innocent enjoy- ment of social mirth became expanded into the nobler warmth of social virtue, and the horizon of the board became enlarged into the horizon of man ; where the swelling heart conceived and communicated the pure and generous purpose, where my slenderer and younger taper imbibed its borrowed light from the more matured and redundant fountain oX yours. Yes, my lord, we can remember those nights, without any other regret than that they can nevn** more return ; for— M4 JUDGE JOFNSON" '' We spent them not in toys, or last, or -wine Bat sewch of deep pMlosopli}', "Wit, eloquence, and poesy ; Arts which I loved, for they, my friend, were thine "• But, my lords, to return to a subject from which to have thu3 fir departed, I think ni^y not be wholly without excuse. The expres? object of the 44th war to send persons from places where they were not triable by law, back to the places that had jurisdiction to try them. And in those very words does IV^. Justice Blackstone observe on the 13th or the King, that it was made to prevent impunity by escape, by giving ^ power of " sending back" such offenders as had so escaped. This topic of argument would now naturally claim its place in the present discussion. I mention it now, that it might not be supposed that I meant to pretermit so important a consideration. And I only mention it, because it will connect itself with a subsequent head of thia inquiry in a manner more forcibly applicable to the object ; when I think I may venture to say it will appear to demonstration, that if the offence charged upon the defendant be triable at aD, it is triable in Ireland, and no where else ; and, of course, that the prosecutors are acting in direct violation of the statute, when they seek to transport him from a place where he can be tried, into another country which can have no possible jurisdiction over him. Let us now, my lords, examine the next position contended for by these learned prosecutors. Having laboured to prove that the act applies not merely to capital crimes, but to all offences whatsoever ; aaving laboured to show that an act for preventing impunity by escape extends to cases not only where there was no escape, but where escape in fact was physically impossible, they proceeded to put forward boldly a doctrine which no lawyer, I do not hesitate to say it, in Westminster- ball would have the folly or the temerity to advance : that is, that the defendant may, by construction of law, be guilty of the offence in West- minster, though he should never have passed within its limits, till he was sent thither to be tried. With what a fatal and inexorable uniformity do the tempers and char acters of men domineer over their actions and conduct ! How clearly must an Englishman, if by chance there be any new listening to us, dis- cern the motives and principles that dictated the odious persecutions of 1794 re-asumiDg their operations ; forgetting that public spirit by which they were frustrated ; unappalled by fear, undeterred by shame, and returning again to the charge ; the same wild and impious nonsense of constructive criminality — the same execrable application of the ill-under- itood rules of a vulgar, clerk-like, and illiterate equity, to the sound, and plain, and guarded maiimB of the criminal law of England ! — the f/urest, the noblest, the chastest system of distributive justice that was * Loi d Avonmore, in whose breast political resentment was easily subdued, by the same noble tenderness of feeling which distinguirtied the late Mr. Fox, upon a more celebrated occasion, could not -vvithstand this appeal to his heart. At this period there was a suspen- sion of intercourse between him and Mr. Curran ; but the moment the court rose, his lonl- Bhip sent for his friend, and thi-ew himself into his aims, declaring that unwonhy artiaow tuul been used to separate them, and that they choiild never succeed in futiiro '-!.{'% q^ Hiirran bg his son. voL i.. p. 148. note. JUDGE JOHNSOK". C4£> ever venerated by the wise, or perverted by tlie foolish, or that the diU.- dren of men in any age or climate of the world have ever yet beheld — tlie same instruments, the same movements, the same artists, the same doc- trines, the same doctors, the same servile and infuriated contempt of humanity, and persecution of freedom ! — the same shadows of the vaiy. LDg hour that extend or contract their length, as the beam of a rising or sinking sun plays upon the gnomon of self-interest 1 How demon- stratively does the same appetite for mice authenticate the identity of (he transformed princess that had been once a cat. But it seems as if the whole order and arrangement of the moral and the pliysical world had been contrived for the instruction of man, and to v^-aru him i>hat he is not immortal. In every age, in every country, do vi'e see the natural rise, advancement, and decline of virtue and of science. So it has been in Greece, in Rome ; so it must be, I fear, the fate tf. England. In science, the point of its maturity and manhood is the com- mencement of its old age ; the face of writers, and thinkers, and rea- sonei-s, passes away, and gives place to a succession of men who can neither write, nor think, nor reason. The Hales, the Holts, and the Somerses, shed a transient light upon mankind, but are soon extinct and disappear d,nd give place to a superficial and overweening generation of laborious and strenuous idlers, of silly scholiasts, of wrangling mooters, of prosing garrulists, who explore their darkling ascent upon the steps of science, by the balusirade of cases and manuscripts — v/ho calculate their deptt by their darkness, and fancy they are profound, because they feel they aro perplexed. When the race of the Paliadios is extinct, you may expect to see a clumsy hod-man collected beneath the shade of his shoulders — " avt;o y,ivrTi fji.iya.(Tr afiectrng to fling a builder's glance upon tne tempie, on the proportion of its pillars ; and to pass a critic's judgment on the doctrine that should be preached within them. Let it not, my lords, be considered amiss, that I take this up as an iSngUsh rather than an Irish question. It is not merely because we have habeas corpus law in existence (the antiquarian may read of it, thougi. te do not enjoy it) ; it is not merely because my mmd refuses itself lu ihe delusion of imaginary freedom, and shrinks from the meanness of affecting an indignant hauglitiness of spirit that belongs not to our con- dition, that I am disposed to argue it as an English question ; but it k because I am av^are that we have now a community of interest and of destiny that we never had before — because I am aware, that, blended a^ we now are, the hberty of man must fall where it is highest, or rise where it is lowest, till it finds its common level in the common empire —and because, also, I wish that Englishmen may see, that we are con- scious that nothing but mutual benevolence and sympathy can support 'ht common interest that should bind us against the external or the Jitestine foe — and that we are willing, whenever tliat common interesi 3 attacked, to make an honest and animated resistance, as in a common 3ause, aTd with as cordial and tender anxiety for their safety es far oui ^46 JDDOB JOfiLKBON. Let me nww Driefly, because uo subject cau be shorter or plainer, con dder the principle of local jurisdictions, and ^obstructive crimes. A man is bound to obedience, and punishable for disobedience oi laws: — first, because by living within their jurisdictiouj he arails himsell of their protection — and this is no more than the reciprocity of protec- tion, and allegiance on a narrower scale ; and, secondly, becauye, by so Uving witliin their jurisdiction, he has the means of knowing them, and annot be excused because of his ignorance of them. % I should be glad to know upon the authority of what manuscript, oS ivhat pocket-case, the soundness of these principles can be disputed ? 1 ghould be glad to know upon what known principle of English lav/ a Chinese, or a Laplander, can be kidnapped into England, and arraigned for a crime which he committed under the pole, to the injury of a couiilry which he had never seen — in violation of a law which he had never known, and to which he could not owe obedience — and perhaps, for en Vt, the non-performance of which might have forfeited his liberty or his life to the laws of tlxat couLtrj' which he was bound to know, and *ras bound to obey ? Very dilTerently did onr ancestors thiuk of that subject. They thought It essential to justice, that the jurisdiction of criminal law should be local and defined — that no man should be triable but there, where he was accused of having actually committed the ofience ; where the char- acter of the prosecutor, where his own character was known, as well as the characters of the witnesses produced against him, and where he had the autiio^ity of legal process to enforce the attendance of witnesses for Ills defence. They were too simple to know anything of the equity of ^'riminal law. Poor Bracton or Fleta would have stared if you had asked them, " Wliat, gentlemen, do you mean to say tliat such a crime as this shall escape from punishment ?" Their answer would have been no doubt, very simple, and very foolish : they would have said, " We know there are many actions that we think bad actions, which yet arc not punishable, because not triable by law ; and which are not triable, because of the local limits of criminal jurisdictions." And, my lords, to shovi* with what a religious scrupulosity the locaht . .-f nrisdictions was observed, you have an instance in the most odious of all offences, ireason only excepted — I mean the crime of ■wilful mur- der. By the common law, if a man in one county procured a murder to be committed, which was afterwards actually committed in another, '•uch procuror could not be tried in either jurisdiction, because the crime tvas Eot completed in either. This defect was remedied by the act oi Edward VI- which made the author of the crime amenable to justice. Bui in what jurisdiction did it make him amenable ? Was it there where the murder was actually perpetrated ? By no means ; but there only where he had been guilty of the procurement, and where alone his accessorial offence was completed. And here you have the authority of parliament for this abstract posi- tion, that where a man living in one jurisdiction does an act, in conse- quence of which, a crime is committed within another jurisdiction, ho ia by law triable only wherp. hTs own cA-^aonal act of procurement Wjji JUDGE JOHNSOK tt'J ccjuHitted, and not there wnere the procured or projected crime actually too : eftect. In answer to these known authorities of common Law, lias any statute, has a single decibion, or even dictum of a Court, beei ad -need ? Or, in an age in which the pastry-cooks and suuflf-shopa ha . ^een defrauded of their natural right to these compositions that may be useful without being read, has even a single manuscript been ofiered to show the researches of these learned prosecutors, or to support theii Gausc ? No; my lords ; there has not. I sttidj my lords, that this was a fruit from the same tree that produce the stupid and wicked prosecutions of 1794 ; let me not be supposed ta gay it is a mere repetition of that attempt, without any additional aggra- vation. In 1794, the design — and odious enough it was — was confined tc the doctrine of constructive guilt ; but it did not venture upon the atrocious outrage of a substituted jurisdiction. The Englishman was a'ied on English ground where he was known, where he could procure his witnesses, where he had lived, and where he was accuse a jf a crime, whether actual or constructive ; but the locality of the trial defeated the infernal malice of these prosecutions. The speeches of half the natural day, where every juryman had his hour, were the knell of sleejv but they were not the knell of death. The project was exposed, anu the desti:ied victims were saved. A piece so damned could not safely be produced again on the same stage. It was thought wise, therefore, to let some little time pass, and then to let its author produce it on some other distant, provincial theatre, for his own benefit, and at his own expense and hazard. To drag an English judge from his bench, or an English Member of Parliament from the senate, and in the open day, in the city of London, to strap him to the roof of a mail-coach, or pack him up in a waggon or hand him over to an Irish bailiff, with a rope tied about his leg, to be goaded forward like an ox, on his way to Ireland, to be there tried for a constructive misdemeanor, would be an experiment, perhaps not very safe to be attempted. These Merlins, therefore, thought it pru- dent to change the scene of their sorcery : — " Motlo Romse, niodo poui; Atlienis !" The people of England might, perhaps, enter into the feelings of succ an exhibition with an officiousness of sympathy not altogether for the jenefit of the contrivers : — "Nee coram lopulo natos Medea tmcidet"— and it was thought wise to try the second production before spectator; whose necks were pliant, and whose hearts were broken : where every man who dared to refuse his worship to tlie golden calf, would have tbtj furnace before his eyes, and think that it was at once useless and dan- gerous to speak, and discreet at least, if it was not honest, to be silent. I cannot deny that it was prudent to try an experiment, which if suc- cessful, must reduce an Englishman to a state of slavery, more abject and forlorn than that of the helots of Sparta, or the negroes of your lantations. For see, my lords, the extent of the construction now broadly and dIrcHjUy contended for at your bar : — Tbo Kia/^'s peace in Trelandt if 443 JUl'GE johason-. eems, is distinct from his peace in England, and toth are distinct from Ms peace in Scotland ; and, of course, the same act may be a crime igainst each distinct peace, and severally and successively punishable in each country — so much more inveterate is the criminality of a construc- tive than of an actual offence. So that the same man for the same act, against laws that he nevei \ieard of, may be punished in Ireland, be then sent to England, by vir- tue of the warrant of Mr. Justice Bell, endorsed by my Lord Ellen- Dorough; and after having his health, his hopes, and his property destroyed, for his constructive offences against his Majesty's peace in Ireland, and his^ Majesty's peace in England, he may find, that his Majesty's peace in the Orkneys, has, after all, a vested remaicder in his carcass ; and, if it be the case of a libel, for the full time ant term uH fourteen years from the day of his conviction beioie tue ibcottis' iurisdiction, to be fully completed and determined, Is there, my lords, can there be, a man who hears me, that does noi ieel that such a construction of such a law would put every individua n society under the despotical dominion, would reduce him to be the despicable chattel, of those most likely to abuse their power, the profli^ gate of the higher, and the abandoned of the lower orders ; to the remorseless malice of a vindictive minister ; to the servile instrume.Ti- tality of a trading justice ? Can any man who hears me, conceive any possible case of abducticrr, of rape, or of murder, that may not be pe^'- petrated, under the construction now shamelessly put forward. Let us suppose a case : — By this construction a person in England, by procuring a misdemeanor to be committed in Ireland, is construc- tively guilty in Ireland, and, of course, triable in Ireland. Let us suppose that Mr. Justice Bell receives, or says he receives, information, that the lady of an English nobleman wi'ote a letter to an Irish cham- bermaid, counselling her to steal a row of pins from an Irish pedlar, and that the said row of pins was, in consequence of such advice and 2()unsel, actually stolen, against the Irish peace of our Lord the Kiug suppose my Lord Ellenborough, knowing the signature, and reveren- cing the virtue of his tried and valued colleague, endorses this warrant W it not clear as the sun, that this English lady may, in the dead of the light, be taken out of her bed and surrendered to the mercy of twc )T three Irish bailiffs, if the captain who employed them should happen -o be engaged in any contemporary adventure nearer to his heart, without the possibility of any legal authority interposing to save her, Lo be matronized in a journey by land, and a voyage by sea, by such modest and respectable guar(fians, to be dealt with during the journey is her companions might think proper, and to be dealt with afterward by the worshipful correspondent of the noble and learned lord, Mr Justice Bell, according to law ? I can without much difficulty, my lords, imagine, that after a year or two had been spent in accounts current, in (Sawing and re-drawing for human flesh, between our worthy Bells and Medlicots on this side of the water, and their noble or their ignoble correspondents on the -^ther, that they might meet to settl*' their accounts and adjust iheur JUDtE J01!NS0i<- balances. I can conceive that the items might not be wholly destifutt of :junosity. — Brother B. I take credit for the body of an Englisls painot — Brother E. I set off against it that of an Irish judge — Brother B. I charge you in account with three English bishops — Brother 1. I setoff IVIi's. M'Lean and two of her cliickens; petticoat against pet- ticoat — Brother B. I have sent you the body of a most intractable dis- turber, a fellow that has had the impudence to give a threshing tr Bonaparte himself: I have sent you Sir Sidney — Dearest Brother E.— But I see my learned opponents smile — I see their meaning. I may be told, that I am putting imaginary and ludicrous, but not probabla and therefore, not supposable cases. But I answer, that that reason- ing would be worthy only of a slave, and disgraceful to a freeman, i answer, that the condition and essence of rational freedom is, not that the subject probably will not be abused, but that no man in the state shall be clothed with any discretionary power, under the colour and pretext of which he can dare to abuse him- As to probability, I answer, that in the mind of man there is no more instigating temptation to the most remorseless oppression, than th< rancour and malice of irritated pride and wounded vanity. To the iYgumett of improbability, I adduce in answer, the -very fact, the ver, question in debate; nor to such answer can I see the possibility of an;; reply, save that the prosecutors are so heartily sick of the point of view into which ttey have put themselves by their prosecution tlmt they are not likely again to make a similar experiment. But when I see any man fearless of power, because it possibly or probably may not be exer- cised upon him, I am astonished at his fortitude ; I am astonished at the tranquU courage of any man who can quietly see that a loaded cannon s brought to bear on him, and that a fool is sitting at its touch-holp with a lighted match in his hand. And yet, my lords, upon a little reflection, what is it, after what we have seen, that should surprise us, however it may shock us ? What have the last ten years of the v/orld been employed in, but in destroy* ing the land-marks of rights, and duties, and obligations ; in substi- tuting sounds in the place of sense ; in substituting a vile and canting methodism in the place of social duty and practical honour ; in suffering virtue to evaporate into phrase, and morality into hypocrisy and affec- tation ? We talk of the violations of Hamburgh or of Baden ; we talk of the despotic and remorseless barbarian, who tramples on the -ommon privileges of the human being ; who, in defiance of the most known and sacred rights, issues the brutal mandate of usurped autho- rity ; who brings his victim by force within the limits of a jurisdiction to which he never owed obedience, and there butchers him for a con- structive offence. Does it not seem as if it were a contest whether we should be more scurrilous in invective, or more atrocious in imitation ? Into what a condition must we be sinking, when we have the front to select as the subject of our obloquy, those very crimes which we have flung behind us d. the race of profligate rivalry ! My lords, the learned counsel for the prosecutors have asserted that this act of the 44th of tl.*^ Kin^ expends to all offences, no matter hov- 450 JUiKJE JOHNSOK. 'ong or previously to it they may hare been committed. The words .xe, " That from and after the 1st day of August, 1804, if any persoOf ^jc, shall escape, &c." Now certainly nothing could be more conve- ,uent for the purpose of the prosecutors, than to dismiss, as they have lone, the words " escape and go into," altogether. If those words could have been saved from the ostracism of the prosecutors, they must lave designated some act of the offenders, upon the happening or doing of which the operation of the statute might commence ; but the tempo- rary bar of these words they wave by the equity of their own coustrnc- tion, and thereby make it a retrospective law ; and having so construed ii a manifestly ex post facto law, they tell you it is no such thing, because it creates no new offence, and only makes the offender suneur ^ble who was not so before. The law professes to take effect only from and after the 1st of August, 1804 ; now, for eighteen months before ihat day, it is clear that Mr. Johnson could not be removed by any jower existing from his country and his dwelling ; but the moment the .ict took effect, it is made to operate upon an alleged offence, commit- ted, if at all, co:;fessedly eighteen months before. But another wori as to the assertion, that it is not ex post facto, because it creates ejj new crime, but only makes the party amenable. The force of that argument is precisely this: — If this act inflicted deportation on the defendant by way of punishment after his guilt had t)een established by conviction, that would, no doubt, be tyrannical, rfiw Is bound to suppose him perfectly innocent ; and that only by wa.i yf proctss to ma]".'^ liim amenable, not by way of punishment • ana turely hs cannot be so unreasonable as not to feel the force of tlie dis- tinction How naturally, too, we find similar outrages resort lo similar jnstift cations ! Such exactly was the defence of the forcible entry into Baden. Had that been a brutal violence committed in perpetration of the mur- ier of the unfortunate victim, perhaps very scrupulous morahsts miglu find something in it to disapprove of; but his Imperial Majesty wa* too delicately tender of the rights of individuals and of nations, to do any act so flagrant as that would be if done in that point of view ; but his Imperial Majesty only introduced a clause of ne omittas into hia warrant, whereby the worshipful Bells and Medlicots that executed were authorized to disregard any supposed fantastical privilege of nations \hat gave sanctuary to traitors ; and he did that from the pure^i motives, from as disinterested a love of justice as that of the present prosecutors; ind not at all in the way of an ex post facto law, but merely as process :o bring him in, and make him amenable to the competent aud unquea iionable jurisdiction of the 5oi.s (ie -Bow^uc. Such are the wretched sophistries to which men are obUged to nave recourse, when their passions have led them to do what no thinking Oian can regard without horror, what they themselves cannot .ook ^ without shame; and for which no legitimate reasoning can suggest Eithe.^ justification or excuse. Such are the principles of criminal jos- ;cc on which the first exoeriment is made in Ireland ; but I veutiu-e to JUDGE .lOHMSON. -iGl pltdge myself to m) loiiow-subjecta of Great Britain, that if the experi- ment succeeds, they ahali soon have the full beiif^fit of that success. I venture to promise them, thoy shall soon liave theh: full measure ol tliis salutary system for making men " amenable," heaped and running over into then bosoms. There now remains, my lords, one, and oi.\, one topic of this odious? subject, to call for observation. The oflfence here appeal's by the retuni and the affidavits, to be a libel upon the Irish government, published by construction in Westminster. Of the constructive commission of a crirn* in one place by an agent, who, perhaps at the moment of the act, is b another hemisphere, you have already heard enough. Here, therefore •^-e will consider it simply as an illegal libel upon the Irish government and whether, as such, it is a charge coming within the meaning of the r'tatute, and for which a common justice of peace in one kingdom, ii empowered to grant a warrant for conveying the person accused foi trial into the other. Your lordships will observe, that in the whole catalogue of crime* for which a justice of peace may grant a warrant, there is not one that fmposes upon him the necessity of deciding upon any matter of law, ijivolviug the smallest doubt or difficulty whatsoever. In treason the overt act ; in felony, wliether capital or not, the act ; in misdemeanors, the simple act. The dullest justice can understand what is a breach of tiie peace, and can describe it in his warrant. It is no more than the description of a fact, which the informer has seen and sworn to. But" r>.<> libel comes within such a class ; for it is decided over and over, that r- libel is no breach of the peace, and upon that ground it was that Mr '^'V'ilkes, in 1763, was allowed the privilege of parhament, which priTir ege does not extend to any breajch of the peace. See, then, my lords, what a task is imposed upon a justice of the ijeace, if he is to grajtit such a warrant upon such a charge : he, no doubt., may easily comprehend the allegation of the informer, as to the fact of wi'iting the supposed libel ; in deciding whether the facts sworn '^mounted to a publication or not, I should have great apprehension of his fallibihty ; but if he got over those difficulties, I should much fear for his competency to decide what given facts would amount to a con- structive publication. But even if he did solve that question — a point on which, if I were a justice, I should acknowledge myself most profoundly ignorant — he would then have to proceed to a labour, in which I believe no mai. could expect him to succeed ; that is, how far the paper sworn to waa in point of legal construction, libellous or not- I trust this court wil never be prevailed upon to sanction, by its decision, a construction tha^ would give to such a set of men a power so incompatible with every privilege of Uberty or of law. To say it would give an irresistible power of destroying the liberty of the press hi Ireland, would, I am well aware, be but a silly argument, where such a thing has long ccaued to exist ; but I have, for that very reason, a double interest now, a.s a subject ol ♦be emnire, in that noble guardian of libertv in i he sister nation. Vw'hcD 462 JUDGE JOHNSOi^. my o^VTi lamp is broken, I have a double interest in the preservation o. roy neighbour's. But if every man in England who dares to observe, no matter how honestly and justly, upon tbe conduct of Irish ministers, is liable to be iom from his fainily, and dragged hither by an Irish baiKflf, for a con- structive libel against the Irish government and upon the authority of an Irish warrant, no man can be such a fool as not to see the conse- quence. The inevitable conseq^uence is this, that at this awful crisis, vhen the weal, not of this empire only, but of the whole civihzed world. iepends on the steady faith and consolidated eflforts of these two coun- fcries, when Ireland is become the right arm of England, when every thing that draws the common interest and affection closer gives the hope of life, when every thing that has even a tendency to relax that senti- ment is a symptom of death, even at such a crisis may the rashness or folly of those entrusted with its management, so act as to destroy its Internal prosperity and repose, and lead it into the two-fold fatal error, of mistaking its natural enemies for its friends, and its natural friends for its natural enemies ; without any man being found so romantically daring, as to give notice of the approaching destruction. My lords, I suppose the learned counsel will do here what they have done in the other court : they will assert that this libel is not triable ^ere ; and they will argue that so false and heinous a production surelj ought to be triable somewhere. As to the first position, I say the law is directly against them. From a very early stage of the discussion, the gentlemen for the pro- secutiou thought it wise for their clients to take a range into the facts much more at large than they appeared on the return to the writ, or even by the affidavits that have been made ; and they have done this to lake the opportunity of aggravating the guilt of the defendant, and at the same time of panegyrising their clients ; they have, therefore, not argued upon the Kbel generally as a libel, but they have tlioiight i+< pru- dent to appear perfectly acquainted with the charges wliich it contains : they have, therefore, assumed, that it relates to the transactions of the 23rd of July, 1803 ; and that the guilt of the defendant was, that he riirrote that letter in Ireland, which was afterwards published in England, Zkot by himself, but by some other persons. Now, on these facts, nothing can be clearer than that he is triable here. If it be a libel, and if he wrote it here, and it was published in Eng- land, most manifestly there must have been a precedent publication, not merely by construction of law, in Ireland, but a publication by actual feet. And for this plain reason, if you for a moment suppose the libel in his possession (and if he did in fact write it, I can scarcely conceive •Jiat it was not, unless he wrote it perhaps by construction), there were io physical means of transmitting it to England, that would not amount ■0 a pubUcation here. Because, if he put it into the post-office, or gave tt, to a messenger to carry thither, that would be complete evidence of publication against him. So would the mere possession of the paper, in the hands of the wi^ JUDGE JOHx^SO^. l-5i- iiess who appeared and produced it, be perfect evidence, -^' liCt aeeounted i'oi-. or contradicted, to charge liim with the publicat Oil ; so that really i am surprised how gentlemen could be betrayed into positions so uttetL v/ithout foundation. They would have acted just as usefully for their clients , if they iJid idmitted, what every man knows to be the fact, that is, that +,hey dure: not bring the charge before an Irish jury. The facts of that perioG were too well understood. The Irisli public might have looked at such •I prosecution with the most incredulous detestation ; alld if th.ey had noen so indiscreet as to run the risk of coming before au Irish jury BiStead of refuting the charges against tliem as a calumny, the'y woufl iiave exposed themselves to the peril of establishing the aevof^Cion, si:0 of raising the character of the man v.iiom they had the heart to (H.e^ljijy because he had dared to censure them. Let not the learned gentlemen, I pray, suppose me so ungracious as to say, that this publication, which has given so much pain to theii clients, is actually true ; I cannot personally know it to be so, nor do I say so, nor is this the place or the occasion to say that it' is so. I mean only to speak positively to the question before you, which is matter ot law. But as the gentlemen themselves thought it meet to pronounce an eulogy on their clients, I thought it rather unseemly not to show that I attended to them : I have most respectfully done so ; I do not contra- dict any praise of their virtues or their wisdom, and I only wish to a-ih' my very humble commendation of tlieir prudence and discretion, in no> bringing the trial of the present libel before a jury of this country. The learned counsel have not been contented with abusing this libei as a production perfectly known to them, but they have wandered into Uie regions of fancy. No doubt the other judges, to whom those pathe- tic flights of forensic sensibility were addressed, must have been strongly aflfected by them. The learned gentlemen have supposed a variety of possible cases. They have supposed cases of the foulest calumni;.tor5 aspersing the most virtuous ministers. Whether such supposed cast^ have been suggested by fancy or by fact, is not for me to decide ; but I beg- leave to say, that it is as allowable to us as to them to put cases «' a'JLppositlou : — — "Cur esrosi fingrere panca Possuiii, invideiir '.•''" Let me, tnen, my lords, put an imaginary case of a different kind • l\yi 3ae suppose that a great personage, entrusted with the safety of the cite* del (meaning and wishing perhaps well, but misled by those lacquered vermin that swarm in every great hall), leaves it so loosely guarded;' that nothing but the gracious interposition of Providence, has saved i{ from the enemy. Let me suppose another great personage, going out cf liis natural department, and under the supposed authority of hig-Ji -station, disseminating such doctrines as tend to root up the foundation of society, to destroy all confidence between man and man, and lo ii\"!preo.-i the great body of the people with a delusive and desperate o^^I- nion, that their religion could dissolve or condemii the sacred obli- putiohii H\at bind them to ^;he:> coimtry, that fJheir rulers have no roll- 154 JL'DQE joajsaoi.. jDce upon their faitb, and are rpsolved to shut tho gates of mercrj igainst them. Suppose a good and virtuous man saw that such doctrines must neces- sarily torture the nation into such madness and despair, as to rende? lliem unfit for any system of mild or moderate government : that if on nne side bigotry or folly shall inject their veins with fire, such a fever uu^t be kindled, as can be allayed onl/ by keeping a stream of blood perpetually running from the other ; and that the horrors of martia. law must become the direful but inevitable consequence. In such a case, let me ask you, what would be his indispensable duty ? It would be, to .ivert such di-eadful dangers, by exposing the conduct of such persons, by holdiig up the folly of such bigoted aud blind entiiusiasra to condign derision and contempt ; and painfully would he feel that on such an Dccasion he must dismiss all forms and ceremonies ; and that to do his duty with effect, he must do it witho it mercy. He should also foresee, that a person so acting, when he returned to those to whom he was responsible, would endeavour to justify himself by defaming the country wnich he had aljused, for calumny is the natural defence of the oppres- sor . he should therefore so reduce his personal credit to its just stand- ird, that his assertions might find no more belief than tkey deserved. Were such a person to be looked on as a mere private individual, charity and gooa-nature might suggest not a little in his excuse. An inexperienced man, new to the world, and in the honeymoon of preferment, would run no small risk of having his head turned in Ire- land. The people in our island are by nature penetrating, sagacious, artful, and comic, " natio comceda est.'* In no country under heaven would an ass be more likely to be hood-winked, by hanng his ears drawn Dver his eyes, and acquire that fantastical alacrity that makes dulness iiisposable to the purposes of humorous malice., or interested imposture. In Ireland, a new great man could get the freedom of a science as ■'iSL.iixy as of a corporation, and become a doctor, by construction, of thtj vmoie Encyclopsedia ; and great allowance might be made under such circumstances for indiscretions and mistakes, as long as they related only to himself ; but the moment they become public mischiefs, they ^ose all pretensions to excuse ; the very ambition of incapacity '<* a crime Dot to be forgiven ; and however painful it may be to infiict punish- ment, it must DC remembered, that mercy to the delinquent would be treason to the public. I can the more easily understand the painfulness of the conflict :jetweeii cnarity ana auty, because at this moment I am labouring 3nder it myself ; and I feel it the more acutely, because I am confident, iiiit the paroxysms of passion that have produced these public discus. ;ions have been bitterly repented of. I think, also, that I should not act fairly if I did not acquit my learned opponents of all share whatso- ?"rr in this prosecution ; they have too much good sense to have advised- •t ; on the contrary, I can easily suppose Mr. Attorney- General sent for tj give counsel and comfort to his patient ; and after hearing no very roiicLse detail of his griefs, his resentments, and his misgivings, methinks I tear the answer that he gives, after a pause of svrapathy and retiov JUDGE JOHNSON. 46c tion : **' No, sir, do not proceed in such a business ; you v/ill only expo^*? yourself to scorn in one country, and to detestation in the other. lou know you durst not try him here, where the whole kingdom would be nis witness. If you should attempt to try him there, where he can havoi no witness, you will have both countries upon your back. An English jury would never find him guilty. You will only confirm the charge Lgainst yourself, and be the victim of an impotent abortive malice, if you should have any ulterior project against him, you will defeat tha.t »Lso ; for they who might otherwise concur in the design, will be shocked and ashamed of the violence and folly of such a tyrannical proceeding, and will make a merit of protecting him, and of leaving you in the lurch. What you say of your own feelings, I can easily conceive. You think you have been much exposed by those letters ; but then remember, n^' i/ear sir, that a man can claim the privilege of being made ridiculous ov h'^teful by no publication but his own. Vindictive critics have their rights, as well as bad authors. The thing is bad enotigh at best ; btzt, if you go on, you will make it worse. It wiU be considered an attempt to degrade the Irish bench and the Irish bar. You are not aware what ii nest of hornets you are disturbing. One inevitable consequence yo- da not foresee : you will certainly create tlie very thing in Ireland that you are so afraid of — a newspaper. Think of that, and keep yourself ilcXet. And, in the meantime, console yourself with reflecting, Inat no man is laughed at for a long time ; every day will procure sonie uew ridicule that must supersede him.'* Such. I am satisfied, was the counsel given ; but I have no apprehen- ion for my client, because it was not taken. Even if it should be his fate to be surrendered to his keepers — to be torn from his family — to have his obsequies performed by torch-light — to be carried to a foreign land, and to a strange tribunal, where no wit- ness can attest his innocence — where no voice that he ever heard cau be raised in his defence — where he must stand mute, not of his ow?i malice, but the malice of his enemies — yes, even so, I see nothing for inm to fear. That all-gracious Being tliat shields tlie feeble from the oppressor will fill his heart with hope, and confidence, and courage : his sufferings will be liis armour, and his weakness will be his strength. He will find himself in the hands of a brave, a just, and a generous nation ; he will find that the bright examples of lier Russells and her Sydneys have not been lost to her children. They will behold him with sympathy and respect, and his persecutors with shame and abhorrence. They will feel, too, that what is then his situation, may to-morrow be their own ; but their first tear will be shed for him, and the second only for themselves — their hearts will melt in his acquittal. They will con- v«ey him khidly and fondly to their shore ; and he will return in triumph to his country — to tlie threshold of his sacred home — and to the weep, ing welcome of his delighted family. ^le will find that the darkness of iJrcary and lingering night hath at length passed away, and that joj fometh in the morning. No, my lords, I have no fear for the ultimate safety of my client Kveu in these very acr.^ ^f brutal 'violence that have been committod Urf5, jxruca JOiiJNSojc. against liim, do I hail the flatteriug hope of jiiai aavantage to him,anc not only of final advantage to him, but of better days and more prospe- rous fortune for this afflicted country — that country of which I have so often abandoned all hope, and which I have been so often determined :c quit for ever. " Sffipe rale dicto multa sum deinde locutas, Et quasi discedens osciila summa dabam, Indulgens aninio, pes tardiis erat." But I am reclaimed from that infidel despair. I am satisfied that vhile a man is suffered to live, it is uii intimation from Providence that lie has some duty to discharge, which it is mean and criminal to decline. Had I been guilty of that ignominious flight, and gone to pine in the obscurity of some distant retreat, even in that grave I should have been haunted by those passions by which my life had been agitated — " Tivis quae cui-a Eadeiu sequitur telliu'e repostoa " And if the transactions of this day had reached me, I feel how my heart would have been agonized by tlie shame of the desertion : nor would my sufferings have been mitigated by a sense of the feebleness of that aid, or the smallness of that service which I could render or with- draw. They would have been aggravated by the consciousness that. However feeble or worthless they were, I should not have dared to tiiieve them from my country. I have repented — I have stayed — and [ am at cnce rebuked and rewarded by the happier hopes that I now entertain. In tlie anxious sympathy of the public — in the anxious sympathy of «y learned brethren — do 1 catch the happy presage of a brighter fate for Ireland. They see, that within these sacred walls the cause of Uberty and of man may be pleaded with boldness and heard with favour. I am satisfied they will never forget the great trust, of which they alone are now the remaining depositories. While they continue to cultivate a sound and hterate philosophy — a mild and tolerating Christianity — and to make both the sources of a just, and liberal, and constitutional jurisprudence, I see everything for us to hope. Into their hands, there- fore, with the most afi'ectionate confidence in their virtue, do I commit ihese precious hopes. . Even I may Hve long enough yet to see the approaching completion, if not the perfect accomplishment of them. Pleased shall I then resign the scene to fitter actors ; pleased shall 1 lay down my wearied head to rest, and say : — " Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word, for mme eyes have seen thy salvation." William Jolinson then followed en the same side, and Prime Sergeant Browne on the opposite. On the 7th of February the judgment of the Com-t -was.piven against the release, Baron Smith dissenting in a very constitutional and elociuent, out rather showy, speech. Ml-. James Fitzgerald brought the case betore the English Coiuinons, on the Sth of Feb- ruary, without effect. On the 27th of May, a bill was brought inio the English Commjos, to amend tlie act of the former yeai-, and ena''liug parties arrested to give bail and griaoing subpoenas for witnesses in Ireland. When mib bill reached the Lords, Johnson petidnacd against.it, and was heard by counr-el; but it passed. Pursuant to the decision of the Irish 'Court.s, .indge Johnson was. ther«forej removed to naxflsuu • nnd h^.ving tliera vk-fided st>reially ^ t^O inuictmcnt ili,e nou-jurJ-/Uf tlv ^.lERBY 0. P0V7ER. 457 Oomt under the Jict, the Crown fleraurred. and on the 20th of June, 1805, the piCa was dTgued by Richardson for. and Abhott against, the prisoner, and on the 1st of July his plet was quashed. On the 2Srd cf November, 1S05, the trial took place before the full Court of King'b Bench. \Ii Westminster, and a special jury. Erskinc, Garrow, &c., were Mitli the law officers of the CroATO. Cobbett swore to the documents, and four Irish officials swore that they were in Johnson's Anlting. After an argument on non-proof of publication in Middlesex, Mr. Adams spoke for the defence, and called Sir Henry Jebb, Doctor Hodgkinson (S.F.T.C.D.), Mr. Archdall, Mr, John Gifford, and Mr. Cassidy, to prove the handwriting not Judge /ohnson's. After a quarter of an hour's deliberation, the jurj' found a verdict of Gdiltt. A nolle prosequi was entered on this by the "Whig Government in Trinity Term, 1806, and Johnson retired upor his pension. He then went to lite in Paris, and there, in 1828, under the name of " Colonel Philip Eoche Fermoy," published liis " Commentary on the Memoirs of Wolfe Tone." This ^'amphlet Ment much into the military resources of Ireland, and caused some excitement. aI is a very fierce, but not a profound military tract. It is said that he printed a second part, which he sent to a relative in Ireland, wlio burned the whole impression. DECISION IN MERRY c. POWER. [charitable legacy.] ROLLS COURT. ■ VRT Power, in 1804. made her will, bequeathing a considerable part of her property to tl :' Kev. John Power, and others, in trust for chari<-uble purposes. Her brother, Josepi Alcirry, a merchant in Spain, M-as her next of kin, and residuary legatee ; he died intestat^ and his son, the now plaintiff, came over and took out administration to his deceased father and brouglit u suit in the Spiritual Court, to set aside the will, as unduly obtained, and at disijosing of a large property to Papists and for superstitious uses. In that court the plaintitf applied for an administrator, pendente lite, and was refused The present bill, praying that the effects might be brought into court, was filed only a ivw weeks ; and now, before the defendan^i had answered, a motion was made by Dr. Vava- sour, for a receiver, and that Dr. Power, the acting executor, should be ordered forthwith to bring the effects into court ; he relied on the affidavit of his client, the plaintiff, charging that the will was obtained by fraud by the defendant. Power, and that at best it could not be sustained, as being a trust altogether for " Popish uses." The motion was opposed bj Mr. Prendergast, who strongly argued against the imputations thrown out upon the con- duct of Dr. Power, by the name of " one John Power, a Popish Priest." He insisted, thtit under the whole circumstances, there was no colour for impeaching the transaction ; that the bequests were most praiseworthy ; that there had already been a decree of this coui-^ obtained by the trustees of charitable donations, affirming the legality of the trusts; an^* lliat it would be unprecedented for a court to interfere in this way, before an answer cam* fc, and Avithout delay or resistance on the part of the defendant to put in hia answer. His Honour- the M'aster of the Rolls (Mr. Curran) said: — If the question had been brought forward upon the mere rule of the court, I sliould not have thought it necessary to give many reasons for the order I intend to make : but pressed so strongly as it has been^ both by the arguments themselves, and perhaps more so by the style and manner of putting them, as well as the supposed policy which has been called in to aid them, I think I ought to state the grounds upoa ■which I mean to act in my decision. First, then, it is urged, that this is the case of an insolvent and wast h\g executor having fradulently obtained the will. As to insolvency, to be an executor it is not necessary to be rich ; integrity and discretion ere the essential qualities of an executor. If the testator thinks be tiw found these in an ejf«a^utor of liutnbic means, this court haa no iTR Miiiiht V. POvrtK. po-vver to control him. He may bestovf his property as a gift to v-hon lie pleases ; it would be strange if he could not confide it as a trust to 7,-hom he chooses. I know of no necessary connexion between wealth and honesty. I fear that integrity is not always found to be the parent or offspring of riches. To interfere, tlierefore, as is now sought, with this executor, would be Kttle short of removing the will. But it is said that this will has been obtained by fraud, practised by Ms " one John Power." No doubt this court has acted, where strong ground of suspicion of fraud, and danger of the property being made away with, have appeared ; but do these grounds now appear to this eourt ? Here his Honour recapitulated the facts sworn to, and continued : — I see no semblance of fact to sustain such a charge. Who does this '' one John Power, a Popish Priest," turn out to be ? I find he is a Catholic clergyman, a doctor in divinity, and the titular bishop in the diocese of Waterford. And yet I am now pressed to believe that this gentleman has obtained this will by fraud. Every fact now appearing repels the charge ; I cannot but say, that the personal character of the person accused repels it still more strongly. Can I be brought, on grounds like those now before me, to believe that a man, having the education of a scholar, the habits of a religious life, and vested with so a high a character in the ministry of the gospel, could be capable of so detestable a profanation as is flung upon him ^ Can 1 forget that he is a. Christian bishop, clothed not in the mere authority of a sect, but clothed in the indelible character of the epis- copal order, suffering no diminution from his supposed heterodoxy, nor drawing any increase or confirmation from the merits cf his conformity, should he think proper to renounce what we caU the errors of faith ? Can I bring my mind, on slight, or rather on no grounds, to believe, that he could so trample under his feet all the impressions of that edu- cation, of those habits, and of that high rank in the sacred ministry of the gospel, which he holds, as to sink to the odious impiety imputed to aim ? Can I bring myself to believe such a man, at the dying bed of iis fellow-creature, would be capable with one hand of presenting .;he cross before her lifted eye, and with the other, of basely thieving from her those miserable dregs of this world, of which his perfidious tongue was employed in teaching her a Cliristian's estimate ? I do aot believe it ; on the contrary, I am (as far as it belongs to me, in thL tion means somewhat more than directly meets the ear, if it means an^ thing. The object of these bequests, it seems, are Catholics, or, as thev have been called. Papists ; and the insinuation clearly is, that the reli gion of the objects of this woman's bounty calls upon me to exercise some peculiar rigour of interference to abridge or defeat her intentions Upon this point I wisli to be distinctly understood : I don't conceive this to be the spirit of our existing law ; nor, of course, the duty of this court to act upon that principle in the way contended for. In times, thank God, now past, the laws would have warranted such doctrines Tiiose laws owed their existence to unfortunate combinations of cir- cumstances that v/ere thought to render them necessary. But if vre look back with sorrovr to their enactment, let us look forward wiUi kindness and gratitude to their repeal. Produced by national calamity, they were brought by national benevolence, as well as by national con- trition, to the altar of public justice and concord, and there offered as a sacrifice to atone, to heal, to conciliate, to restore social confidence, and to give us that hope of prosperity and safety, which no people ever had, or observed, or dared to have, except where it is founded on the community of interests, a perfectly even and equal participation of just rights, and a consequent contribution of all the strength of all the parts so equally interested in the defence of the whole. I know they have been supposed to originate in religious bigotry, that is, religious zeal carried to excess. I never thought so. The real spirit of our holy religion is too incorruptibly pure and beneficent to be depraved into any such excess. Analyze the bigot's object, and we see he takes nothing from religion but a flimsy pretext in the profana- tion of its name. He professes the correction of error and the prop?^ gation of truth. But when he has gained the victory, what are the terms he makes for himself ? — power and profit. "What terms does hjs make for religion ? — profession and conformity. What is that profes sion ? The mere utterance of the lips, the utterance of sounds, tha'' after a pulsation or two upon the air, are just as visible and lasting; a;^ they are audible. What is the conformity ? Is it the practice of any iocial virtue or Christian duty ? Is it the forgiveness of injuries, oi the payment of debts, or the practice of charity ? No such thing. It 's tlie performance uf some bodily a-estm-e or attitude. It is going ir 4!'^0 ilEKRY p. POWER. some place of worship. It is to stand or to kneel, or to bo.v to tto poor-box. But it is not a conformity that has anything to do with the judgment, or the heart, or the conduct. All these things bigotry med- dles not with, but leaves them to religion herself to perform. Bigotry only adda one more, and that a very odious one, to the num- Der of those human stains which it is the business of true religion not to burn out with the bigot's fire, but to expunge and wash away by the .Christian's tears. Such, invariably, in all countries and ages, have been the motives to the bigot's conflicts, and such the use of his victories ; not the propaga- Hon of any opinion, but the engrossment of power and plunder, ol yioraage and tribute. Such, I much fear, was the real origin of our Popery laws. But power and privilege must necessarily be confined to rery few. In hostile armies you find them pretty equal, the victors and the vanquished, in the numbers of their hospitals and in the numbers of their dead: so it is with nations ; the great mass is despoiled an^L degraded, but the spoil itself is confined to few indeed. The resul: finaUy can be nothing but the disease of dropsy and decrepitude. In Ireland this was peculiarly the case. Religion was dishonoured man was degraded, and social affection was almost extinguished. A *«?w, a very few still profited by this abasement of humanity. But let it be remembered, with a just feeling of grateful respect to their patriotic and disinterested virtue, and it is for this purpose that [ have alluded as I have done, that that few composed the whole power of the legislature which concurred in the repeal of that. system, and left remaining of it, not an edifice to be demolished, but a mere heap of rubbish, unsightly, perhaps pernicious, to be carted away. If the repeal of those laws had been a mere abjuration of intolerance, 1 should have given it little credit. TJie growing knowledge of the world, particularly of the sister nation, had disclosed and unmasked intolerance ; had put it to shame, and consequently to flight ! But tliGugh public opinion may proscribe intolerance, it cannot take awa?; powers or privileges established by law. These powers of exciusioD and monopoly could be given up only by tlie generous relinquishment i)i' those who possessed them. And nobly were they so relinquished 6y those repealing statutes. Those lovers of their country .saw the public necessity of the sacrifice, and most disinterestedly did tliey make t. If, loo, they have been singular in this virtue, they lutve been as •angularly fortunate in their reward. lu general, the legislator, though he sows the seed of public good, is himself numbered with the dead before the harvest can be gathered. With us it has not been so, with us the public benefactors, many of them, at least, have lived to see tlie blessing of heaven upon their virtue, in an uniformly accelerating pro- gress of industry, and comfort, and liberality, and social affection, and 2ommon interest, such as I do not believe that any age or nation has ever witnessed. Such I do knew was the view, and such the hope, with which that legislature, now no more ! proceeded so far as they went, in the repeal And well do Ji know hov^ warmly it is now NEWiXY ELEOTION I46i reuieiixbered by every ihinking; Catholic, that not a single Toice for those repeals was or could be given except by a Protestant legislator- With nfinite pleasure do I also know and feel, that the same sense of justice £nd good-will which then produced tlie repeal of those laws, is continu- ing to act, and with increasing energy, upon those persons in bott countries, whose worth and whose wisdom are likely to explode what- ever principle is dictated by bigotry and folly ; and to give currency and action to whatever principle is wise and salutary. Such, also, I know to be the feelings of every court in this hall. It is from this' enlarged and humanized spirit of legislation, that courts of justice ought to take their principles of expounding the law. At another time I should probably have deemed it right to preserve i more respectful distance from some subjects which I have presumed IhvLt certainly with the best intentions, and I hope no unbecoming free- .dom) to a]>proach ; but I see the interest the question has excited ; and I think it right to let no person carry av/ay with him any mistake, as to the grounds of my decision, or suppose that it is either the duty or the disposition of our courts to make any harsh or jealous distinctions in their judgment, founded on any differences of religious sects or tenets. I think, therefore, the motion ought to be refused ; and I think myself bound to mark still more strongly my sense of its impropriety, by refua- ins: it with full costs. NEWRY ELECTION. I7th October, 1812. AT Ua General -Election, 'n 1812, many of Curran's friends desired to see him enter the English Parliament. His ,, 'iputation was not firmly estahlished in England ; and a few speeches on irreat occasions, in the House of Commons, they conceived woiild win the waverers. Curran himself was anxious to help Grattan in urging the Catholic claims, and he acceded to their -wishes. A requisition -was addressed to him from Newrj^ to contest that horough, on!. tlie. popular interest, against General Needhani, the Government can fMate. In the Dublin Eveninq Po$t, of October 13th, 1812, appears the folio-wing address to the Electors from sonae of Curran's friends : — *' To the Independent Electors o/A'etery. " r^ •'•"Isition tv fiim, on whom, of ail ether moo. ibe cou.ntry looks -wit_ 462 NEWRY ELECT! Olv. *3miration for his talents, with reverence for his virtues, ^vith gratitude for his past i.-:Tr* ♦Ices, and confidence in his future exertions — for his well-known and tried attachment tO Ireland. Nor has he refused — he felt that, at this momentous time, when his country ci.l5 upon him for his services, he wars not permitted to reject her petition. lie has offered ta 3xercise in your service his gigantic eloquence, backed by long experience, and suppoiteJ by invincible honesty, and. with tliese all-powerful instruments, to work the regeneratioa of Iceland. " He has done his part ; it only remains for you to perform yours. To the independent and liberal Protestants of Newry is this chiefly addressed. They, as they do not suffer the wrongs of their Catholic countrymen, are not so sensible of the deccradation of their country But there cannot surely exist so vile a Catholic, that would, with spaniel crouch, lick tliip nand that holds the wliip of infliction, and kiss the chains that bind themselves and their Posterity to endless servitude and disgrace — much less can that Catholic be a man, wliobe jrtune should make him independent, and who can ascribe no motive for his perfidy, bui the meanness of his mind, and tlie debasement of his nature. " Away ! No Irishman could descend so low ! but should there be such a wretch, lea\< him to the torture of self-reproach, the execration of liis own party, and the contempt eve& of that which he debases by his alliance. "We have alroady on our side a numerous class of our Protestant fellow-citizens, those who have already came forward, with generous ardour, to support their Catholic brethren in their petition for redress of their grievances. They have thus declared their sentiments — they know full well the chief object of the dissolution of Parliament is to obstruct tha* cause which they so Avarmly espoused ; and they have not, and, it is hoped will not foiiow the example of the government candidate, in making professions never to be fulfilled, and with which tbeir conduct in voting for that candidate would be so glaringly inconsistent. It is possible he may again tender such hollow pledfies, but wo know what value to place upon them ; they will not again pa.ss current. "Citizens of Niwrj- ! it is the more p.irticularly necessary for you to be vigilant on the present occasion, when the Government party have resorted to such mean, but fraitlea artifices, as to push on this election with unprecedented haste — publishing the notice on tli6 verj- day the requisition was signed, and before it could be transmitted to the Man of th« People's choice. But such paltry contrivances will be as ineffectual as they are unworthy — since we behold aU that is liberal, all that is independent, all that is noble in the county, coming forward to support the great advocate of the people, the Mastek of thk Rolls. " October 10th, 1812." A letter from a Correspondent, in the sams jom-nal, reports the commencement of th& Election : Extract of a letter from Ntwry, dat»d Monday, \2th Oct., 1812. "The enthusiasm of the people was such as to take the horses from the Master of thp Rolls' carriage on Saturday evening, two miles out of town, and about 3000 people die? him in. He made the finest speech I ever heard this day, for an hour and twenty minutes, amid the greatest acclamations ; whilst his opponent, who refused the test in favour of tlia Catholics, was groaned. We only polled twenty this day— we were equal — we will poll fii'ty each to-morrow, and, on Wednesday or Thursday we will know our chance-— Ms speech has brought us crowds." But the government influence was too strong, and a few of the Catholic shopkeepers who wei-e creeping int» rural importante were cowardly and slavish. Tliey sustained the jovernment candidate, and turned the scale agaiiist Curran. On October 17ih. the sixth lay of the Election, he saw that the borough was lost, and withdi-ew from the contest It wis on that occasion, he made the following speech : — I was induced by some of the most respectable electors of the borough Co offer myself a candidate. As to myself, I could have no wish to ad(^ to the weight of my public duties ; and as to serving the country essen- tially, I think very moderately indeed of my own powers : and under circumstances like the present, under such rulers, and in such a state of popular representation, or, rather misrepresentation, I am perfectly con- vinced that no force of any individual, or even of many joined together could do much to serve us, or to save us. In addition to personal disinclination, I was ignorant of the exact state of the borough, and, of course, of t!ie likelihood of my success. But yet, though without personal wish or probable hope, I thought ".r/«x»lf hc'uid, i€ 1 public va^n^ to obey ; because^ though the victor) NKV.BY ELiitJTION. 4C3 '.v2a doubtful, the value of the contest was incalculable, inasmuch as it must bring before ourselves, and before the rest of Ireland, not only an exact picture of our situation, and of the public malady under which we are sinking, but must also make an infallible experiment. It must decide, to the commonest observer, the principle of the disease, the •weakness and misery of public distraction, the certain success, if the suf- ferers can be combined by the sense of common danger, in a common effort, to throw off the odious incubus that sits upon the public heart, locking up the wholesome circulation of its blood, and paralysing it£ action. The experiment has now been made, and has failed of immediate sue ness ; it was an effort nobly supported by every generous and honest man within the Hmits of the borough ; but its triumph ha* been delayed by the want of union, by the apostacy of the perfidious, by the vile defeo- tion of others, whom opulence could not reconcile to duty and indepen- dence. Yet, notwithstanding this sad coalition of miserable men against then*' selves and their children, I do not hesitate to announce to the generous and honest electors who hear me, that though their triumph is deferred, their borough is from thi-i moment free, and that terror has ceased to reign over it ; you have polled a greater number of honest and inde- pendent voters than ever appeared heretofore for your most successful candidate. Look now, for a moment, against what a torrent of ^ulrerse circum- stances you had to act. The object of yoar support., persuuaiiy a stranger, giviug public notice that he would not solicit a single individual ; the momeDla contest wa^ apprehended, corruption took the alarm ; and a public officer, in m); opinion must anbecomingiy, appointed sjo early a day for tiie eiectiou as to make tlL preparation whatsoever on my part impossible. If you reiiiember the indignant laugh that was excited in the course of th£ pun, whcD Uie returning otfiopr deinrinded of the poll-taker how manv had vot€rd for the Master of tko Rolls, and how many " for us 1" you mi St, I think, be satisfied that there must be something base in thi^ business. Sad, indeetl, is the detail of this odious and ludicrous trans- action, but it is too instructive to be passed over in silence. When the election oi)ened, an old gentleman rose, and proposed my allant opponent, as being a gentleman of " great influence in the borough," and who had " served it" for three parliaments ; that is, in other words, a gentleman who had the dregs of its population under hi^ feet, and who had, for three parliaments, been the faithful adherent ol every minister ; and upon every vital question, the steady and remorsj©- less enemy, so far as a dumb vote would go, of this devoted island. And, indeed, what could you expect from a gentleman of anothe) country, who could have neither interest in you, nor sympathy for you but was perfectly free to sell you, "i" to bestow you at his pleasure. This motion was seconded— I blush to think of it, I burn at beiu^ obliged to state it — by a merchant of Newry, himself a Catholic, himset the lUiiform victim, a-? he,toocetliei'WLtli his Catholic brethren, had bec^r- id4 35EWB/ ELECTIOi;. iacTiniform victims of the principles of a gentleman whom he thought proper to support. Neyer shall I forget the figure which the unhappy man njade ; hesi- tating, stammering, making a poor endearour to look angry, as if anger could cast any veil over conscious guilt, or conscious shame, or conscious fear : and to what extent must he have felt all those sensations, if he looked forward, not merely to the sentiment of indignation and con- ;empt which he was exciting in the minds of those that he betrayed, bu; ;he internal horror that he must feel, when thrust forward to the bare: his own conscience, and the dreadful sentence of expiatory torture which that indignant conscience must pronounce upon him ? However he was bold enough to second the motion ; and I think the General is altoge- ther indebted to the virtue of this independent Catholic, and of two other equally virtuous Catholics of Newry, for his final success, if snc- cess it can be called. The test proposed to my opponent was the most moderate ever wit- nessed ; it was merely that he would not obstinately persevere in betray- ing the trust reposed in him. What was his answer ? Certainly it was fair and candid, and giving you all the fullest notice of what you had to expect : he said, that he was not an orator ; that his principles were those of a soldier ; and that, whatever question came forward, he would vote as he should think best ; that is, in other words, if you returnee] him, you would send him a mute to parliament, with a parchment kj ouw hand, under the name of a return, containing the terms of your capitulation, and a bow-string in the other ; during the debate he would ring the dumb-bell ; but, on the division— " When it became a passing bell, ! then he'd sing it passing welL** Indeed, to touch but passingly upon the subsequent transactions Oi ■ tlie election —they are fresh in your minds. You saw those who voted for their country ; you saw tliose whc 7oted against their country, and ag^nst themselves. Every honourably ijvery respectable man within your borough, except the unfortunate Mr Caulneld and his two associates, were in the former class ; but why do i except them ? They do not belong to that class of public spirit or Uonour ; you saw the class to which these unfortunate men properly belong. You saw a successioii of poor creatures, without clothes upon their back, naked, as if they had been stripped for execution, naked, as if they had been landed from their mothers, consigned to the noble General at the moment of their birth — no part of them covered but their chins, as if nature had stuck a beard up(m them in derision of their destiny. Such lias been the contest — such the adverse forces — such, too, thus ar, the result. But I told you that the contest was of more value than file victory ; that if it did not give you triumph, it would give you wis- dom ; and to keep this promise, 1 must carry back your reflections to 'iraes that have passed us ; and 1 must do that to ^how you that all oar miseries and degradation have sprung from a disidion, cruelly and art^ fully fabricated by a foreign country, for the base purpose of driviu^j us to suicide, atid making us th' instrumentof our own dftoiruction Let me rapidly sketch the first dawn of disseiision in Ireland, and the relations of the conqueror and the conquered. That conquest waB obtained, like all the victories oyer Ireland, by tlie triumph of Lniilt over innocence. This dissension was followed up by the natural hatred of the spoiler and the despoiled ; followed up further by the absurd anti- pathies of religious sects ; and still further followed by the rivahies of trade, the cruel tyrants of Ireland dreading, that, if Irish industry had not her hands tied behind her back, she miglit become impatient of ser- vitude, and those hands might work her deliverance. To this growing' accumulation of Irish dissension, tha miserable Jameir Ihe Second, his heart rotted by the depravity of that France which had given him an interested shelter from the just indignation of his betrayed subjects, put the last hand ; and an additional dissension, caliing itsei:' political, as well as religious, was superadded. Under this sad coahtion of confederating dissensions, nursed and fomented by the policy of England, this devoted country has continued 'o languish with smJl fluctuations of national destiny, from the inva- sion of the Second Henry, to the present time. And here let me be just while I am indignant. Let me candidly own, that to the noble examples of British virtue — to the splendid exertions of British courage — to their splendid sacrifices, am I probably indebted ■ for my feelings as an Irishman, and my devotion to my country. They thought it madness to trust themselves to the influence of any foreign country ; they thought the circulation of the political blood could be carried on only by the action of the heart within the body, and could not be maintained from without. Events have shown you that what they thought was just, and that what they did was indispensable. They thought they ought to govern themselves — they thought that at every hazard they ought to make the effort — they thought it more eligible to perish than to fail — and to the God of heaven I pray, that the autho- i-ity of so splendid an example may not be lost upon Ireland. Mr. Ciirran, in adverting to the state of Ireland, from the Revolution to the year 17S2. jailed her a sad continuing spectacle of disgrace, and oppression, and plunder, which she ■.vas too enfe«ibled by dissension to resist; hecausvS she was the abject, sad, helpless victim tf the sordid, insatiable, and implacable tyranny of a foreign country. At length, in 1782, a noble efibrt was made — and deathless ought to be the name of him* that made it, and deathless ought to be the gra- titude of the country for which it was made — the independence of Ire- and was acknowledged. Under this system of asserted independence, our progress in prosperity /•as much more rapid than could have been expected, when we remember /he conduct of a very leading noble personf upon that occasion. Never wasamoregene^'ous mind, or a purer heart ; but his mind had more puritj than strength. He had all that belonged to taste, and courtesy, and refinement ; but the grand and the sublime of na:r.ocal reform wero composed of colours too strong for his eye, and comprised a horizon too outstretched for liis vision. The Catholics of Ireland were, in ft/A • Mr. Grattai> t I-oj d CJiavleioont 166 .NtWRY ELECTION. excluded from tlie asserted independence of tlieir country. Thus ffex the result comes to this— that wherever perfect union is not found, com- plete redress must be sought in vain. The Union vras the last and mortal blow to the existence of Ireland as a nation — a consummation of our destruction, achieved by that per- petual instrument of our ruin, our ow^n dissensions. The whole history of mankind records no instance of any hostile cabinet, perhaps of any even internal cabinet, destitute of all principles of honour or of shame. The Irish Catholic was taught to believe, that if he sur- rendered his country, he would cease to be a slave. The Irish Prolest- iinc was cajoled into the belief that if" he concurrod in the surrender, he would be placed upon the neck of a hostile faction. Wretched dupe ' You might as well persuade the goaler, that he is less a prisoner than the captives he locks up, merely because he carries the key of the pri- son in Ids pocket. By that reciprocal animosity, however, Ireland v/as surrendered ; the guilt of the surrender was most atrocious — the consequences of the crime most tremendous and exemplary. We put ourselves into a con- dition of the most unqualified servitude ; we sold our country, and we levied upon ourselves tne price of the purchase ; we gave up the rigiit of disposing of our properties ; we yielded to a foreign legislature tc decide, whether the funds necessary to their projects or their profligacy- should be extracted from us, or be furnished by themselves. The con- sequence has been, our scanty means have been squandered in her inter- nal corruption, as profusely as our best blood has been wasted in the iiadness of her aggressions, or the feeble folly of her resistance — our debt has accordingly been increased more than tenfold — the common xioauoris of life have been vanisiiiiig — we are siakiog into beggary— „ -Jiir poor people have been worried by cruel aud nnpriucipled prosecu- Clo!is— and the instruments of our govei-nuieiiC havo been almost slmpli- lied into the tax--gatherer ano the hangman. At length, after this long night of suffering, the mornhig star of our redemption cast its light upon us — the misL was dissolved — and ali men perceived that those wliom they had been blindly attacking in the dark were, in reaUty, their fellow-sufferers aud their friends. We have made a discovery of the grand principle in politics, that the tyrant is in every instance the creature of the slave — tbat he is a cowardly and a tomputing animal — and that, in every instance, he calculates between the expenditure to be made, and the advantage to be acquired. I, therefore, do not hesitate to say, that if the wTetched Island of ^lan, that refugium peccatorum, had sense and spirit to see the force jf this truth, she could not be enslaved by the whole power of England. The oppressor would see that the necessary expenditure in whips, and chains, and gibbets, would infinitely countervaLi the ultimate value of the acquisition; and it is owing to the ignorance of this unquestionable truth, tliat so much of this agitated globe has, in all ages, been crawled over by a Manx population. This discovery, at last, L'eland has made* the Catholic claimed his rights ; the Protestant generously and nobly 'eit as he ouo;ht, and seconded the claim. A silly government w?iy :^'£'.VK1 ELECTlOiT, • 467 driiren to the despicable coiirage of cowardice, and resorted to the odiouL- artillery of prosecutions ; the expedient failed ; the question made it? way to the discussion of the senate. 1 will not tire you with a detaU A House of Commons, wlio, at least, represented themselves — perhapl afraid, perhaps ashamed, of their employers — became unmanageable tooh in the hands of such awkward artists, and were dissolved; just a& a beaten gamester throws the cards into the fire, in hopes in a new pack to find better fortune. Gentlemen, I was well aware at my rising, that you expected nothing like amusement from what I had to say ; that my duty was to tell you plain and important truths ; to lay before you without exaggreration or reserve, a fair statement of the causes that have acted upon the nationa fortune — of the causes that have put you down, and that may raise you up ; to possess you with a fair idea of your present position — of what you have to fear, of what you have to hope, and how you ought to act When I speak of your present position, I would not have you suppos* that J mean the actual situation of the borough of Newry ; or that 1 think it much worth while to dwell upon the foolish insolence with which a besotted Cabinet has thought fit to insult you, by sending a stranger to your country and your interests, to obtain a momentary victory over your integrity, by means of which none of you are ignorant. Here Mr. Bell, an agent in opposition to Mr. Carran, stood up, and fixed his ej^esupon the Master of the Rolls, with a very peciiliar expression of countenance. Mr. Curran — Mr. Seneschal, I demand of you, as returning-officer, tl'.at I, a candidate, shall be protected, as you are in duty bound U do, from being disturbed by the obscene and unnatural grimaces of a baboon. Mr. Jebb, the counsel for the Seneschal, immediately interposed, and ordered Mr. Bell to «t down. Mr. Curran resumed — I do not wonder at having provoked inter- (Miption, when I spoke of your borough. I told you that from this moment it is free. Never in my life have I so felt the spirit of the people as among you ; never have I so felt the throbs of returning life. I almost forgot my own habitual estimate of my own small importance ; I almost thought it was owing to some energy within myself, when I was lifted and borne on upon the buoyant surge of popular sympathy and enthusiasm. I, therefore, again repeat it, it is the moment of your r.ew birth unto righteousness. Your proved friends are high among you — your developed enemies are expunged for ever — your liberty has oeen taken from tiie grave, and if she is put back into the tomb, it c?Ji be only by your own parricide, and she must be buried alive. ■* I have to add, for your satisfaction, a statement has been laid before f of the grossest bribery, which will be proved, beyond all doubt, and make the return a nullity. I have also received a statement of evi tleuce, to show that more than one-third of those who voted against us h .d been trained by bribe and terror into perjury, when they swore to *he value of their qualificaiions. Some of those houses had actually no existence whatsoever. Tliey might as well have voted from their nastur*^ to s-i^-e their suffrage ; and Nebuchadnezzer, in the la.st year .'t5S • ^^iiWEX ELEOllOK. of his feeding on grass, would have been as competent as taey ^7«x* tc vote in Irelaiid. But I enlarge not upon this topic. To touch upoti It is enough for the present ; the detail must be reserved for a future Dccasion, and another place. It belongs only to the hopeless to be angry. Do not you. therefore, be angry, where you cannot be surprised. You have been insulted, and oppressed, and betrayed ; but what better could you hope fron» such a micistry as their own nation is cursed withal. They hear the yoice of suffering England now thunderir g in their ears ; they feel they canu'^t retain — they are .inxious tode.t^oy — they are acting upon the principle of Russian retreat. Pressed upon by the people, and beaten back into their fastnesse?, they depopulate as they retire. But what better could you has-e ever loped from such men : a motley group, without virtue, or character, jr talent ; the sort of Cabinet that you have laughed at on the stage, where the "potent, grave, and reverend signfnrs" were composed of seene-shifters, and candle-snuffers, robed in old curtains, and wigged from the stores of the theatre ? They affected to profess religious distinctions, but they were too grossly ignorant to conceive any such There is no science in which a man must not know something to qualify liim for misconception- I have myself talked with Englishmen upon this subject. You cannot suppose me to alrade to the exalted class of persons in that country, who have done themselves so much honour by their sympathy and liberality. I speak of an inferior order — indeed, of persons like your ministers here ; I have asked them, what they could find so formidable in the religious principles of the Irish Catho- lics? and the answer has uniformly been, "Why, sir, I never know'd nothing at all of the principles of the Hirisli Papists, esKcept their lank hair, and long coats, without no arms in the sleeves; and I thinks the most liberal man will allovr, that them there are dangerous prin- ciples !" Shall I, ray friends, say one serious word to you upon this serioua subject ? Patriotism is of no one religion ; Christianity belongs excJu- Bively to no sect ; and moral virtue and social duty are taught with equal exactness by every sect, and practised with equal imperfection b} ell ; and therefore, wherever you find a little interested bustling bigot. lib not hate him, do not imitate him, pity him if you can. I scarce!} •dsh you not to laugh when you look at one of these pearl-divers it dieology, his head barely imder water, his eyes shut, and an index /bating behind him, displayng the precise degree of his purity an'* his depth. A word or two upon your actual position ; and what upon that sub- ject but a word of sadness, the monumental inscription upon the head- stone of our grave ? all semblance of national independence buried in ihat grave in which our legislature is interred, our property and our Arsons are disposed of by laws made in anoth«r clime, and miT.de like 3onts and shoes for exportation, to fit the wearers as they may. If yo j ^ere now to consult my learned friend here, and ask hira how much i your property belongs to yourself- or ^or what r^rime you may be NEWRY ELECTION. 469- -"hippecr, or hanged, or transported, his answer would be, " It is impos- sible, sir, to tell you now ; but I am told that the packet is in the bay." It was, in fact, the teiJ design of a rash, and arbitrary, and shortsighted projector, at once to deprive you of all power, as to your own taxation, and of another power of not very inferior importance, and which, indeed^ is inseparably connected with taxation, to rob you of all influence upon the vital question of peace or war ; and to bring all within the control of an English minister. This very power, thus acquired by that detested Union, has been a mill-stone about the neck of England. From that hour to this she has been flaring away in her ruinous and wasteful war: her allies no more — her enemies multiplied — her finances reduced to rags — her people depressed and discontented — her artisans reduced to the last ebb, and their discontents methodised into the most terrific combinations ; her labourers without employment — her manufactures ■without a market, the last entrance in the North to which they could have looked, being now shut against them, and fastened by a bar that has been reddened in the flames of Moscow. But this, gentlemen, i& a picture too heart-rending to dilate upon ; you cannot but know it already ; and I no not wish to anticipate the direful consequences by which you are too probably destined to feel it further to the quick. I find it a sort of refuge to pass to the next topic which I mentioned as calling for your attention, namely, what foundation, what ground we had for hope. Nothing but the noblest and most disinterested patriotism led the Protestants of Ireland to ally themselves, offensively and defensively,, with their afflicted, oppressed Catholic countrymen. Without the aid of its rank, its intellect, and its property, Ireland could do no more for herself now than she has done for centuries here- tofore, when she lay a helpless hulk upon the water ; but now, for the first time, we are indebted to a Protestant spirit, for the deHcious spec- tacle of seeing her at length equipped with masts, and sails, and com- pass, and helm — at length she is sea-worthy. Whether she is to escape the tempest or gain the port, is an event to be disposed of by the Great Kuler of the waters and the winds. If our voyage be prosperous, our success will be doubled by our unanimity j Out even if we are doomed to sink, we shall sink with honour. But, am I over sanguine in counting our Protestant allies? Your own eountry gives you a cheering instance in a noble marquis,* retiring from the dissipation of an English court, making his country his residence, and giving his first entrance into manhood to the cause of Ireland. It is not from any association of place that my mind is turned to the nama of Moira ; to name him, is to recognise what your idolatry has given to him for so many years. But a late transaction calls for a word or two. I thought anxiously upon it at the time, and from that time to this, if he required to be raised, he must have been raised in public opinion by the event of tha* negociation. • The Marqais of Dovmshir*. 8a 470 NEWKY ELECTION. I saw that the public in either country could not have any hope from an arrangement in which the first prehminary was a selfish scramble for patronage, that must have ended in a scramble for powe": ; in which the first eJBForts of patriotism were for the reformation of "W"::,ter-closets, and the surrender of mopsticks in the palace ; to sink the head and to irritate the man that wore the crown ; instead of making then- first measure a restitution of representation to the people, who, if they wero as strong as they ought to be, could have nothing to dread from tha tinsel of a robe, or the gilding of a sceptre. Let me pass to another splendid accession to our force, in the noble conduct of our rising youth in the election of our University. With what tenderness and admiration must the eye dwell upon the exalted band of young men, the rosy blush of opening life glowing upon their cheeks, advancing in patriotic procession, bringing the first fruits of unfolding virtue, a sacred offering on the altar of their country, and conducted by a priest, in every point worthy of the votaries and of the offering. The choice which they have made of a man of such tried pubUc virtue, and such transcendent talents as ]\ir. Plunket, is a proof of their early proficiency in sense and virtue. If Mr. Plunket had been .sent alone, as the representative of his country, and was not accom- |3anied by the illustrious Henry Grattan, I should hesitate to say of lim, what the historian said of Gylippus, when he was sent alone as a ailitary reinforcement to a distressed ally, who had apphed for aid to Sparta : Gylippus alone (says the writer) was sent, in whom was con- centrated all the energies and all the talents of his country. " Mit- titiir Gylippus solus in quo omnium instar Lacedaemoniorum ei'at.''^ I have thought it better to quote the words of the writer, as being pro- bably more familiar to the learned supporters of my gallant opponent, than my translation. It is only due to justice, that upon this subject I add, with whatsoever regret, another word ; it would not be candid if I left it possibly for you to suspect, that my attestation could have been dictated by mere private attachment, instead of being measm^ed by the most impartial judgment. Little remains for me to add to what I have already said. 1 said you should consider how you ought to act, I wiU give you my humble idea upon rnai; pomt : do not exhaust the resources of your spirit, by idle anger, or idle disgust ; forgive those that have voted against you here, they will not forgive themselves. I understand they are to be packed up in tumbrils, with layers of salt between them, and carted to the election for the county, to appear again in patriotic support of the noble projector of the glories of Walchern. Do not envy him the precious cargo of the raw materials of virtuous legislation ; be assured aU this is of use. Let me remind you, before I go, of that precept, equally profound and beneficent, which the meek and modest aathor of our blessed reUgion left to the world : " And one command- lent I give you that you love one another." Be assured, that of this lOve the true spirit can be no other than probity and honour. _ The ^reat analogies of the moral and the physical world are surprisingly coincident ; you cannot glue two pieces of board together, imless the joint be clean — you cannot unite two men together unless the cenaeat NEWRY ELECTION. 471 be virtue ; for vice can give no sanction to compact, she can form no bond of affection. And now, my friends, I bid you adieu, with a feeling at my heart that can never leave it, and which my tongue cannot attempt the abor- tive effort of expressing. If my death do not prevent it, we shall meet again in this place. If you feel as kindly to me as I do to you, relin- quish the attestations which I know you had reserved for my departure. Our enemy has, I think, received the mortal blow, but, though he reels, he has not fallen ; and we have seen too much, on a greater scale, of the wretchedness of anticipated triumph. Let me, therefore, retire from among you, in the way that becomes me, and becomes you, un- cheered by a single voice, and unaccompanied by a single man. May the blessing of God preserve you in the affection of one another. The following were the numbers at the close of the poll :— General Needhajn ------ 146 Right Hon. J. P. Curran 144 Majority 2 THE ENP. A BOSTON COLLEGE 3 9031 01100212 8 DATE DUE 1 1 1 1 1 CAVLORD PRINTCOINU.S.A