siasi.irtri i .r » '^ ,»*/(. ' (J. Li ^-v. «•»'! 'd ( M.MEILIL, ES^gM, "^/^^^-^W^'y-^^-^^u^^^ 1 Mi JAMES A. McGEE, PUBLISHEE, 9 Baeclay Steeet, 1871. 1/ V Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1870, by JAJIES A. McGEE, In the office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. /X-3VYjf 'WjT^' INTRODUCTION. It is a singular fact, that, by tlie admission of English critics, oiu- language is indebted for its first great examples of elo- quence to that island which has so long been oppressed — un- happy Ireland. England could boast of men of great learning, genius, and power ; could enumerate some great names, who won distinc- tion in the pulpit, at the bar, or in the legislative hall, by dis- courses full of learning and classic purity, animated at times by a kind of severe eloquence ; but, as England lacked large popular assemblies, as appeals were never made, or, if made, would be lost, where imagination, fancy and vivacity quickened them, where the orator aimed not only to convince the mind, but to sway the feelings, true eloquence was almost unknown. Burke, nurtured in the sister isle, full of the rich imagination of the Celtic race, clothing his periods in words of rich and melo- dious harmony, appealing to every sympathy, every noble in- stinct and sentiment, gave the first example of true English eloquence. The struggles of Ireland had called forth a race of speakers, fuU of classic culture, with ardent imagination, sensitive feel- ing, tenderness, warmth, and passion, which, devoted to the cause of liberty, made their words stir every fibre of the heart, enlist the affections, arouse the slothful, cheer the diffi- dent, and unite all in the path in Avhich the orator led the way. The Irish parliament gave a field for the eloquence of Flood, Burgh, Grattan ; the bar^ no longer a theatre for dreary dull- IV INTEODUCTION. ness and absurd forms, eclioed to tlie classic words of Bushe, and Curran, and Phillips, and Sheil ; then, when the last at- temj)t at cbnl war gave way to agitation, there arose the great popular orator of the age, Daniel O'Connell, Great at the bar, great in the halls of parliament, he was without a rival in the popular assembly, where thousands gathered to hear his words. Wit, learning, pathos, a love of his country and his countrymen springing fi'om the most pure and ex- alted patriotism, enabled him to sway the hearts of milhons with a magical power, such as probably no other man ever possessed. To lovers of true eloquence, the works of the great Irish orators must be ever an object of study and admiration ; to those whose hearts beat in unison with those great masters of the art, their works are as dear as they are admired. The name and the fame of the great Irish orators can never lose their influence ; time cannot dim the lustre of their renown. Unfortunately, no collection at aU adequate exists of their happiest efforts ; no book exists to be a Household work in families, where the old may revive the memory of those past glories of their race, where the young, by learning their splen- did effusions, may train themselves to true eloquence, exalted patriotism, and manly earnestness in a just cause. This want the present volume aims to supply. Here stand the great soul-stirring orations of O'Connell ; the classic and impassioned speeches of Shell ; the magical effusions of Grat- tan ; the thrilling eloquence of Curran ; with an array of ora- tory from the minor heroes, Phillips, and Emmet, and Burke, and Whiteside, and Meagher, and such others as the limits necessary to such a work permit. It is intended to be aUke for the scholar and the less culti- vated, and is presented in an attractive guise that cannot be gainsaid. CONTENTS. FAG£ DANIEL O'CONNELL, M. P. : Memoir of Mr. O'Connell « 11 Speech at Limerick, 1812 13 Eeply to Mr. BeUew, in the Catholic Board, 1813 26 On requiring Securities from the Oathohcs, 1813. 38 Speech in Defence of John Magee, July 27, 1813 54 Speech in the British Catholic Association, on the defeat of the Emancipation BiU, May 26, 1825 122 On the Treaty of Limerick, 1826 140 Speech at the Bar of the House of Commons, to maintain his Eight to sit as Member for Clare 152 Speech at the second Clare Election 165 On the Irish Coercion Bill. (House of Commons, February 19, 1833) 172 Speech at MuUaghmast Monster Meeting, September, 1843 182 Speech in his own Defence, at the Irish State Trials, 1844, in the Court of Queen's Bench, in Ireland, in the case of the Queen vs. Daniel O'ConneU and others 192 HON. EICHAED LALOE SHEIL : ' Memoir of Mr. Shell. 267 Speech on the Duke of York 269 In Eeply to Mr. M'Clintock 277 At the Clare Election 289 On the Irish Municipal Bill. (House of Commons, February 22, 1837) 297 On the Irish Arms BiU. (House of Commons, May 19, 1843) . . 316 Speech in Defence of John O'Connell, at the Irish State Trials, in the Court of Queen's Bench, in Ireland, in the case of the Queen vs. Daniel O'ConneU, John O'Con- nell, and others 331 Speech in the House of Commons, on the Irish State Trials, Feb- ruary 22, 1844 383 VI CONTENTS. PAGE HON. JOHN PHILPOT CUEKAN : Memoirof Mr. Curnm 429 Speech on Peusious, March 13, 1786 431 On the Trial of Archibald Hamilton Eowau, January 26, 1794. . 434 In the Same Case, February 4, 1794 470 On Catholic Emancipation, October 17, 1796 481 On Parliameutaiy Keform, May 15, 1797 488 Tlie Case of Peter Finnerty 495 Trial of Patrick Finney, for High Treason 525 HON. HENEY GEATTAN : Memoir of Mr. Grattan 549 On Mr. Forbes's Bill to Limit Pensions 541 Speech in the Debate on Tithes 560 On the Downfall of Bonaparte 566 CHAELES PHILLIPS : Speech at an Aggregate Meeting of the Eoman Catholics of Cork 579 Speech at a Meeting of the Eoman Catholics of the county and city of Dublin .591 HON. EDMUND BUEKE : Election Speech at Bristol, October 13, 1774 608 On Conciliation with the American Colonies. (House of Com- mons) 611 HON. EICHAED B. SHEEIDAN : Speech in Opposition to Pitt's First Income Tax. (House of Commons) 617 EOBEET EMMET : Address to the Court, before receiving Sentence of Death 625 JAMES WHITESIDE : Speech at the Irish State Trials, in Defence of Charles Gavan Duffy 633 THOMAS FEANCIS MEAGHEE : Speech at Concihation Hall, Dublin, July 28, 184b^ 687 HON. THOMAS D'AECY McGEE : Speech in Quebec, May, 1862 695 BiOGBAPHicAii Notes 701 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL, M. P. SKETCH OF DANIEL O'CONNELL, M. P. Daniel O'Connell, acknowledged leader of the Irish nation for the most important period of the nineteenth century, was born at a place called Carhan, beside the small post-town of Cahirciveen, near the harbor of Valentia, on the coast of Kerry, in 1775. After a prehminary course at a school near Cove, he was sent to the Continent, and was successively at Louvain, St. Omer and Douai, till the French Eevolution compelled his return. One of the effects of the European convulsion was a relaxation of bigotry in 1792, so as to permit Catholics to become barristers. Seizing the o]Dportunity, O'ConneU, in 1794, entered himself at the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar in the memorable year when his country made her last fearful effort to free herself from the galHng yoke of centuries. It was not the moment for a young untried lawyer to enter the field of pubhc affairs ; but when, in 1800, the so-calle d Union, but real provinciahzation of Ireland was proposed, O'Connell made his first appearance as a pubhc speaker, and organized a meeting of Catholics, which, with the brutal Major Sirr and his blood-stained soldiery in arms around them, passed bold and intrepid resolutions, denouncing that iniquity, which it became henceforward his pur- pose through hfe to attempt to undo. That he failed to induce English statesmen and the English parliament to forego the advan- tage gained by a system of terror, fraud, and bribery, is a matter of history. Believing England honest, and ready to do what hon- esty required, he devoted his hfe to agitation for the Eepeal of the Union. One great point he gained — Catholic Emancipation, — and much that England has since yielded is a result of his labors. O'Connell as a barrister, was from the outset remarkably success- ful, and rose to a practice of the utmost extent. He rose above partisanship in Irish factions, and for all Irishmen, without distinc-- 10 MEMOIE OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. tion of creed or blood, claimed equal privileges. A recent English estimate of O'Connell justly says : " His style as a pleader was the best perliajDS ever known at the Irish bar. Others have been more polished, more elegant, more richly meta- lihorical ; but for clear force, for adroit invention, for Demosthenic terse- ness, concentrating and controlling Irish fervor, for the impetuous hail- storm of words beating down resistance, we doubt whether any speaker of a nation justly famed for eloquence has been the master of O'Connell. Anecdotes without number are told of his skill with witnesses, of his au- dacity with judges, of the nimble turns and unsurmised devices by which he snatched verdicts for his clients, and his success as an orator was not confined to the bar." As an orator of the people, addressing vast crowds of his coun- trymen in the densely packed hall or under the canopy of heaven, where, inspired by the landscape of his native land, he poured forth his torrents of eloquence ; gathering a whole nation under his control, he has no equal in history. For more than twenty years before Catholic Emancipation the burden of the cause was, he justly says, thrown upon him. For more than twenty years, there was not a day, of which part was not devoted to working out the Catholic cause. He aroused the torpid, sustained the faint- hearted, restrained the impulsive, conciliated the great, and in less than eight years, by a system of agitation peculiarly his own, without deviating a hair's breadth from the principles of peace and loyalty, which he always maintained, he saw the gates of the con- stitution flung open to the long oppressed Catholics. Then the great CathoHc lawyer, the great agitator and popular sj)eakei% entered the parliament of the United Kingdom. He soon trampled over the feai', coldness and distrust with which he was at first received ; and no speaker was heard with moi-e marked attention. His bold step in standing for Clare ; his speech at the bar of the House, made his name known throughout the world. From May, 1829, when he took his seat as Member for Clare, till his death, he continued in parHament, representing Kerry, Dubhn and Cork at different periods. In 1834, he began the Repeal agitation, by moving in parliament for a repeal of the Legislative Union, effected in 1800 by such vio- lence and fraud. The only answer made in the House was the silly one of Peel, "We will not consent to dismember the British empire," as though it had been dismembered before the Union. MEMOIR OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. 11 The agitation in Ireland again drew him to his great field, the addresses to the people. Honored almost as a sovereign, invested with every dignity in their power, he led on the movement, calling- meetings of hundreds of thousands, till the government, in alarm, in October, 1843, forbade by proclamation the monster meeting at Clontarf. O'Connell was then arrested with others, on a charge of con- spiracy. The old system began, a packed jury, venal judges, hired informers, and a verdict was obtained, which the House of Lords, with some sense of justice, set aside as a mockery, a delu- sion, and a snare. Mr. O'Connell's great work was however checked. He had tried to convince his countrymen that agitation, the legal and peaceful presenting of their grievances, would ultimately obtain justice. The government taught the Irish people that this was a delusion ; that no sense of justice would ever induce them to yield ; that con- cessions to Ireland were to be extorted only from_ their fears. O'Connell's pretended conspiracy was a hint to organize a real one. Declining health indeed withdrew O'Connell from public life ; his former career was but feebly resumed, and setting out in 1847 on a pilgrimage to Kome, he died at Genoa, on ihe 15th of May. His heart was borne to the Eternal City, while his body was con- veyed back to the island he loved so well. SPEECHES OE DAHEL O'COOTELL, M. P, SPEECH AT LIMERICK, 1812. I FEEL it iiij duty, as a professed agitator, to address the meeting. It is merely in the exercise of my office of agitation, that I thmk it necessary to say a few words. For any pur- pose of illustration or argument, further discourse is useless : all the topics which the present period suggested, have been treated of with sound judgment, and a rare fehcity of diction, by my respected and talented friend (Mr. Eoche) ; all I shall do is, to add a few observations to what has fallen from that gentleman ; and whilst I sincerely admire the happy style in which he has treated those subjects, I feel deep regret at being- unable to imitate his excellent discourse. And, first, let me concur with him in congratulating the Cathohcs of Limerick on the progress our great cause has made since we were last assembled. Since that period our cause has not rested for support on the efforts of those alone who were immediately interested ; no, our Protestant brethren throughout the land have added their zealous exertions for our emancipation. They have, with admirable patriotism, evinced their desire to concihate by serving us, and I am sure I do but justice to the Cathohcs, when I proclaim our gratitude, as written on our hearts, and to be extinguished only with our hves. Nor has the support and the zeal of our Protestant brethren been vain and barren. No, it has been productive of great 14 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL 0'C0N:sELL. and solid advantages ; it has procured, for the cause of reli- gious Hberty, the respect even of the most bigoted of our op- ponents ; it has struck down English prejiidice ; it has con- vinced the mistaken honest ; it has terrified the hypocritical knaves ; and finally, it has pronomiced for us, by a great and triumphant majority, from one of the branches of the legisla- ture, the distinct recognition of the propriety and the necessity of conceding justice to the great body of the Irish people. Let us, therefore, rejoice in our mutual success ; let us re- joice m the near approach of fi-eedom ; let us rejoice in the prospect of soon shaking off our chains, and of the speedy ex- tinction of our grievances. But above all, let us rejoice at the means by which these happy effects have been produced ; let us doubl}^ rejoice, because they afford no triumph to any part of the Irish nation over the other — that they are not the re- sult of any contention among ourselves ; but constitute a vic- tory, obtained for the Catholics by the Protestants — that they prove the liberality of the one, and require the eternal grati- tude of the other — that they prove and promise the eternal dissolution of ancient animosities and domestic feuds, and af- ford to every Christian and to every patriot, the cheering cer- tainty of seeing peace, harmony, and benevolence prevail in that country, where a wicked and perverted policy has so long and so fataUy propagated and encouraged dissension, discord, and rancor. * We owe it to the liberality of the Irish Protestants — to the zeal of the Irish Presbyterians — ^to the friendly exertion of the Irish Quakers ; we owe, to the cordial re-union of every sect and denomination of Irish Christians, the progress of our cause. / They have procured for us the solemn and distinct promise and pledge of the House of Commons — they almost obtained for us a similar declaration from the House of Lords. It was lost by the petty majority of one — it was lost by a majority, not of those who hstened to the absurd prosings of Lord Eklon, to the bigoted and turbid declamation of that English Chief Justice, whose sentiments so forcibly recall the memory of the star-chamber ; not of those who were able to compare the va- pid or violent folly of the one party, with the statesman- like sentiments, the profound arguments, the s^^lendid elo- SPEECH AT LIMEEICK. 15 quence of tlie Marquis Wellesley. Not of tliose who heard the reasonings of our other iUustrions advocates ; but by a majority of men who acted upon preconceived opinions, or, from a distance, carried into effect their bigotry, or, perhaps, v/orse propensities — who availed themselves of that absurd privilege of the peerage, which enables those to decide who have not heard — which permits men to pronounce upon sub- jects they have not discussed — and allows a final determina- tion to precede argument. It was not, however, to this privilege alone, that our want of success was to be attributed. The very principle upon which the present administration has been formed, was brought into immediate action, and with success ; for, in the latter periods of the present reign, every administration has had a distinct principle upon which it was formed, and which serves the historian to explain all its movements. Thus, the princi- ple of the Pitt administration was — to deprive the people of ail share in the government, and to vest all power and authority in the crown. In short, Pitt's vievrs amounted to unqualified despotism. This great object he steadily pursued through his ill-starred career. It is true he encouraged commerce, but it was for the purposes of taxation ; and he used taxation for the purposes of corruption ; he assisted the merchants, as long as he could, to grow rich, and they lauded him ; he bought the people with their own money, and they praised him. Each succeeding day produced some new inroad on the constitu- tion ; and the alarm which he excited, by reason of the bloody workings of the French revolution, enabled him to rule the land with uncontrolled sway ; he had bequeathed to his suc- cessor the accumulated power of the crown — a power which must be great, if it can sustain the nonentities of the present administration. The principle of Pitt's administration was despotism — the principle of Perceval's administration was peculating bigotry — bigoted peculation ! In the name of the Lord he plundered the people. Pious and enhghtened statesman ! he would take their money only for the good of their souls. The principle of the present administration is still more ob- vious. It has unequivocally disclosed itself in all its move- 16 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. ments — it is simple and single — it consists in falsehood. False- liood is the bond and link that connects this ministry in ofl&ce. Some of them pretend to be our fi-iends — you know it is not true — they are only our worse enemies for the hypocrisy. They declare that the Catholic question is no longer opposed by the cabinet — that it is left to the discretion of each indi- vidual retainer. The fact is otherwise — and their retainers, though not commanded, as formerly, are carefully advised to vote against us. The minister, Lord Castlereagh, is reported to have said in the House of Commons, that in the year 1797 and 1798, there was no torture in Ireland, to the knowledge of government ! Is it really possible that such an assertion was used ? You hear of it with astonishment. All Ireland must shudder, that any man could be found thus to assert. Good God ! of what mate- rials must that man be made who could say so ? I restrain my indignation — I withhold all expressions of surprise — the simple statement that such an assertion was used, exceeds, in reply, the strongest language of reprobation. But there is no man so stu- pid as not to recognize the principle which I have so justly at- tributed to this administration. What ! No torture ! Great God ! No tortui'e ! Within the walls of your city was there no tortiu^e ? Could not Colonel Yerekerhave informed Lord Castlereagli, that the lash resound- ed in the streets even of Limerick, and that the human groan as- sailed the wearied ear of humanity ? Yet I am ready to give the gallant colonel every credit he deserves ; and, therefore, I recall to your grateful recollection the day when he risked his life to punish one of the instruments of torture. Colonel Vereker can tell whether it be not true, that in the streets of your city, the servant of his relation, Mrs. Eosslewen, was not tortured — whether he was not tortured first, for the crime of having expressed a single sentiment of compassion, and next because Colonel Vereker interfered for him. But there is an additional fact which is not so generally known, which, perhaps. Colonel Vereker himself does not know, and which I have learned from a highly respectable clergyman, that this sad victim of the system of torture, which Lord Castlereagh denied, was, at the time he was scourged, in an in- SPEECH AT LIMEEICK. 17 firm state of health. — that tlie flogging inflicted on him deprived him of all understanding, and that within a few months he died insane, and without having recovered a shadow of reason. But why, out of the myriads of victims, do I select a soHtary instance ? Because he was a native of your city, and his only offence an expression of compassion. I might tell you, did you not akeady know it, that in Dubhn there were, for weeks, three permanent triangles, constantly supplied with the victims of a promiscuous choice made by the army, the yeomanry, the police constables, and the Orange lodges ; that the shrieks of the tor- tured must have literally resounded in the state apartments of the Castle ; and that along by the gate of the Castle yard, a hu- man being, naked, tarred, feathered, with one ear cut off, and the blood streaming from his lacerated oack, has been hunted by a troop of barbarians ! Why do I disgust you with these horrible recollections ? You want not the proof of the principle of delusion on which the pre- sent administration exists. In your own affairs you have abun- dant evidence of it. The fact is, that the proxies in the Lords would never have produced a majority even of one against Lord Wellesley's motion, but for the exertion of the vital principle of the administration. The ministry got the majority of one. The pious Lord Eldon, with all his conscience and his calculations, and that immaculate distributor of criminal justice. Lord Ellen- borough, v/ere in a majority of one. By what holy means think you ? Why, by the aid of that wliich cannot be described in dignified language — ^by the aid of a lie — a false, positive, pal- pable lie ! This manoeuvre was resorted to — a scheme worthy of its authors — they had perceived the effects of the manly and dig- nified resolutions of the 18th of June. These resolutions had actually terrified our enemies, whilst they cheered those noble and illustrious friends who had preferred the wishes and wants of the people of Ireland to the gratification of paltry and dis- graceful minions. The manoeuvre — the scheme, was calcu- lated to get rid of the effect of those resolutions, nay, to turn their force against us, and thus was the pious fraud effected. There is, you have heard, a newspaper, in the permanent pay of peculation and corruption, printed in London, under the 18 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. name of the Courier, a paper worthy the meridian of Constan- tinople, at its highest tide of despotism. This paper was di- rected to assert the receipt of a letter from Dublin, from excellent authority, declaring, I know not how many peers, sons of peers, and baronets had retracted the resolutions of the 18th of June ; that those resolutions were carried by sur- prise, and that they had been actually rescinded at a subse- quent meeting. Never did human baseness invent a more gross imtruth; never did a more unfounded lie fall from the father of false- hood ; never did human tm-pitude submit to become the vehicle of so "glaring" a dereliction fi-om truth. But the Courier received its pay, and it was ready to earn the wages of its pros- titution. It did so — it ]3ublished the foul falsehoods with the full knowledge of their falsehood ; it pubhshed them in two edi- tions, the day before and the day of the debate — at a period when inquiry was useless — when a contradiction from author- ity could not arrive ; at that moment this base trick was played, through the intervention of that newspaper, upon the British pubHc ! Will that pubhc go too far when they charge this impure stratagem on those whose purposes it served ? Why, even in this country, the administration deems it necessary to give, for the support of one miserable paper, two places — one of five, and the other of eight hundred a year — the stamp duty remit- ted — the proclamations jiaid for as advertisements — and a per- manent bonus of one thousand pounds per annum ! If the bribe here be so high, what must it be in England, where the toil is so much greater ? And, think you, then, that the Cornier pubhshed, unsanctioned by its paymasters, this useful lie? I come now to the next stage in the system of delusion ; it is that which my friend, Mr. O'Neil, has noticed. He has pow- erfully exposed to you the absurdity of crediting the ministe- rial newspapers, when they informed you that the member for Limerick had stated in the House of Commons, that the com- mercial interests of Limerick were opposed to the Catholic claims. Sir, for my part, I entirely agree with Mr. O'Neil ; I SPEECH AT LIMEEICK. • 19 man, and, therefore, a man of truth ; he is probably a pleasant friend, and he has those manly traits about him, which make it not unpleasant to oppose him as an enemy ; I hke the candor of his character, and our opposition to him should assume the same frankness, and openness, and perfect determination. He well knows that a great part of the commercial interests of Limerick is in the hands of the Catholics — that the Quakers of Limerick, who possess almost the residue of trade, are friendly to us, and that, with the exception of the " tag, rag, and bob -tail " of the corporation, there is not to be found amongst the men who ought to be his constituents a single ex- ception to Hberality. There remains another delusion ; it is the darling deception of this ministry — that which has reconciled the toleration of Lord Castlereagh with the intolerance of Lord Liverpool ; it is that which has sanctified the connection between both, and the place-procuring, prayer-mumbhng Wilberforce ; it consists in sanctions and securities. The Catholics may be emancipated, say ministers in pubHc, but they must give securities ; by securities, say the same ministers in private, to their support- ing bigots, we mean nothing definite, but something that shall certainly be inconsistent with the Popish religion — nothing shall be a security which they can possibly concede — and we shall deceive them and secure you, whilst we carry the air of liberality and toleration. And can there be any honest man deceived by the cant and cry for securities ? — is there any man that believes that there is safety in oppression, contumely, and insult, and that secu- rity is necessary against protection, liberahty and concihation ? — does any man really suppose, that there is no danger from the continuance of unjust grievance and exasperating intoler- ance ; and that security is wanting against the effects of justice and perfect'toleration ? "Who is it that is idiot enough to be- lieve, that he is quite safe in dissension, disunion, and animos- ity; and wants a protection against harmony, benevolence, and charity ? — ^that in hatred there is safety — ^in affection, ruin ? — that now, that we are excluded from the constitution, we may be loyal — but that if we were entrusted, personally, in its safety, we shall wish to destroy it ? 20 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. But this is a pitiful delusion : there was, indeed, a time, when " sanctions and securities " might have been deemed necessary — when the Cathohc was treated as an enemy to man and to God — when his property was the prey of legahzed plun- der — his religion and its sacred ministers, the object of legal- ized j)ersecntion ! — when, in defiance and contempt of the dic- tates of justice, and the faith of treaties — and I attest the ven- erable city, in Avliich I stand, that solemn treaties were basely violated — the EngHsh faction in the land turned the Protestant into an intolerant and murderous bigot, in order that it might, in security, plunder that very Protestant, and oppress his and owl common coimtry ! Poor neglected Ireland ! At that pe- riod, securities might be supposed Avanting ; the people of Ire- land — the Catholic population of Ireland were then as brave and as strong, comparatively, as they are at present ; and the country then afforded advantages for the desultory warfare of a valiant peasantry, which, fortunately, have since been ex- ploded by increasing cultivation. At the period to which I allude, the Stuart family were still in existence ; they possessed a strong claim to the exaggerating allegiance and unbending fidehty of the Irish people. Every right that hereditary descent could give the royal race of Stu- art, they possessed — in private hfe, too, they were endeared to the Irish, because they were, even the worst of them, gentle- men. But they had stiU stronger claims on the sympathy and generosity of the Irish : they had been exalted and were fallen — they had possessed thrones and kingdoms, and were then in poverty and humiliation. All the enthusiastic sympathies of the Irish heart were roused for them — and all the powerful mo- tives of personal interest bore, in the same channel, the resto- ration of their rights — the triumph of their religion, the resti- tution of their ancient inheritances, would then have been the certain and immediate consequences of the success of the Stu- art family, in their pretensions to the throne. At the period to which I aUude, the Catholic clergy were bound by no oath of allegiance ; to be a dignitary of the Catholic church in Ireland, was a transportable felony — and the oath of allegiance was so intermingled with religious tenets, that no clergyman or layman of the Catholic persua- SPEECH AT LIMEEICK. 21 sion could possibly take it. At tliat period, tlie Catholic clergy were all educated in foreign countries, under tlie eye of tlie Pope, and witliin tlie inspection of the house of Stuart. From fifty-eight colleges and convents, on the Continent, did the Catholic clergy repair to meet, for the sake of their God, poverty, persecution, contumely, and, not unfrequently, death, in their native land. They were often hunted like wild beasts, and never could claim any protection from the law ! That— that was a period, when securities might well have been necessarj- — when sanctions and securities might well have been requisite. But what was the fact? — what was the truth which his- tory vouches ? Why, that the clergy and laity of the Irish Cathohcs, having once submitted to the new government — having once plighted their ever unbroken faith to King Wil- liam and his successors — ^having once submitted to that great constitutional principle, that in extreme cases the will of the people is the sole law — that in extreme cases the people have the clear and undoubted right to cashier a tyrant, and provide a substitute on the throne — the Irish Catholics, having fought for their legitimate sovereign, until he, himself, and, not they, fled from the strife — adopted, by treaty, his English suc- cessor, though not his heir — transferred to that successor, and the inheritors of his throne, their allegiance. They have pre- served their covenant — with all the temptations and powerful motives to disaffection, they fulfilled their part of the social contract, even in despite of its violation by the other party. How do I prove the continued loyalty of the Cathohcs of Ireland under every persecution ? I do not appeal for any proofs to their own records, however genuine — I appeal merely to the testimony of their rulers and their ene- mies — I appeal to the letters of Primate Boulter — to the state-papers of the humane and patriotic Chesterfield. 1 have their loyalty through the admissions of every secretary and governor of Ireland, until it is finally and conclusively put on record by the legislature of Ireland itself. The relax- ing statutes expressly declare, that the penal laws ought to be repealed — not from motives of pohcy or growing liberahty, but (I quote the words,) " because of the long-continued and 22 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. uninterrapted loyalty of the Catholics." This is the consum- mation of my proof — and I defy the veriest disciple of the doctrine of delusion to overturn it. But as the Cathohcs were faithful in those dismal and per- secuting periods — when they were exasperated by the ema- ciating cruelty of barbarous law and wretched poHcy — as they were then faithful, notwithstanding every temporal and every religious temptation and excitement to the contrary, is it in human credulity to beheve my Lord Castlereagh, when he asserts that securities are now necessary ? Now, that the iU- fated house of Stuart is extinct — and had it not been extinct I should have been silent as to what theii" claims were — now, that the will of the people, and the right of hereditary succes- sion are not to be separated — now, that the Catholic clergy are educated in Ireland and are all bound by then' oaths of allegiance to that throne and constitution, which, in the room of persecution, gives them protection and security — now, that ah claims upon forfeited jDroperty are totally extinguished in the impenetrable night of obscurity and oblivion — now, that the Catholic nobility and gentry are in the enjoyment of many privileges and franchises, and that the full participation of the constitution opens upon us in close and cheering prospect — • shall we be told that securities are now expedient, though they were heretofore unnecessary ? Oh ! it is a base and das- tardly insult upon our understandings, and on our principles, and one which each of us would, in private hfe, resent — as in pubhc we proclaim it to the contempt and execration of the universe. Long as I have trepassed on you, I cannot yet close : I have a word to address to you upon your own conduct. The repre- sentative for your city. Colonel Yereker, has openly opposed yovu' liberties — he has opposed even the consideration of your claims. You are beings, to be sure, with human countenances, and the hmbs of men — but you are not men — the iron has en- tered into your souls, and branded the name of slave uj^ou them, if you submit to be thus trampled on ! His opposition to you is decided — meet him with a similar, and, if possible, a superior hostility. You deserve not freedom, you, citizens of Limerick, with the monuments of the valor of your ancestors SPEECH AT LIMEBICK. 23 around you — you are less than men, if my feeble tongue be re- quisite to rouse you into activity. Your city is, at present, nearly a close borough — do but wiU it, and you make it free. I know legal obstacles have been thrown in your way — I know that, for months past, the Kecorder has sat alone at the sessions — that he has not only tried cases, in the absence of any other magistrate, which he is not authorized by. law to do, but that he has solely opened and adjourned the sessions, which, in my opinion, he is clearly unwarranted in doing ; he has, by this means, I know, delayed the registry of your freeholds, because two magistrates are necessary for that pm^pose : I have, howev- er, the satisfaction to tell you, that the Court of King's Bench wiU, in the next term, have to determine on the legality of his conduct, ^nd of that of the other charter magistrates, who have banished themselves, I understand, from the Sessions Gou.rt, since the registry has been spoken of ! They shall be served with the regular notices ; and, depend upon it, this scheme cannot long retard you. I speak to you on this subject as a lawyer — ^you can best judge in what estimation my opinion is amongst you — ^but such as it is, I pledge it to you, that you can easily obviate the present obstacles to the registry of your freeholds. I can also assure you that the constitution of your city is perfectly free — that the sons of freemen, and all those who have served an ap- prenticeship to a freeman, are aU entitled to their freedom, and to vote for the representation of your city. I can tell you more : that if you bring yom' candidate to a poU, your adversary wiU be deprived of any aid from non-res- ident or occasional freemen ; we will strike off his list the free- men from Gort and Galway, the freemen from the band, and many from the battalion of the city of Limerick militia. In short, the opening of the borough is a matter of little difficulty. If you wiU but form a committee, and coUect funds, in your opulent city, youwiU soon have a representative ready to obey your voice — you cannot want a candidate. If "the emancipation bill passes next sessions, as it is so likely to do, and that no other candidate offers, I myself will bring your present number to the poll. I probably will have little chance of success — but I will have the satisfaction of showing 24 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. this city, and the county, what the free-born mind might achieve if it were properly seconded. I conclude by conjuring you to exert yourselves ; waste not your just resentments in idle applause at the prospect I open to you ; let not the feeling of the moment be calumniated as a hasty ebullition of anger ; let it not be transitory, as our resentments generally are, but let us remember ourselves, our children and our country ! Let me not, however, close, without obviating any calumny that may be flung upon my motives. I can easily pledge my- self to you that they are disinterested and pure — I trust they are more. My object in the attainment of emancipation is in nothing personal, save in the feelings which parental love inspires and gratifies. I am, I trust, actuated by that sense of Christianity which teaches us that the first duty of our rehgion is benevolence and universal charity ; I am, I know, actuated by the determination to rescue our common country from the weakness, the insecurity, which dissension and reli- gious animosity produce and tend to perpetuate ; I wish to see the strength of the island — this unconquered, this uncon- querable island — combined to resist the mighty foe of free- dom, the extinguisher of civil liberty, who rules the Con- tinent from Petersburgh to the verge of the Irish bayo- nets in Spain. It is his interest, it is a species of duty he owes to his family — to that powerful house which he has established on the ruins of the thrones and domina- tions of Europe — to extinguish, forever, representative and popular government in these countries ; he has the same direct intent which the Eoman general had to invade our be- loved country — " Ut libertas veluti et conspectu." His power can be resisted only by combining your physical force with your enthusiastic and undaunted hearts. There is liberty amongst you stiU. I could not talk as I do, of the Liverpools and Castlereaghs, of his court, even if he had the foUy to employ such things — ^I wish he had ; you have the protection of many a salutary law — of that palla- dium of personal hberty — the trial by jury. I wish to ensure your Uberties, to measure your interests on the present order of the state, that we may protect the very men that oppress us. SPEECH AT LIMERICK. 25 Yes, if Ireland be fairly roused to tlie battle of the country and of freedom, aU is safe. Britain has been often conquered : the Romans conquered her — the Saxons conquered her — the Normans conquered her — in short, whenever she was in- vaded, she was conquered. But our country was never sub- dued ; we never lost our hberties in battle, nor did we ever submit to armed conquerors. It is true, the old inhabitants lost their country in piece-meal, by fraud and treachery ; they rehed upon the faith of men, who never, never observed a treaty with them, until a new and mixed race has sprung up, in dissension and discord ; but the Irish heart and soul still predominate and pervade the sons of the oppressors them- selves. The generosity, the native bravery, the innate fidelity, the enthusiastic love of whatever is great and noble — those splendid characteristics of the Irish mind remain as the im- perishable relics of our country's former greatness — of that il- lustrious period, when she was the hght and the glory of barbar- ous Europe — -when the nations around sought for instruction and example in her numerous seminaries — and when the civil- ization and religion of all Europe were preserved in her alone. You will, my friends, defend her — you may die, but you cannot yield to any foreign invader. Whatever be my fate, I shall be happy, whilst I Hve, in re"\dving amongst you the love and admiration of your native land, and in calling upon Irish- men — no matter how they may worship their common God — to sacrifice every contemptible prejudice on the altar of their common country. For myself, I shall conclude, by expressing the sentiment that throbs in my heart — I shall express it in the language of a young bard of Erin, and my beloved friend, whose delightful muse has the sound of the ancient min- strelsy — " Still slialt thou be my midniglit dream — Thy glory still my waking theme ; And ev'ry thought and wish of mine, Unconquered Erin, shall be thine !" 26 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. REPLY TO ME. BELLEW, IN THE CATHOLIC BOAKD, 1813. At this late hour, and in the exhausted state of the meet- ing, it requires all the impulse of duty to overcome my de- termination to allow the debate to be closed without any re- ply ; but a speech has been delivered by the learned gentle- man (Mr. Bellew), which I cannot suffer to pass without fur- ther answer. My eloquent friend, Mr. O'Gorman, has abeady powerfully exposed some of its fallacies ; but there were topics involved in that speech which he has not touched upon, and which, it seems to me, I owe it to the Catholics and to Ireland to at- tempt to refute. It was a speech of much talent, and much labor and prepar- ation. Mr. Bellew declared that he had spoken extempore. Well, (said Mr. O'Connell,) it was, certainly, an able speech, and we shall see whether this extempore effort of the learned gentleman will appear in the newspapers to-morrow, in the precise words in which it was uttered this day. I have no sldll in prophecy, if it does not happen ; and if it does so hap- pen, it will certainly be a greater miracle than that the learned gentleman should have made an artful and ingenuous, though, I confess, I think a very mischievous speech, without prepara- tion. I beg to say, that, in replying to him and to the other supporters of the amendment, I mean to speak with great personal respect of them ; but that I feel myself bound to treat their arguments with no small degree of reprehension. The learned gentleman naturally claims the gTeater part of my attention. The ingenuity with which he has, I trust, gratuitously advocated our bigoted enemies, and the abun- dance in which he has dealt out insinuations against the Cathohcs of Ireland, entitle his discourse to the first place in my reprobation. Yet I shall take the liberty of saying a passing word of the other speakers, before I arrive at him ; EEPLY TO ME. BELLEW. 27 lie sliall be last, but I promise liim, not least in my consid- eration. Tlie opposition to tlie general vote of thanks to tlie bisliops was led by my friend, Mr. Hnssey. I attended to his speech with that regard which I always feel for anything that comes from him ; I attended to it in the expectation of hearing from his shrewd and distinct mind something like argument or rea- soning against this expression of gratitude to our prelates. But, my lord, I was entirely disappointed ; argument there was not any— reasoning there was none ; the sum and substance of his discourse was hterally this, that he (Mr. Hussey) is a man of a prudent and economical turn of mind, that he sets a great value on everything that is good, that praise is excellent, and, therefore, he is disposed to be even stingy and niggard of it ; that my motion contains four times too much of that exceUent article, and he, therefore, desires to strike off three parts of my motion, and thinks that one quarter of his praise is full enough for any bishops, and this the learned gentleman calls an amendment. Mr. Bagot came next, and he told us that he had made a speech but a fortnight ago, which we did not understand, and he has now added another which is unintelligible ; and so, be- cause he was misrmderstood before, and cannot be compre- hended at present, he concludes, most logically, that the bish- ops are wrong, and that he and Mr. Hussey are right. Sir Edward Bellew was the next advocate of censure on the bishops ; he entertained us with a sad specimen of minor po- lemics, and drew a learned and lengthened distinction between essential and non-essential discipline ; and he insisted that by vhtue of this distinction, that which was called schism by the Cathohc prelates, could be changed into orthodoxy by an Irish baronet. This distinction between essential and non-essential, must, therefore, be very beautiful and beautifying. It must be very sublime, as it is very senseless, unless, indeed, he means to tell us, that it contains some secret allusion to our enemies. For example, that the Duke of Richmond affords an instance of the essential, whilst my Lord Manners is plainly non-essential ; that Paddy Duigenan is essential in perfec- tion, and the foppish Peel is, in nature, without essence ; that 28 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. Jack Giffard is, surely, of the essential breed, whilst Mr. Willy Saurin is a dog of a different color. Such, I presume, is the plain Enghsh of the worthy baron- et's dissertation. Translated thus, it clearly enough aUudes to the new commission ; but it woidd be more difficult to show how it applied in argument against my motion. I really did not expect so whimsical an opposition from the honorable bar- onet. If there be any feeling of disappointment about him for the rejection of the double Veto bill, he certainl}' ought not to take revenge on the Board, by bestowing on us aU the tedious- ness of incomprehensible and insane theology. I altogether disclaim reasoning with him, and I fi-eely consent that those who relish his authority as a theologian, should vote against the prelates. And, now, I address myseK to the learned brother of the theological baronet. He began by taking great merit to him- self, and demanding great attention from you, because he says that he has so rarely addressed you. You should yield to him, he says, because he so seldom requires your assent. It reminds me of the prayer of the English officer before battle. " Great Lord," said he, " during the forty years I have hved, I never troubled you before with a single prayer. I have, therefore, a right, that you should grant me one request, and do just as I desire, for this once." Such was the manner in which the learned gentleman addressed us ; he begs you will confide in his zeal for your interests, because he has hitherto confined that zeal to his own. He desires that you wiU. rely upon his attention to your affairs because he has been heretofore inat- tentive to them; and that you may depend on his anxiety for Catholic Emancipation, inasmuch as he has abstained from taking any step to attain that measure. Quite different are my humble claims on your notice — quite different are the demands I make on your confidence. I hum- bly solicit it because I have sacrificed, and do, and ever will sacrifice, my interest to yours — because I have attended to the varying posture of yoiu' affairs, and sought for Catholic Eman- cipation with an activity and energy proportioned to the great object of our pursuit. I do, therefore, entreat your attention, whilst I unravel the spider-web of sophistry with which the REPLY TO MR. BELLEW. 29 learned gentleman lias this day souglit to embarrass and dis- figure your cause. His discourse was divided into three principal heads. First, he charged the Catholic prelates with indiscretion. Secondly, he charged them with error. And lastly, he charged the Cath- ohcs with bigotry ; and with the zeal and anxiety of an hired advocate, he gratuitously vindicated the intolerance of our op- pressors. I beg your patience, whilst I follow the learned gentleman through this threefold arrangement of Ms subject. I shall, however, invert the order of his arrangement, and be- gin with his third topic. His argument, in support of the intolerants, runs thus. First, he alleges that the Cathohcs are attached to their religion with a bigoted zeal. I admit the zeal but I utterly deny the bigotry. He seems to think I overcharge his state- ment ; perhaps I do ; but I feel confident that, in substance, this accusation amounted to a direct charge of bigotry. Well, having charged the Catholics with a bigoted attach- ment to their church, and having truly stated our repug- nance to any interference on the part of the secretaries of the Castle with our prelates, he proceeded to insist that those feelings on our part justified the apprehensions of the Pro- testants. The Cathohcs, said Mr. Bellew, are alarmed for their church ; why should not the Protestants be alarmed also for theirs ? The Catholic, said he, desires safety for his reli- gion ; why should not the Protestant require security for his ? When you. Catholics, express your anxiety for the purity of your faith (adds the learned advocate), you demonstrate the necessity there is for the Protestant to be vigilant for the pre- servation of his belief ; and hence, Mr. Bellew concludes, that it is quite natural, and quite justifiable in the Liverpools and Eldons of the Cabinet, to invent and insist upon guards and securities, vetoes, and double vetoes, boards of control, and commissions for loyalty. Before I reply to this attack upon us, and vindication of our enemies, let me observe, that, however groundless the learned gentleman may be in argument, his friends at the Castle will, at least, have the benefit of boasting, that such assertions have been made by a Catholic, at the Cathohc Board. 30 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. And, now, see liow futile and unfounded his reasoning is ; lie says, that our disKke to the proposed commission justifies the suspicion in which the plan of such commission originated ; that our anxiety for the preservation of our church vindicates those who deem the proposed arrangement necessary for the protection of theirs — a mode of reasoning perfectly true, and perfectly applicable, if we sought any interference with, or control over, the Protestant Church. If we desu'ed to form any board or commission to control or to regulate the appoint- ment of their bishops, deans, archdeacons, rectors, or curates ; if we asked or required that a single Catholic should be con- sulted upon the management of the Protestant Church, or of its revenues or privileges ; then, indeed, wordd the learned gentleman be right in his argument, and then would he have, by our example, vindicated our enemies. But the fact does not bear him out ; for we do not seek, nor deske, nor would we accept of, any kind of interference with the Protestant Church. "We disclaim and disavow any kind of control over it. We ask not, nor would we allow, any Catholic avithority over the mode of appointment of their clergy. Nay, we are quite content to be excluded for ever fi'om even' advising his Majesty, with respect to any matter relating to or concerning the Protestant Church — its rights, its properties, or its privileges. I will, for my own part, go much further ; and I do declare, most solemnly, that I would feel and express equal, if not stronger repugnance to the inter- ference of a Cathohc with the Protestant Church, than that I have expressed and do feel to any Protestant interference with ours. In opposing theu' interference with us, I content my- self with the mere war of words. But if the case were re- versed — if the Cathohc sought this control over the rehgion of the Protestant, the Protestant should command my heart, my tongue, my arm, in opposition to so unjust and insulting a measure. So help me God ! I would in that case not only feel for the Protestant and speak for him, but I would fight for him, and cheerfully sacrifice my life in defence of the great principle for which I have ever contended — ^the principle of universal and complete rehgious hberty. Then, can any thing be more absm'd and imtenable than the REPLY TO MR. BELLEW. 3] argument of the learned gentleman, wlien you see it stripped of the false coloring he has given it ? It is absurd to say, that merely because the Catholic desires to keep his religion free, the Protestant is thereby justified in seeking to enslave it. Eeverse the position and see whether the learned gentleman will adopt or enforce it. The Protestant desires to preserve his religion free ; would that justify the Cathohc in any at- tempt to enslave it ? I will take the learned advocate of in- tolerance to the bigoted court of Spain or Portugal, and ask him, would he, in the supposed case, insist that the Catholic was justifiable. No, my lord, he will not venture to assert that the Catholic would be so ; and I boldly tell him that in such a case, the Protestant would be unquestionably right, the Cathohc, certainly, an insolent bigot. But the learned gentleman has invited me to a discussion of the question of securities, and I cheerfully follow him. And I do, my lord, assert, that the Catholic is warranted in the most scrupulous and timid jealousy of any English, for I will not call it Protestant, (for it is pohtical, and not, in truth, rehgious) in- terference with his church. And I will also assert, and am ready to prove, that the Enghsh have no solid or rational pre- text for requiring any of those guards, absurdly caUed securi- ties, over us or our rehgion. My lord, the Irish Catholics never, never broke their faith — they never violated their phghted promise to the Enghsh. I appeal to history for the truth of my assertion. My lord, the English never, never observed their faith with us, they never performed their pHghted promise ; the history of the last six hundred years proves the accuracy of my assertion. I will leave the older periods, and fix myself at the Eevolution. More than one hundred and twenty years have elapsed since the treaty of Limerick ; that treaty has been honorably and faithfully performed by the Irish Catholics ; it has been foully, disgracefully, and directly violated by the Enghsh. English oaths and solemn engagements bound them to its performance ; it remains still of force and unperformed ; and the ruffian yell of English treachery which accompanied its first violation, has, it seems, been repeated even in the sen- ate house at the last repetition of the violation of that 32 SELECT SFEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. treaty. Tliey rejoiced and tliey shouted at the perjuries of theu- ancestors — at their; own want of good faith or common sense. Nay, are there not present men who can tell us, of then' own knowledge, of another instance of English treachery? "Was not the assent of many of the Catholics to the fatal — oh ! the fatal measure of the Union — purchased by the express and written promise of Catholic Emancipation, made from author- ity by Lord CornwalHs, and confirmed by the prime minister, Mr. Pitt ? And has that promise been performed ? or has Irish credulity afforded only another instance of English faith- lessness? Now, my lord, I ask this assembly whether they can confide in English promises ? I say nothing of the solemn pledges of individuals. Can you confide in the more than punic faith of your hereditary task-masters? or shall we be accused of our scrupulous jealousy, when we reject with indignation, the contamination of English control over our church ? But, said the learned advocate (Mr. BeUew), they have a right to .demand, because they stand in need of securities. I deny the right — I deny the need. There is not any such right — there exists no such necessity. What security have they had for the century that has elapsed since the violation of the treaty of Limerick ? What security have they had during these years of oppression and barbarous and bloody legislation? What security have they had whilst the hereditary claim of the house of Stuart remained ? And surely, all the right that hereditary descent could give was vested in that family. Let me not be misunderstood. I admit they had no right ; I ad- mit that their right was taken away by the people. I freely admit that, on the contrary, the people have the clear right to cashier base and profligate princes. What security had the English from our bishops when England was invaded, and the unfortunate but gallant Prince Charles advanced into the heart of England, guided by valor, and accompa- nied by a handful of brave men, who had, under his com- mand, obtained more than one victory ? He was a man hkely to excite and gratify Irish enthusiasm ; he was chivalrous and brave ; he was a man of honor, and a gentleman ; no violator EEPLY TO ME. BELLEW. 33 of his word ; lie spent not liis time in making liis soldiers ridic- ulous witli liorse-tails and white feathers; he did not consume his mornings in tasting curious drams, and evenings in gallant- ing old women. What security had the Enghsh then ? Wha.t security had they against our bishops or our laity, when Amer- ica nobly flung off the yoke that had become too heavy to be borne, and sought her independence at the risk of her being ? What security had they then ? I will tell you, my lord. Their security at all those periods was perfect and complete, because it existed in the conscientious allegiance of the Cathohcs ; it consisted in the duty of allegiance which the Irish Cathohcs have ever held, and will, I trust, ever hold sacred ; it consisted in the conscientious submission to legitimate authority, however oppressive, which our bishops have always preached, and om' laity have always practised. And now, my lord, they have the additional security of om^ oaths, of our ever unviolated oaths of allegiance ; and if they had emancipated us, they would have had the additional secu- rity of our gratitude and of our personal and immediate inter- ests. We have gone through persecution and sorrow ; we have experienced oppression and affliction, and yet we have continued faithful. How absurd to think that additional secu- rity could be necessary to guard against concihation and kind- ness ! But it is not bigotry that requires those concessions ; they were not invented by mere intolerance. The English do not dislike us as Catholics — they simply hate us as Irish ; they ex- haust their blood and treasure for the Papists of Spain ; they have long observed and cherished a close and affectionate aUi- ance with the ignorant and bigoted Papists of Portugal ; and now they exert every sinew to preserve those Papists from the horrors of a foreign yoke. They emancipated the French Pa- pists in Canada, and a German Papist is aUowed to rise to the first rank in his profession — the army ; he can command not only Irish but even Enghsh Protestants. Let us, therefore, be just ; there is no such horror of Popery in England as is sup- posed ; they have a great dislike to Irish Papists ; but separate the qualities — put the filthy whiskers and foreign visage of a German on the animal, and the Papist is entitled to high favor 34 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. from the just and discriminating English. We fight their bat- tles ; we beat their enemies ; we pay their taxes, and we are degraded, oppressed and insulted, whilst the Spanish, the Portuguese, the French, and the German Papists are courted, cherished and promoted. I revert now to the learned gentleman's accusation of the bishops. He has accused them of error in doctrine and of indiscretion in practice. He tells us that he is counsel to the college of Majnooth, and, in that capacity, he seems to arro- gate to himself much theological and legal knowledge. I con- cede the law, but I deny the divinity ; neither can I admit the accm-acy of the eulogium which he has pronounced on that institution, with its mongrel board of control — half Papist and half Protestant. I was indeed at a loss to account for t]ie strange want of talent — for the silence of Irish genius which has been remarked within the college. I now see it easily ex- plained. The incubus of jealous and rival intolerance sits upon its walls, and genius, and taste, and talent fly from the sad dormitory, where sleeps the spirit of dullness. I have heard, indeed, of their Crawleys and their converts, but where or when, will that college produce a Magee or a Sandes, a M'Don- nell or a GriflGoi ? "When will the warm heart of Ii-ish genius exhibit in Maynooth such bright examples of worth and talent as those men disclose ? Is it true, that the bigot may rule in Trinity College ; the highest station in it may be the reward of writing an extremely bigoted and more foohsh pamphlet ; but stni there is no conflicting principle of hostile jealousy in its rulers ; and therefore Irish genius does not slumber there, nor is it smothered as at Maynooth. The accusation of eiTor brought against the bishops by the learned gentleman, is sustained simply upon his opinion and authority. The matter stands thus : — at the one side, we have the most Kev. and right Rev. the Catholic prelates of Ireland, who assert that there is schism in the proposed arrangement ; on the other side, we have the very Rev. the counsel for the college of Maynooth, who asserts that there is no schism in that arrangement. These are the conflicting authorities. The Rev. prelates assert the one ; he, the counsellor, asserts the other ; and, as we have not leisure to examine the point REPLY TO MR. BELLEW. 35 here doctrinally, we are reduced to the sad dilemma of choosing between the prelates and the lawyer. There may be a want of taste in the choice which I make, but I confess I cannot but prefer the bishops. I shall, there- fore, say with them, there would be schism in the arrange- ment, and deny the assertion of the Rev. counsel, that it would not be schism. But suppose his reverence, the coun- sel for Maynooth, was right, and the bishops wrong, and that in the new arrangement there would be no schism, I then say, there would be worse ; there would be corruption, and profli- gacy, and subserviency to the Castle in it, and its degrading effects would soon extend themselves to every rank and class of the Cathohcs. I now come to the second charge which the learned gentle- man, in his capacity of counsel to the college of Maynooth, has brought against the bishops. It consists of the high crime of "indiscretion." They were indiscreet, said he, in coming forward so soon and so boldly. What, when they found that a plan had been formed which they knew to be schismatic and degrading — when they found that this plan was matm^ed, and printed, and brought into parliament, and embodied in a bill, and read twice in the House of Commons, without any consultation with, and, as it were, in contempt of the Cathohcs of Ireland — shall it be said, that it was either premature or indiscreet, solemnly and loudly to protest against such plan! If it were indiscreet, it was an indiscretion which I love and admire — a necessary indiscre- tion, unless, perhaps, the learned counsel for Maynooth, may imagine that the proper time would not arrive for this protest until the bill had actually passed, and all protest should be unavaihng. No, my lord, I cannot admire this thing called Catholic discretion, which would manage our affairs in secret, and de- clare our opinions, when it was too late to give them any importance. Cathohc discretion may be of value at the Cas- tle ; a Cathohc secret may be carried, to be discounted there for prompt payment. The learned gentleman may also tell us the price that Cathohc discretion bears at the Castle, whether it be worth a place, a peerage, or a pension. But, 36 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. if it have value and a j)rice for individuals, it is of no worth to the Cathohc people. I reject and abjure it as applicable to public officers. Our opinions ought to be formed dehberatelj, but they should be announced manfully and distinctly. We should be despicable, and deserve to con- tinue in slavery, if we could equivocate or disguise our senti- ments on those subjects of vital importance ; and I call upon you to thank the Cathohc prelates, precisely because they had not the learned gentleman's quahty of discretion, and that they had the real and genuine discretion, which made them publish resolutions consistent with their exalted rank and rev- erend character, jind most consonant to the wishes and views of the Catholic people of Ireland. I now draw to a close, and I conjure you not to come to any division. Let the amendment be withdrawn by my learned fiiend, and let our approbation of our amiable and excellent, our dignified and independent prelates, be, as it ought to be, unanimous. We want unanimity ; we require to combine in the constitutional pursuit of Catholic Emancipation every class and rank of the Catholics — the prelate and the peer, the country gentleman and the farmer, the peasant and his priest ; our career is to begin again ; let our watchword be unanimity, and our object be plain and undisguised, as it has been, namely, simple Eepeal. Let us not involve or embarrass oui'- selves with vetoes, and arrangements, and securities, and guards, and pretexts of divisions, and all the implements for ministerial corruption, and Castle dominion ; let our cry be simple Eepeal. It is well — it is very well that the late bill has been rejected. I rejoice that it has been scouted. Our sapient friends at Cork called it a " Charter of Emancipation." You, my lord, called it so ; but, with much respect, you and they are greatly mistaken. In truth, it was no charter at all, nor Hke a char- ter ; and it would not have emancipated. This charter of emancipation was no charter ; and would give no emancipa- tion. As a plain, prose-like expression, it was unsupported ; and, as a figure and fiction, it made very bad poetry. No, my lord, the bill would have insulted your religion, and done almost nothing for your liberties ; it would have done nothing EEPLY TO ME, BELLEW. 37 at all for tlie people — it would send a few of our discreet Ca- tholics, with their Castle-discretion, into the House of Com- mons, but it would not have enabled Catholic peers in Ireland to vote for the representative peers ; and thus the blunder arose, because those friends, who, I am told, took so much trouble for you, examined the act of Union only, and did not take the trouble of examining the act regTilating the mode of voting for the representative peers. The bill would have done nothing for the Catholic bar, save the paltry dignity of silk gowns ; and it would have actually deprived that bar of the places of assistant-barrister, which as the law stands, they may enjoy. It would have done nothing in corporations — literally nothing at all ; and when I pressed this on Mr. Plunket, and pointed out to him the obstacles to corporate rights, in a conference with which, since his return to Ireland, he honored me, he informed me — -and informed me of course truly — that the reason why the corporations could not be further opened, or even the Bank of Ireland mentioned, was, because the English would not listen to any violation of chartered rights ; and this bill, my lord — this inefficient, use- less, and insulting bill — must be dignified with the appellation of a " Charter of Emancipation." I do most respectfully en- treat, my lord, that the expression may be well considered be- fore it is used again. And now let me entreat, let me conjure the meeting to ban- ish every angry emotion, every sensation of rivalship or o23po- sition ; let us recollect that we owe this vote to the unim- peached character of our worthy prelates. Even our enemies respect them ; and, in the fury of religious and political cal- umny, the breath even of hostile and polemical slander has not reached them. Shall Cathohcs, then, be found to express or even to imply censure ? Recollect, too, that your country requires your unanimous support. Poor, degraded, and fallen Ireland ! has you, and, I may almost say, you alone to cheer and sustain her. Her friends have been lukewarm and faint hearted ; her enemies are vigilant, active, yeUing, and insulting.. In the name of your country, I call on you not to divide, but to consecrate your unanimous efforts to her support, till bigotry shaU be put to flight, and oppression banished this land for ever. 38 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. SPEECH IN 1813 ON EEQUIRING SECURITIES FROM THE CATHOLICS. Having come here determined to address tliis meeting, I avail myself of tliis opportmiitj to solicit jour patience and attention. Let me, in the first place, congratulate you on the progress which the principle of rehgious liberty has made since you last met. It has been greatly advanced by a mag- nificenD discovery lately made by the Enghsh in ethics, and upon which I also beg leave to congratulate you. It is this : Several '^sSigacious Enghshmen have discovered, in the nine- teenth century, and more than four hundred years after the propagation of science was facihtated by the art of jorinting — several sagacious Enghshmen have made this wonderful dis- covery in moral philosophy, that a man is not necessarily a worse citizen for having a conscience, and that a conscien- tious adherence to a Christian rehgion is not an offence deserv- ing of degradation or punishment. The operation, however, of this discovery had its oppo- nents ; like gravitation and the cow-pock, it has been opposed, and, for the present, opposed with success ; but the principle has not been resisted. Yes, our enemies themselves have been forced to concede our right to emancipation. Duigenan, and Nichol, and Scott are laughed at — not hstened to ; the principle is admitted — the right of hberty of conscience is not controverted — your emancipation is certain — it is now only a question of terms — it only remains to be seen whether we shall be emancipated upon then* terms or upon ours. They offer you emancipation, as Cathohcs, if you wiU kindly consent, in return, to become schismatics. They offer you hb- erty, as men, if you agree to become slaves after a new fash- ion — that is, your fi-iends and your enemies have declared that you are entitled to Catholic emancijDation and freedom, upon the trifling terms of schism and servitude ! Generous enemies ! — bountiful fiiends ! Yes, in their boimty they resemble the debtor who should address his creditor ON EEQUIKING SECUEITIES FROM THE CATHOLICS. 39 tlius : — " It is true, I owe you XlOO ; I am perfectly well able to pay you ; but wliat will you give me if I hand you 6s. Sd. in the pound of your just debt, as a final adjustment?" " Let us allay all jealousies," continues the debtor — let us put an end to all animosities — I will give you one-third of what I owe you, if you wiU give me forty shillings in the pound of additional value, and a receipt in full, duly stamped into the bargain." But why do I treat this serious and melancholy subject with levity? Why do I jest when my heart is sore and sad? Because I have not patience at this modern cant of securities, and vetoes, and arrangements, and clauses, and commissions. Securities against what ? Not against the irritation and dis- like which may and naturally ought to result from prolonged oppression and insult. Securities — not against the. conse- quences of dissensions, di&trusts, and animosities. Securities — not against foreign adversaries. The securities that are re- quired from us are against the effects of conciliation and kind- ness — against the dangers to be apprehended from domestic union, peace, and cordiality. If they do not emancipate us — if they leave us ahens and outlaws in our native land — ^if they continue our degradation, and aU those grievances that, at present, set our passions at war with our duty ; then, they have no pretext for asking, nor do they requke any securities ; but should they raise us to the rank of Irishmen — should they give us an immediate and personal interest in our native land — should they share with us the blessings of the constitution — should they add to our duty the full tide of our interests and affection ; then — then, say they, securities will be necessary. Securities and guards must be adopted. State bridles must be invented, and shackles and manacles must be forged, lest, in the intoxication of new liberty, we should destroy, only be- cause we have a greater interest to preserve. And do they — do these security-men deserve to be reasoned "with ? I readily admit — I readily proclaim Grattan's purity — his integrity — his patriotism ; but, in his eagerness to obtain for us that hberty, for which he has so long and so zealously contended, he has overlooked the absurdity which those men fall into, who demand securities against the consequences of 40 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. emancipation, whilst tliey look for no securities against tlie effects of injustice and contumely. Grattan has also overlooked the insult to our understand- ings and to our moral feeUngs which this demand for securities injflicts. Grattan is mistaken up on tliis topic ; but he is the only man who is merely mistaken. The cry for securities has been raised, merely to retard the progress of emancipation. Canning affects to be our friend, because, since his conduct to his colleague, Viscovmt Castlereagh, he has found it difficult to obtain a niche in any administration. God preserve us from the friendship of Mr. Canning ! I have no apprehension of Mr. Canning's enmity ; he was our avowed enemy ; that is, he always voted against us, from the moment he got pension or place under Pitt, to the time when he was dismissed from office, and rendered hopeless of regaining it. And, as for Lord Cas- tlereagh, rely on it, that, though he may consent to change one kind of degradation for another, he never will consent to your attaining your freedom : and was it to obtain the vote of Lord Castlereagh that Grattan gave up our honor and our re- ligion ? Does Grattan forget — does he forgive the artificer of the Union, or the means by which it was achieved ? Does not Grattan know that Lord Castlereagh first dyed his country in blood, and then sold her. But, I repeat it, I have not patience, common patience with those men who cry out for securities, and will not see that they would obtain real security from the generous concession of plain right — from conciliation and kindness ; all reasoning, all experience proves that justice to the Catholics ought to be, and has been, in the moments of distress and peril, the first and best security to the state. I will not stoop to argue the theory with any man. I wiU not condescend to enter into an abstract reasoning to prove that safety to a government ought to result from justice and kindness to the people, but I will point out the evidence of facts which demonstrate, that con- cession to Lish Catholics has in itself been resorted to, and produced security to our government — that they have consid- ered and found it to be a security in itself — a safeguard against the greatest e^dls and calamities, aud not a cause of danger or apprehension. ON REQUIEING SECUBITIES FEOM THE CATHOLICS. 41 Irelandj in tlie connection with England, has but too con- stantly shared the fate of the prodigal's dog — I mean no per- sonal allusion — she has been kicked in the insolence of pros- perity, and she has borne all the famine and distress of ad- versity. Ireland has done more — she has afforded an abun- dant source of safety and security to England in the midst of every adversity ; and at the hour of her calamity, Eng- land has had only to turn to Ireland with the offer of friend- ship and cordiality, and she has been rewarded by our cordial and um^emittiiag succor. Trace the history of the penal laws in their leading fea- tures, and you will see the truth of my assertion. The capitu- lation of Limerick was signed on the 3rd October, 1691. Our ancestors, by that treaty, stipulated for, and were promised the perfect freedom of their religion, and that no other oath should be imposed on Catholics, save the oath of allegiance. The Irish performed the entire of that treaty on their part": it remains unperformed, as it certainly is of force, in point of justice, to this hour, on the part of the English. Even in the reign of William, it was violated by that prince, whose gener- als and judges signed that treaty — by that prince who himself confirmed and enrolled it. But he was the same prince that signed the order for the horrible, cold-blooded assassination and massacre of the un- fortunate Macdonalds of Glencoe ; and if his violation of the Limerick treaty was confined to some of the articles, it was only because the alteration in the succession, and the ex- treme pressure of foreign affairs, did not render it prudent nor convenient to offer further injury and injustice to the Irish Catholics. But the case was altered in the next reign. The power and the glory, which England acquired by her achievements, under Marlborough — the internal strength, arising from the posses- sion of hberty, enabled her to treat Ireland at her caprice, and she accordingly poured the full vial of her hatred upon the un- fortunate Catholics of Ireland. England was strong and proud, and, therefore, unjust. The treaty of Limerick was trampled under foot — ^justice, and humanity, and conscience were trodden to the earth, and a code of laws inflicted on 42 SELECT SrEECHES OF DiVNIEL o'CONNELL. tlie Irish Catliolics, whicli Montesquieu has well said, ought to have been written in blood, and of which you still feel the emaciating cruelty — a code of laws which still leave you ahens in the land of your ancestors. Aliens! — did I say? Alas! you have not the privileges of ahenage ; for tiie alien can insist upon having six of his jury of his own nation, whilst you may have twelve Orangemen on yours. But to return to our own history. The reigns of the First and of the Second George passed away ; England continued strong ; she persevered in oppression and injustice ; she was powerful and respected ; she, therefore, disregarded the suffer- ings of the Irish, and increased their chains. The Cathohcs once had the presumption to draw up a petition ; it was pre- sented to Primate Boulter, then governing Ii'eland. He not only rejected it with scorn and without a reply, but treated the insolence of daring to complain as a crime, and punished it as an offence, by recommending and procuring still more severe laws against the Papists, and the more active execution of the former statutes. But a new era advanced ; the war which George the Sec- ond waged on account of Hanover and America, exhausted the resources, and lessened, while it displayed, the strength of England. In the meantime the Duke of Bedford was Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The ascendency mob of DubHn, headed by a Lucas, insulted the Lord Lieutenant with impu- nity, and threatened the parliament. All was riot and con- fusion within, whilst France had prepared an army and a fleet for the invasion of Ireland. Serious danger menaced England. The very connection between the countries was in danger. The Cathohcs were, for the first time, thought of with favor. They were encouraged to address the Lord Lieutenant, and, for the first time, their address received the courtesy of a re- ply. By this slight civility (the more welcome for its novelty) the warm hearts and ready hands of the Irish Catholics were purchased. The foreign foe was deterred from attempting to invade a country where he could no longer have found a friend ; the domestic insurgents were awed into silence ; the Catholics and the government, simply by their combination, saved the state from its perils ; and thus did the Cathohcs, in ON EEQUrRING SECUEITIES FROM THE CATHOLICS. 43 a period of danger, and upon tlie very first application, and in return for no more than kind words, give, what we want to give, security to the empire. From the year 1759, to the American war, England enjoyed strength and peace ; the Catholics were forgotten, or recol- lected only for the purposes of oppression. England in her strength and her insolence oppressed America ; she persevered in an obstinate and absurd course of vexation, until America revolted, flew to arms, conquered, and established her inde- pendence and her hberty. This brings us to the second stage of modem Catholic his- tory : for England, having been worsted in more than " one battle in America, and having gained victories more fatal than many defeats, America, aided by France, having pro- claimed independence, the English period for liberahty and justice arrived, for she was in distress and difficulty. Dis- tracted at home — baffled and despised abroad, she was com- pelled to look to Irish resources, and to seek for security in Ireland; accordingly, in the year 17 7S, our Emancipation commenced ; the Cathohcs were lured into the active service of the state by an easy gratuity of a small share of their rights as human beings, and they in return gave, what we now desire to give, security to the empire. The pressure of foreign evils, however, returned ; Spain and HoUand joined with France and America ; success in her contest with the ^Colonies became daily more hopeless. The combined fleets swept the ocean; the Enghsh channel saw their superiority ; the Enghsh fleet abandoned for a while the dominion of the sea ; the national debt terrified and impover- ished the country; distress and difficulty pressed on every side, and, accordingly, we arrived at the second stage of Ca- tholic Emancipation ; for, in 1782, at such a period as I have described, a second statute was passed, enlarging the privi- leges of the Catholics, and producing, in their gratitude and zeal, that security which we now tender to the sinking vessel of the state. From 1782 to 1792, was a period of tranquilhty ; the ex- penses of the government were diminished, and her commerce greatly increased. The loss of America, instead of being an 4A SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. evil, became an advantage to trade as well as to liberty. Eng- land again flourished, and again forgot us. In 1792, the Catholics urged their claims, as they had more than once done before. But the era was inauspicious to them, for England was in prosperity. On the Continent, the confederation of German princes, and the assemblage of the French princes, with their royaUst followers, the treaty of Pil- nitz, and the army of the King of Prussia, gave hope of crush- ing and extinguishing France and her Hberties for ever. At that moment the Catholic petition was brought before parha- meut; it was not even suffered, according to the course of ordinary courtesy, to he on the table ; it was rejected with indig- nation and with contempt. The head of the La Touche fam- ily, which has since produced so many first-rate Irishmen, then retained that Huguenot hatred for Cathohcs which is stiU cherished by Sauiin, the Attorney-General for Ireland. La Touche proposed that the petition should be rejected, and it was rejected by a majority of 200 to only 13. Fortune, however, changed. The invasion of the Prussians was unsuccessful ; the French people worshipping the name, as if it were the reality of liberty, chased the Duke of Brunswick from their soil ; the King of Prussia, in the Lut- trel style, sold the pass ; the German princes were confound- ed, and the French princes scattered ; Dumouriez gained the battle of Jemappes, and conquered the Austrian Netherlands ; the old governments of Em'ope were struck with consterna- tion and dismay, and we arrived at the fourth, and hitherto the last stage of emancipation ; for, after those events, in 1793, was passed that act which gave us many valuable polit- ical rights— many important privileges. The parliament — the same men who, in 1792, would not suffer our petition to lie on the table — the men who, in 1792, treated us with contempt, in the short space of a few months, granted us the elective franchise. In 1792, we were despised and rejected; in 1793, we were flattered and favored. The reason was obvious ; in the year 1792, England was safe ; in 1793 she wanted security, and security she found in the emancipation of the Cathohcs, partial though it was and hm- ited. The spirit of republican frenzy was abroad ; the en- ON REQUIRING SECURITIES FROM THE CATHOLICS. 45 tliusiasm for liberty, even to madness, pervaded tlie public mind. The Presbyterians and Dissenters of the North of Ireland were strongly infected with that mania ; and had not England wisely and prudently bought aU the Catholic nobihty and gentry, and the far greater part of the Cathohc people out of the market of republicanism, that which fortunately was but a rebelUon, would, most assuredly, have been revolu- tion. The Presbyterians and Cathohcs would have united, and, after wading through the bloody dehrium of a sanguin- ary revolution, we should now, in aU likehhood, have some mihtary adventurer seated on the throne of our legitimate sovereign. But, I repeat it, England judged better ; she was just and kind, and therefore she has been preserved. She sought for security where alone it could be found, and she obtained it. Thus, in 1759, England wanted security against the turbu- lence of her ascendency faction in Ireland, and against the fleet and arms of France ; she was civil and" courteous to the Catholics, and the requisite secmdty was the resrdt. Thus, in 1778, England wanted security against the effects of her own misconduct and misfortunes in America; she granted some rights of property to the Irish Cathohcs, and the wanted security followed. Thus, in 1782, England wanted security against the prodi- gality and profligacy of her administration — against the com- bined navies of France, Spain, and HoUand ; she conceded some further advantages to the Catholics, and she became safe and secure. Thus, in 1795, England wanted security against the proba- ble consequences of the disasters and treachery of the Prus- sians — the defeat of the Austrians, and especially against the revolutionary epidemic distemper which threatened the vitals of the constitution ; she conferred on the Catholics some portion of pohtical freedom, and the Catholics have re- compensed her, by affording her subsequent security. And thus has Emancipation been in all its stages the effect of the wants of England, but, at the same time, her resources in those wants. In her weakness and decay, Emancipation has given her health and strength ; it was always hitherto a 46 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. remedy, and not in itself a disease ; it was, in short, her best protection and secmity. Away, then, with those idle, those absurd demands for control, and dominion over our mode of faith. Let Grattan learn the sentiments of the Irish people ; let him know that we are ready to give the security of our pro- perties and our hves to the state ; but we wiU not, we cannot, grant away any part of our religion. Before the Union, no vetoes, no ari'augements, no inquisitions over our prelates were required. If our Protestant fellow-countrymen did not ask them, why should the English suppose we can grant them to their stupid caprice ? But we are ready to give them security ; we are ready to secui'e them from foreign foes, and against the possi- biUty of domestic dissension. Yes, the horn' of your Emancipation is at hand ; you will, you must be Emancipated ; not by the operation of any force or violence, which are unnecessary, and would be illegal on your part, but by the repetition of yom^ constitutional demands by petition, and still more by the pressure of circumstances, and the great progress of events. Yes, your Emancipation is certain, because England wants the assistance of all her peo- ple. The dream of dehvering the Continent from the domin- ion of Bonaparte has vanished. The idle romance of German hberty — who ever heard of German hberty? — is now a cheerless vision. The allied Russian and Prassian armies may, perhaps, escape, but they have little prospect of victory. The Ameri- cans have avenged our outrages on their seamen, by quench- ing the meteor blaze of the British naval flag. The war with the world — Ed gland, alone, against the world — is in progress. We shall owe to her good sense, what ought to be conceded by her generosity ; she cannot proceed without our aid ; she knows she can command that aid if she will but be just ; she can, for liberty, to which we are of right entitled, command the affections and the energies of the bravest and finest peo- ple in the world ! Becollect, too, that the financial distress of England accu- mulates. She owes, including the Irish debt, near a milhon of milhons. Who is there so extravagant as to suppose, but that ON KEQUIRING SECURITIES FROM THE CATHOLICS. 47 iliere must arrive a period at whicli it will become impossible to borrow money, or to pay more iaterest ? Our Irisli debt has already exceeded, by nearly two-thirds, our means. "We spend sixteen millions annually, and we collect, in revenue, about five millions. Our bank puts a paltry impression on three penny-worth of silver, and calls it tenpence. In short, with taxes increasing, debts accumulating, revenue diminish- ing, trade expuing, . paper currency depreciating — who is so very blind as not to perceive, that England does and must re- quire, the consolidation of all her people in one common cause, and in one common interest ? The plain path to safety — to security — lies before her. Let Irishmen be restored to their inherent rights, and she may laugh to scorn the shock of every tempest ; the arrangements which the abolition of the national debt may require will then be effectuated, without convulsion or disturbance ; and no foreign foe will dare to pollute the land of freemen and of brothers. They have, however, struck out another resource in Eng- land ; they have resolved, it is said, to resort to the protec- tion of Orange Lodges. That system which has been declared by judges from the bench to be iUegal and criminal, and found by the experience of the people to be bigoted and bloody — the Orange system, which has marked its progress in blood, in murder, and in massacre — the Orange system, which has des- olated Ireland, and would have converted her into a sohtude, but for the interposing hand of Cornwalhs — the Orange system with all its sanguinary horrors is, they say, to be adopted in England ! Its prominent patron, we are told, is Lord Kenyon or Lord Yarmouth ; the first an insane rehgionist of the Welsh Jum- per sect, who, bounding in the air, imagines he can lay hold of a limb of the Deity, hke Macbeth, snatching at the air- drawn dagger of his fancy ! He would be simply ridiculous, but for the mischievous mahgnity of his holy piety, which de- sires to convert Papists from their errors, through the instru- mentahty of daggers of steel. Lord Kenyon may enjoy his ample sinecures as he pleases, but his folly should not goad to madness the people of Ireland. 48 SELECT SrEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. As to Lord Yarmouth, I need not, indeed I could not, de- scribe liim ; and if I could, I would not disgust mjseK with* the description ; but if Lord Kenyon or Lord Yarmouth have organized the Orange system, I boldly proclaim that he must have been bribed by the common enemy. Bigotry is not a gratuitous propensity. Giffard gets money for his calum- nies and impudence ; so does Duigenan. The English Orange patrons must be bribed by France ; let them appeal to their private lives to repel my a ccusation. Can that man repel it, whose life is devoted to the accumulation of wealth to be added to wealth, already excessive and enormous ? — who never was suspected of principle or honor? — whose finest feelings were always at market for money — who was ready to wed disgrace with a rich dowry, and would have espoused infamy with a large portion? If such a wretch lives, let him become the leader of the Orange banditti. The patron is worthy of the institution — the institution is suited to the patron. You know fuU well that I do not exaggerate the horrors which the Orange system has x)roduced, and must produce, if revived from authority, in this country. I have, in some of the hireling prints of London, read, under the guise of opposing adoption of the Orange system, the most unfounded praises of the conduct of the Lish Orangemen. They were called loyal, and worthy, and constitutional. Let me hold them up in their true light. The first authentic fact in their history occurs in 1795. It is to be found in the address of Lord Gosford, to a meeting of the magistrates- of the county of Ai'magh, con- vened by his lordship, as governor of that coimty, on the 28th of December, 1795. Allow me to read the following passage from that address : " Gentlemen — Having requested your attendance here this day, it be comes my duty to state the grounds ujion which I thought it advisable to propose this meeting ; and at the same time to submit to your con- sideration a plan which occurs to me as most likely to check the enor- mities that have already brought disgrace upon this country, and may soon reduce it into deep distress. " It is no secret that a persecution, accompanied with all the circumstances of ferocious cruelty, which have in all ages distinguished ON KEQUIRING SEGUEITIES FROM THE CATHOLICS. 49 that dreadful calamity, is now raging in this country. Neither age nor sex, nor even acknowledged innocence, as to any guilt in the late disturbances, is sufficient to excite mercy, much less to afford protection. " The only crime which the wretched objects of this ruthless persecu- tion are charged with, is a crime, indeed, of easy proof ; it is simply a profession of the Roman Catholic faith, or an intimate connection with a person professing this faith. A lawless banditti have constituted them- selves judges of this new species of deUnquency, and the sentence they have denounced is equally concise and terrible. It is nothing less than a confiscatiou of all property, and an immediate banishment. It would be extremely painful, and surely unnecessary, to detail the horrors that are attendant on the execution of so rude and tremendous a pro- scription — one that certainlyj exceeds in the comparative number of those it consigns to ruin and misery, every example that ancient and modern history can supply; for where have we heard, or in what story of human cruelties have we read, of half the inhabitants of a populous country deprived, at one blow, of the means as well as the fruits of their industry, and driven, in the midst of an inclement season, to seek a shelter for themselves, and their helpless famihes, where chance may guide them ? " This is no exaggerated picture of the horrid scenes that are now act- ing in this country." Here is the first fact in the history of the Orangemen. They commenced their course by a persecution with every circumstance of ferocious crulelty. This lawless banditti, as Lord Gosford called them, showed no mercy to age, nor sex, nor acknowledged innocence. And this is not the testimony of a man favorable to the rights of those persecuted Catholics ; he avows his intolerance in the very address of which I have read you a part ; and though shocked at these Orange enor- mities, he still exults in his hostihty to Emancipation. After this damning fact from the early history of the Or- angemen, who can think with patience on the revival or exten- sion of this murderous association ? It is not, it ought not, it cannot be endured, that such an association should be restored to its power of mischief by abandoned and unprincipled cour- tiers. But I have got in my possession a document which dem- onstrates the vulgar and lowly origin, as well as the traitorous and profligate purpose of this Orange society. It has been re- peatedly sworn to in judicial proceedings, that the original oath of an Orangeman was an oath to exterminate the CathoHcs. 50 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. In some years after the society was formed, men of a higher class of society became members of it, and being too Avell ed- ucated to endure the plain declaration to exterminate, they changed the form of the oath to its present shape, but care- fuUy retained all the persecuting spirit of the Armagh exter- minators. The document I allude to, was x^rinted for the use of the Orange Lodges ; it was never intended for any eye but that of the imtiated, and I owe it to something better than chance that I got a copy of it ; it was priuted by William M'Kenzie, printer to the Grand Orange Lodge, in 1810, and is entitled, " Eules and Kegulations for the use of all Orange Societies, revised and corrected by a Committee of the Grand Orange Lodge of L-eland, and adopted by the Grand Orange Lodge, January 10th, 1810." I can demonstrate from this document that the Orange is a vulgar, a profligate, and a treasonable as- sociation. To prove it treasonable, I read the following, which is given as the first of their secret articles : — " That we will bear true allegiance to his Majesty, his heirs and successors, so long as he or they support the Protestant ascendency." The meaning is obvious, the Orangeman wiU be loyal just so long as he pleases. The traitor puts a limit to his alle- giance, suited to what he shall fancy to be meant by the words " Protesta-nt ascendency." If the legislature presumes to alter the law for the Irish Catholics as it did for the Han- overian Catholics, then is the Orangeman clearly discharged from his allegiance, and allowed, at the first convenient oppor- tunity, to raise a civil war ; ^nd this is what is called a loyal association. Oh ! how different from the unconditional, the ample, the conscientious oath of allegiance of the Irish Cath- ohc ! I pass over the second secret article, as it contains nothing worthy of observation ; but from the third I shall at ofice demonstrate what pitiful and vulgar dogs the original Orangemen were. Mark the thu'd secret article, I pray you— " That we will not see a brother offended for sixpence or one shilling, or more if convenient, which must be returned next meeting if possible." Such is the third of the secret Orange articles. I j)resume even Lord Yarmouth will go with them the full length of then- liberality of sixpence or one shilling, but fm'ther liis convenience may prevent him. ON REQUIRING SECURITIES FROM THE CATHOLICS. 51 The fourtli secret article is quite cliaracteristic — " That we must not give the first assault to any person whatsoever, that may bring a brother into trouble." You perceive the limita- tion. They are entitled to give the first assault in all cases, but that in which it may not be quite prudent ; they are restricted from commencing their career of aggression, unless they are, I presume, ten to one — unless they are armed and the Catholics disarmed — unless their superiority in numbers and preparation is marked and manifest. See the natural alliance of cowardice with cruelty. They are ready to assault you, when no brother of theirs can be injured ; but if there be danger of injury to one of their brotherhood, they are bound to restrain, for that time, their hatred of the Catholics, and to allow them to pass unattacked. This fourth article proves, better than a volume, the aggressive spirit of the insti- tution, and accoimts for many a riot, and many a recent mur- der. The fifth secret article esliibits the rule of Orangemen, with respect to robbery. "5th. We are not to carry away money, goods, or anything, from any person whatever, except arms and ammunition, and those only from an enemy." The rule allows them to commit felony to this extent — namely, the arms and ammunition of any Catholic, or enemy ; and I have heard of a Catholic who was disarmed of some excellent sil- ver spoons, and a silver cup, by a detachment of this banditti. Yes, Lord Gosford was right, when he called them a lawless banditti; for here is such a regulation as could be framed only for those whose object was plunder — whose means were murder. The sixth and seventh secret articles relate to the attendance and enrolling of members; but the eighth is of great importance — ^it is this : — " 8th secret article — An, Orange- man is to keep his brother's secrets as his own, unless in case of murder, treason and perjury, and that of his own free will." See what an abundant crop of crimes the Orangeman is bound to conceal for his brother Orangeman. Killing a Papist may, in his eyes, be no murder, and he might be bound to conceal that ; bvit he is certainly bound to conceal all cases of riot, maiming, wounding, stabbing, theft, robbing, rape, house-breaking, house-burning, and every other human vil- lany, save murder, treason, and perjury. These are the good, 52 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. the faithful, the loyal subjects. They may, without provoca- tion or excuse, attack and assault — give the first assault, mind, when they are certain no brother can be brought to trouble. They may feloniously and burglariously break into dwellings, and steal, take, and carry away whatever they please to call arms and ammunition. And, if the loyalty of a brother tempts him to go a little further, and to plunder any other articles, or to burn the house, or to violate female honor, his brother spectators of his crime are bound by their oaths to screen it forever from detection and justice. I know some men of better minds have been, in their horror of revolution- ary fury, seduced into these lodges, or have unthinkingly be- come members of them ; but the sj)irit, the object, and the consequences of this murderous and plundering association, are not the less manifest. I do not calumniate them ; for I prove the history of their foundation and origin by the unimpeachable testimony of Vis- count Gosford, and I prove their principles by their own secret articles, the genuineness of which no Orangeman can or will deny. If it were denied, I have the means of proving it be- yond a doubt. And when such principles are avowed, when so much is acknowledged and printed, oh, it requires but little knowledge of human nature to ascertain the enormities which must appear in the practice of those who have confessed so much of the criminal nature of theii- principles. There is, how- ever, one consolation. It is to be found in their ninth secret article — " No Koman Cathohc can be admitted on any account." I thank them for it, I rejoice at it ; no Eoman Cathohc deserves to be admitted. No Eoman Catholic would desire to belong to a society jDermitting aggression and vio- lence, when safe and pnident, j)ermitting robbery to a certain extent, and authorizing treason upon a given contingency. And now let me ask, what safety, what security can the min- ions of the court promise to themselves from the encourage- ment of tliis association ? They do want security, and. from the Catholics they can readily have it ; and you, my friends, may want security, not from the open attacks of the Orange- men — for agamst those the law and your own courage ^^^ll protect you ; but of their secret machinations you ought to be warned. They will endeavor, nay, I am most credibly as- ON REQDIEING SECUEITIES FEOM THE CATHOLICS. 53 sured, that at tliis moment their secret emissaries are endea- Yoring to seduce you into acts of sedition and treason, that they may betray and destroy you. Eecollect what happened httle more than twelve months ago, when the Board detected and exposed a similar dehision in Dubhn, Recollect the un- punished conspiracy which was discovered at Limerick ; un- punished and unprosecuted was the Jiuthor. EecoUect the Mayor's Constable of Kilkenny, and he is still in office, though he administered an oath of secrecy, and gave money to his spy to treat the country people to liquor and seduce them to trea- son. I do most earnestly conjure you to be on your guard, no matter in what shape any man may approach, who suggests disloyalty to you — no matter of what rehgion he may affect to be — no matter what compassion he may express for your suf- ferings, what promises he may make ; believe me, that any man who may attempt to seduce you into any secret association or combination whatsoever, that suggests to you any violation of the law whatsoever, that dares to utter in your presence the lan- guage of sedition or of treason, depend upon it — take my word for it, and I am your sincere friend — that every such man is the hired emissary and the spy of your Orange enemies — that his real object is to betray you, to murder you under the forms of a judicial trial, and to ruin your country for your guilt. If, on the contrary, you continue at this trying moment peaceful, obedient and loyal ; if you avoid every secret association, and every incitement to turbulence ; if you persevere in your obe- dience to the laws, and in fidehty to the Crown and Constitution, your Emancipation is certain, and not distant, and your coun- try will be restored to you ; your natural friends and protec- tors wiU seek the redress of your grievances in and from parlia- ment, and Ireland will be again free and happy. If you suf- fer yourself to be seduced by these Orange betrayers, the members of the Board will be bound to resist your crimes with their lives ; you will bring disgxace and ruin on our cause ; you will destroy yourself and your families, and perpetuate the degradation and disgrace of your native land. But my fears are vain. I know your good sense ; I rely on your fidelity ; you win continue to baffle your enemies ; you ^vill continue faithful and peaceable ; and thus shall you preserve yourselves, promote your cause, and give security to the empire. SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL CONNELL. SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE, JULY 27, 1813. Mk. Magee was prosecuted for a libel on the Duke of Richmond, in the Dublin Evening journal, of which he was the proprietor. The case was opened by Mr. Kenimis, followed ^y Attorney-Gen- eral Saurin. Mr. O'Connell's reply was as follows : I consented to the adjournment yesterday, gentlemen of the jury, fi'om this impulse of nature which compels us to post- pone pain ; it is, indeed, painful to me to address you ; it is a cheerless, a hopeless task to address you — a task which would require all the animation and interest to be derived from the working of a mind fully fraught with the resentment and dis- gust created in mine yesterday, by that farrago of helpless ab- surdity with which Mr. Attorney-General regaled you. But I am now not sorry for the delay. Whatever I may have lost in vivacity, I trust I shall compensate for in discretion. That which yesterday excited my anger, now appears to me to be an object of pity ; and that which then aroused my indig- nation, now only moves to contempt. I can now address you Avith feelings softened, and, I trust, subdued ; and I do, fi'om my soul, declare, that I now cherish no other sensations than those which enable me to bestow on the Attorney-General, and on his discourse, pure and unmixed compassion. It was a discourse in which you could not discover either order, or method, or eloquence ; it contained very little logic, and no poetry at all ; violent and virulent, it was a confused and disjointed tissue of bigotry, amalgamated with congenial vulgarity. He accused my chent of using Billingsgate, and he accused him of it in language suited exclusively for that meridian. He descended even to the calling of names : he called this young gentleman a "malefactor," a "Jacobin," and a " ruffian," gentlemen of the jury ; he called him " abomina- ble," and " seditious," and "revolutionary," and "infamous," and a " ruffian" again, gentlemen of the jury ; he called him a " brothel keeper," a " pander," " a kind of bawd in breeches," and a " ruffian" a third time, gentlemen of the jury. SPEECH IN DEFENCE OE JOHN JMAQEE. 55 I cannot repress my astonishment, liow Mr. Attorney-Gen- eral could have preserved this dialect in its native purity ; he has been now for nearly thirty years in the class of polished society ; he has, for some years, mixed among the highest or- ders in the state ; he has had the honor to belong for thirty years to the first profession in the world — to the only profes- sion, with the single exception, perhaps, of the military, to which a high-minded gentleman could condescend to belong — the Irish bar. To that bar, at which he has seen and heard a Burgh and a Duquery ; at which he must have hstened to a Burston, a Ponsonby, and a Curran ; to a bar which still con- tains a Plunket, a Ball, and despite of politics, I will add, a Bushe. With this galaxy of glory, flinging their light around him, how can he alone have remained in darkness ? How has it happened, that the twilight murkiness of his soul has not been illumined with a single ray shot from their lustre ? De- void of taste and of genius, how can he have had memory enough to preserve this original vulgarity ? He is, indeed, an object of compassion, and, from my inmost soul, I bestow on him my forgiveness, and my bounteous pity. But not for him alone should compassion be felt. Eecol- lect, that upon his advice — that with him, as the prime mover and instigator — those rash, and silly, and irritating meas- ures, of the last five years which have afflicted and distracted this long-suffering country have originated — with him they have all originated. Is there not then compassion due to the millions, whose destinies are made to depend upon his coun- sel ? Is there no pity to those who, hke me, must know that the liberties of the tenderest pledges of their affections, and of that which is dearer stUl, of their country, depends on this man's advice? Yet let not pity for us be unmixed ; he has afforded the consolation of hope ; his harangue has been heard ; it will be reported — I trust faithfully reported ; and if it be but read in England, we may venture to hope that there may remain just so much good sense in England as to induce the conviction of the folly and the danger of conducting the. government of a brave and long-enduring people by tlie counsels of so taste- less and talentless an adviser. 56 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. See what an imitative animal man is ! The sound of ruf- fian — ruffian — ruffian, had scarcely died on the Attorney-Gen- eral's lips, when you find the word honored with all the per- manency of print, in one of his pensioned and well-paid, but ill-read newspapers. Here is the first line in the Dublin Journal of this day : — " The ruffian who writes for the Free- man's Journal." Here is an apt scholar— he profits well of the Attorney-General's tuition. The pupil is worthy of the master — the master is just suited to the pupil. I now dismiss the style and measure of the Attorney-Gene- ral's discourse, and I require your attention to its matter, that matter I must divide, although with him there was no division, into two unequal portions. The first, as it was by far the greater portion of his discourse, shall be that which was altogether inapphcable to the purposes of this prosecu- tion. The second, and infinitely the smaller portion of his speech, is that which related to the subject matter of the indictment which you are to try. He has touched upon and disfigured a great variety of topics. I shall follow him at my good leisure through them. He has invited me to a wide field of discussion. I accept his challenge with alacrity and with pleasure. This extraneous part of his discourse, which I mean first to discuss, was distinguished by two leading features. The first, consisted of a dull and reproving sermon, with which he treated my colleagues and myself, for the manner in which Ave thought fit to conduct this defence. He talked of the melan- choly exhibition of four houi-s wasted, as he said, in frivolous debate, and he obscurely hinted at something hke incorrect- ness of professional conduct. He has not ventured to speak out, but I will. I shall say nothing for myself ; but for my colleagues — my inferiors in professional standing, but infinitely my superiors in every talent and in every acquirement — my colleagues, whom I boast as my friends, not in the routine language of the bar, but in the sincerity of my esteem and afiection ; for my learned and upright colleagues, I treat the unfounded insinuation with the most contemptuous scorn ! All I shall expose is the utter inattention of the fact, which,, in small things as in great, seems to mark the Attoruey-Gen- SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 57 eral's career. He talks of four liours. "Wliy, it was past one before the last of you were digged together by the Sheriff, and the Attorney-General rose to address you before three. How he could contrive to squeeze four hours into that interval, is for him to explain ; nor should I notice it, but that it is the par- ticular prerogative of dullness to be accurate in the detail of minor facts, so that the Attorney-General is without an ex- cuse, when he departs from them, and when for four hours you have had not quite two. Take this also with you, that we assert our uncontrollable right to employ them as we have done ; and as to his advice, we neither respect, nor will we receive it ; but we can afford cheerfully to pardon the vain presump- tion that made him offer us counsel. For the rest, he may be assured that we will never imitate his example. We will never volunteer to mingle our politics, whatever they may be, with our forensic duties. I made this the rigid rule of my professional conduct ; and if I shall ap- pear to depart from this rule now, I bid you recollect that I am compelled to follow the Attorney-General into grounds which, if he had been wise, he would have avoided. Yes ; I am compelled to follow him into the discussion of his conduct toward the Catholics. He has poured out the full vial of his own praise on that conduct — praise in which, I can safely assure him, he has not a single unpaid rival. It is a topic upon which no unbribed man, except himself, dwells. I admit the disinterestedness with which he praises himself, and I do not envy him his delight, but he ought to know, if he sees or hears a word of that kind from any other man, that that man receives or expects compensation for his task, and really deserves money for his labor and invention. My lord, upon the Catholic subject, I commence with one assertion of the Attorney-General, which I trust I misunder- stood. He talked, as I collected him, of the Catholics having imbibed principles of a seditious, treasonable, and revolutionary nature ! He seemed to me, most distinctly to charge us with treason ! There is no relying on his words for his meaning — I know there is not. On a former occasion, I took down a re- petition of this charge full seventeen times on my brief, and yet, afterwards, it turned out that he never intended to make 58 SELECT SPEECHES OE DANIEL O'CONNELL. any such charge ; that he forgot he had ever used those words, and he disclaimed the idea they naturally convey. It is clear, therefore, that uj)on this subject he knows not what he sa^^s ; and that these phrases are the mere flowers of his rhetoric, but quite innocent of any meaning ! Upon this account I pass liim by, I go beyond him, and I content myself with proclaiming those charges, whosoever may make them, to be false and base calumnies ! It is impossible to refute such charges in the language of dignity or temper. But if any man dares to charge the CathoHc body, or the Catholic Board, or any individuals of that Board with sedition or treason, I do here, I shall always in this court, in the city, in the field, brand him as an infamous and profligate liar ! Pardon the phrase, but there is no other suitable to the oc- casion. But he is a profligate liar who so asserts, because he must know that the whole tenor of our conduct confutes the assertion. What is it we seek ? Chief Justice. — What, Mr. O'Conhell, can this have to do with the question which the jury are to try ? Me. O'Connell. — You heard the Attorney-General traduce and calumniate us — ^you heard him with patience and with temper — listen now to our vindication ! I ask, what is it we seek ? What is it we incessantly and, if you please, clamorously petition for ? Why, to be allowed to partake of the advantages of the constitution. We are ear- nestly anxious to share the benefits of the constitution. We look to the participation in the constitution as our greatest po- htical blessing. If we desired to destroy it, would we seek to share it ? If we wished to overturn it, would we exert our- selves through calumny, and in peril, to obtain a portion of its blessings ? Strange, inconsistent voice of calumny ! You charge us with intemperance in our exertions for a participa- tion in the constitution, and you charge us at the same time, almost in the same sentence, with a design to overturn the con- stitution. The dupes of your hypocrisy may believe you ; but base calumniators, you do not, you cannot believe your- selves ! The Attorney-General — " this wisest and best of men," as his SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 59 colleague, tlie Solicitor-General, called him in his presence — the Attorney-General next boasted of his triumph over Pope and Popery — " I put down the Catholic Committee ; I will put down, at my good time, the Catholic Board." This boast is partly historical, partly prophecy. He was wrong in his his- tory — he is quite mistaken in his prophecy. He did not put down the Catholic Committee — we gave up that name the moment that this sapient Attorney-General's polemica-legal controversy dwindled jnto a mere dispute about words. He told us that in the English language " pretence " means " pur- pose ;" had it been French and not Enghsh, we might have been inclined to respect his judgment, but in point of English we venture to differ with him ; we told him "puipose," good Mr. Attorney-General, is just the reverse of "pretence." The quarrel grew warm and animated : we appealed to common sense, to the grammar and to the dictionary ; common sense, grammar, and the dictionary, decided in our favor. He brought his appeal to this court, your lordship, and your brethren unanimously decided that in point of law — mark, mark, gen- tlemen of the jury, the sublime wisdom of the law — the court decided that, in point of law, "pretence" does mean "purpose !" Fully contented with this very reasonable and more satis- factory decision, there still remained a matter of fact between us : the Attorney-General charged us with being representa- tives ; we denied all representation. He had two witnesses to prove the fact for him ; they swore to it one way at one trial, and directly the other way at the next. An honorable, intelli- gent, and enlightened jury disbelieved those witnesses at the first trial — matters were better managed at the second trial — the jury were better arranged. I speak delicately, gentle- men ; the jury were better arranged, as the witnesses were better informed ; and, accordingly, there was one verdict for us on the representative question, and one verdict against us. You know" the jury that found for us ; you know that it was Sir Charles Saxton's Castle-list jury that found against us. Well, the consequence was, that, thus encouraged, Mr. Attor- ney-General proceeded to force. We abhorred tumult, and were weary of litigation ; we new-modelled the agents and 60 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. managers of the Catholic petitions ; we formed an assembly, respecting which there could not be a shadow of pretext for calling it a representative body. "We disclaim representation ; and we rendered it impossible, even for the virulence of the most mahgnant. law-officer li\dng, to employ the Convention Act against us — that, even upon the Attorney-General's own construction, requires representation as an ingredient in the offence it prohibits. He cannot possibly call us represen- tatives ; we are individual servants of the public, whose busi- ness we do gratuitously but zealously. Our cause has ad- ^'nnced even from his persecution — and this he calls putting down the Cathohc Committee ! Next, he glorifies himself in his prospect of putting down the Catholic Board. For the present, he, indeed, tells you, that much as he hates the Pax3ists, it is unnecessary for him to crush our Board, because we injure our own cause so much. He SAjs that we are very criminal, but we are so foohsh that our folly serves as a compensation for our wickedness. We are very wicked and very inischievous, but then we are such fool- ish little criminals, that we deserve his indulgence. Thus he tolerates ofiences because of their being committed sillily ; and indeed, we give Mm so much pleasure and gratification by the injury we do our own cause, that he is spared the superfluous labor of impeding our j)etitiou by his i)i'Osecutions, fines, or imprisonments. He expresses the very idea of the Eoman Domitian, of whom some of you possibly may have read; he amused his days in torturing men — his evenings he relaxed in the humble cruelty of impaling flies. A courtier caught a fly for his im- perial amusement — "Fool," said the emperor, " fool, to give thyself the troiible of torturing an animal that was about to burn itself to death in the candle !" Such is the spirit of the Attorney-General's commentary on our Board. Oh, rare At- torney-General ! — Oh, best and wisest of men ! But to be serious. Let me pledge myself to you that he im- poses on you, when he threatens to crush the Catholic Board. Illegal violence may do it — force may effectuate it; but your hopes and his will be defeated, if he attempts it by any course of law. I am, if not a lawyer, at least, a barrister. On this SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 61 subject I ought to know something, and I do not hesitate to contradict the Attorney-General on this point, and to proclaim to you and to the country that the Catholic Board is jDerfectly a legal assembly — that it not only does not violate the law, but that it is entitled to the protection of the law, and in the very proudest tone of firmness, I hurl defiance at the Attorney- General ! I defy him to allege a law or a statute, or even a proclama- tion that is violated by the CathoUc Board. No, gentlemen, no ; his religious prejudices — ^if the absence of every charity can be called anything rehgious — his rehgious prejudices real- ly obscure his reason, his bigoted intolerance has totally darkened his understanding, and he mistakes the plainest facts and misquotes the clearest law, in the ardor and vehe- mence of his rancor. I disclaim his moderation — I scorn his forbearance — I tell him he knows not the law if he thinks as he says ; and if he thinks so, I teh him to his beard, that he is not honest in not having sooner prosecuted us, and I challenge him to that prosecution . It is strange — it is melancholy, to reflect on the miserable and mistaken pride that must inflate him to talk as he does of the Catholic Board. The Catholic Board is com;:osed of men — I include not myself — of course, I always except my- self — every way his superiors, in birth, in fortune, in talents, in rank. What ! is he to talk of the Cathohc Board hghtly ? At their head is the Earl of Fingal, a nobleman whose exalted rank stoops beneath the superior station of his virtues- — ^whom even the venal minions of power must respect. We are en- gaged, patiently and perseveringly engaged, in a struggle through the open channels of the constitution for our Kberties. The son of the ancient earl whom I have mentioned cannot in his native land attain any honorable distinction of the state, and yet Mr. Attorney-General knows that they are open to every son of every bigoted and intemperate stranger that may settle amongst us. But this system cannot last ; he may insult, he may calum- niate, he may prosecute ; but the Catholic cause is on its ma- jestic march ; its progress is rapid and obvious ; it is cheered in its advance, and aided by all that is dignified and dispas- 62 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. sionate — ^by everytliing that is patriotic — ^by all the honor, all the integrity of the empire ; and its success is just as certain as the return of to-morrow's sun, and the close of to-morrow's eve. " We will — we must soon be emancipated, in despite of the Attorney-General, aided as he is by his august allies, the aldermen of Skinner's Alley. In despite of the Attorney- General and the aldermen of Skinner's Alley, our emancipa- tion is certain, and not distant. I have no difficulty in perceiving the motive of the Attor- ney-General, in devodng so much of his medley oration to the Cathohc question, and to the expression of his bitter hatred to us, and of his determination to ruin our hopes. It had, to be sm'e, no connection with the cause, but it had a direct and na- tural connection with you. He has been, all his life, reckoned a man of consumm ite cunning and dexterity ; and v^' hilst one wonders that he has so much exposed himseK upon those prosecutions, and accounts for it by the proverbial blindness of rehgious zeal, it is still easy to discover much of his native cunning and dexterity. Gentlemen, he thinks he knows his men — ^lie knows you ; many of you signed the no-Popery peti- tion ; he heard one of you boast of it ; he knows you would not have been summoned on this jury, if you had entertained liberal sentiments ; he knows all this, and, therefore it is that he, with the artifice and cunning of an experienced nisi prius advocate, endeavors to win yOur confidence, and command your affections by the display of his congenial ilhberahty and bigotry. You are all, of course, Protestants; see what a comph- ment he pays to your religion and his own, when he endeavors thus to procure a verdict on your oaths ; when he endeavors to seduce you to what, if you were so seduced, would be perjury, by indulging your prejudices, and flattering you by the coinci- dence of his sentiments and wishes. Will he succeed, gentle- men ? Will you allow him to draw you into a perjury out of zeal for yom* religion ? And wiU you violate the pledge you have given to your God to do justice, in order to gratify your anxiety for the ascendency of what you beheve to be his church? Gentlemen, reflect on the strange and jnonstrous SPEECH IN DEFENCE OP JOHN MAGEE. G3 inconsistency of this conduct, and do not commit, if you can avoid it, the pious crime of violating your solemn oaths, in aid of the pious designs of the Attorney-General against Popery. Oh, gentlemen ! it is not in any lightness of heart I thus address you — ^it is rather in bitterness and sorrow ; you did not expect flattery from me, and my client was little disposed to offer it to you ; besides, of what avail would it be to flatter, if you came here pre-determined, and it is too plain that you are not selected for this jury from any notion of your impar- tiality? But when I talk to you of your oaths and of your rehgion I would full fain I could impress you with a respect for both the one and the other. I, who do not flatter, teU you, that though I do not join with you in belief, I have the most un- feigned respect for the form of Christian faith which you. pro- fess. Would that its substance, not its forms and temporal advantages, were deeply impressed on your minds ! then should I not address you in the cheerless and hopeless de- spondency that crowds on my mind, and drives me to taunt you with the air of ridicule I do. Gentlemen, I sincerely respect and venerate your rehgion, but I despise and I now apprehend your prejudices, in the same proportion as the At- torney-General has cultivated them. In plain truth, every religion is good — every religion is true to him who, in his due caution and conscience, believes it. There is but one bad rehgion, that of a man who professes a faith which he does not believe ; but the good religion may be, and often is, cor- rupted by the wretched and wicked prejudices which admit a difference of opinion as a cause of hatred. The Attorney-General, defective in argument, weak in his cause, has artfully roused your prejudices at his side. I have, on the contrary, met your prejudices boldly. If your verdict shall be for me, you will be certain that it has been produced by nothing but unwilhng conviction resulting from sober and satisfied judgment. If your verdict be bestowed upon the ar- tifices of the Attorney-General, you may happen to be right ; but do you not see the danger of its being produced by an ad- mixture of passion and prejudice with your reason? How difficult is it to separate prejudice from reason, when they run 64 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. iu tlie same direction. If 3'ou be men of conscience, then I call on yon to listen to me, that your consciences may be safe, and youi- reason alone be the guardian of your oath, and the sole monitor of your decision. I now bring you to the immediate subject of this indict- ment. Mr. Magee is charged with publishing a hbel in liis paper called the Dublin Evening Post. His lordship has de- cided that there is legal proof of the publication, and I would be sorry you thought of acquitting Mr. Magee under the pre- tence of not beheving that evidence. I will not, therefore, trouble you on that part of the case ; I will tell you, gentle- men, presently, what this publication is ; but suffer me first to inform you what it is not — for this I consider to be very im- portant to the strong, and, in truth, triumphant defence which my client has to this indictment. Gentlemen, this is not a libel on Charles Lennox, Duke of Bichmond, in his private or individual capacity. It does not interfere with the privacy of his domestic life. It is free from any reproach upon his domestic habits or conduct ; it is per- fectly pure from any attempt to traduce his personal honor or integrity. Towards the man, there is not the least taint of malignity ; nay, the thing is still stronger. Of Charles Duke of Richmond, personally, and as disconnected with the admin- istration of pubhc affahs, it speaks in terms of civihty and even respect. It contains this passage, which I read from the indictment : — ' ' Had he remained wliat lie fii'st came over, or what he afterwards professed to be, he would have retained his reputation for honest open hostility, defending his political principles with firmness, perhaps with, warmth, but without rancor ; the supporter and not the tool of an ad- ministration ; a mistaken i^ohtician, perhaps, but an honorable man and a resj)ectable soldier," The Duke is here in this libel, my lords— in this libel, gen- tlemen of the jury, the Duke of Richmond is called an honor- able man and a respectable soldier ! Could more flattering- expressions be invented ? Has the most mercenary press that ever yet existed, the mercenary press of this metropohs, con*- tained in retui'n for aU the money it has received, anj SPEECH IN DEFENCE OE JOHN MAGEE. 65 praise wliicli ouglit to be so pleasing — "an lionorable man and a respectable soldier?" I do, therefore, beg of you, gentlemen, as yon value your honesty, to carry with you in your distinct recollection, this fact, that whatever of evil this publication may contain, it does not involve any re- proach against the Duke of Eichmond, in any other than in his pubhc and official character. I have, gentlemen, next to require you to take notice, that tliis pubhcation is not indicted as a seditious Hbel. The word seditious is, iddeed, used as a kind of make-weight in the iu- troductory part of the indictment. But mark, and recollect, that this is not an indictment for sedition. It is not, then, for private slander, nor for any offence against the constitution, that Mr. Magee now stands arraigned before you. In the third place, gentlemen, there is this siugular feature in this case, namely — that this hbel, as the prosecutor calls it, is not charged in this indictment to be " false." The indictment has this singular difference from any other I have ever seen, that the assertions of the publications are not even stated to be false. They have not had the courtesy to you, to state upon record, that these charges, such as they are, were contrary to the truth. This I believe to be the first instance in which the allegation of falsehood has been omitted. To what is this omission to be attributed ? Is it that an experiment is to be made, how much further the doctrine of the criminahty of truth can be drawn? Does the prosecutor wish to make another bad precedent ? or is it in contempt of any dis- tinction between truth and falsehood, that this charge is thus framed ? or does he fear that you would scruple to con- vict, if the indictment charged that to be false, which you aU know to be true ? However that may be, I will have you to remember, that you are now to pronounce upon a publication, the truth of which is not controverted. Attend to the case, and you will find you are not to try Mr. Magee for sedition which may endanger the state, or for private defamation which may press sorely upon the heart, and blast the prospects of a private family ; and that the subject matter for your decision is not characterized as false, or described as untrue. QQ SELECT SrEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. Such are tlic circumstances wliicli accompany this pubhca- tion, on -which you arc to pronounce a verdict of guilt or inno- cence. The case is with you ; it belongs to you exclusively to decide it. His lordship may ad\dse, but he cannot control your decision, and it belongs to you alone to say whether or not, upon the entire matter, you conceive it to be evidence of guilt, and deserving of punishment. The statute law gives or recog- nizes this your right, and, therefore, imjposes this on you as your duty. The legislative has precluded any lawyer from be- ing able to dictate to you. The Sohcitor-General cannot now venture to promulgate the sla^dsh doctrine which he addressed to Doctor Sheridan's jury, when he told them, " not to presume to diflfer from the Court in matter of law." The law and the fact are here the same, namely — the guilty or innocent design of the publication. Indeed, in any criminal case, the doctrine of the Sohcitor- General is intolerable. I enter my solemn protest against it. The verdict which is required from the jury in any criminal case has nothing special in it — it is not the finding of the fact in the affirmative or negative — it is not, as in Scotland, that the charge is proved or not proved. No ; the jury is to say whether the prisoner be guilty or not ; and could a juror find a true verdict, who declared a man guilty upon evidence of some act, perhaps praiseworthy, but clearly void of evil design or bad consequences ? I do, therefore, deny the doctrine of the learned gentleman ; it is not constitutional, and it would be frightful if it were. No judge can dictate to a jury — no jury ought to aUow itself to be dictated to. If the Solicitor-General's doctrine were estabhshed, see Avhat oppressive consequences might result. At some future period, some man may attain the first place on the bench, by the reputation wliich is so easily acquired by a certain degree of clmrch-wardening piety, added to a great gTavity, and mai- denly decorum of manners. Such a man may reach the bench — for I am putting an imaginary case — he may be a man with- out passions, and therefore without vices ; he may, my lord, be a man superfluously rich, and therefore, not to be bribed with money, but rendered partial by his bigotry, and SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 67 corrupted by his prejudices ; such a man, inflated by flat- tery, and bloated in his dignity, may hereafter use that character for sanctity which has served to promote him, as a sword, to hew down the struggling hberties of his country ; such a judge may interfere before trial ! and at the trial be a partisan ! Gentlemen, should an honest jury — could an honest jury (if an honest jury were again found) listen with safety to the dic- tates of such a judge ? I repeat it, therefore, that the Sohci- tor- General is mistaken — that the law does not, and cannot, requke such a submission as he preached ; and at all events, gentlemen, it cannot be controverted, that in the present in- stance, that of an alleged hbel, the decision of all law and fact belongs to you. I am then warranted in directing to you some observations on the law of libel, and in doing so, I disclaim any apology for the consumption of the time necessary for my purpose. Gentlemen, my intention is to lay before you a short and rapid view of the causes which have introduced into courts the mon- strous assertion — that truth is crime ! It is to be deeply lamented, that the art of printing was un- known at the earher periods of our history. If, at the time the barons wrung the simple but subhme charter of liberty from a timid, perfidious sovereign, from a violator of his word, from a man covered with disgrace, and sunk in infamy — if at the time when that cliarter was confirmed and re- newed, the press had existed,- it would, I think, have been the first care of those friends of freedom to have estabhshed a principle of hberty for it to rest upon, which might resist every future assault. Their simple and unsophisticated understand- ings could never be brought to comprehend the legal subtle- ties by which it is now argued, that falsehood is useful and in- nocent, and truth, the emanation and type of heaven, a crime. They would have cut with their swords the cobweb links of so- phistry in which truth is entangled ; and they would have rendered it impossible to re-estabhsh this injustice without violating the principle of the constitution. But in the ignorance of the blessmg of a free press, they could not have provided for its security. There remains, how- 68 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. over, an expression of tlieir sentiments, on our statute books. Tlie ancient parliament did pass a law against tlie spreaders of false rumors. This law proves two tilings — first, that be- fore this stat^lte, it was not considered a crime in law to spread even a false rumor, otherwise the statute would have been un- necessary ; and secondly, that in their notion of crime, false- hood was a necessary ingredient. But here I have to remark upon, and regret the strange propensity of judges, to construe the law in favor of tyranny, and against liberty ; for servile and corrupt judges st)on decided, that upon the construction of this law, it was immaterial whether the rumors were true or false, and that a law made to punish false rumors, was equally apphcable to the true. This, gentlemen, is called construction ; it is just that which in more recent times, and of inevitable consequence, from purer motives, has converted " pretence " into " purpose." When the art of printing was invented, its value to every sufferer — its terror to every oppressor was soon obvious, and means were speedily adopted to prevent its salutary effects. The Star-Chamber — the odious Star-Chamber was either cre- ated, or, at least, enlarged and brought into activity. Its pro- ceedings were arbitrary — ^its decisions were oppressive, and injustice and tyranny were formed into a system. To describe it to you in one sentence, it was a prematurely packed jury. Perhaps that description does not shock you much. Let me report one of its decisions which will, I think, make its hor- rors more sensible to you — it is -a ludicrous as well as a mel- ancholy instance. A tradesman— a ruffian, I presume, he was styled— in an altercation with a nobleman's servant, called the swan, which was worn on the servant's arm for a badge, a goose. For this offence — the calhug the nobleman's badge of a swan a goose, he was brought before the Star-Chamber — ^he was, of course, convicted ; he lost, as I recollect, one of his ears on the pil- lory—was sentenced to two years' imprisonment, and a fine of X500 ; and all this to teach him to distinguish swans from geese. I now ask you, to what is it you tradesmen and merchants are indebted for the safety and respect you can enjoy in society ? What is it which has rescued you from the slavery SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 69 in wliicli persons who are engaged in trade were lield by the iron barons of former days ? I will tell you ; it is the light, the reason, and the hberty which have been created, and will, in despite of every, opposition, be perpetuated by the exertion of the press. Gentlemen, the Star-Chamber was particularly vigilant over the infant struggles of the press. A code of laws became necessary to govern the new enemy to prejudice and oppres- sion — the Press. The Star-Chamber adopted, for this pur- pose, the civil law, as it is caEed — ^the law of Eome — not the law at the periods of her liberty and her glory, but the law which was promulgated when she fell into slavery and dis- grace, and recognized this principle, that the will of the prince was the rule of the law. The civil law was adopted by the Star-Chamber as its guide in proceedings against, and in pun- ishing libellers ; hut, unfortunately, only part of it was adopted, and that, of course, was the part least favorable to freedom. So much of the civil law as assisted to discover the concealed libeller, and to punish him when discovered, was carefully selected ; but the civil law allowed truth to be a defence, and that part was carefully rejected. The Star-Chamber was soon after abolished. It was sup- pressed by the hatred and vengeance of an outraged people, and it has since, and until our days, lived only in the recollec- tion of abhorrence and contempt. But we have fallen upon bad days and evil times ; and in our days we have seen a lawyer, long of the prostrate and degraded bar of England, presume to suggest a high eulogium on the Star-Chamber, and regret its downfall ; and he has done this in a book dedicated, by permission, to Lord EUenborough. This is, perhaps, an omi- nous circumstance ; and as Star-Chamber punishments have been revived — as two years of imprisonment has become fami- liar, I know not how soon the useless lumber of even weU- selected juries may be abolished, and a new Star-Chambor created. From the Star-Chamber, gentlemen, the prevention and punishment of libels descended to the courts of common law, and with the power they seem to have inherited much of the spirit of that tribunal. Servihty at the bar, and profligacy on 70 SELECT SPEECHES OP DANIEL 0'c6N]SIELL. tlie beiicli, have not been wanting to aid every constraction un- favorable to fi-eedom, and at length it is taken as gi'anted and as clear law, that truth or falsehood are quite immaterial cir- cumstances, constituting no part of either guilt or innocence. I would Avish to examine this revolting doctrine, and, in doing so, I am proud to tell you, that it has no other founda- tion than in the oft-repeated assertions of lawyers and judges. Its authority depends on what are technically called the dicta of the judges and writers, and not upon solemn or regular adjudications on the point. One servile lawyer has repeated this doctrine, from time to time, after another — and one over- bearing judge has re-echoed the assertion of a time-serving predecessor, and the i^ubhc have, at length, submitted. I do, therefore, feel, not only gratified in having the occa- sion, but bound to express my opinion upon the real law of this subject. I know that opinion is but of Httle weight. I have no professional rank, or station, or talents to give it im- portance, but it is an honest and conscientious opinion, and it is this — that in the discussion of pubUc subjects, and of the administration of pubhc men, truth is a duty and not a crime. You can, at least, understand my description of the liberty of the press. That of the Attorney-General is as unintelligi- ble as contradictory. He tells jom, in a very odd and quaint phrase, that the liberty of the press consists in there being no previous restraint upon the tongue or the pen. How any pre- vious restraint could be imposed -on the tongue it is for this wisest of men to tell you, unless, indeed, he resorts to Dr. Lad's prescription with respect to the toothache eradication. Neither can the absence of previous restraint constitute a free press, unless, indeed, it shaU be distinctly ascertained, and clearly defined, what shall be subsequently called a crime. If the crime of hbel be undefined, or uncertain, or capricious, then, uistead of the absence of restraint before publication being an advantage, it is an injury ; instead of its being a bless- ing, it is a curse — it is nothing more than a pitfaU and snare for the unwary. This hberty of the press is only an oppor- tunity and a temptation offered by the law to the commis- sion of crime — it is a trap laid to catch men for punish- ment — it is not the hberty of discussing truth or discoun- SPEECH IN DEFENCE OP JOHN MAGEE. 71 tenancing oppression, but a mode of rearing up victims for prosecution, and of seducing men into imprisonment. Yet, can any gentleman concerned for tlie Crown give me a definition of the crime of libel ? Is it not uncertain and un- defined ; and, in truth, is it not, at this moment, quite subject to the caprice and whim of the judge and of the jury ? Is the Attorney -General — is the Solicitor^General disposed to say otherwise? If he do, he must contradict his own doctrine, and adopt mine. But no, gentlemen, they must leave you in uncertainty and doubt, and ask you to give a verdict, on your oath, without furnishing you with any rational materials to judge whether you be right or wrong. Indeed, to such a wild extent of ca- price has Lord Ellenborough carried the doctrine of crime in libel, that he appears to have gravely ruled, that it was a crime to call one lord "a stout-built, special pleader," although, in point of fact, that lord was stout-built, and had been very many years a special pleader. And that it was a crime to call another lord, " a sheep-feeder from Cambridgeshire," although that lord was right glad to have a few sheep in that count}^ These are the extravagant vagaries of the Crown lawyers and prerogative judges ; you will find it impossible to discover any rational rule for your conduct, and can never rest upon any satisfactory view of the subject, unless you are pleased to. adopt my description. Reason and justice equally recognize it, and believe me, that genuine law is much more closely con- nected with justice and reason than some persons will avow. Gentlemen, you are now apprised of the nature of the alleged hbel; it is a discussion upon the administration of pubhc men. I have also submitted to you my view of the law apphcable to such a pubHcation ; we are, therefore, pre- pared to go into the consideration of every sentence in tjie newspaper in question. But before I do so, just allow me to point your attention to the motives of this young gentleman. The Attorney-General has threatened him with fine and a dungeon ; he has told Mr. Magee that he should suffer in liis purse and in Ms person. Mr. Magee knew his danger well. Mr. Magee^ before he piib- lished this paper, was quite apprised that he ran the risk of 72 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. fine aud of imprisonment. He knew also that if lie changed his tone — that if he became merely neutral, but especially, if he went over to the other side and praised the Duke of Rich- mond — if he had sufficient gravity to talk, without a smile, of the sorrow of the people of Ireland at his Grace's departure — if he had a \dsage sufficiently lugubrious to say so, without laughing, to cry out " moia'nfully, oh! mom^nfully !" for the de- parture of the Duke of Richmond — if at a period when the people of Ireland, from Magherafelt to Dingledecouch, are rejoicing at that departure, Mr. Magee could put on a solemn countenance and pick up a grave and narcotic accent, and- have the resolution to assert the sorrow of the people for los- ing so sweet and civil a Lord Lieutenant — why, in that case, gentlemen, you know the consequences. They are obvious. He might libel certain classes of his Majesty's subjects with impunity ; he would get abundance of money, a place, and a pension — you know he would. The proclamations would be inserted in his paper. The wide-street advertisements, the ordnance, the barrack-board notices, and the advertisements of all the other public boards and offices — you can scarcely calculate how much money he sacrifices to his principles. I am greatly within bounds when I say, at least, X5,000 per annum, of the public money, would reach him if he were to alter his tone, and abandon his opinions. Has he instructed me to boast of the sacrifices he thus makes ? No, gentlemen, no, no ; he deems it no sacrifice, be- cause he desires no share in the public plunder; but I intro- duce this topic to demonstrate to you the pmity of his inten- tions. He cannot be actuated, in the part he takes, by mean or mercenary motives ; it is not the base lucre of gain that leads him astray. If he be mistaken, he is, at least, disinterested aud sincere. You may dislike his political opinions, but you cannot avoid respecting the independence of his principles. Behold, now, the pubhcation which this man of pure princi- ples is called to answer for as a libel. It commences thus : — " DUKE or EICHMOND. "As the Duke of Eiclimond will shortly retii-e from the government of Ireland, it has been deemed necessaiy to take such a review of his SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 73 administration as may, at least, warn his successor from pursuing the errors of his Grace's conduct. "The review shall contain many anecdotes of the Irish court which were never published, and which were so secret, that his Grace will not fail to be surprised at the sight of them in a newspaper." In this paragraph there is nothing Hbellous ; it talks of the errors, indeed, of his Grace's administration ; but I do not think the Attorney-General will venture to suggest, that the gentle expression of " errors," is a hbel. To err, gentlemen, is human : and his Grace is admitted, by the Attorney-General, to be but a man ; I shall waste none of your time in proving, that we may, without offence, treat of his " errors." But, this is not even the errors of the man, but of his administration ; it was not infallible, I humbly presume. I call your jDarticular attention to the second paragraph ; it runs thus : " If the administration of the Duke of Eichmond had been conducted with more than ordinary talent, its errors might, in some degree have been atoned for by its ability, and the i)eople of Ireland, though they might have much to regret, yet would have something to admire ; but truly, after the gravest consideration, they must find themselves at a loss to discover any striking feature in his Grace's administration, that makes it superior to the worst of his predecessors." The Attorney-General dwelt much upon this paragraph, gentlemen, and the importance which he attached to it fur- nishes a strong illustration of his own consciousness of the v/eakness of his case. "What is the meaumg of this para- graph ? I appeal to you whether it be more than this — that there has been nothing admirable in his administration — that there has not been much ability displayed by it. So far, gen- tlemen, there is, indeed, no flattery, but still less of libel, un- less you are prepared to say, thaj; to withhold praise from any administration deserves punishment. Is it an indictable offence not to perceive its occult talents ? "Why, if it be, find my client guilty of not being a sycophant and a flatterer, and send him to prison for two years, to gratify the Attorney-General, who tells you that the Duke of Eich- mond is the best chief srovernor Ireland ever saw. 74 SELECT SrEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. But the miscliief, I am told, lies in the art of the sentence. Why, all that it sajH is, that it is difficult to discover the strik- ing features that distinguish this from bad administrations. It does not, gentlemen, assert that no such striking features ex- ist, much less, does it assert that no features of that kind exist, or that such features, although not striking, are not easily dis- cernible. So that, really, you are here agaui required to con- vict a man for not flatteruig. He thinks an administration un- talented and sUly ; that is no crime ; he says, it has not bee n marked with talent or ability — that it has no striking fea- tures ; all this may be mistaken and false, yet there is nothing in it that resembles a crime. And, gentlemen, if it be true — if this be a foohsh adminis- tration, can it be an offence to say so? If it has had no striking featm-es to distinguish it from bad administrations, can it be criminal to say so ? Are you prepared to say, that not one word of truth can be told under no less a penalty than years of a dungeon and heavy fines ? Eecollect, that the Attorney-General told you that the press was the protection of the people against the government. Good Heaven ! gentlemen, how can it protect the people against the government, if it be a crime to say of that govern- ment that it has committed errors, dis^^lays little talent, and has no striking features ? Did the prosecutor mock you, when he talked of the protection the press afforded to the people ? If lie did not insult you by the admission of that upon which he will not allow you to act, let me ask, against what is the press to j)rotect the people ? When do the people want pro- tection ? — when the government is engaged in dehnquencies, oppression, and crimes. It is against these that the people want the protection of the press. Now, I put it to your plain sense, whether the press can afford such protection, if it be pun- ished for treating of these crimes ? Still more, can a shadow of protection be given by a press that is not permitted to mention the errors, the talents, and the striking features of an administration ? Here is a watch- man admitted by the Attorney-General to be at his post to warn the people of their danger, and the first thing that is done to this watchman is to knock him down and bring him to SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 75 a dungeon for announcing the danger lie is bound to disclose. I agree witli the Attorney-General, the press is a protection, but it is not in its silence or in its voice of flattery. It can protect only by speaking out when there is danger, or error, or want of ability. If the harshness of this tone be com- plained of, I ask, what is it the Attorney-General would have ? Does he wish that this protection should speak so as not to be understood ; or, I again repeat it, does he mean to delude us with the name and the mockery of protection ? Upon this ground, I defy you to find a verdict for the prosecutor, with- out declaring that he has been guilty of an attempt to deceive, when he talked of the protection of the press against errors, ignorance, and incapacity, which it is not to dare even to name. Gentlemen, upon this second paragTaph, I am en- titled to your verdict upon the Attorney-General's own ad- mission. He, indeed, passed on to the next sentence with an air of triumph, with the apparent certainty of its producing a con- viction ; I meet him upon it — I read it boldly — I will discuss it with you manfully — it is this : " They insulted, tliey oppressed, tliey miu'dered, and they deceived." The Attorney-General told us, rather ludicrously, that " They," meaning the Duke's predecessors, included, of course, himself. How a man could be included amongst his predeces- sors, it would be difficult to discover. It seems to be that mode of expression which would indicate that the Attorney-General, notwithstanding his foreign descent, has imbibed some of the language of the native Irish. But our blunders arise not, hke this, from a confusion of ideas ; they are generally caused by too great condensation of thought ; they are, indeed, frequently of the head, but never — never of the heart. Would I could say so much for the Attorney-General ; his blunder is not to be attributed to his cool and cautious head ; it sprung, I much fear, from, the misguided bitterness of the bigotry of his heart. Well, gentlemen, this sentence does, in broad and distinct terms, charge the jDredecessors of the Duke, but not the Duke himself, with insult, oppression, murder, and deceit. But it is history, gentlemen : are you prepared to silence the voice of 76 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. history ? Are you disposed to suppress the recital of facts — the story of the events of former days ? Is the historian, and the publisher of history, to be exposed to indictment and pun- ishment ? Let me read for you two passages fi-om Doctor Leland's History of Ireland. I choose a remote period to avoid shock- ing your prejudices, by the recital of the more modern crimes of the faction to v.diich most of you belong. Attend to this passage, gentlemen. "Anno 1574. — A solemn peace and concord was made between the Earl of Essex and FeHrn O'Nial. However, at a feast, wherein the Earl entertained that chieftain, and at the end of theu' good cheer, O'Nial, with his wife, were seized ; their friends, who attended, were put to the sword before their faces. FeHrn, together with his wife and brother, were conveyed to Dubhn, where they were cut up in quarters." How would you have this fact described ? In what lady- hke terms is the future historian to mention this savage and brutal massacre? Yet Essex was an English nobleman — a predecessor of his Grace ; he was accomplished, gallant, and gay ; the envied paramour of the virgin queen ; and, if he afterwards fell on the scaffold, one of the race of the ancient Irish may be permitted to indulge the fond superstition that would avenge the royal blood of the O'Nial and of his consort, on their perfidious English murderer. But my soul fills with bitterness, and I will read of no more Irish miu'ders. I turn, however, to another page, and I will introduce to your notice another predecessor of his Grace the Duke of Eichmond. It is Grey, who, after the recall of Es- sex, commanded the English forces in Munster. The fort of Smerwick, in Kerry, surrendered to Grej'^ at discretion. It contained some Irish troops, and more than 700 Spaniards. The historian shall teU you the rest : "That mercy for which they sued was rigidly denied them. Wing- field was commissioned to disarm them, and when this service was per- formed, an English company was sent into the fort. "The Irish rebels found they were reserved for execution by martial law. " The Italian general and some officers were made prisoners of war ; SPEECH IN DEFENCE OE JOHN MAGEE. 77 but the garrison was butcliered in cold blood ; nor is it -witliout pain, that we find a service so horrid and detestable, committed to Sir Walter Ealeigh." " The garrison was butcliered in cold blood," says tlie his- torian. Furnish us, Mr. Attorney-General, with gentle ac- cents and sweet words, to speak of this savage atrocity ; or will you indict the author? Alas! he is dead, full of years and respect — as faithful ah historian as the prejudices of his day would allow, and a beneficed clergyman of your charch. Gentlemen of the jury, what is the mild language of this paper compared with the indignant language of history ? Ealeigh — ^the ill-starred Ealeigh — fell a victim to a tyrant master, a corrupt or overawed jury, and a virulent Attorney- General; he was baited at the bar with language more scm-ri- lous and more foul than that you heard yesterday poured upon my chent. Yet, what atonement to civilization could his death afford for the horrors I have mentioned ? Decide, now, gentlemen, between those hbels — between that defamer's history and my client. He calls those predecessors of his Grace, murderers. History has left the living records of their crimes from the O'Nial, treacherously slaughtered, to the cruel cold butchery of the defenceless prisoners. Until I shall see the publishers of Leland and of Hume brought to your bar, I defy you to convict my chent. To show you that my client has treated these predecessors of his Grace with great lenity, I will introduce to your notice one, and only one more of them ; and he, too, fell on the scaf- fold — the unfortunate Strafford, the best servant a despotic king could desire. Amongst the means taken to raise money in Ireland, for James the First, and his son Charles, a proceeding called " a commission to inquu-e into defective titles," was invented. It was a scheme, gentlemen, to inquire of every man what right he had to his own property, and to have it solemnly and legally determined that he had none. To effectuate this scheme required great management, discretion, and integrity. First, there were 4,000 excellent horse raised for the purpose of being, as Strafford himself said, "good lookers on." The rest of the arrangement I would recommend to modern prac- 78 8ELECT SrEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. tice ; it Avoiild save much trouble. I wiR shortly abstract it from two of Strafford's own letters. The oue appears to have been written by him to the Lord Treasurer; it is dated the 3d December, 1634. He begins with an apology for not having been more expeditious in this work of plunder, for his employers were, it seems, impatient at the melancholy waste of time. He then says : "Howbcit, I will redeem the time as much as I can, with such as may- give furtherance to the king's title, and will inquire out fit men to serve upon the juries." Take notice of that, gentlemen, I pray you ; perhaps you thought that the " packing of juries " was a modern invention — a new discovery. You see how gTeatly mistaken you were ; the thing has example and precedent to support it, and the authority of both are, in our law, quite conclusive. The next step was to corrupt — oh, no, to interest the wise and learned judges. But commentary becomes unnecessary, when I read for you this passage from a letter of his to the king, dated the 9th of December, 1636 : "Your Majesty was graciously pleased, upon my humble advice, to. bestow foui' shillings in the pound upon your Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chief Baron in this kingdom, fourth of the first yearly rent raised uijon the commission of defective title, which, upon observation, I find to be the best given that ever was. For now they do intend it, with a care and diligence, such as if it was their own private, and most certain gaining to themselves ; every four shilhngs once paid, shall better your levenue for ever after, at least five pounds." Thus, gentlemen of the jni'j, all was ready for the mockery of law and justice, called a trial. Now let me take any one of you ; let me place him here, where Mr. Magee stands ; let him have his property at stake"; let it be of less value, I pray you, than a compensation for two years' imprisonment ; it wiU, however, be of sufficient value to interest and rouse all yom* agony and anxiety. If you were so placed here, you would see before you the well-paid At- torney-General, perhaps, mahgnantly dehghted to pour his rancor upon you ; on the bench would sit the corrupt and partisan judge, and before you, on that seat which you now SPEECH IN DEFENCE OP JOHN MAGEE. 79 occupy, would be placed tlie packed and predetermined jury. I beg, sir, to know what would be your feelings, your honor, your rage ; would you not compare tlie Attorney-General to the gambler who played with a loaded die, and then you would hear him talk, in solemn and monotonous tones, of his conscience ! Oh, his conscience, gentlemen of the jury ! But the times are altered. The press, the press, gentlemen, has effectuated a salutary revolution ; a commission of de- fective titles would no longer be tolerated ; the judges can no longer be bribed with money, and juries can no longer be I must not say it. Yes, they can, you know — we all know they can be still inquu-ed out, and " packed," as the technical phrase is. But you, who are not packed, you, who have been faMy selected, will see that the language of the pubhcation before us is mildness itself, compared with that which the truth of history requires — compared with that which history has already used. I proceed with this alleged Kbel. The next sentence is this — " The profligate, unprincipled Westmoreland." I throw down the paper and address myself in particular to some of you. There are, I see, amongst you some of our Bible dis- tributers, " and of our suppressors of vice." Distributers of Bibles, suppressors of vice — what call you profligacy ? What is it you would call profligacy ? Suppose the peerage was exposed for sale — set up at open auction — it was at that time a judicial oflice — -suppose that its price, the exact price of this judicial office, was accurately ascertained by daily experience — would you call that profligacy ? If pensions were multiplied beyond bounds and beyond example — ^if places were augment- ed until invention was exhausted, and then were subdivided and split into halves, so that two might take the emoluments of each, and no person do the duty — if these acts were resort- ed to in order to corrupt your representatives — would you, gentle suppressors of vice, call that profligacy ? If the father of children selected in the open day his adul- terous paramom^ — if the wedded mother of children displayed her crime unblushingly — ^if the assent of the titled or untitled wittol to his own shame was purchased with the people's 80 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. money — if this scene — ^if these were enacted in the open day, would you call that x^rofligacy, sweet distributers of Bibles? The women of Ii'eland have always been beauteous to a pro- verb ; they were, without an exception, chaste beyond the terseness of a jDroverb to express ; they are stUl as chaste as in former days, but the depraved example of a depraved court has furnished some exceptions, and the action of criminal con- versation, before the time of Westmoreland unknown, has since become more familiar to our courts of justice. Call you the sad example which produced those exceptions — call you that profligacy, suppressors of vice and Bible dis- tributers ? The vices of the poor are within the reach of con- trol ; to supj)ress them, you can call in aid the chiu'chwarden and the constable ; the justice of the peace will readily aid you, for he is a gentleman — the Court of Sessions will punish those vices for you by fine, by imprisonment, and, if you are urgent, by whipping. But, suppressors of vice, who shall aid you to suppress the vices of the great ? Are you sincere, or are you, to use your own phraseology, whitewashed tombs — painted charnel-houses ? Be ye hypocrites ? If you are not — if you be sincere — (and, oh, how I wish that you were) — if you be sincere, I will steadily requii'e to know of you, what aid you expect, to suppress the vices of the rich and great ? Who will assist you to suppress those vices? The church- warden ! — why lie, I beheve, handed them into the best pew in one of your cathedrals, that they might lovingly hear Di- vine service together. The constable ! — absurd. The justice of the peace 1 — ^no, upon his honor. As to the Court of Ses- sions, you cannot expect it to interfere; and my lords the judges are really so busy at the assizes, in hurrying the grand juries through the presentments, that there is no leisure to look after the scandalous faults of the great. Who, then, sin- cere and candid suppressors of vice, can aid you? The Press; the Press alone talks of the profligacy of the great; and, at least, shames into decency those whom it may fail to correct. The Press is your, but yom* only assistant. Go, then, men of conscience, men of religion — go, then, and con- vict Jolm Magee, because he jDublished that Westmoreland was profligate and unprincipled as a lord heutenant — do, con- SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 81 vict, and tlien return to your distribution of Bibles and to your attacks upon the recreations of the poor, under the name of vices. Do, convict the only aid which virtue has, and distribute your Bibles that you may have the name of being rehgious ; upon your sincerity depends my chent's prospect of a verdict. Does he lean upon a broken reed ? I pass on from the sanctified portion of the jury which I have latterly addressed, and I call the attention of you all to the next member of the sentence — " The cold-hearted and cruel Camden." Here I have your prejudices all armed against me. In the administration of Camden, your faction was cherished and triumphant. Will you prevent him to be called cold and cruel? Alas! to-day, why have I not men to address who Avould listen to me for the sake of impartial justice ! But even with you the case is too powerful to allow me to despair. Well, I do say, " the cold and cruel Camden." Why, on one circuit, during his administration, there were one hundred individuals tried before one judge ; of these ninety-eight were capitally convicted, and ninety-seven hanged ! I understand one escaped ; but he was a soldier who murdered a peasant, or something of that trivial nature — ninety-seven victims in one circuit ! In the meantime, it was necessary, for the purposes of the Union, that the flame of rebellion should be fed. The meet- ings of the rebel colonels in the north were, for a length of time, regularly reported to government ; but the rebeUion was not then ripe enough ; and whilst the fruit was coming to ma- turity, under the fostering hand of the administration, the wretched dupes atoned on the gallows for allowing themselves to be deceived. In the meantime the soldiery were turned in at free quar- ters amongst the wives and daughters of the peasantry ! Have you heard of Abercrombie, the valiant and the good — ^he who, mortally wounded, neglected his wound until vic- tory was ascertained — he who allowed his hfe's stream to flow unnoticed because his country's battle was in suspense — he who died the martyr of victory — ^he who commenced the ca- 82 SELECT SPEECHES OP DANIEL o'CONNELL. reer of glory on the land, and taught French insolence, than which there is nothing so permanent — even transplanted, it exliibits itself to the third and foui'th generation — he taught French insolence, that the British and Irish soldier was as much his superior by land, as the sailor was confessedly by sea — he, in short, who commenced that career wliich has since placed the Irish WeUington on the highest pinnacle of glory, Abercrombie and Moore were ia Ireland under Camden. Moore, too, has since fallen at the moment of triumph — Moore, the best of sons, of brothers, of friends, of men — the soldier and the scholar — the soul of reason and the heart of pity — Moore has, in documents of which you may plead igno- rance, left his opinions upon record with respect to the cruelty of Camden's administration. But you aU have heard of Aber- crombie's proclamation, for it amounted to that ; he "proclaimed that cruelty in terms the most unequivocal ; he stated to the soldiery and to the nation, that the conduct of -the Camden ad- ministration had rendered " the soldiery formidable to all but the enemy." Was there no cruelty in thus degrading the British soldier ? And say, was not the process by which that degradation was effectuated cruelty ? Do, then, contradict Abercrombie, upon your oaths, if you dare ; but, by doing so, it is not my client alone you will convict — ^you will also convict yourselves of the foul crime of perjury. I now come to the third branch of this sentence ; and here I have an easy task. All, gentlemen, that is said to the arti- ficer and superintendent of the Union is this — " the artful and treacherous Cornwalhs." Is it necessary to prove that the Union was effectuated by artifice and treachery ? For my part, it makes my blood boil when I think of the unhappy pe- riod which was contrived and seized on to carry it into effect ; one year sooner, and it would have made a revolution — one year later, and it would hare been for ever impossible to carry it. The moment was artfully and treacherously seized on, and our country, that was a nation for countless ages, has dwindled into a province, and her name and her glory are ex- tinct for ever. I should not waste 9 moment upon this part of the case, but SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 83 tliat the gentlemen at the other side who opposed that meas- ure have furnished me with some topics which I may not, can- not omit. Indeed Mr. Magee deserves no verdict from any Irish jury, who can hesitate to think that the contriver of the Union is treated with too much lenity in this sentence ; he fears your disapprobation for speaking with so httle animosity of the artificer of the Union. There was one piece of treachery committed at that period, at which both you and I equally rejoice ; it was the breach of faith towards the leading CathoHcs ; the written promises made them at that period have been since printed ; I rejoice with you that they were not fulfilled ; when the Cathohc trafficked for his own advantage upon his country's miseries, he deserved to be deceived. For this mockery, I thank the ComwaUis administration. I rejoice, also, that my first intro- duction to the stage of pubhc life, was in the opposition to that measure. In humble and obscure distance, I followed the footsteps of my present adversaries. What their sentiments were then of the authors of the Union, I beg to read to you ; I will read them from a newspaper set up for the mere purpose of oppos- ing the Union, and conducted under the control of these gen- tlemen. If their editor should be gravely denied, I shall only reply — " Oh, cease your funning."'^ The charge of being a Jacobin, was at that time made against the present Attorney-General — ^him, plain William Saurin — in the very terms, and with just as much truth as he now applies it to my client. His reply shall serve for that of Mr. Magee. I take it from the anti-Union of the 22nd March, 1800. "To the charge of Jacobin, Mr. Saurin said he knew not what it meant, as appUed to him, except it was an opposition to the will of the British minister." So says Mr. Magee ; but, gentlemen, my eye lights upon an- other passage of Mr. Saurin's in the same speech from which I have quoted the above. It was in these words : * A pampMet full of wit and talent under this title was pubHshed by the So- licitor-Greneral. 84 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. "Mr. Saui'in admitted, that debates might sometimes produce agi- tations, but that was the ^jrice necessarily paid for hberty." Oh, liow I thank this good Jew for the word. Yes, agita- tion is, as Mr. Saurin well remarked, the price necessarily paid for Hbertj. We have paid the price, gentlemen, and the hon- est man refuses to give us the goods. Now, gentlemen, of this Mr. Saurin, then an agitator, I beg leave to read the opinion upon tliis Union, the author of which we have only called artful and treacherous. From this speech of the 13th March, 1800, 1 select these passages : " Mr. Saurin said he felt it his duty to the crown, to the country, and to his famUy, to warn the minister of the dreadful consequences of per- severing in a measure which the people of Ireland almost unanimously disliked." And again — " He, for one, would assert the principles of the glorious revolution, and boldly declare in the face of the nation, that when the sovereign power dissolved the compact that existed between the government and the people, that moment the right of resistance accrues. " Whether it would be prudent in the people to avail themselves of that right would be another question. But if a legislative union were forced on the country, against the will of its inhabitants, it would be a nullity, and resistance to it would be a struggle against usui-pation, and not a resistance against law." May I be permitted just to observe, how much more violent, this agitator of the year 1800, than we poor and timid agita- tors of the year 1813. "When did we talk of resistance being a. question of prudence ? Shame upon the men who call us intemperate, and yet remember their own violence. But, gentlemen, is the Attorney-General at liberty to change the nature of things with his own official and. professional prospects ? I am ready to admit that he receives thousands of pounds by the year of the public moneys, in his office of Attorney-General — thousands from the Crown-Solicitor — thou- sands, for doing httle work, from the Gustom-House ; but does all this pubhc booty with which he is loaded alter the nature of things, or prevent that from being a deceitful measure, brought about by artful and treacherous means, against which Mr. Saurin, in 1800, preached the holy doc- SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 85 trine of insurrection, sounded the tocsin of resistance, and summoned the people of the land to battle against it, as against usurpation ? In 1800, he absolves the subjects from their allegiance — if the usurpation, styled the Union, will be carried — and he, this identical agitator, in 1813, indicts a man, and calls him a ruffian, for speaking of the contrivers of the Union, not as usurpers, but as artful, treacherous men. Gentlemen, pity the situation in which he has placed himself ; and pray, do not think of inflicting punishment, upon my client for his extreme moderation. It has been coarsely urged, and it will, I know, be urged in the splendid misrepresentations with which the Sohcitor-Gen- eral can so well distort the argument he is unable to meet — it will, I know, be urged by him, that having estabUshed the right to use this last paragraph — having proved that the pre- decessors of the Duke were oppressors and murderers, and profligate, and treacherous, that the Hbel is only aggravated thereby, as the first paragraph compares and combines the Duke of Richmond with the worst of his predecessors. This is a most fallacious assertion; and here it is that I could wish I had to address a dispassionate and an enlight- ened jury. You are not, you know you are not, of the selec- tion of my chent. Had he the poor privilege of the sheep- stealer, there are, at least, ten of you who should never have been on his jury. But the jury he would select is not such a jury in his favor, as has been impanelled against him ; he desires no favor ; he would desu-e only that the most respect- able and unprejudiced of your city should be selected for his trial ; his only ambition would be perfect impartiality ; he would desire, and I should desire for him, a jury whose ver- dict of conviction, if they did convict him, would produce a sense of error and a feeling more painful to his mind of being wrong than a star-chamber sentence. If I had to address such a jury, how easily could I show them that there is no comparison — ^no attempt at simihtude. On the contrary, the object of the writer is clearly to make a contrast. Grey murdered ; but he was an able statesman ; his massacre was a crime in itself, but eminently useful to his em- 86 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. ployers ; it contributed mainly to secure tlie forfeiture of the overgi'own territories of the House of Desmond. Essex was a murderer, but his extreme of vice was accompanied by great military services ; he was principally instrumental in effectu- ating the conquest of Ireland — even his crimes served the cause of his royal mistress, and the teiTitory of the slaugh- tered O'Nial became shire land; he had terrific cruelty to answer for, but he could give it some answer in the splendor and solidity of his services. So of Strafford — he was an eminent oppressor, but he was also eminently useful to his royal master. As to the Duke of Eichmond, the contrast is intended to be complete — he has neither great crimes nor great vii'tues. He did not murder, hke Essex and Grey, but he did not render any splendid services. In short, his administration has been directly the reverse of these. It has been marked by errors and not crimes. It has not displayed talents as they did ; and it has no striking features as they had. Such is the fair, the rational, and the just construction which a fair, rational, and just jury would put upon it. Indeed, the Attorney-General seems to feel it was necessary for him to resort to other topics, in order to induce you to con- vict upon this part of the case. He tells you that this is the second time that the Duke of Richmond has been called a murderer. Gentlemen, in this indictment there is no allega- tion that the Duke is styled a murderer by this pubUcation ; if there had been, he should be readily acquitted, even for the variance ; and when the Attorney-General resoiis to Barry's case, he does it to inflame your passions, and mislead your un- derstandings — and then what has the Irish Magazine to do with this trial ? Walter Cox, with his Irisli Magazine, is as good a Protestant as the king's Attorney-General, and probably quite as sincere in the profession of that rehgion, though by no means as much disposed to persecute those who differ from him in religious belief. Indeed, if he were a persecutor of his countrymen, he would not be where he is — in prison ; he would probably en- joy a fuU share of the pubhc plunder, and which is now lav- ished on the stupid joui'nals in the pay of the Castle — from the SPEECH IN DEFENCE OP JOHN MAGEE. 87 versatile, venal, and verbose correspondent, to tlie equally dull and corrupt Dublin Journal. It is, however, not true, that he is in jail because he pub- lished what is called a libel. The Attorney-General talked with a gloating pleasure of the miseries poor "Watty Cox en- dures in jail — miseries that seem to give poignancy and zest to the enjoyments of his prosecutor. I will make him happy ; let him return from this court to his luxuries, and when he finds himself at his table, surrounded with every delicacy, and every profusion, remember that his prisoner Walter Cox is starving. I envy him not this rehsh, but I cannot suffer him to mislead you. Cox is not in jail because he pubhshed a libel ; he is there because he is poor. His time of imprison- ment expired last February, but he was condemned to pay a fine of £300, and having no money, he has since remained in jail. It is his poverty, therefore, and not his crime, that detains him within the fangs of the Attorney-General — if, indeed, there be any greater crime in society than being poor. And next, the Attorney-General makes a beautiful eulogium on Magna Charta. There we agree. I should indeed prefer seeing the principles of that great charter called into practical effect, to hearing any palinode, however beautiful, said or sung on its merits. But what recommendation can Magna Charta have for poor Cox ? That charter of Hberty expressly pro- vides that no man shah be fined beyond what he can pay. A very simple and natural provision against political severity. But Cox is fined X300 when he is not worth a single shilling. He appealed to this court for rehef, and quotes Magna Charta. Your lordship was not pleased to give him any rehef. He applies to tho Court of Exchequer, and that Court, after hearing the Attorney-General against him, finds itself unable to give any relief ; and, after all this, the unfortunate man is to be tantalized with hearing that the Attorney-General con- trived to couple his case with the praise of the great charter of liberty — a most unlucky coincidence — almost enough to drive him, in whose person that charter is violated, into a state of insanity. Poor "Watty Cox is a coarse fellow, and, I think, he would be apt to reply to that praise in the profane and contemptuous 88 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL CONNELL. rhyme of Cromwell ; most assuredly he has no reason to treat this useless law with great reverence. It would, indeed, ap- pear as if the prosecutor eulogized Magna Charta only to give more briUiancy to his triumph, which he has obtaiued in the person of poor Cox over it. The next topic of the Attorney-General's triumphant abuse was the book entitled, " The Statement of the Penal Laws." He called it a convicted book. He exulted that the pubhsher was in prison ; he traduced the author, and he distorted and mis- represented the spiiifc and meaning of that book. As to the pubhsher, he is, I admit, in prison. The Attorney-General has had the pleasure of tearing a respectable citizen, of irre- proachable character and conduct, from his wife and the little children who were rendered comfortable by his honest, perse- vering industry, and he has immured him in a dungeon. I only congratulate him on his victory. As to the author, he is just the reverse of what the Attor- ney-General would wish him to be ; he is a man of fortune ; he is an able lawyer — a professional scholar — an accomphshed gentleman — a sincere friend to his country, which he has orna- mented and served. As to the book, it is really ludicrous to an extreme degree of comicality to call it a convicted book. There are about 400 pages in the work ; it contains an elabo- rate, unexaggerated, and, I think, softened detail of the laws which aggrieve the Cathohcs of Ireland, and of the practical results of those laws. Such a system, to which the Attorney- General is wedded, as much as to his own emolument, must have excited no small share of irritation in his rniad. It pro- duced a powerful sensation on the entu'e party to which he belongs. Abundant attempts were made to answer it : they were paid for out of the pubhc money ; they totally failed, and yet if the book had been erroneous, there could be noth- ing easier than its confutation. If that book had been mistaken in matter of law, or exag- gerated in matter of fact, its refutation would have been found, where we have found and proved its perfect accuracy, in the statute book and in the daily experience of every individual in Ii-eland. Truth, you are told by the prosecutor, is no defence in case of hbel ; but certainly this book was much the more SPEECH IN DEFENCE OP JOHN MAGEE. 89 provoking for being true ; and yet, gentlemen, with the most powerful incentives to prosecute this book, the Attorney- General has been compelled, most reluctantly, to spare every word of the 400 pages of text and margin, and has been una- ble to find any pretext for an indictment, save in a paltry note containing eight lines and a half, and three marks of admi- ration. My lords, I address your lordships particularly on the three notes of admiration, because they formed a prominent ground in your lordship's learned argument, when you decided that the passage was a libel per se. Yes, gentlemen, admire again, I pray you, the sohdity and briUiancy of our law, in which three marks of admiration are of wonderful efficacy in send- ing a man to prison. But with the exception of the note of eight and a half hues, the book has borne the severest criti- cism of fact and of law. It has defied, and continues to defy, the present Attorney-General and his well-assorted juries ; and, as to the note which he indicted, it contained only a remark on the execution of a man who, whether innocent or guilty, was tried in such a manner, that a gentleman of the Irish bar, his counsel, threw up his brief in disgust ; and when the judge who presided at the trial ordered the counsel to re- main and defend Barry, that counsel swore, in this court, that he rejected the judge's mandate with contempt. "What a mighty triumph was the conviction proved against this note on Barry's case ! And may one be permitted mourn- fully to ask, whether the indignation, which might have pro- duced indiscretion in speaking of Barry's fate, was a very cul- pable quahty in a feeling mind, prone to detest the horrors with which human blood is sometimes shed under the forms and mockery of trial ? But that conviction, although it will erase the note, will not stay the demand which an intelhgent pubHc make for this valuable work. Abeady have two valua- ble editions of it been sold, and a third edition is loudly called for, and about to appear. What, in the meantime, has been the fate of the answers ? I see two booksellers amongst you ; they will tell you that the answers are recollected only by the loss they have produced to them, and by the cumbering of their shelves. Such is the 90 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. result of the loyal triumph, of his Grace the Duke of Rich- mond's administration. May such in every age be the fruits of every prosecutor of free discussion, and of the assertion of pohtical truth ! I have followed the Attorney-General through his discus- sion upon Walter Cox, and "The Statement of the Penal Laws," without being able exactly to conjecture his motives for introducing them. As to Cox, it appears to be the mere grati- fication of his deUght at the misery to which that unfortunate man is reduced. As to " the book," I can only conjecture that his wish is to insinuate to you that the author of " the book " and of this pubhcation is the same. If that were his design, it may be enough to say, that he has not x3roved the fact, and, therefore, in fairness, it ought not at all to influence your de- cision. I go further and tell him, that the fact is not so ; that the author is a different person ; that the writer of this alleged hbel is a Protestant — a man of fortune — a man of that rank and estima,tion, that even the Attorney- General, were I to an- nounce liis name, which my chent will never do, or suffer his advocate to do, that name would extort respect, even from the Attorney-General himself. He has, in his usual fashion, calumniated the spirit and object of " The Statement of the Penal Laws." He says it imputes murder and every other crime to persons in high sta- tions, as resulting from their being Protestants. He says that it attributes to the Lord Lieutenant the committing mui'der on a Catholic, because he himself is a Protestant. Gentlemen, I wish you had read that book ; if you did, it would be quite unnecessary for me to contradict those assertions of the Attor- ney-General Li fact, there never were assertions more un- founded : that book contains notliing that could warrant his description of it ; on the contrary, the book seeks to establish this position, that the grievances which the Lish CathoHcs suffer, are not attributable to the Protestant religion — that they are repugnant to the spirit of that religion, and are attri- butable, simply and singly, to the spirit of monopoly, and tone of superiority, generated and fostered by the system of exclu- sion, upon which the Penal Code rests. The author of that book is confessedly a CathoHc ; yet the SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 91 book states, and the Attorney-General heard the passage twice read in this court, that " if Roman Cathohcs were placed, by unjust laws, in the situation in which the Irish Protestants now are placed, they would oppress and exclude precisely as the Protestants now do." In short, his statement and rea- sonings are founded on this, that it is unjust to give any reli- gion exclusive political advantages ; because, whatever that rehgion may be, the result will necessarily prove oppressive and insulting towards the less favored sect. He argues not exclusively against any particular rehgion, but from natural causes operating on human beings. His book may be a libel on human nature, but it is no more a hbel on the Protestant than on the Cathohc rehgion. It draws no other inference than this, that Cathohcs and Protestants, under similar cir- cumstances, would act precisely in the same way. Having followed the prosecutor through this weary digres- sion, I return to the next sentence of this pubhcation. Yet I cannot — I must detain you still a'httle longer fi'om it, whilst I supplicate your honest indignation, if in your resentments there be aught of honesty, against the mode in which the At- torney-General has introduced the name of our aged and afflicted sovereign. He says, this is a libel on the king, be- cause it imputes to him a selection of improper and criminal chief governors. Gentlemen, this is the very acme of servile doctrine. It is the most unconstitutional doctrine that could be uttered : it supposes that the sovereign is responsible for the acts of his servants, whilst the constitution declares that the king can do no wrong, and that even for his personal acts, his servants shaU be personally responsible. Thus, the Attor- ney-General reverses for you the constitution in theory ; and, in point of fact, where can be found, in this pubhcation, any, even the shghtest aUusion to his Majesty ? The theory is against the Attorney-General, and yet, contrary to the fact, and against the theory, he seeks to enhst another prejudice of yours against Mr. Magee. Prejudice did I call it? oh, no! it is no prejudice; that sentiment which combines respect with affection for my aged sovereign, suffering under a calamity with which heaven has willed to visit him, but which is not due to any defatdt of his. 92 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. There never was a sentiment that I should wish to see more cherished — more honored. To yon the king may appear an object of respect ; to his Cathohc subjects he is one of vene- ration ; to them he has been a bountiful benefactor. To the utter disregard of your aldermen of Skinner's Alley, and the more pompous magnates of William street, his Majesty pro- cured, at his earnest soUcitation from parliament, the restora- tion of much of our hberties. He disregarded your anti-Po- pery petitions. He treated with calm indifference the ebulli- tions of your bigotry ; and I ovv^e to him that I have the honor of standing in the proud situation from which I am able, if not to protect my client, at least to pour the indignant torrent of my discourse against his enemies, and those of his country. The publication to which I now recall you, goes to describe the effects of the facts which I have shown you to have been drawn from the undisputed and authentic history of former times. I have, I hope, convinced you, that neither Leland nor Hume could have been indicted for stating those facts, and it would be a very strange perversion of principle, which would allow you to convict Mr. Magee for that which has been stated by other writers, not only without punishment, but with applause. That part of the paragraph which relates to the present day is in these words : " Since that period the complexion of the times has changed — the countiy has advanced — it has outgrown submission, and some forms, at least, must now be observed towards the people." The system, however, is still the same ; it is the old play with new decorations, presented in an age somewhat more en- Hghtened ; the principle of government remains unaltered — a principle of exclusion which debars the majority of the peo- ple fi'om the enjoyment of those privileges that are possessed by the minority, and which must, therefore, maintain itself by all those measures necessary for a government founded on injustice. The prosecutor insists that this is the most libellous part of the entire pubhcation. I am glad he does so ; because if SPEECH IN DEFENCE OP JOHN MAGEE. 93 there be amongst you a single particle of discrimination, you cannot fail to perceive that this is not a hbel — that this para- graph cannot constitute any crime. It states that the present is a system of exclusion. Surely, it is no crime to say so ; it is what you aU say. It is what the Attorney-General himseK gloried iu. This is, said he, exclusively a Protestant govern- ment. Mr. Magee and he are agreed. Mr. Magee adds, that a principle of exclusion, on account of rehgion, is found- ed on injustice. Gentlemen, if a Protestant were to be ex- cluded from any temporal advantages upon the score of his rehgion, would not you say that the principle upon which he was excluded was unjust ? That is precisely what Mr. Magee says; for the principle which excludes the Catholic in Ire- land, would exclude the Protestant in Spain and in Portugal, and there you clearly admit its injustice. So that, really, you would condemn yourselves, and your own opinions, and the right to be a Protestant in Spain and Portugal, if you con- demn this sentiment. But I would have you further observe that this is no more than the discussion of an abstract principle of government ; it arraigns not the conduct of any individual, or of any adminis- tration ; it only discusses and decides upon the moral fitness of a certain theory, on which the management of the affah's of Ireland has been conducted. If this be a crime, we are aU criminals ; for this question, whether it be just or not to ex- clude from power and office a class of the people for religion, is the subject of daily — of hourly discussion. The Attorney- General says it is quite just ; I proclaim it to be unjust — ob- viously unjust. At aU public meetings, in aU private companies, this point is decided in different ways, according to the tem- per and the interest of individuals. Indeed, it is but too much the topic of every man's discourse ; and the jails and the bar- racks of the country would not contain the hundredth part of those whom the Attorney-General would have to crowd into them, if it be penal to call the principle of exclusion unjust. In this court, without the least danger of interruption or re- proof, I proclaim the injustice of that principle. I will then ask whether it be lawful to print that which it is not unlawful to proclaim in the face of a court of justice ? And 94 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. above all, I will ask whether it can be criminal to discuss the abstract principles of government ? Is the theory of the law a prohibited subject ? I had understood that there was no right so clear and undoubted as that of discussing abstract and theoretic principles, and their apphcabiUty to practicable j)ur- poses. For the first time do I hear this disputed ; and now see what it is the Attorney-General prohibits. He insists upon punishing Mr. Magee ; first, because he accuses his adminis- tration of " errors ;" secondly, because he charges them with liot being distinguished for " talents ;" thirdly, because he can- not discover theh " striking features ;" and fourthly, because he discusses an " abstract principle !" This is quite intelligible — this is quite tangible. I begin to imderstand what the Attorney- General means by the Uberty of the Press ; it means a prohibition of printing anything except praise, respecting " the errors, the talents, or the striking fea- tures " of any administration, and of discussing any abstract principle of government. Thus the forbidden subjects are er- rors, talents, striking features, and principles. Neither the theory of the government nor its practices are to be discussed ; you may, indeed, praise them ; you may call the Attorney- General " the best and wisest of men ;" you may call his lord- ship the most learned and impartial of all possible chief justices ; you may, if you have x^owers of visage sufficient, call the Lord Lieutenant the best of all imaginable governors. That, gen- tlemen, is the boasted hberty of the press — the liberty that ex- ists in Constantinople — the hberty of applying the most ful- some and unfounded flattery, but not one word of censure or reproof. Here is an idol worthy of the veneration of the Attorney- General. Yes ; he talked of his veneration for the Hberty of the press ; he also talked of its being a protection to the peo- ple against the government. Protection ! not against errors — not against the want of talents or striking features — nor against the eflbrt of any unjust principle — protection ! against what is it to protect ? Did he not mock you ? Did he not plainly and palpably delude you, when he talked of the protec- tion of the press ? Yes. To his inconsistencies and contra- dictions he calls on you to sacrifice your consciences ; and be- SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 95 cause you are no-Popery men, and distributers of Bibles, and aldermen of Skinner's Alley, and Protestant petitioners, lie re- quires of you to brand your souls with, perjury. You cannot escape it ; it is, it must be perjury to find a verdict for a man who gravely admits that the liberty of the jpress is recognized by law, and that it is a venerable object, and yet calls for your verdict upon the ground that there is no such thing in ex- istence as that which he has admitted, that the law recognizes, and that he himself venerates. Clinging to the fond but faint hope that you are not capa- ble of sanctioning, by your oaths, so monstrous an inconsis- tency, I lead you to the next sentence upon this record. "Althongh his Grace does not appear to know wliat are the quali- ties necessary for a judge in Canada, or for an aid-de-camp in waiting at a court, he surely cannot be ignorant of what are requisites for a lord lieutenant." This appears to be a very innocent sentence ; yet the Attor- ney-General, the venerator of that protection of the people against a bad government — the liberty of the press — tells you that it is a gross libel to impute so much ignorance to his Grace. As to the aid-de-camp, gentlemen, whether he be se- letsd for the brilliancy of his spurs, the polish of his boots, or the precise angle of his cocked hat, are grave considerations which I refer to you. Decide upon these atrocities, I pray you. But as to the judge in Canada, it cannot be any reproach to his. Grace to be ignorant of his qualifications. The old French law prevails in Canada, and there is not a lawyer at the Irish bar, except, perhaps, the Attorney-General, who is sufiiciently acquaiated with that law to know how far any man may be fit for the station of judge in Canada. If this be an ignorance without reproach in Irish lawyers, and if there be any reproach in it, I feel it not, whilst I avow that ignorance — yet, surely it is absurd to torture it into a calumny against the Lord Lieutenant — a military man, and no lawyer. I doubt whether it would be a libel if my chent had said, that his Grace was ignorant of the qualities necessary for a judge in Ireland — for a chief judge, my lord. He has not said so, however, gentlemen, and true or false, that is not 96 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. now the question under consideration. We are in Canada at present, gentlemen, in a ludicrous search for a Ubel in a sen - tence of no great point or meaning. If you are sapient enough to suspect that it contains a Ubel, yoiu- doubt can only arise from not comprehending it ; and that, I own, is a doubt diffi- cult to remove. But I mock you when I talk of this insig- nificant sentence. I shall read the next paragraph at fuU length. It is con- nected with the Canadian sentence : " Therefore, were an appeal to be made to liim in a dispassionate and sober moment, we might candidly confess that the Irish would not be disappointed in their hopes of a successor, though they would behold the same smiles, experience the same sincerity, and witness the same disposition towards couciUation. "What, though they were deceived in 1795, and found the mildness of aFitzwilUam a false omen of concord ; though they were duped in 1800, and found that the privileges of the CathoHcs did not follow the extinc- tion of the parliament, yet, at his departure, he wiU, no doubt, state good grounds for future expectation ; that his administration was not the time for Emancipation, but that the season is fast approaching ; that there were ' existing circumstances, ' but that now the people may rely upon the virtues even of an hereditary Prince ; that they should continue to worship the false idol ; that their cries must, at least, be heard ; and that, if he has not complied, it is only because he has not spoken. In short, his Grace will in no way vary from the uniform conduct observed by most of his predecessors, first preaching to the confidence of the people,* then playing upon their credulity. "He came over ignorant — he soon became prejudiced, and then he became intemperate. He takes from the people their money ; he eats of their bread, and di-inks of their wine ; in return, he gives them a bad government, and, at his dei^arture, leaves them more distracted than ever. His Grace commenced his reign by flattery, he continued it in folly, he accomiaanied it with violence, and he will conclude it with falsehood." There is one part of this sentence, for which I most respect- fully solicit your indulgence and pardon. Be not exasperated with us for talking of the mildness of Lord FitzwiUiam, or of his administration. But, notwithstanding the violence any praise of him has excited amongst you, come dispassionately, I pray you, to the consideration of the paragi-aph. Let us ab- stract the meaning of it from the superfluous words. It cer- SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 97 tainly does tell you, that liis Grace came over ignorant of Irisli affairs, and lie acquired prejudices upon tliose subjects, and lie has become intemperate. Let us discuss this part sepa- rately from the other matter suggested by the paragraph in question. That the Duke of Richmond came over to Ireland ignorant of the details of our domestic policy cannot be mat- ter either of surprise or of any reproach. A mihtary man en- gaged in these pursuits which otherwise occupy persons of his rank, altogether unconnected with Ireland, he could not have had any inducement to make himself acquainted with the details of our barbarous wrongs, of our senseless party quarrels, and criminal feuds ; he was not stimulated to examine them by any interest, nor could any man be attracted to study them by taste. It is, therefore, no censure to talk of his igno- rance — of that with which it would be absurd to expect that he should be acquainted ; and the knowledge of which would neither have served, nor exalted, nor amused him. Then, gentlemen, it is said he became " prejudiced." Preju- diced may sound harsh in your ears ; but you are not,, at least you ought not, to decide upon the sound — ^it is the sense of the word that should determine you. Now what is the sense of the word " prejudice " here ? It means the having adopted precisely the opinions which every one of you entertain. By "prejudice" the writer means, and can mean, nothing but such sentiments as you cherish. "When he talks of prejudice, he intends to convey the idea that the Duke took up the opi- nion, that the few ought to govern the many in Ireland ; that there ought to be a favored and an excluded class in Ireland ; that the burdens of the state ought to be shared equally, but its benefits conferred on a few. Such are the ideas conveyed by the word prejudice ; and I fearlessly ask you, is it a crime to impute to his Grace these notions which you yourselves enter- tain ? Is he calumniated — is he Hbelled, when he is charged with concurring with you, gentlemen of the jury ? Will you, by a verdict of conviction, stamp your own pohtical sentiments with the seal of reprobation ? If you convict my client, you do this : you decide that it is a hbel to charge any man with those doctrines which are so useful to you individually, and of which you boast ; or, you think the opinions just, and yet 98 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. that it is criminal to charge a iQan with tliose just opinions. For the sake, therefore, of consistency, and as an approval of your own opinions, I caU on you for a verdict of acquittal. I need not detain you long on the expression " intemper- ate ;" it does not mean any charge of excess of indulgence in any enjoyment ; it is not, as the Attorney-General suggested, an accusation of indulging beyond due bounds in the pleasures of the table, or of the bottle ; it does not allude, as the Attor- ney-General says, to midnight orgies, or to morning revels. I admit — I freely admit — that an allusion of that kind would savor of hbel, as it would certainly be unnecessary for any purpose of pohtical discussion. But the intemperance here spoken of is mere pohtical intemperance ; it is that vio- lence which every man of a fervid disposition feels in support of his political opinions. Nay, the more pure and honest any man may be in the adoption of his opinions, the more hkely, and the more justifiable will he be in that ardent support of them, which goes by the name of intemperance. In short, although pohtical intemperance cannot be deemed by cold calculators as a virtue, yet it has its source in the purest virtues of the human heart, and it frequently produces the greatest advantages to the public. How would it be pos- sible to overcome the many obstacles which seK-interest, and ignorance, and passion throw in the way of improvement, with- out some of that ardor of temper and disposition which grave men call intemperance? And, gentlemen, are not your opinions as deserving of warm suppqrt as the opinion of other men ; or do you feel any inherent depravity in the pohtical senti- ments which the Duke of Eichmond has adopted from you, that would render him depraved or degraded by any violence in their support ? You have no alternative. If you convict my chent, you condemn, upon your oaths, your own pohtical creed ; and declare it to be a hbel to charge any man with energy m your cause. If you are not disposed to go this length of pohtical incon- sistency, and if you have determined to avoid the religious inconsistency of perjm-ing yourselves for the good and glory of the Protestant religion, do, I pray you, examine the rest of this paragraph, and see whether you can, by any ingc- SPEECH IN DEFENCE OP JOHN MAGEE. 99 nuity, detect that nondescript, a libel, in it. It states in sub- stance this : that this administration, treading in the steps of former administrations, preached to the confidence of the peo- ple, and played on their credulity; and that it will end, as those administrations have done, in some flattering prophecy, paying present disappointment with the coinage of delusive hope. That this administration commenced, as usual, with preaching to the confidence of the people, was neither crimi- nal in the fact, nor can it be unpleasant in the recital. It is the immemorial usage of all administrations and of all stations, to commence with those civil professions of future excellence of conduct which are called, and not unaptly, "preaching to the confidence of the people." The very actors are generally sincere at this stage of the pohtical farce ; and it is not insinuated that this administration was not as candid on this subject as the best of its predecessors. The playing on the credulity of the people is the ordinary state trick. You recollect how angry many of you were with his Grace for his Munster tour, shortly after his arrival here. You recollect how he checked the Mayor of Cork for propos- ing the new favorite Orange toast; what Hberality he dis- played to Popish traders and bankers in Limerick; and how he returned to the capital, leaving behind him the im- pression that the no-Popery men had been mistaken in their choice, and that the Duke of Bichmond was the enemy of every bigotry — the friend to every liberahty! Was he sin- cere, gentlemen of the jury, or was this one of those innocent devices which are called — ^playing on the people's credulity? Was he sincere ? Ask Ms subsequent conduct. Have there been since that time any other or different toasts cheered in his presence? Has the name of Ireland and of Irishmen been profaned by becoming the sport of the warmth excited by the accompaniment to these toasts ? Some individuals of you could inform me. I see another dignitary of your cor- poration here [said Mr. O'Connell, turning round pointedly to the lord mayor] — I see a civic dignitary here, who could tell of the toasts of these days or nights, and would not be at a loss to apply the right name — ^if he were not too prudent as well as too polite to do so — to that innocent affectation of hb- 100 SELECT SPEECHES OP DANIEL o'CONNELL. erality which distinguished his Grace's visit to the south of Ireland. It was, indeed, a play upon our creduhty, but it can be no libel to speak of it as such ; for see the situation in which you would place his Grace ; you know he affected con- ciliation and perfect neutrality between our parties at first ; you know he has since taken a marked and decided part with you. Surely you are not disposed to call this a crime, as it were, to convict his Grace of duphcity, and of a vile hypocrisy. No, gentlemen, I entreat of you not to calumniate the Duke ; call this conduct a mere play on the creduhty of a people easily deceived — innocent in its intention, and equally void of guilt in its description. Do not attach to those words a meaning which would prove that you yourselves condemned, not so much the writer of them, as the man who gave color and coun- tenance to this assertion. Besides, gentlemen, what is your liberty of the press worth, if it be worthy of a dungeon to assert that the public credulity has been played upon ? The liberty of the press would be less than a dream, a shadow, if every such phrase be a hbel. But the Attorney-General triumphantly tells you that there must be a libel in this paragraph, because it ends with a charge of falsehood. May I ask you to take the entire para- graph together ? Common sense and your duty require you to do so. You will then perceive that this charge of falsehood is no more than an opinion, that the administration of the Duke of Eichmond will terminate precisely as that of many of his predecessors has done, bj an excuse for the past — a flat- tering and fallacious promise for the future. "Why, you must all of you have seen, a short time since, an account of a pub- he dinner in London, given by persons styling themselves " Friends to Eehgious Liberty." At that dinner, at which two of the Eoyal Dukes attended, there were, I think, no less than four or five noblemen who had filled the office of lord heutenant of Ireland. Gentlemen, at this dinner, they were ardent in their professions of kindness towards the Catholics of Ireland, in their declarations of the obvious policy and jus- tice of conciliation and concession, and they bore ample testi- mony to our sufferings and our merits. But I appeal from their present declarations to their past conduct ; they are now SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 101 full of liberality and justice to us ; yet, I speak only the truth of history, when I say that, during their government of this country, no practical benefits resulted from all this wisdom and kindness of sentiment ; with the single exception of Lord FitzwilUam, not one of them even attempted to do any good to the Catholics, or to Ireland. What did the Duke of Bedford do for us ? Just nothing. Some civihty, indeed, in words — some playing on public creduhty — but in act and deed, nothing at all. What did Lord Hardwicke do for us ? Oh, nothing, or rather less than nothing ; his administration here was, in that respect, a kind of negative quality ; it was cold, harsh, and forbidding to the CathoHcs ; lenient, mild, and encouraging to the Orange fac- tion ; the public mind lay in the first torpor caused by the mighty fall of the Union, and whilst we lay entranced in the oblivious pool. Lord Hardwicke's administration proceeded without a trace of that justice and Uberality which it appears he must have thought unbefitting the season of his govern- ment, and which, if he then entertained, he certainly con- cealed ; he ended, however, with giving us flattering hopes for the future. The Duke of Bedford was more expUcit ; he promised in direct terms, and drew upon the future exertions of an hereditary prince, to compensate us for present disap- pointment. And will any man assert that the Duke of Eich- mond is libelled by a comparison with Lord Hardwicke ; that he is traduced when he is compared with the Duke of Bed- ford ? If the words actually were these : " The Duke of Rich- mond wiU terminate his administration exactly as Lord Hard- wicke and the Duke of Bedford terminated their administra- tions ;" if those were the words, none of you could possibly vote for a conviction, and yet the meaning is precisely the same. No more is expressed by the language of my client ; and, if the meaning be thus clearly innOcent, it would be strange, indeed, to call on you for a verdict of conviction upon no more solid ground than this, that whilst the signification was the same, the words were different. And thus, again, does the prosecutor require of you to separate the sense from the sound, and to convict for the sound, against the sense of the 102 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. In plain truth, gentlemen, if there be a harshness in the sound, there is none in the words. The writer describes, and means to describe, the ordinary termination of every adminis- tration repa}Tiig in promise the defaults of performance. And, when he speaks of falsehood, he prophecies merely as to the probable or at least possible conclusion of the present govern- ment. He does not impute to any precedent assertion, false- hood ; but he does predict, that the concluding promise of this, as of other administrations, depending as those promises always do upon other persons for performance, wiU remain as former promises have remained — unfulfilled and unperformed. And is this prophecy — this prediction a crime? Is it a libel to prophecy? See what topics this sage venerator of the hberty of the press, the Attorney-General, would fain prohibit ? First, he teUs you, that the crimes of the predecessors of the Duke must not be mentioned — and thus he forbids the history of past events. Secondly, he informs you, that no allusion is to be made to the errors, follies, or even the striking features of the present governors ; and thus he forbids the detail of the occurrences of the present day. And, thirdly, he declares that no conjectm^e shall be made upon what is likely to occur hereafter ; and thus he forbids all attempts to anticipate future acts. It comes simply to this ; he talks of venerating the hberties of the press, and yet he restrains that press from discussing past history, present story, and future probabilities ; he pro- hibits the past, the present, and the future ; ancient records, modem truth, and prophecy, are all within the capacious range of his punishments. Is there anything else ? Would this venerator of the liberty of the press go further ? Yes, gentlemen, having forbidden all matter of history past and present, and aU prediction of the future, he generously throws in abstract principles, and, as he has told you, that his prisons shall contain every person who speaks of what was, or what is, or what will be, he hkewise consigned to the same fate every person who treats of the theory or principles of government ; and yet he dares to talk of the liberty of the press ! Can you be his dupes ? WiU you be his victims ? Where is the con- science — where is the indignant spirit of insulted reason SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 103 amongst you ? Has party feeling extinguished in your breasts every glow of virtue — every spark of manhood ? If there be any warmth about you — if you are not clay- cold to aU but party feeling, I would, with the air and in the tone of triumph, call you to the consideration of the remaining paragraph which has been spread on the lengthened indict- ment before you. I divide it into two branches, and shall do no more with the one than to repeat it. I have read it for you aheady ; I must read it again : " Had lie remained what lie first came over, or wliat he afterwards professed to be, he would have retained his reputation for honest, open hostihty, defending his political principles with firmness, perhaps with warmth, but without rancor ; the supporter and not the tool of an ad- ministration ; a mistaken poHtician, perhaps, but an honorable man, and a respectable soldier. " Would to God I had to address another jury ! "Would to God I had reason and judgment to address, and I could en- tertain no apprehension from passion or prejudice ! Here should I then take my stand, and require of that unprejudiced jury, whether this sentence does not demonstrate the complete absence of private malice or personal hostihty. Does not this sentence prove a kindly disposition towards the individual, mixing and minghng with that discussion which freedom sanc- tions and requires, respecting his political conduct ? Contrast this sentence with the prosecutor's accusation of private malig- nity, and decide between Mr. Magee and his calumniators. He, at least, has this advantage, that your verdict cannot alter the nature of things ; and that the public must see and feel this truth, that the present prosecution is directed against the discussion of the conduct towards the public, of men confided with public authority ; that this is a direct attack upon the right to caU the attention of the people to the management of the people's affairs, and that, by your verdict of conviction, it is intended to leave no peaceful or unawed mode of redress for the wrongs and sufferings of the people. But I will not detain you on these obvious topics. We draw to a close, and I hurry to it. This sentence is said to be particularly libellous : 104 SELECT SPEECHES OF DAXIEL O'CONNELL. "His party would have been i)roud of him ; his friends would have praised (they need not have flattered him), and his enemies, though they might have regretted, must have respected his conduct ; from the worst quarter there would have been some small tribute of praise ; from none any great portion of censure ; and his administration, though not popu- lar, would have been conducted with dignity, and without offence. This line of conduct he has taken care to avoid : his original character for moderation he has forfeited ; he can lay no claims to any merits for neutrality, nor does he even deserve the cheerless credit of defensive operations. He has begun to act ; he has ceased to be a dispassionate chief governor, who views the wickedness and the folly of faction with composui'e and forbearance, and stands, the representative of majesty, aloof from the contest. He descends ; he mixes with the throng ; he becomes personally engaged, and, having lost his temper, calls forth his private passions to support his public principles ; he is no longer an indifferent viceroy, but a frightful partisan of an English ministry, whose base jDassions he indulges — ^whose unworthy resentments he grati- fies, and on whose behalf he at present canvasses." Well, gentlemen, and did lie not canvass on belialf of the ministry? "Was there a titled or untitled servant of the Cas- tle who was not despatched to the south to vote against the popular, and for the ministerial candidates? Was there a single individual within the reach of his Grace that did not vote against Prittie and Matthew, in Tipperary, and against Hutchinson, in Cork ? I have brought mth me some of the newspapers of the day, in which this partisanship in the Lord Lieutenant is treated by Mr. Hutchinson in language so strong and so pointed, that the words of this pubhcation are mUdness and softness itself, when compared -with that language. I shall not read them for you, because I should fear that you may imagine I unnecessarily identified my chent with the violent but the merited reprobation poured upon the scandalous inter- ference of our government with those elections. I need not, I am sure, tell you that any interference by the Lord Lieutenant with the purity of the election of members to serve in Parhament, is highly unconstitutional, and highly criminal ; he is doubly bound to the most strict neutrahty ; first, as a peer, the law prohibits his interference ; secondly, as a representative of the crown, his interference in elections is an usurpation of the people's rights ; it is, in substance and effect, high treason against the people, and its miscMefs are SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 105 not tlie less by reason of tliere being no punishment affixed by the law to this treason. If this offence, gentlemen, be of daily occurrence^ — if it be frequently committed, it is upon that account only the more destructive to our liberties, and, therefore, requires the more loud, direct, and frequent condemnation : indeed, if such practices be permitted to prevail, there is an end of every remnant of freedom ; our boasted constitution becomes a mockery and an object of ridicule, and we ought to desire the manly simplicity of unmixed despotism. Will the Attorney- General — will his colleague, the Solicitor- General, deny that I have described this offence in its true colors? "Will they attempt to deny the interference of the Duke of Richmond in the late elections ? I would almost venture to put your ver- dict upon this, and to consent to a conviction, if any person shall be found so stocked with audacity, as to presume pub- Hcly to deny the interference of his Grace in the late elec- tions, and his partisanship in favor of the ministerial candi- dates. Gentlemen, if that be denied, what will you, what can you think of the veracity of the man who denies it ? I fear- lessly refer the fact to you ; on that fact I build. This inter- ference is as notorious as the sun at noonday ; and who shall venture to deny that such interference is described by a soft term when it is caUed partisanship? He who uses the influence of the executive to control the choice of the repre- sentatives of the people, violates the first principles of the constitution, is guilty of political sacrilege, and profanes the very sanctuary of the people's rights and liberties ; and if he should not be called a partisan, it is only because some harsher and more appropriate term ought to be apphed to his dehnquency. I win recall to your minds an instance of violation of the constitution, which will illustrate the situation of my client, and the protection which, for your own sakes, you owe him. When, in 1687, King James removed several Protestant rec- tors in Ireland from their churches, against law and justice, and illegally and unconstitutionally placed Roman Catholic clergymen in their stead, would any of you be content that he should be simply called a partisan ! No, gentlemen, my client 106 SELECT SPEECHES OP DANIEL o'CONNELL. and I — Catholic and Protestant though we be — agree per- fectly in this, that j^artisan would have been too mild a name for him, and that he should have been branded as a Adolator of law, as an enemy to the constitution, and as a crafty tyrant who sought to gratify the prejudices of one part of his sub- jects that he might trample upon the liberties of all. And what, I would fain learn, could you think of the Attorney- General who prosecuted, or of the judge who condemned, or of the jury who convicted a printer for publishing to the world this tyranny — this gross violation of law and justice ? But how would your indignation be roused, if James had been only called a partisan, and for calling him a partisan a Popish jury had been packed, a Popish judge had been select- ed, and that the printer, who, you wiU admit, deserved ap- plause and reward, met condemnation and punishment. Of you — of you, shall this story be told, if you convict Mr. Magee. The Duke has interfered in elections ; he has violat- ed the hberties of the subject ; he has profaned the very tem- ple of the constitution ; and he, who has said that in so do- ing, he was a partisan, from your hands expects punishment. . Compare the kindred offences ; James deprived the Protes- tant rectors of their livings ; he did not persecute, nor did he interfere with their reHgion ; for tithes, and oblations, and glebes, and church lands, though sohd appendages to any church, are no part of the Protestant religion. The Protes- tant religion would, I presume — and for the honor of human nature I sincerely hope — continue its influence over the hu- man mind without the aid of those extrinsic advantages. Its pastors would, I trust and beheve, have remained true to their charge, without the adventitious benefits of temporal rewards ; and, like the Boman Catholic Church, it might have shone forth a glorious example of firmness in rehgion, setting perse- cution at defiance. James did not attack the Protestant reh- gion ; I repeat it ; he only attacked the revenues of the Pro- testant church ; he violated the law and the constitution, in depriving men of that property, by his individual authority, to which they had precisely the same right with that by which he wore his crown. But is not the controlhng the election of members of parHament a more dangerous violation of the con- SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 107 stitution ? Does it not corrupt the very sources of legislation, and convert the guardians of the state into its plunderers ? The one was a direct and undisguised crime, capable of being redressed in the ordinary course of the law, and producing resistance by its open and plain violation of right and of law ; the other disguises itself in so many shapes, is patronized by so, many high examples, and is followed by such perfect secu- rity, that it becomes the first duty of every man who possesses any reverence for the constitution, or any attachment to lib- erty, to lend all his efforts to detect, and, if possible, to pun- ish it. To any man who loved the constitution or freedom, I could safely appeal for my client's vindication ; or if any displeasure could be excited in the mind of such a man, it would arise be- cause of the forbearance and lenity of this publication. But the Duke is called a frightful partisan. Granted, gentlemen, granted. And is not the interference I have mentioned fright- ful ? Is it not terrific ? Who can contemplate it without shud- dering at the consequences which it is likely to produce ? What gentler phrase — what lady-like expression should my chent use? The constitution is sought to be violated, and he calls the author of that violation a frightful partisan. Really, gen- tlemen, the fastidiousness which would reject this expression would be better employed in preventing or punishing crime, than in dragging to a dungeon the man who has the manliness to adhere to truth, and to use it. EecoUect also — I cannot re- peat it too often — ^that the Attorney-General told you, that " the liberty of the press was the best protection of the peo- ple against the government." Now, if the constitution be vio- lated — if the purity of election be disturbed by the executive, is not this precisely the case when this protection becomes necessary ? It is not wanted, nor can the press be called a protector, so long as the government is administered with fidelity, care, and skiU. The protection of the press is requi- site only when integrity, diligence, or Judgment do not belong to the administration ; and that protection becomes the more necessary in the exact proportion in which these quahties are deficient. But, what protection can it afford if you convict in this instance ? For, by doing so, you will decide that nothing 108 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. ought to be said against that want of honesty, or of attention, or of understanding ; the more necessary will the protection of the press become, the more unsafe will it be to pubhsh the truth ; and in the exact proportion in which the press might be useful, will it become Hable to punishment. In short, ac- cording to the Attorney- General's doctrine, when the press is " best employed and wanted most," it will be most dangerous to use it. And thus, the more corrupt and profligate any ad- ministration may be, the more clearly can the public prose- cutor ascertain the sacrifice of his selected victim. And call you this protection? Is this a protector who must be dis- armed the moment danger threatens, and is bound a prisoner the instant the fight has commenced ? Here I should close the case — here I should shortly recapi- tulate my client's defence, and leave him to your considera- tion ; but I have been already too tedious, and shall do no more than recall to your recollection the purity, the integrity, the entire disinterestedness of Mr. Magee's motives. If money were his object, he could easily procure himself to be patron- ized and salaried ; but he prefers to be persecuted and dis- countenanced by the great and powerful, because they cannot dex3rive him of the certain expectation, that his exertions are useful to his long-suffering, ill-requited country. He is disinterested, gentlemen ; he is honest ; the Attorney- General admitted it, and actually took the trouble of adminis- tering to him advice how to amend his fortune, and save his person. But the advice only made his youthful blood mantle in that ingenuous countenance, and his reply was painted in the indignant look, that told the Attorney-General he might offer wealth, but he could not bribe — that he might torture, but he could not terrify ! Yes, gentlemen, firm in his honesty, and strong in the fervor of his love of Ireland, he fearlessly awaits your verdict, convinced that even you must respect the man whom you are called upon to condemn. Look to it, gen- tlemen ; consider whether an honest, disinterested man shall be prohibited from discussing public affairs ; consider whether all but flattery is to be silent — whether the discussion of the errors and the capacities of the ministers is to be closed for- ever. "Whether we are to be silent as to the crimes of former SPEECH m DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 109 periods — ^the follies of the present, and the credulity of the future ; and, above all, reflect upon the demand that is made on you to punish the canvassing of abstract principles. Has the Attorney- General succeeded ? Has he procured a jury so fitted to his object, as to be ready to bury in oblivion every fault and every crime, every error and every imperfection of pubhc men, past, present, and future — and who shall, in ad- dition, silence any dissertation on the theory or principle of legislation ? Do, gentlemen, go this length with the prosecutor, and then venture on your oaths. I charge you to venture to talk to your famihes of the venerable hberty of the press — the protection of the people against the vices of the gov- ernment. I should conclude, but the Attorney-General compels me to follow him through another subject ; he has told you, and told you truly, that besides the matter set out in the indictment — the entire of which, gentlemen, we have already gone through — this publication contains severe strictures upon the alleged in- delicacy in the Chief Justice issuing a ministerial warrant, in a case which was afterwards to come before him judicially, and upon the manner in which the jury was attempted to be put together in Doctor Sheridan's case, and in which a jury was better arranged in the case of Mr. Kirwan. Indeed, the Attorney-General seemed much delighted with these topics ; he again burst out into an enraptured encomium upon himself ; and, as it were inspired by his subject, he rose to the dignity of a classical quotation, when he exclaimed : " Me, me, adsum, qui feci." He forgot to add the still more appropriate remain- der of the sentence, " mea fraus omnis !' "Yes, gentlemen, he has avowed with more manliness than discretion, that he was the contriver of all those measures. With respect to the warrant which his lordship issued in the stead of the ordinary justices of the peace, and upon a charge not amounting to any breach of the peace, I shall say nothing at present. An obvious delicacy restrains me from entering up- on that subject ; and as the interest of my client does not coun- teract that delicacy, I shall refrain. But I would not have it understood that I have formed no opinion on the subject. Yes, I have formed an opinion, and a strong and decided 110 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. opinion, whicli I am ready to support as a lawyer and a man, but the expression of wliicli I now sacrifice to a plain delicacy. But I must say, that tlie Attorney-General has thrown new light on this business ; he has given us information we did not possess before. I did not before know that the warrant was sought for and procured by the Attorney-General ; I thought it was the spontaneous act of his lordship, and not in conse- quence of any private solicitation from the Attorney-General. In this respect, he has set me right — it is a fact of considera- ble value, and although the consequences to be deduced from it are not pleasing to any man, loving, as I do, the purity of justice, yet, I most heartily thank the Attorney-General for the fact — the important fact. His second avowal relates to Dr. Sheridan. It really is comfortable to know how much of the indecent scene exhib- ited upon his trial belonged to the Attorney- General. He candidly tells us, that the obtrusion of the pohce magistrate, Sirr, as an assistant to the Crown-Solicitor, was the act of the king's Attorney-General, "Adsum qui feci," said he. Thus he avows that he procured an Orangeman — I do not ex- actly understand what is meant by an Orangeman — some of you could easily tell me — that he caused this Orangeman to stand in open court, next to the Solicitor for the Crown, with his written paper, suggesting who Avere fit jm'ors for his pur- pose, and who should be put by. Gentlemen, he avows that this profligate scene was acted in the open court, by his direc- tions. It was by the Attorney-General's special directions, then, that such men as John Lindsay, of Sackville street, and John Eoche, of Strand street, were set aside ; the latter, be- cause, though amongst the most wealthy and respectable mer- chants in your city, he is a Papist ; and the other, because, although a Protestant, he is tainted with Hberahty — the only offence, pubhc or private, that could be attributed to him. Yes, such men as these were set aside by the Attorney-Gene- ral's aid-de-camp, the salaried justice of the police office. The next avowal is also precious. This pubhcatiou contains also a commentary on the Castle-list jury that convicted Mr. Kirwan, and the Attorney-General has also avowed his share in that transaction ; he thus supphes the only fink we wanted SPEECH m DEFENCE OP JOHN MAGEE. Ill in our chain of eyidence, when we challenged the array upon that trial. If we could have proved that which the Attorney- General with his " adsum qui feci," yesterday admitted, we should have succeeded and got rid of that panel. Even now, it is deHghtful to understand the entire machinery, and one now sees at once the reason why Sir Charles Saxton was not examined on the part of the crown, in reply to the case we made. He would, you now plainly see, have traced the ar- rangement to the Attorney-General, and the array must have been quashed. Thus in the boasting humor of this Attorney- General, he has brought home to himself personally, that which we attributed to him only in his official capacity, and lie has convicted the man of that which we charged only upon the office. He has, he must have a motive for this avowal ; if he had not an adequate object in view, he would not have thus un- necessarily and wantonly taken upon himself all the reproach of those transactions. He would not have boasted of having, out of court, sohcited an extra-judicial opinion, in the form of a warrant from his lordship; he would not have gloried in employing an Orangeman from the pohce office to assist him in open court, with instructions in writing how to pack his jury ; still less would he have suffered it to be beheved that he was a party at the Castle, with the Acting Secretary of State, to the arrangement of the jury that was afterwards to try a person prosecuted by the state. He would not have made this, I must say, disgraceful avowal, unless he were influenced by an adequate motive. I can easily teU you what that motive was. He knew your prejudices — he knew your antipathy — alas ! your interested antipathy — to the Cathohcs, and, therefore, in order to induce you to convict a Protestant of a hbel for a pubhcation, innocent, if not useful in itself, in order to procure that conviction from your party feelings and your prejudices, which he despahed of obtaining from your judgments, he vaunts himseK to you as the mighty destroyer of the hopes of Popish petitioners — as a man capa- ble of every act within, as without the profession, to prevent or impede any rehef to the Papists. In short, he wishes to show himself to you as an active partisan at your side ; and upon 112 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'COKNELL. tliose merits he who knows you best, claims your verdict — a verdict wliich must be given in on your oaths, and attested by and in the name of the God of all Christians. For my part I fi-ankly avow that I shudder at these scenes ; I cannot, without horror, view this interfering and intermed- dhng with judges and juries, and my abhorrence must be aug- mented, when I find it avowed, that the actors in all these sad exhibitions were the mere puppets of the Attorney-General, moved by his wires, and performing under his control. It is in vain to look for safety to person or property, whilst this system is allowed to pervade our courts ; the very fountain of justice may be corrupted at its source, and those waters which should confer health and vigor throughout the land, can then diffuse nought but mephitic and pestilential vapors to disgust and to destroy. If honesty, if justice be silent, yet prudence ought to check these practices. We Hve in a new era — a mel- ancholy era, in which perfidy and profligacy are sanctioned by high authority ; the base violation of j)lighted faith, the deep stain of dishonor, infidehty in love, treachery in friendship, the abandonment of every principle, and the adoption of every frivolity and of every vice that can excite hatred combined with ridicule — all — all this, and more, may be seen around us ; and yet it is beheved, it is expected, that this system is fated to be eternal. Gentlemen, we shall all weep the insane delu- sion ; and in the terrific moments of altercation you know not, yon cannot know, how soon or how bitterly the ingredients of your own poisoned chahce may be commended to your own hps. "With these views around us — with these horrible prospects lying obscurely before us — in sadness and in sorrow, party feeHngs may find a sohtary consolation. My heart feels a species of relief when I recollect that not one single Eoman CathoUc has been found suited to the Attorney- General's pur- pose. With what an affectation of hberality would he have placed, at least, one Koman Cathohc on his juries, if he could have found one Eoman Catholic gentleman in this city capable of being managed into fitness for those juries. You well know that the very first merchants of this city, in wealth as well as in character, are Catholics. Some of you serve oc- SPEECH IN DEFENCE OP JOHN MAGEE. 113 casionally on special juries in important cases of private prop- erty. Have you ever seen one of those special juries without many Catholics? — frequently a majority — seldom less than one-half of Catholics. Why are CathoHcs excluded from these state juries ? Who shall venture to avow the reason ? Oh, for the partisan indiscretion that would blindly avow the rea- son ! It is, in truth, a high compHment, which persecution, in spite of itself, pays to independent integrity. It is, in fact, a compHment. It is intended for a reproach, for a libel. It is meant to insinuate that such a man, for ex- ample, as KandaU. M'DonneU^ — the pride and boast of com- merce — one of the first contributors to the revenues of the state, and the first in all the sweet charities of social hfe — would refuse to do justice, upon his oath, to the crown, and perjure himself in a state trial, because he is a Eoman Catho- lic. You, even you, would be shocked, if any man were so audacious as to assert, in words, so foul a libel, so false a cal- umny ; and yet what does the conduct of the Attorney-Gene- ral amount to ? Why, practically, to just such a libel, to pre- cisely such a calumny. He acts a part which he would not venture to speak, and endeavors silently to inflict a censure which no man could be found so devoid of shame as to assert in words. And here, gentlemen, is a Hbel for which there is no punishment ; here is a profligate calumny for which the law furnishes no redress ; he can continue to calumniate us by his rejection. See whether he does not ojBfer you a greater insult by his selection ; lay your hands to your hearts, and in pri- vate communion with yourselves, ask the reason why you have been sought for and selected for this jury^ — will you discover that you have been selected because of admitted impartiahty? Would to God you could make that discovery ! It would be one on which my chent might build the certain expecta- tion of a triumphal acquittal. Let me transport you from the heat and fury of domestic poli- tics ; let me place you in a foreign land ; you are Protestants ; with your good leave, you shaU for a moment be Portuguese, and Portuguese is now an honorable name, for right well have the people of Portugal fought for their country, against the 114 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. foreign invader. Oh, liow easy to procui-e a similar spirit, and more of bravery, amongst the people of Ireland ! The slight purchase of good words, and a kindly dis^Dosition, would con- vert them into an impenetrable guard for the safety of the Throne and the State. But ad"sdce and regret are equally imavailing, and they are doomed to calumny and oppression, the reahty of persecution, and the mockery of justice, until some fatal hour shall arrive, which may preach wisdom to the dupes, and menace with punishment the oppressor. In the meantime I must place you in Portugal. Let us suppose for an instant that the Protestant religion is that of the people of Portugal^the Cathohc that of the government — that the house of Braganza has not reigned, but that Por- tugal is still governed by the viceroy of a foreign nation, from whom no kindness, no favor has ever flowed, and from whom justice has rarely been obtained, and upon those unfrequent occasions, not conceded generously, but extorted by force, or wrung from distress by terror and apprehension, in a stinted measure and ungracious manner ; you, Protestants, shall form, not, as with us in Ireland, nine tenths, but some lesser num- ber — ^you shall be only four fifths of the population ; and aU the persecution which you have yourselves practiced here upon Pa- pists, whilst you, at the same time, accused the Papists of the crime of being persecutors, shall glow around ; your native land shall be to you the country of strangers ; you shall be ahens in the soil that gave you bu-th, and whilst every for- eigner may, in the land of your forefathers, attain rank, sta- tion, emolument, honors, you alone shall be excluded ; and you shall be excluded for no other reason but a conscientious abhorrence to the rehgion of your ancestors. Only think, gentlemen, of the scandalous injustice of pun- ishing you because you are Protestants ! With what scorn, with what contempt do you not hsten to the stale pretences — to the miserable excuses by which, under the name of state reasons and poHtical arguments, your exclusion and de- gradation are sought to be justified. Your reply is ready : " Perform your iniquity — men of crimes (you exclaim) be un- just—punish us for our fidehty and honest adherence to truth, but insult us not by supposing that your reasoning can impose SPEECH IN DEFENCE OP JOHN MAGEE. 115 upon a single individual either of us or of yourselves." In tliis situation let me give you a viceroy ; he shall be a man who may be styled — by some persons disposed to exaggerate, beyond bounds, his merits, and to flatter him more than enough — " an honorable man and a respectable soldier," but in point of fact, he shall be of that httle-minded class of beings who are suited to be the plaything of knaves — one of those men who imagine they govern a nation, whilst in reality they are but the instruments upon which the crafty play with safety and with profit. Take such a man for your viceroy — Protes- tant Portuguese. We shall begin with making this tour from Tralos Montes to the kingdom of Algesiras — as one amongst us should say, from the Giant's Causeway to the kingdom of Kerry. Upon his tour he shall affect great candor and good will to the poor suffering Protestants. The bloody anniver- saries of the inquisitorial triumphs of former days shall be for a season abandoned, and over our inherent hostility the garb of hypocrisy shall for a season be thrown. Enmity to the Protestants shall become, for a moment, less apparent ; but it will be only the more odious for the transitory disguise. The delusion of the hour having served its purpose, your viceroy shows himself in his native colors ; he selects for office, and prefers for his pension-hst, the men miserable in intellect, if they be but virulent against the Protestants ; to rail against the Protestant rehgiOn — to turn its hohest rites into ridicule — to slander the individual Protestants, are the sm^est, the only means to obtain his favor and patronage. He selects from his Popish bigots some being more canine than human, who, not having talents to sell, brings to the market of bigotry his impudence— who, with no quahty under heaven but gross, vulgar, acrimonious, disgustful and shameless abuse of Protestantism to recommend him, shall be promoted to some accountant-generalship, and shall riot in the spoils of the people he traduces, as it were to crown with insult the severest injuries. This viceroy selects for his favorite privy councillor some learned doctor, half lawyer, haK divine, an entire brute, distinguished by the unblushing repetition of calumnies against the Protestants. This man has asserted that Protestants are perjurers and murderers in principle — 116 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. that they keep no faith with Papists, but hold it lawful and meiitoiious to violate every engagement, and commit every atrocity towards any person who happens to differ with Pro- testants in rehgious behef. This man raves thus, in public, against the Protestants, and has turned his ravings into large personal emoluments. But whilst he is the oracle of minor bigots, he does not beheve himself ; he has selected for the partner of his tenderest joys, of his most ecstatic moments- he has chosen for the intended mother of his children, for the sweetener and solace of his every care, a Protestant, gentle- men of the jury. Next to the vile instruments of bigotry, his accountant-gen- eral and privy councillor, we will place his acts. The Protes- tants of Portugal shall be exposed to insult and slaughter ; an Orange party — a party of Popish Orangemen, shall be sup- posed to exist; they shall have Hberty to slaughter the un- armed and defenceless Protestants, as they sit peaceably at their firesides. They shall be let loose in some Portuguese district called Monaghan ; they shall cover the streets of some Portuguese town of Belfast with human gore ; and in the metropohs of Lisbon, the Protestant widow shall have her harmless child mrudered in the noonday, and his blood shall have flowed imrequited, because his assassin was very loyal when he was drunk, and had an irresistible propensity to signalize his loyalty by kilhng Protestants. Behold, gen- tlemen, this viceroy depriving of command, and staying the promotion of, every military man who shall dare to think Pro- testants men, or who shaU presume to suggest that they ought not to be prosecuted. Behold this viceroy promoting and rewarding the men who insulted and attempted to degrade the first of your Protestant nobihty. Behold him in public, the man I have described. In his personal concerns he receives an enormous revenue from the people he thus misgoverns. See in his management of that revenue a parsimony at which even his enemies blush. See the paltry sum of a single joe refused to any Protestant charity, whilst his bounty is unknown even at the Popish institutions for benevolent purposes. See the most wasteful expenditm^e of the public money — every job patronized — SPEECH IN DEFENCE OF JOHN MAGEE. 117 every profligacy encouraged. See the resources of Portugal diminislied. See her discords and her internal feuds increased. And, lastly, behold the course of justice perverted and cor- rupted. It is thus, gentlemen, the Protestant Portuguese seek to obtain rehef by humble petition and supplication. There can be no crime surely for a Protestant oppressed, because he fol- lows a rehgion which is, in his opinion, true, to endeavor to obtain rehef by mildly representing to his Popish oppressors, that it is the right of every man to worship the Deity accord- ing to the dictates of his own conscience ; to state respect- fully to the governing powers that it is unjust, and may be highly impohtic to punish men, merely because they do not profess Popery, which they do not beheve; and to submit, with all humihty, that to lay the burdens of the state equally, and distribute its benefits partially, is not justice, but, although sanctioned by the pretence of religious zeal, is, in truth, iniquity, and palpably criminal. Well, gentlemen, for daring thus to remonstrate, the Protestants are persecuted. The first step in the persecution is to pervert the plain mean- ing of the Portuguese language, and a law prohibiting any disguise in apparel, shall be applied to the ordinary dress of the individual ; it reminds one of pretence and purpose. To carry on these persecutions, the viceroy chooses for his first inquisitor the descendant of some Popish refugee — some man with an hereditary hatred to Protestants ; he is not the son of an Irishman, this refugee inquisitor — no, for the fact is notorious, that the Irish refugee Papists were ever distin- guished for their hberahty, as well as for their gallantry in the field and talent in the cabinet. This inquisitor shall be, gen- tlemen, a descendant from one of those English Papists, who was the dupe or contriver of the Gunpowder Plot! With such a chief inquisitor, can you conceive anything more cal- culated to rouse you to agony than the solemn mockery .of your trial? This chief inquisitor begins by influencing the judges out of court ; he proceeds to inquire out fit men for his interior tribunal, which, for brevity, we will call a jury. He selects his juries from the most violent of the Popish Orangemen of the city, and procures a conviction against law 118 SELECT SrEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. and common sense, and without evidence. Have you followed me, gentlemen ? Do you enter into tlie feelings of Protes- tants tlius insulted, thus oppressed, thus persecuted — their enemies and traducers promoted, and encom^aged, and richly rewarded — their friends discountenanced and displaced — their persons unprotected, and their characters assailed by hired calumniators — their blood shed with impunity — their revenues parsimoniously spared to accumulate for the individual, waste- fully squandered for the state — the emblems of discord, the war-cry of disunion, sanctioned by the highest authority, and Justice herself converted from an impartial arbitrator into a frightful partisan ? Yes, gentlemen, place you.rselves as Protestants under such a persecution. Behold before you this chief inquisitor, with his prejudiced tribunal — tliis gambler, with a loaded die ; and now say what are your feelings — what are your sensations of disgust, abhorrence, affright ? But if at such a moment some ardent and enthusiastic Papist, regardless of his interests, and roused by the crimes that were thus committed against you, should describe, in measured, and cautious, and cold lan- guage, scenes of oppression and iniquity — if he were to de- scribe them, not as I have done, but in feeble and mild lan- guage, and simply state the facts for your benefit and the instruction of the pubUc — if this hberal Papist, for this, were dragged to the Inquisition, as for a crime, and menaced with a dungeon for years, good and gTacious God ! how would you revolt and abominate the men who could consign him to that dungeon ! "With what an eye of contempt, and hatred, and despair, would you not look at the packed and profligate tri- bunal, which could direct punishment against him who de- seiwed rewards ! "What pity would you not feel for the advo- cate who, heavily and without hope, labored in his defence ! and with what agonized and frenzied des^^air would you not look to the future destinies of a land in which perjury was organized and from which humanity and justice had been for ever banished ! With this picture of yourselves in Portugal, come home to us in Ii'eland, say is that a crime, when applied to Protestants, which is a vu-tue and a merit when applied to Papists ? Be- SPEECH IN DEFENCE OP JOHN MAGEE. 119 hold liow we suffer here ; and then reflect, that it is princi- pally by reason of your prejudices against us that the Attor- ney-General hopes for your verdict. The good man has talked of his impartiahty ; he will suppress, he says, the licentious- ness of the press. I have, I hope, shown you the right of my chent to discuss the pubhc su.bjects which he has discussed in the manner they are treated of in the pubHcation before you, yet he is prosecuted. Let me read for you a paragraph which the Attorney-General has not prosecuted — which he has re- fused to prosecute : Ball-tbat, July 4, 1813. " A meeting of the Orange Lodges was agreed on, in consequence of tlie manner in -wliicli the Catholics wished to have persecuted the loyaHsts in this county last year, when they even murdered some of them for no other reason than their being yeomen and Protestants." And, again — "It was at Ballybay that the Catholics murdered one Hughes, a yeo- man sergeant, for being a Protestant, as was given in evidence at the assizes by a Catholic witness." I have read this passage from the Hibernian Journal of the 7th of this month. I know not whether you can hear, un- moved, a paragraph which makes my blood boil to read ; but I shall only tell you, that the Attorney-General refused to prosecute this hbeller. Gentlemen, there have been several murders committed in the County of Monaghan, in wliich Bal- lybay hes. The persons killed happened to be Roman Catho- lics ; their murderers are Orangemen. Several of the persons accused of these murders are to be tried at the ensuing assizes. The agent apphed to me personally, with this newspaper ; he stated that the obvious intention was to create a prejudice upon the approaching trials favorable to the murderers, and against the prosecutors. He stated what you — even you — will easUy beheve, that there never was a falsehood more flagi- tiously destitute of truth than the entire paragraph. I advised him, gentlemen, to wait on the Attorney-General in the most respectful manner possible ; to show him this paragraph, then to request to be allowed to satisfy him as to the utter false- hood of the assertions which this paragraph contained, which could be more easily done, as the judges who went that circuit 120 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. could prove part of it to be false ; and I dii-ected him to en- treat that the Attorney-General, when fully satisfied of the falsehood, would prosecute the pubhsher of this, which, I think, I may call an atrocious libel. Gentlemen, the Attorney-General was accordingly waited on ; he was respectfully requested to prosecute upon the terms of having the falsehood of these assertions first proved to him. I need not tell you he refused. These are not the hbellers he prosecutes. Gentlemen, this not being a Hbel on any indivi- dual, no private individual can prosecute for it ; and the Attor- ney-General turns his press loose on the Catholics of the county of Monaghan, whilst he virulently assails Mr. Magee for what must be admitted to be comparatively mild and inof- fensive. No, gentlemen, he does not prosecute this libel. On the contrary, this paper is paid enormous sums of the public money. There are no less than five proclamations in the pa- per containing this libel ; and it was proved in my presence, in a court of justice, that, besides the proclamations and pub- lic advertisements, the two proprietors of the paper had each a pension of £400 per annum, for supporting government, as it was called. Since that period one of those proprietors has got an office worth, at least, £800 a year ; and the son of the other, a place of upwards of £400 per annum : so that, as it is likely that the original pensions continue, here may be an an- nual income of £2,000 paid for this paper, besides the thousands of pounds annually, which the insertion of the proclamations and public advertisements cost. It is a paper of the very lowest and most paltry scale of talent, and its circulation is, fortunately, very limited ; but it receives several thousands of pounds of the money of the men whom it foully and falsely calumniates. Would I could see the man who pays this proclamation money and these pensions at the Castle. [Here Mr. O'Con- nell tm-ned round to where Mr. Peele, Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant, sat.] "Would I could see the man who, against the fact, asserted that the proclamations were inserted in all the papers, save in those whose proprietors were con- victed of a Hbel. I would ask him whether this be a paper SPEECH IN DEFENCE OP JOHN MAGEE. 121 that ouglit to receive the money of the Irish people ? — whether this be the legitimate use of the pubHc purse ? And when you find this calumniator salaried and rewarded, where is the im- partiahty, the justice, or even the decency of prosecuting Mr. Magee for a libel, merely because he has not praised public men, and has discussed public affairs in the spirit of freedom and of the constitution ? Contrast the situation of Mr. Magee with the proprietor of the Hibernian Journal ; the one is prose- cuted with aU the weight and influence of the crown, the other pensioned by the ministers of the crown ; the one dragged to your bar for the sober discussion of political topics, the other hired to disseminate the most horrid calumnies ! Let the At- torney-General now boast of his impartiality ; can you credit him on your oaths ? Let him talk of his Veneration for the liberty of the press ; can you beheve him in your consciences? Let him call the press the protection of the people against the government. Yes, gentlemen, believe him when he says so. Let the press be the protection of the people ; he admits that it ought to be so. Will jon find a verdict for him, that shall contradict the only assertion upon which he and I, however, are both agreed ? Gentlemen, the Attorney-General is bound by this admis- sion ; it is part of his case, and he is the prosecutor here ; it is a part of the evidence before you, for he is the prose- cutor. Then, gentlemen, it is your duty to act upon that evi- dence, and to allow the press to afford some protection to the people. Is there amongst you any one friend to freedom ? Is there amongst you one man, who esteems equal and impartial jus-, tice, who values the people's rights as the foundation of pri- vate happiness, and who considers life as no boon withou.t liberty? Is there amongst you one friend to the constitu- tion — one man who hates oppression ? If there be, Mr. Magee appeals to his kindred mind, and confidently expects an acquittal. There are amongst you men of great religious zeal — of much pubhc piety. Are you sincere ? Do you believe what you pro- fess ? With all this zeal — with all this piety, is there any con- science amongst you? Is there any terror of violating your 122 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. oaths ? Be ye hypocrites, or does genuine religion iuspke you? If you be sincere — if you have conscience — if your oaths can control your interests, then Mr. Magee confidently expects an acquittal. If amongst you there be cherished one ray of pm-e rehgion — if amongst you there glow a single spark of hberty — if I have alarmed rehgion, or roused the spuit of freedom in one breast amongst you, Mr. Magee is safe, and his country is served ; but if there be none — if you be slaves and hypocrites, he will await your verdict, and despise it. SPEECH IN THE BEITISH CATHOLIC ASSOCIA- TION, ON THE DEFEAT OF THE EMANCIPATION BILL, MAY 26, 1825. The measure of which we complained is of too recent a date, the injury wliich we have sustained is yet too fresh, too gall- ing in its effects, to allow my reason to assume the ascendant over my feelings, and to give my judgment time to operate on, and influence the tenor of my reflections. I shall neverthe- less be as respectful in my allusions, and as moderate in the remarks I have to offer, as the overboiling fervency of my Irish blood will permit. By rejecting that bill wliich the Commons had sent up to them for their concurrence and ap- proval, the House of Lords has inflicted a vital injury on the , stability of Enghsh power, and on Irish feelings and Irish honesty. They, however, would not be cast down by that injury. The Cathohcs were sometimes iu derision termed " Eo- man." I am a Catholic, and proud am I to say that in one thing at least I am a Eoman — I never wiU despair. But on what is this boastful assertion founded ? Why should I say that wliich I feel has not reason or sound policy to support it? Where now, I would ask, is there a rational hope for a Catho- hc ? Where shall I look for consolation under the present great and serious disappointment? Am I to look back? Alas ! there is nothing cheerino- in the events which have for ON THE DEFEAT OF THE EMANCIPATION BILL. 123 some time past met us on tlie way to success and daslied oiir hopes to the . earth. Does history furnish any grounds for the supposition that those who have been found incapable of maintaining their phghted faith, and preserving the terms of a great national contract, will now, in the hour of success, be induced to yield any reason, any inducement to us to proceed in the course we have adopted ? Is this, I would ask, the ex- ample the Irish Cathohcs gave, when they had on two occa- sions come into power ? Did they, in the reign of Mary, seek by retaliation to avenge the blood of their slaughtered ances- tors ? No ! thank God, they did not ! and that at least was one triumphant consideration. Not one drop of Protestant blood had been shed — not one particle of Protestant property had been then sacrificed. In the reign of James II. the Cathohcs again came into power, and their conduct was marked by the same spirit of forbearance. I have heard it justly stated in the House of Commons — no, I must not say that, but I saw it in the newspapers, in the powerful speech of Mr. Twiss, which w^as distinguished ahke for vigor of thought, sti-engih of reasoning, and historical accuracy, that in the reign of James there were but fourteen Protestants in the House of Commons, and eight or ten in the House of Lords ; the rest were Catholics. "Were Protestants excluded from it by law ? No, the people returned both Protestants and Catho- hcs ; and no one then stood up to say that a man should not be permitted to sit in parliament unless he heard Mass and attended auricular confession. No, no, it was left to their enemies to say that Cathohcs should not be admitted there, for the sacrifice of the Mass was impious and idolatrous. [Mr. O'Connell then attended to a statement made by Mr. Daw- son, who thought fit to attribute persecution to the Irish Catholics in the reign of the second James, on the authority of Archbishop King, who was refuted by Eev. Dr. Leshe, and yet, in 1825, is quoted ia parliament to convict the Catholics of Ireland. He next entered into a brief history and defence of the Irish Catholic Asso- ciation, and reprobated the penal act which extinguished that body.] I call on the Catholics of England to co-operate with those of Ireland for the repeal of this act, for it is a step to return 124 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. to tlie old penal law ; and how can I tell the people of Ireland they ought to be tranquil, and not ferment in their hearts that black stuff which makes political discontent mischievous — ^that fire suppressed, that explodes only the more dangerously on account of the compression that has withheld it ? How can I tell the iDeople of Ireland to hope, when they see tliis un- prmcipled, disastrous measure has been adopted ? I confess I do find ground for hope in the things called arguments which are employed against us, if I had not seen any in the records of ancient history, in the violation of treaties, and the recent case of the suppression of the Cathohc Association. I begin with the first in dignity, the keeper of the King's English con- science ; for the King, my lord, has three consciences— he has an English conscience, and the keeper of it is a hberal, and turns to the liberal side of it ; he has an Irish conscience, and I hope the keeper of it will very soon be a liberal person, and he will turn to the liberal side of it ; and his Majesty, my lord, has a Hanoverian conscience ; that conscience is in his own keeping ; it has no contradicting colors or differing sides — it is all liberahty and justice. Who cannot see that the guilt of refusing that to us which the King ]3ersonaUy gives to his Hanoverian subjects, lies in the miserable machinery of a boroughmongering admiaistration, which prevents the Eng from doing justice to all ? There were two other objections against us. I thank the quarter fi'om which they come : I thank him sincerely for the first of them, for I must unaffectedly admit its truth and jus- tice, and I win abide the event of it fairly. It was this — if you emancipate the Cathohcs, said the Lord Chancellor, you must equally give hberty of conscience to all classes of Dissent- ers. I thank you heartily, my Lord Eldon; that is exactly what we say ; our petition is that ; — we do not come before parliament, making a comparison of theological doctrines : we revere our own ; we are not indifferent to them ; we know their awful importance, but we say liberty of conscience is a sacred right. [A voice from the crowd : " You have it."] I thank the gentleman whose voice I hear. You, my Lord Duke, x>ossess hberty of conscience. Are you not the pre- mier peer of England — could any one deprive you of that ON THE DEFEAT OF THE EMANCIPATION BILL. 125 right ? Could the King upon his throne, or the Chancellor on his bench, make any decree against it, if your conscience per- mitted ? There is such a Hberty of conscience as that alluded to in Spain, where every man is at liberty to be of the religion of the ruhng power ; but now that Ferdinand is returned, no man is allowed to dissent from that rehgion ; and let me not be brought to prefer the Cortes to him. They trod upon the Church, and threw away the people, and deserved to lose their power. The Dissenters have it not, for neither Smith, of Nor- wich, nor Wilks, the Secretary of that excellent Association for Liberty of Conscience (who published in their own, my creed on that subject), they could not fill an office in any corporation, for the moment they were proposed, the opposite candidate would tell them, "You have not taken the sacramental test," and the election would be void, and the candidate who had fewest votes would be returned. This was good and fair reason to hope that the principle is calculated, in spite of miserable big- otry and individual acrimony, to make its way all over Eng- land. The liberal portion of the Dissenters are with us. I find, therefore, reason to hope. Liberty of conscience is our principle, and even in despair I would retain it ; for I am con- fident that force may make hypocrites, but not true behevers — it may compel outward profession, but it is not in man's power to change the heart ; and because I know that force is always resorted to by him that thinks he has the worst of the argu- ment. But, for my part, being conscientiously convinced of the superiority of the CathoHc religion over every other — and puttmg it to this awful test- of sincerity, that I know an eter- nity depends upon it — with that awful conviction, all I ask of my Protestant brethren, who beheve their own rehgion to be the best, is, that they would give the same practical proof of their conviction of its superiority. Let them give their reli- gion what I ask for mine — a clear stage and no favor, and let the advantage be decided by conscientious men and the will of the eternal God. Another argument of the Lord Chancellor was — it seemed, indeed, rather a word than an argument — that this was a Pro- testant constitution, and the words " Protestant constitution " came out very frequently. This was rather an assertion than an 126 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. argument, and it has this defect as an assertion, that it happens, my lord, not to be true. There are four descendants amongst the Cathohc nobihty of the day of the barons who extorted Magna Charta from a tyrant. It was Catholics who instituted the hereditary succession in the House of Lords as a separate House : it was Catholics who instituted the representation of the people in the House of Commons : it was Cathohcs who instituted trial by jury, standing as a shield between the peo- ple and power, making the administration of the law a domes- tic concern, and preventing any man giving a false and flagi- tious verdict to-day in favor of despotism, lest he himself should be the victim the nest. Are not these ingredients in the con- stitution ? I would not forget the treason law of Edward III., which is the perfection of wisdom in that respect, for many and many a victim would have been sent to premature death and destruction but for the advantage of that Catholic statute of Edward III. ; and whenever despotism has ruled over this country, the first step that has been taken, from time to time, and it was one which immediately followed the Eeformation, was to repeal that Catholic statute, and deprive the people of its benefits. We have it now ; but though we have it now through its being restored by a Protestant parliament, it was drawn up by Catholic hands, it was passed by Catholic votes, it was signed by a Cathohc King, and wiU Lord Eldon teU me that the treason law, the trial by jury, the House of Lords, and the office of Chancellor, too, are no portions of this Pro- testant constitution? If that office did not exist, I suspect that the Protestantism of the Chancellor would not be so extremely vivid as it is at present. The seals he bears, the mace which is carried before him, were borne by, and carried before many and many a Catholic bishop ; and the first lay- man who held them was the martyred Sir Thomas More, who, as it was well said in parliament, left the office with ten pounds in his pocket ; a Cathohc example to the present Protestant ChanceUor. Protestant constitution ! "What is it, if money be not one of the valuable concerns of the constitution ? WiU the Chancel- lor say it is not ? If the constitution be Protestant, let the Protestants pay the tithes and the taxes ; let them pay the ON THE DEFEAT OE THE EMANCIPATION BILL. 127 churcli rates and the Grand Jury cess for us in Ireland. If it be a Protestant constitution let it be so entirely : let us not have to fight their battles or pay their taxes. This is the ad- mirable and inimitable equity of the Lord Chancellor. Here is the keeper of a conscience for you ! Here is a distributor of equity. It shall be Protestant to the extent of everything that is valuable and useful : to the extent of everything that is rewarding and dignified ; for every place of emolument and authority, and everything that elevates a man, and is the recompense of legitimate ambition. To this extent it shaU be Protestant ; but for the burdens of the state — for the shedding of human blood in defence of the throne — for all that bears on a man, even to the starvation of his family by the weight of taxation which so few are able to pay in this country, and by which so many have been reduced to poverty in Ireland (for have I not seen the miserable blanket, and the single po- tato pot, sold by the tax-gatherer in my native country?) Oh, shall I, I say, be told that for all that is useful the constitu- tion shall be Protestant, and that it shall cease to be so the moment there is anything of oppression, money-making, grinding, or taxation ? Is it just to take the entire value and give no valuable consideration in return ? Is it just to accept labor and pay no wages ? Is this equity in the High Court of Chancery? From your tribunal I appeal to the Hving God, who shall judge us all, and in his presence I proclaim the foul iniquity, the barefaced injustice of loading us with aU the burdens of the state, and keeping us from its advan- tages. After the Chancellor I would refer to the speech of a right Eeverend Bishop, which was said to have been sonorous, mu- sical and well delivered — highly pleasing to his party. It reminded him of a story told by Addison, who heard a lady in a carriage utter a loud scream, and supposing her suffering under some violence or injury, inquired what was the matter, and was told nothing ; but the lady had been told she had a fine voice, and had been showing it by screaming. She only wished to make an exhibition. The bishop, too, was only screaming, and had formerly screamed the other way. The first part of his speech, as I read it in the newspaper, was a 128 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. good essay on disinterestedness ! We were called, interested, selfish ; but would the Eight Reverend Bishop explain how it was that he had formerly been favorably disposed towards the CathoHcs, till he became tutor to the Earl of Liverpool's ne^Dhew, and that then all at once a change was effected in his mind. He is young — there are a great many other bishops, and he was certainly fortunate in his chance, for he adopted, if not a better, yet more enriching faith. It might be by a miracle — for a Protestant bishop might work mkacles as well as Prince Hohenlohe — it might be by a mhacle, that the new light broke in on the bishop just at the right time ; that he was kept in darkness to a certain hour, and then was suddenly made to see the danger, and to turn from a fi'iend to an ene- my. I have no objection to fair enmity ,^ but the Bishop of Chester's enmity was not fair. In his speech he had quoted a part of a speech of Doctor Dromgoole ; I believe, too, from what I recollect, that the bishop quoted an exaggerated ver- sion, and he stated that this speech had been approved of by the Catholic Association, and by all the Catholic priests, and at Home. I heard this with great astonishment, for, in fact, Doctor Dromgoole's speech was the only one I ever recollect- ed which had been condemned at a public meeting. It had been pronounced late in the evening. I was not present, or the sun would not have gone down on it unre- proved — and on the next day an extraordinary meeting of the CathoUc Board was summoned, and the speech condemned. He called the Protestant faith a novelty, and it was stated to him that whatever o23inions he chose to discuss among theolo- gians, he must not insult the Protestants. Where the Bishop of Chester learned that this speech had been approved of at Eome, I do not know, but I suppose it might be by the same vivacity of fancy, and the same energy of imagination from which he learned that the speech had been approved of in Ire- land. I arraign him of inventmg it. If the Cathohc bishops who were examined before the lords, — if Doctor Murray, the sanctity of Avhose life was displayed in the suavity of his manners, and who was the mildest of all Christians — if Doc- tor Doyle, whose understanding was as ^dgorous as his man- ners were simple, who possessed an exhaustless store of know- ON THE DEFEAT OE THE EMANCIPATION BILL. 129 ledge, and whose gigantic intellect could readily convey thera to the mind of every other man — if these prelates in their ex- amination had invented anything Uke this against the Protes- tants, though he revered them as the representatives of those Christian bishops who had first estabhshed the Catholic Faith in Ireland ; if the Lord Bishop of Chester could point out to him anything in their evidence similar to the invention he had alluded to, I wiU at once brand them as calumniators. I will not say anything of this kind to the Bishop of Chester, be- cause I do not belong to the same church with him ; but if he will point out to me anything so false in theu^ evidence, I will teU the Irish bishops they are hars and calumniators, and that they have broken the commandment, for they had borne false witness against their neighbor. I would, however, say no more of the Bishop of Chester's speech, but if any more positive proof of its error were wanting, he had only to turn over the Dublin Evening Post for half an hom% and he would find the whole proceedings of the meeting at which Dr. Dromgoole's speech was censured. [Mi\ O'Connell here took occasion to eulogize Mr. Canning, Mr. Plunkett and Mr. Brownlow, and contrasted the conduct of the latter with that of the Marquis of Anglesea.] The contrast I was going to offer, and that which would alone make us despair, if I did not know my countrymen bet- ter, is that of the noble and gallant deserter, the Marquis of Anglesea. He said, now was the time to fight. But, most no- ble Marquis, we are not going to fight at all, and above all things, most noble Marquis, we are not going to fight now, un- der favor. This may be your time to fight — ^you may want us to fight ere long with you, as you wanted us before — your glories, and your medals, and your dignities, and your titles, were bought by the young blood of Catholic Ireland. We fought. Marquis of Anglesea, and you know it well — we fought, and you are Marquis ; if we had not fought with you, your island of Anglesea would ere this have shrunk into a cabbage garden. And where would now have been the mighty con- queror of Europe : he, who had talent to command victory, and judgment to look for services, and not creeds to reward men 130 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. for merits, and not for professions of faitli ; where would he have been if Ireland had not stood by you ? I myseK have worn, not only the tra23pings of woe, but the emblems of sin- cere mourning, for more than one gallant relative of mine who have shed their blood under your commands. We can fight — we will fight when England wants us. But we will not fight against her at present, and I trust we will not fight for her at all until she does us justice. But, most noble Marquis, though your soldiers fought gal- lantly and weU with you, in a war which they were told was just and necessary, are you quite sure the soldiers will fight in a crusade against the unarmed and wretched peasantry of Ire- land ? Your speech is published ; it will, when read in Ar- magh, and the neighboring counties, give joy, and wiU be cel- ebrated in the nest Orange procession ; and again, as before, Cathohc blood will be shed ; but most noble Marquis, the earth has not covered all the blood that has been so shed ; it cries yet for vengeance to heaven, and not to man ; that blood may yet bring on an unfortunate hour of retribution ; and if 'it do, what have you to fight with? Count you on a gallant army ? There are English gentry amongst its officers, the sons and descendants of those who wielded the sword for lib- erty, never to strike down to slavery their fellow men. Eng- hsh chivahy will not join with you, most noble Marquis of Anglesea : and though you have deserted her and taken the prudent side of the Commander-in-Chief, yet, gallant Marquis, I think you have reckoned without yom' host. Let me teU you this story, sir. I am but an humble indi- vidual. It happened to me, not many months ago, to be going through England ; my family were in a carriage, on the box of wliich I was placed ; there came up on the road, eight or ten sergeants and corporals, vnth two hundred and fifty recruits. I perceived at once the countenances of my unfortunate coun- trymen laughing as they went along, for no other reason than because they were ahve. They saw me, and some of them recognized me ; they instantly bm-st from their sergeants and corporals, formed around my carriage, and gave me three cheers, most noble Marquis. "WeU, may God bless them, wherever they are, poor fellows! Oh, you reckon without ON THE DEFEAT OF THE EMANCIPATION BILL. 131 your host, let me tell you, when you think that a British army wiU trample on a set of petitioners for their rights — beggars for a httle charity, who are looking up to you with eyes lifted, and hands bent down. You wiU not fight us now, most noble Marquis ; and let me tell you, if the battle comes, you shall not have the choice of your position either. But though he is an excellent soldier, the Marquis is a spe- cial bad logician — no blame to him ; for, in the same speech, he said he was still for Cathohc emancipation, and would re- turn to us as soon as he was certain that emancipation was consistent with Protestant ascendency. Ascendency forsooth ! Catholic emancipation supposes universal equalization of civil eligibility, and it cannot consist with the ascendency of any party. The Marquis is ready to open the window to us as soon as he is sure the sun will not shine through it. I am not afraid of his sword. Still less do I feel in peril from his logic. The King of Prussia, when the Saxons left him, one fiiie morn- ing, said, " Let them go against us, it is better that aU the en- emy should be together, and all our friends together also." I make a present of you, to our opponents, most noble Mar- quis. Him who thus deserted us, and hallooed in the ranks of those whose cry was rehgious dissensions, — him have I con- trasted with the true genuine Protestant Christian, who, firm in his own opinion, was the enemy of the Catholics, so long as he believed them to be the enemies of liberty, religious and civil ; but who, the moment he was convinced that they were equally its friends as himself, became our supporter, and set the glorious golden example of a perfect sacrifice of aU that httle pride and jealousy which attach to a change of genuine opin- ion — ^him have I contrasted with Mr. Brownlow, who, be it ever remembered, stood by no Commander-in-Chief, and who can only expose himself in injury and expense, by a sacrifice to principles which the Marquis of Angelsea may admire, but cannot afford possibly to imitate. [Mr. O'Connell then proceeded to panegyrize the public exer- tions of Sir Francis Burdett, Lord Nugent, and the Earl of Don- oughmore ; and passed some severe sarcasms on Sir T. Lethbridge and Mr. Banks, senior,] 132 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNEIJL. There was one speech more on which I will say a few words — it was the speech of Lord Liverpool. I have never read a polemical speech of the noble lord till that. The noble lord seemed to have been employed in a manner quite becom- ing a great statesman; disregarding the course which our ancient enemy, France, was pursuing : not thinking that she was daily increasing her armies — that she was creating an effi- cient navy — that she was rapidly paying off her debt — that titheless France was daily improving her resources, and get- ting rid of the burdens which the war had left on her — that she was building a large class of frigates, and aj)peared as if inclined, on some fit opportunity, to dispute with us once more the emphe of the seas. Of all these facts the noble lord seemed heedless ; they were perhaps beneath the notice of his great mind. He did not calculate on the rising generation of America, that coimtry in which alone the Irish Cathohc has fair play. He did not appear to consider in what time a west- erly wind, which would shut us up in the channel, would waft a fleet to the shores of Ireland, perhaps at some period of dis- tress and discontent, when arms and not men might be want- ing. All these were subjects below the consideration of Lord Liverpool's great mind. He was busied with one of much greater importance to the state. He was engaged in polemi- cal discussions about auricular confession and penance, and the mode of administering the sacrament ; and as the result of his studies in those important matters, he poured forth a rich and luscious discourse on , an admiring audience. In the course of that speech, the noble lord read the House of Com- mons no very gentle lecture for having presumed to send up such a bill. Here was another reformer. It had been said, perhaps imtruly, that the great majority of the House were sent into their places by several members of the Peers : if that were true, it might perhaps account for the scolding given for having passed a bill not approved by their masters. Be that however as it might, the House of Commons were scolded — perhaps they deserved it. The noble lord had expressed an opinion, that the religion of several milhons of his fellow-sub- jects was such, as. to render them imfit for the enjoyment of civil rights to the same extent as the Protestant. What new ON THE DEFEIT OP THE EMANCIPATION BILL. 133 light was it tliat broke upon tile noble Earl's mind, so as to produce this impression, so opposite to that which he seemed to feel only one year before ? The noble Earl appeared to hold a very different opinion of the Irish people last year. On the 8th of April, 1824, he was reported to have said in his place in the House, speaking of the Irish, " that whatever they may be in their own country, I say of them in this, that there does not exist, on the face of the globe, a more industrious, a more honest, or more kindly- disposed people." Surely they have not changed their reli- gion since then ; and if, in 1824, that rehgion could make them " honest, industrious, and kindly-disposed," why should it be urged as a ground for exclusion from the fuU enjoyment of the rights of British subjects in 1825 ? What other use would a statesman make of rehgion but to instill morality and public order ? The noble Earl went on in the same speech to say, " I thuik it material to bear this testimony in their favor, because whatever may be the evils of Ireland, and from whatever source they may proceed, it is impossible for any man to ima- ging that they arise from any defect in the people. We may boldly assert that it is impossible to find a more valuable class of people in any country in the world." And yet it was this most valuable class of persons that the noble Earl in his late address would condemn to eternal exclusion from the fuU benefits of the constitution. Did the noble Earl imagine that the drivelling nonsense of Dr. Duigenan, which he had kept bottled up for seven or eight years, and now drew forth to treat the British nation, would drive a people such as he had described from their purpose? Let the honest lord stand forth and defend his consistency. He had made that speech from which he had just given the extract in 1824 ; the second- speech was made in 1825. In the interim the Duke of York had made his declaration of eternal hostility to the great ques- tion of emancipation. The Bishop of Chester was not the only convert which that speech had made. The noble Earl, to use a vulgar adage, "knew how the cat jumped." Oh, my Lord Duke, with what pleasure will this speech of my Lord Liverpool and that of his Eoyal Highness of York be received at the meeting of the aUied Sovereigns — ^those mighty despots 134 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL CONNELL. who, tjTannical as tliey are, still respect the consciences of their subjects ? "What joy will they not feel at reading this wise effusion of England's prime minister ? They will in their hearts say, " Let it go forth, it will work for our views." They will add : " Eockites, keep your spirits — Durate et vosmet rebus servate secundis. Or, as Cromwell said, " ' Trust in the Lord and rest on your pikes.' Matters are going on in the way that you and we and the enemies of England's peace could wish." Such would be the sentiments of all who were envious of England's power, and jealous of that freedom by which she acquired it. Then- feelings on this subject would not be less gratified when they read, if they could beheve it, the calculation made by Mr. Leslie Eoster, showing that the population of Ireland was less by two millions than it was generally considered. That hon- orable gentleman, who was the more fit to be the head peda- gogue of a large school, than at the head of a respectable county (a situation by the way in which the votes of Cathohcs had helped to placed him), had come to parliament with 'his primer and his multiphcation table, and endeavored to show that the Cathohcs of L'eland were not so numerous by two milhons as was generally beheved. He began by counting the number of children that attended some of the charity schools, and then taking the number of parents that each child had, which was easy to ascertain ; but he omitted to consider how many children each set of parents had, which in Ireland might perhaps be more difficult. He also omitted to notice the num- ber of children that never attended at those schools ; but the result of his calculation was, that the Catholics were less by two millions than their advocates stated them to be. I have heard of killing off by computation by Captain Bo- badil ; but this beat Bobadil quite out. However, the error was not too gross for the party to which it was addressed, for the noble Earl swallowed it, Bobadil and aU. What, I beg calmly to ask, would be the effect of the noble lord's denun- ciation of perpetual exclusion, upon the four of five miUions of Cathohcs which Mr. Leslie Foster had left ? (for he would admit for the moment that they were reduced two milhons ON TEE DEFEAT OP THE EMANCIPATION BILL. 135 witliout the aid of Lord Anglesea's broadsword.) They were told they could not be free while the Protestant church estab- lishment existed, for that their entire emancipation was incom- patible with the safety of that estabhshment, was this not in effect putting every man, woman and child of the five millions of Catholics in hostility to that church? I beg most dis- tinctly to deny the justice of the assumption on which this argument of exclusion was founded. The Cathohcs did not wish to see the Protestant church subverted. I would solemn- ly declare, that I would rather perish than see the Protestant church subverted and my own church substituted in its place. [The learned gentleman, after adverting to the petitions from England in favor of a repeal of the assessed taxes, which amount- ed to about three millions, proceeded to observe, that that sum and much more might be saved to this country, by merely doing an act of justice to the Irish people.] Ireland now costs this country four millions a year more than her revenue produced. Let justice be done — let peace and content be brought about by this act of just concession, and Ireland, instead of being a burden to England, will prove a rich source of wealth and strength to the empire. Capital will flow into the country, her resources for its employment would become known, the facHities for every kind of com- merce which her ports afforded would ensure a flow of wealth to English capitalists — the only persons who can take advan- tage of them — an advantage which they were deterred from seeking by the present unsettled state of the country. See what sources of annoyance, of war and bloodshed Wales and Scotland were, until they were incorporated in one gov- ernment with England, and until their inhabitants were fully admitted to all the advantages of the constitution as Brit- ish subjects, while they now contribute much to the strength of the empire. Why should not the same attempt be made with respect to Ireland? Is she to be forever excluded from the fuU benefits of the constitution? Before I conclude, I beg to notice a paper which had within these four days been circulated with great assiduity by the enemies of emancipa- tion. One of those papers I now hold in my hand. It called 136 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. on all friends of tlie Protestant religion to read some extracts whicli it contained from tlie Journal des Debats, and to pause before tliey gave any support to the prayer of the Catholics. I will briefly state the nature of the case mentioned in the ex- tracts, in order to show the gross injustice of founding upon it any charge against the Catholics. In the department of Aisne, an application was made by some Protestants for the erection of a Protestant church and the appointment of a minister of then' religion to officiate in it. Now by the law of France the government is obliged in any place where there are five hundred Protestants residing, to erect a church for them, and to provide a minister to officiate in it. That clergyman was paid one hundred pounds a year, while a Catholic curate officiating for a similar number of Catholics, received only eighty pounds a year. The reason was, that a Protestant clergyman might have a wife to maintain, while a Cathohc had not. The apphcation was refused, not because it was intended to discourage the Protestant religion, but because the number of Protestants making application did not amount to one half the number for which the law authorized the build- ing of a church — and this was the gross instance of rehgious oi^pression of which such loud complaints were heard in this country! What would have been said if there were three hundred Protestants living in one parish and only one Catho- lic, and that those three hundred were not only obhged to provide a place of worship for themselves, but also to build, at their entire expense, a church for the use of one Catholic ? Would not all England ring with outcries against the injustice of the act? And yet an act of this description, with the ex- ception that the parties were placed in situations the reverse of what he had described, had just occurred in Ireland. A petition was a short time ago presented to the House of Commons, from three hundred Cathohc inhabitants of a j)arish in Ireland, the name of which would sound very harsh in Eng- lish ears, and which could with difficulty be pronounced by Enghsh hps, the parish of Aghado. The petitioners stated that they were the only inhabitants of the parish except one, and that one was a Protestant ; that there was no Protestant church in the parish, but that the Protestant inhabitant had ON THE DEFEAT OF THE EMANCIPATION BILL. 137 the use of a pew in a neigliboring parish church, and they complained of being called upon to bear the expense of build- ing a church for that one Protestant. What, he repeated, would have been said if the petitioners happened to be Pro- testants, and the one inhabitant a Cathohc ? But because they were Cathohcs, it was passed over as a matter of course, and not a word was heard about the oppression of the case. Another subject on which a great outcry had been raised, was lately stated in a French journal, the Constitutionnel. It appeared that a church at Nerac had been in jDOSsession of a Protestant congregation since 1804. This church had origi- nally belonged to the Convent of St. Clare. In the French revolution, when the axe and the guillotine were in daily use against the ministers and professors of religion, the nuns were turned out upon the world, and the convent church was used as a storehouse. In this situation it continued until 1804, when it was given to a Protestant congregation, with no other title of gift or purchase than the mere proces verbal which as- sented to the application which had been made for it. Not long back the Convent of St. Clare was restored, and not un- naturally, the nuns applied for the church which had originally belonged to them. A regular legal proceeding was com- menced for its recovery, and the members of the Protestant congregation, not being able to prove a good title, were obhged to give it up. For this, however, the Times and Chronicle, and other Mberal journals, were quite enraged; their very types seemed to fly about in a passion. But what was there in the case to call for such angry comment ? It was said that the cure of Nerac made use of some very ilhberal expressions on the occasion of regaining possession ; if he did, there was no man connected with the Times or Chronicle who would more readily condemn any ^uch expres- sion than he would. Let it, however, be recollected, that the charge made was the charge of an enemy. It was made by a party of the old Jacobin school — of those whose friends had succeeded in overthrowing the altar of France for a time, and now, when rehgion was restored, would wish to hold up its ministers to contempt or reproach. I think the charge, coming from such a quarter, ought not to be entitled to any more 138 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. weiglit than an idle calumny wliicli might be found against himself in the John Bull of this town. Suppose dmiug the power of Cromwell — that scriptural Christian, with texts in his mouth and sword in his hand — suppose that rough commander were to have bestowed a Pro- testant church on a Catholic congregation or an any of the various sects of Christians (I speak without disrespect of any) which swarmed through the land in his day, and suppose, on the restoration, it was to be claimed, and a legal process insti- tuted for its recovery, would the decision of that claim in favor of the original owners, be a proof of bigotry or oppression in the Church of England ? Why then should that be called bigotry in one case, which would be an act of justice in the other ? Talk of bigotry in France from CathoHcs to Protestants ! In that country both were ahke ehgible to places of trust and power in the state ; but whoever heard in any of their pubHc assembhes — in the Chamber of Deputies— of a Lethbridge or an Ingiis getting up in his place and reviling with coarse epithets the religion of his Protestant fellow-subjects ? (By the way, I intended to make a few remarks on the Index Ex- purgatorius of Sir H. Ingiis, but I forgive him.) To those who talked of Catholic bigotry I would say, let the Catholics of this country be placed on the same terms of equality with their Protestant brethren, as the Protestants of France are, with respect to their Catholic fellow-subjects, and I would rest perfectly satisfied. I fear I have trespassed too long on the patience of the meeting — but there were one or two points more on which I would say a word. The bill which the Lords had rejected was accompanied part of the way in the other House, with two measures called its wings. Those measures were condemned by some who were friendly to the great question ; but the Catholics of Ireland were not the authors of those measures ; they ^^ere no party to their origin. Of that bill which went to make a provision for the Catholic clergy I would say, that the clergy desired no such provision. They are content to serve their flocks for the humble pittance which they now receive. The rewards to which they looked for their incessant and valuable labors, are — let every hair of the Bishop of ON THE DEFEAT OF THE EMANCIPATION BILL. 139 Chester's wig stand on end at liearing it — not of this but of ano- ther world. It is not the Cathohcs who desire those measures. They are sought for by the Protestants, who look upon them as some sort of security ; and the Cathohcs are disposed to make some sacrifice to honest prejudices, by acceding to that which they did not approve. It was this feehng which pro- duced those measures, and brought on that ridiculous scene of one of his Majesty's ministers strongly objectiug to the " wings," while another was eagerly flapping them on, until, hke the tomb of Mahomet, the Cathohc bill hung suspended between the two counteracting influences. As to the second bill, respecting the forty shilling freeholders, it is one which I cannot approve. I am too much of a reformer, and of that class called " radical," to wish for any such alteration. I did assent to it only because it was considered that Protestants desired it. I would much rather have emancipation without it. They are now, however, gone by, and I hope they will never again make their appearance — certain it is, I shall never wish for them, unless they are earnestly desired by the Pro- testants. I now, my lord Duke, take my leave ; I fear I have ex- hausted the patience of this meeting. I am grateful for the attention with which I have been heard ; I have spoken under feehngs, perhaps, of some irritation— certainly under those of deep disappointment. A crowd of thoughts have rushed upon me, and I have given utterance to them as they arose, without allowing my judgment a pause as to which I should select and which restrain. I now go back to my own country, where I expect to find a feverish restlessness at having insult added to our injuries. Our enemies — ^perhaps I ought to say oppo- nents — ^have offered this insult ; they have barbed with dis- grace, the dart of death. It will be impossible not to expect a degree of soreness at the way in which our claims have been met — at this additional iusult. It is impossible not to feel disappointed at the manner in which we have seen Lord Liver- pool truckle to the nonsense about the coronation oath (some person here said No, no.) I repeat it, he did ; and my con- viction is that aU we heard reported of him in the newspapers was dictated from that quarter. "We shall now return to Ire- 140 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. land, and there advise our countrymen to be patient — to bear the further delay of justice with calmness, but not to relax their fair, open, and legitimate efforts in again seeking for then- rights. They have put down one association ; I promise to treat them to another. They shall trench further on your hberties — they shall dive deeper into the ratals of the consti- tution before they drive us from our purpose. We shall go on, but it will be without anger or turbulence. In that steady course we will continue to use all legitimate means to accom- plish our object, until Enghsli good sense shall overcome bigotry in high stations — shall put down intolerance in per- sons great in office — ^until the minister be diiven back to the half honesty which he before possessed, or to that retirement which he rigidly deserves." SPEECH ON THE TREATY OF LIMERICK, 1826. [On submitting to the Catholic Association, in 1826, the draft of a petition to parliament, asking that the provisions of the treaty of Limerick be carried into effect, Mr. O'Connell spoke as fol- lows :] The question is narrowed to a single point, and to any one reviewing the facts which history presented, it was impossible to deny that the treaty has been foully and flagitiously vio- lated. The x^enal code was a violation of it, and while a par- ticle of that code remains, so long the solemn compact entered into between the English government and the Irish people is a disgraceful monument of British perfidy. That treaty was a solemn, dehberate and authorized agreement. It was signed by bishops and commanders, and it was signed by Ginkle, who had the command of his government to give even better terms than it insured, and to make peace on any conditions, no matter how favorable to the people of Limerick, and of course to the whole people of Ireland. Who is it, who looks at history, that can be surprised that the wish to effect a peace should exist on the part of the Enghsh ? At the time of SPEECH ON THE TEEATY OE LIMEEICE. 141 tlae war England was split into parties and dissensions. "Wil- liam had tlie adherence of the Whigs to his cause, but the Tories, who were the more numerous, though not so powerful, were arrayed against him. The Tories were like the cowardly Orange faction of the present day ; they were mean and das- tardly, and took especial care to keep themselves from every enterprise ia which their persons would be endangered. The Scotch highlanders, a brave, hardy, and chivalrous race, who were CathoHcs, were devoted to the house of Stuart, and so were those of the lowlands too. The Calvinists of that coun- try were ia the same situation with the Irish of the present day ; their consciences were opj^ressed — their religious hberty was restricted. They fought however in the field for their religion. Their efforts, although courageous and adventurous, were not suited to the meek spirit of Christianity. I would not fight for rehgion, because rehgion does not inculcate nor sanction such an act ; but for my civil rights, I trust in God, there is no man who has a more sincere regard for their value, or who would make greater sacrifices and efforts for their defence. In England there were many enemies against Wil- liam, and his situation was precarious. In Ireland his pros- pects were bad and discouraging : the Irish forces, though in part unsuccessful, were not discomfited, and they were learn- ing those rules of discipline, without which an army is no more than a mob. The battle of the Boyne was lost not by the inferiority of the Irish forces, but by the paltry, pitiful cowardice of James. He only appeared once in the battle on that day. He made only one appeal, and that was when the soldiery of England was cutting down by the troops of Ire- land under Hamilton — then he exclaimed, " spare my Eng- Ush subjects !" Like another Duke of Tork he took up his position in the rear, and the races of the Helder had a glori- ous prototype in the races of the Boyne. " Change generals," exclaimed the gallant Began, in the evening when the battle was done, " Change generals, and we will fight the battle over agaia!" Three thousand were wounded in that battle and but three hundred were taken prisoners ! How illustrative of the humanity of the conquerors ! Still Clare was open, and its batteries were in possession of the Irish. The fortifications 142 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. of Limerick were jet at their command — Frencli succors were daily expected — the war between England and France Avas already declared — and with such opposition, were it not for the treaty of Limerick, "WilHam would have been driven back into Holland, if even there he would have found a refuge from the French. The winter was fast approaching. His armies consisted of some Dutch and some Brandenburg troops, and some that were called Irish on whom no reliance was placed : they were the Enniskillen and Londonderry regiments. Oh ! what regiments these wore ! Schomberg, in speaking of them, was only puzzled to decide which of the two regiments was more thievish, because both the regiments were much less remarkable for then' valor than for their propensity to rob and steal. Their officers were peasants — plebeians who had advanced themselves by their baseness, and like the Orange- men of the present time, they were formidable only to an un- armed people. It was not unhkely that Mr. Dawson was the descendant of one of these peasants. The pleasure he felt in reverting to those times might probably be thus accounted for. This Mr. Dawson, who, if he were not a clerk in office, would not be worthy of contradiction, asserts many extraordinary things respecting this country. He felt no interest in preserv- ing its character, because, hke his brother Orangemen, he was not indigenous to the soil. They must certainly be exotics, for if half their venom was natural, the influence of St. Pat- rick would be effectual in banishing the reptiles from among us. But the reptile stiU lives, and here are its hisses. [Mr. O'Connell here took up a printed report of Mr. Dawson's speech.] Mr. Dawson tells us that the history of Ireland is a mere waste — not a spot in it to vary the dismal scene but London- derry, that furnished the robbers to Marshal Schomberg. "Let us trace," says he, "its dark and bloody progress. When a foreign foe invaded, it shrunk at the foot of an insig- nificant conqueror." And this is what Mr. Dawson said of a country to which he boasts of belonging. Let me tell him this country was never beat. It was by Irishmen she was always ruined. Their treachery and disunion were the cause SPEECH ON THE TEEATY OP LIMEEICK. 143 of her defeat. Four fifths of tlie Irish troops joined the Cromwellian invaders under Dermot, and it was to their deser- tion, and not to the superior arms of her enemies, that her coaquest was attributable. Mr. Dawson proceeded — "con- tinued insurrection, intestine wars, bloody massacres, treaclie- rous treaties." Treacherous treaties! Come forward, Mr. Dawson, with your native host of Orangemen, and prove infraction of one single treaty on the part of the Irish. I ask but one. But he takes care to make the charge general. Oh ! that is the way in which hbels and mahgnant imputations are uttered and circulated ; for he knows he cannot substantiate it. "Yersatur in generalibus." Oh! how fatally true the Irish were to their treaties may be read in that of Limerick. The treaty was signed before communication was had to the other part of the army, which were, Mr. Chairman, under the command of an ancestor of your own. Before it was com- pleted, the French fleet with men and arms arrived at Dingle. Some argued that the treaty was not binding — that it had been agreed upon only in the South. What was the reply ? " We know we are not bound by the treaty, but Irish honor is pledged, and never shall we stain it." And well did they observe it. They dismissed the French troops — they admitted their enemies. They relied on Enghsh faith and Orange honor, and the consequence, the natural consequence, was that they v/ere duped. But I turn on Mr. Dawson and say to him — you accuse us of violating treaties ; if you cannot show me one you are a slanderer. And I turn on him again and say — show me one sohtary treaty that England has ever performed toward us, and I will forgive her all the rest. No, sir, from the time the first footstep of the Saxon polluted our land, down to the last, and not least flagrant breach of faith at the execrable Union, I defy him to show me one compact between England and this coun- try, that has not been treacherously and basely broken. The description of a treaty with the Irish, given by Clarendon, shows that the intention, at the momept of entering into them, was to delude and betray us. Next, Mr. Dawson says : " A system- atic combination against the introduction of the arts and bless- ings of peace are (with those qualities he before stated) to be found in mournful succession throughout the lapse of centu- 144 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. lies." Eeally, this is very, very heartrending. They first take away our possessions, our rights, our wealth, and every incentive to labor and industry, and then one of that very faithless and base crew who betrayed us, an underling of a minister, is sent to thwart and irritate us — to charge us with the effects of theu^ own perfidy, and to remind us of the bless- ings we have lost by being the victims of their diabolical deceit. " During five or six centuries," says Mr. Dawson, "the his- tory of Ireland presents not one single fact to claim the admi- ration or even the respect of posterity." The blundering bigot then, with a classic affectation, asks : " Where can we look for one green spot to cheer us in our gloomy pilgrimage ?" Oh, hear this Orange bigot asking for a green spot ! I was reading at the very time I received the newspaper with Mr. Dawson's speech, a passage in a work which has been ever and is still looked up to as a high authority on the subject of which it treats. It is an account of the injuries and massa- cres of the Irish in 1641, by Dr. Curry, and there the occur- rence to which I allude is to be found. Many, innumerable instances could be drawn from the historians of the times in which Mr. Dawson's ignorance delights to revel, not of one fact, but of hundreds of facts, calculated to elevate the charac- ter of the Catholics of Ireland. Speaking of the county of Mayo, the historian says : " In this county few murders were committed by either side, though the hbel saith, that about two hundred and fifty Protestants were murdered, whereof at Belluke two hundi-ed and twenty ; whereas not one person was murdered there, which the now Lady of Montrath can witness ; her ladyship and Sir Robert Hanna, her father, with many otliers, being retreated thither for security, were aU conveyed safe to Manor Hamilton. And it is observable that the said lady and the rest came to Mr. Owen O'Rorcke's, who kept a garrison at Drumaheir, for the Irish, before they cAme to Manor Hamilton, whose brothea: was prisoner with Sir Frede- rick Hamilton. And the said Mr. O'Rorcke, having so many persons of quality in. his hands, sent to Sir Frederick to enlarge his brother, and that he would convey them aU safe to him. But Sir Frederick, instead of enlarging his brother, hanged SPEECH ON THE TEEATY OF LIMEEICK. 145 liim the next day, wMda miglit have well provoked the gentle- man to revenge, if he had not more humanity than could be well expected upon such occasions, and in times of so great confusion ; yet he sent them all safe when they desired." Yes, he sent them all safe when they desired. He did what he ought to do, harrowed as his heart must have been at the atrocious outrage that had been committed by his rash and ferocious enemy. He did what an Irish gentleman did do, and does do — he spurned at cruelty. He was not goaded, even by the example set him, into an imitation of barbarity. His honor stifled his sense of injury. I will give that fact to Mr. Dawson, and let him make the most of it, in classic fulmina- tions against the Catholics of Ireland. Let Mr. Dawson read this fact, and if he persist in aspersing his native land after the perusal of it — if he should then impugn the chivalrous gen- erosity — the humanity — the virtues of Ireland, I will only say, that if Ireland has produced generous hearts and dispositions, she has also produced monsters and anomahes, which have turned what was intended to be one of the gardens of the world into the pitiful pelting province that she is at this moment ! Mr. Dawson had said that the object of James II. was to estabhsh the Cathohc religion both in England and Ireland, and with it unlimited despotism. This was a false assertion ; he did no more than to proclaim toleration, and this was enough for the Dawsons of the day to expel him from the throne. The prosecution of the seven bishops I now condemn, and if I had lived in the day of the occurrence I would have condemned it then. Mr. Dawson says, that in order to effect the purpose of estabhshing an unlimited despotism in Ireland, James proceeded to remodel the civil estabhshments, and he accordingly displaced every Protestant who held an office in the administration of justice, and filled up the place of chan- cellor, chief judges, puisne judges, privy counsellors, sheriffs, magistrates, and even constables, with CathoKcs. Talking of constables reminds me of the DubHn corporation ; that im- maculate body once petitioned for the removal of Mulvaney, the scavenger, from his functions, because he was, contrary to law, a Papist ! Oh, what a relentless spirit ! They would not 146 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. allow a Papist to fill even tlie dirtiest office of the state. It is asserted by Mr. Dawson, that all the judges appointed by James were intolerant. This is false ; James nominated only three judges — Nugent, Lord Eiverston, Sir Stephen Eice, and Daly. Would to God all Judge Dalys were like him. He never raised himself to the bench by destroying the interests of his country. He never devoted his leisure hours to calum- niating his ^\Tetched, ragged countrymen ! All three individ- uals nominated by James to the bench, were remarkable for their XDurity and perfection. They are quoted by Protest- ant writers as the models of judicial knowledge and purity. It was related of Eice that he gambled his pro^^erty, and this was the only blemish that ever sulhed his reputation. They lived in troubled times and they survived them. They did not fly, as they would have done if they had been guilty of a crime or a derehction of duty. They lived honored and respected, and they descended to theu- graves without taint or reproach, having served their King well, and I trust having served their God better. Oh ! it is only Orange bigotry that could ransack the very graves to find materials of insult ; but in this instance, as in every other, it has failed, and I defy it to the proof. Mr. Dawson had alleged it as a charge, that it was enacted by James that three fellows of the University were prohibited from meeting together. Even if it were so, how did the enact- ment differ from the enactments usual in all cases of civil commotion. What was this act intended to prevent but a Protestant insurrection ? Flagrante bello, it is provided that there shall be no meetings of persons who might conspire to cause a j)ubHc tumult, and this which is now practiced — ^nay, which is carried to an unparalleled extent in Ireland under the present government, is charged as a crime upon James. But it should not be forgotten that by the repeal of that act of settlement, the monarch himseK was a sufferer to an im- mense amount. The passing of that act, however, might not be justified, but decidedly any act that would tend to subvert it would be unjust. Transfers and conveyances had been made to such an extent, that it would be an unjustifiable crime to disturb them. I have been accused of recommending the repeal of the act of settlement, and I dare say I wiU now be SPEECH ON THE TEEATY OP LIMEEICK. 147 accused of recommending it. But as a proof of my sincerity in defending it, I will say that if that act were annulled I would be comparatively a beggar. My property hangs upon its continuance. The property of my two brothers, who are both independent, hangs upon the same title. What then have I to gain by a change ? Mr. Dawson had complained of the attainder of two thousand six hundred Protestants by James. But what was there in that, worthy of reprobation ? Those attainted men had fled the country ; they were told that if they did not come back within a certain period they would be attainted. They did not return and they were attainted ! Why should they not ? They were attainted because they were enemies of the King ; and if they were not enemies of the King, they were base cowards, for they ran away when their country needed their assistance in its cause. In Athens it was the law that every man who was neutral was criminal — " He who is not for us is against us." And shall it be said that those who fled from their country when she needed their energies on her behalf, were not deserving of obloquy and punishment ? Mr. Dawson had said that the parhament of James was Cathohc. I admit the fact. But let Mr. Dawson show me any act of their doing that can shake their purity and hon- esty ! Let him show me an act even proposed for the purpose of oppressing the consciences of Protestants ! No, the parha- ment of that day sat in friendship with a few Protestants, and theu' BiU of Bights was more extensive even than that of Eng- land. Even after the excesses and cruelties that had been com- mitted against the Catholics, when they were deprived of power, and when they regained it, was there a system of blood and cruelty or their part, although they had the dominion if they used it ? Under Mary the Catholics of Ireland were not persecutors, and again under James they wielded their power in mercy and toleration. They forgot the persecutions which theii- body endured under Ehzabeth, and they only bore in recollection the character of their religion, which taught them to give charity and good-wiU for persecution and cruelty. Mr. Dawson had said that King James had taken away their churches from the Protestants. This assertion, as well as the other assertion, made by that profound statesman, was false. 148 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL O'CONNELL. This statement was derived from tlie pui-e pages of Arclibishop King's work. The cathedral of Christ's Church in Dublin was the King's chapel, and it was in that case alone that James exercised liis. authority, and in dispossessing the holders of that cathedral he acted under his royal right and was not in- fluenced by his rehgious feelings. The contrary was the fact with regard to Wexford. In that county the Cathohc soldiery had taken possession of a Protestant church, and when James heard the circumstances he ejected the soldiery and restored the church to its owners. Doctor Leslie, a learned divine of the Protestant Church, had challenged the accuracy of King's book, and had denounced and refuted it, and now, after such a lapse of years, Mr. Peel sends out his underling, Mr. Daw- son, his clerk, to rei3eat the calumnies. "Who was this King ? He was a vile parasite of James ? He was the ecclesiastic who prayed from his pulpit, that God might blast him if he ever preached any other doctrine than passive obedience, and at another time, that God might blast and destroy William and his consort, if they had any intention of invading this country ! He — he is the vile toad-eater, who has denounced the monarch whose feet he kissed ! Dopping, who preached up that there was no faith to be kept with the Cathohcs of Limerick, was the first to present an address to King James on his landing. What an exquisite pair of defenders of the violation of the treaty of Limerick ! What immaculate au- thority for Mr. Dawson to quote fi-om ! Is it to be endured that Peel, who knows nothing of the history of these times, or the history of our country, is to send out one of his clerks to blow up, with his pestiferous breath, the embers of those un- holy fires of bigotry which had been nearly extinguished by the sux^erincumbent infiuence of liberaHty and good fellow- ship, and to excite, by his evil agency, the inflammable ma- terials of Irish society ? Before I conclude, I will read an extract from a work written by Mr. Storey, a chaplain in the army of King Wilham, who is a tolerably good authority on the bravery of the Irish troops, which Mr. Dawson has re- pudiated : Wednesday, tlie 24th. A breach being made near St. John's Gate, over the Black Battery, that was about twelve yards long, and pretty flat, SPEECH ON THE TKEATY OF LIMERICK. 149 as it appeared to us, the King gave orders tliat the counterscarp should be attacked that afternoon, to which purpose a great many woolsacks were carried down, and good store of ammunition, with other things suitable for such work. All the grenadiers in the army were ordered to march down into the trenches, which they did. Those, being about five hundred, were commanded, each company, by their respective cap- tains, and were to make the first attack, being supported by one bat- talion of the Blue Dutch on the right, then Lieutenant Douglass's regi- ment, Brigadier Stuart's, my Lord Meath's, and my Lord Lisburn's, as also a Brandenburg regiment. These were all posted towards the breach, upon the left of whom were Col. Cutts and the Danes, Lieutenant General Douglass commanded, and their orders were to possess them- selves of the counterscarp and maintain it. "We had also a body of horse drawn up to succor the foot upon occasion. About half an hour after three, the signal being given by firing three pieces of cannon, the grena- diers, being in the furthest angle of our trenches, leaped over and ran towards the counterscarp, firing their pieces and throwing their grenades. This gave the alarm to the Irish, who had their guns all ready, and discharged great and small shot upon us as fast as 'twas possible. Our men were not behind them in either, so that in less than two minutes, the noise was so terrible that one would have thought the very skies were ready to rend in sunder. This was seconded by dust, smoke, and all the terrors that the art of man could invent to ruin and undo one another ; and to make it the more uneasy, the day itself was exces- sively hot to the bystanders, and much more sore, in all respects, to those upon action. Captain Carlisle, of my Lord Drogheda's regiment, ran in with his grenadiers to the counterscarp, and though he received two wounds between that and the trenches, yet he went forward and commanded his men to throw in the grenades, but in the leaping into the dry ditch below the counterscarp, an Irishman below shot him dead. Lieutenant Burton, however, encouraged the men, and they got upon the counterscarp, and all the rest of the grenadiers were as ready as they. By this time the Irishmen were throwing down their arms and running as fast as they could into town, which, our men perceiving, entered the breach, pell-mell, with them, and half the Earl of Drogheda's grenadiers and some others were actually in town. The regiments that were to second the grenadiers went to the counterscarp, and, having no order to proceed, they stoj)t." [I engage they did, they stopt sure enough.] " The Irishmen were all running from the walls, and quite over the bridge into the English town ; but seeing but a few of our men enter, they were with much ado pei'suaded to rally, and those that were in seeing themselves not followed, and their ammunition being spent, they designed to retreat, but some were shot, some taken, and the rest came out again, but very few without being wounded. The Irish then ventured upon the breach again, and from the walls and every place so pestered us upon the counterscarp, that, after nigh three hours resist- 150 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. ing bullets, stones, broken bottles, from the very women, wlio boldly stood in the breach and Avere nearer our men than then* own, " And liere I will -paj a tribute to the heroic virtues of these women, who thus sacrificed themselves for their country's honor. An oJEficer of the Iiish army was wounded. The instance is one of singular interest, arising from female courage and presence of mind. He was wounded, and was flying into his own house, and was pursued by an enemy. He had gained his door, and his Avife, from a window in the house, was a wit- ness of his efforts to escape from his relentless pursuer. The window-stone was loose, and it was a ready instrument for her purpose. Her husband was nearly a victim to the revenge of his foe, who had just stepped upon the threshold, when the im- pulse of the mind of the fond and courageous woman gave a strength and energy to her efforts, — she hurled the stone upon the ruffian's head, and he bit the dust. Oh, what splendid de- votion to country ! Would there have been an Irish heart among the Irish, if they did not beat out their invaders, stim- ulated as they were, by such heartcheering examples. [Mr. O'Connell resumed the reading.] " whatever ways could be thought on to destroy us, our ammunition being spent, it was judged safest to return to our trenches. When the work was at the hottest, the Brandenburg regiment, who behaved them- selves very well, had got upon the Black Battery, when the enemy's powder happened to take fire, and blew up a great many of them, the men, fagots, and stones, and what not, flying into the air with a most terrible noise. Colonel Cutts was commanded by the Dulie of Wurtem- burg, to march towards the spur at the south gate, ancl beat in the Irish that appeared there, which he did, though he lost several of his men, and was himself wounded ; he went within half musket shot of the gate, and all his men were open to the enemy's fire, who lay secure within the walls. The Danes were not idle all the while, but fired upon the enemy with all imaginable fury, and had several killed, but the mischief was, we had but one breach, and all towards the left, it was impossible to get into the town when the gates were shut, if there had been no enemy to oppose us, without a great many scaling ladders, which we had not. From half an hoiu- after three till after seven, there was one continued fire of grape and small shot without any intermission ; insomuch that the smoke that went from the town reached in one continued cloud to the top of a mountain at least six miles off. When our men drew off, some were brought up dead, and some without a leg, others wanted SPEECH ON THE TEEATY OF LIMEEICK. 151 arms, and some were blind with powder, especially a great many of the poor Brandenburghers looked hke furies, with the misfortune of gun- powder. One Mr. Upton, getting in amongst the Irish in town, and seeing no way to escape, went in the crowd undiscovered, till he came at the Governor, and then surrendered himself. There was a captain, one Bedloe, who deserted the enemy the day before, and now went upon the breach, and fought bravely on our side, for which his Majesty gave him a company. The King stood nigh OromweU's fort aU the time, and the business being over, he went to his camp very much concerned, as in- deed was the whole army ; for you might have seen a mixture of anger and sorrow in everybody's countenance. The Irish had two small field pieces planted in the King's Island, which flanked their own counter- scarp, and in our attack, did us no smaU damage, as did also two guns more that they had planted within the town, opposite the breach, and charged with cartridge shot. We lost at least five hundred upon the spot, and had a thousand more wounded, as I understood by the sur- geons of our hospitals, who are the properest judges. The Irish lost a great many by cannon and other ways ; but it cannot be supposed that their loss should be equal to ours, since it is a much easier thing to de- fend walls, than 'tis by main strength to force people from them ; and one man within, has the advantage of four without." [Here followed a list of officers killed and wounded, needless to be recounted.] Are we after this to be told by Dawson that our country- men were not brave, and would not succeed, if they had held out? In a base violation of the treaty, which had been signed before the walls of Limerick, the privileges and immu- nities promised, were denied, — the treaty was broken — it stands a record of British perfidy ! Our ancestors, sir, for I, too, may say that blood runs even in my veins from those who fought before Limerick, are denied, their rights ! Your noble brother, degraded from his natural rank, is unrepresent- ed and uurepresenting. He neither has a vote in the election of his own order, nor the voice of a Forty-shilling Free- holder in returning a member to the Commons' House of Parhament. Where is the hberty the Cathohcs enjoyed un- der Charles I., which was secured to them by the treaty of Limerick? TeU me that, Mr. Dawson. Tell me that, Orange faction. Let Mr. Peel bring his borough members, who come in when the division bell is rung, to assert facts contrary to reason and religion against us ; but let them not insult us 152 SELECT SPEECHES OF DANIEL o'CONNELL. by saying that the treaty of Limerick has not been foully vio- lated. There is another trait of Mr. Dawson's hypocrisy that is worth mentioning. After my examination before the Parlia- mentary Committee, Mr. Dawson came up to me, and told me, in the weakness of his heart, that my evidence had removed many prejudices from him, and that his opinions on many subjects were altered. I rejoiced at the declaration, and I respected him for making it at the time. I mentioned in pub- he the fact, and stated that Mr. Dawson had shaken hands with me in the interview, and this part of the relation it was deemed necessary to contradict in the Dublin Evening Mail. I do not know whether he shook hands with me or not. I hope now he did not. I would shrink from any contact with a man w^ho could make such a declaration to me as he did, and since falsify it by his acts. I have done — I have shown that the treaty of Limerick was foully violated. I arraign those who perpetuate the vio- lation by their hostility to us, and to om^ cause. I arraign their bigotry in the face of the world ; and I demand in the name of humanity and justice and faith, that at least the terms of the compact should be fulfilled. SPEECH AT THE BAR OF THE HOUSE OF COM^ MONS, TO MAINTAIN HIS BIGHT TO SIT AS MEMBER FOR -CLARE. I CANNOT, su', help feeling some apprehension when I state that I am very ignorant of the forms of this House, and there- fore that I shall reqube much indulgence from you, if, in what I am about to say, I should happen, by anything that may fall from me, to violate them. I claim my right to sit and vote in the House, as the representative for the county of Clare, without taking the Oath of Supremacy. I am ready to take the Oath of Allegiance, provided by the recent statute, which l^lf., ,'.: ,liiuto,' is written there in golden characters, not only to suggest to your lordship the duty of a judicial interposition on behalf of the silent, but also to warn the advocate not to avail himself in any merciless spirit of his forensic prerogative against the man whom the law has stricken, dumb. I shall make it superfluous on the part of his counsel to produce evidence in favor of his character — he is a man of worth and honor, and until the fatal event for which he stands indicted, has borne a reputation for peculiar kindness of heart. " After stating the facts I concluded thus : " At the outset of my statement I expressed myself in praise of the defendant, and, as I advance to a conclusion, I pause for an instant to reiterate my panegyric. He has been, I repeat it, up to the time of this incident, a humane and well-conducted man. Let him have the full benefit of this commendation. If it shall appear that under circumstances which constitute a necessity, and in obedience to the instinct of self- preservation he exclaimed ' fire !' then I am the very first to call on you to acquit him." This is not the language of a man actuated by the fierce zeal of a relentless prosecutor ; I think it far less vehement than the charges of judges which we occasionally hear in Ireland. At the conclusion of the evidence, I told the judge that I thought that no case for charging the defendant with murder had been made out: I do think that the Attorney- General, in reverting to a trial which took place fifteen years ago, has not acted with ingenuousness, and I am convinced that in the opinion of the House I have freed myself from tlie imputation that I did not exercise the prerogative of the Crown with the intent attributed to me ; and if the right hon- orable gentleman had followed the example which I gave him on that occasion — if, in the constitution of the jury in Dublin, he had taken care that there should be five Roman Catholics and seven Protestants upon it — nay, if he had allowed even two, or one Roman Cathohc upon that jury, I think he would lEISH STATE TEIALS. 391 liaye taken not only a more merciful but a more judicious course than tliat wliicli lie did adopt. The jury that sat in Dublin on the late trial was composed of twelve Protestants, and the House has not yet been apprised of some circumstances connected with their selection. Eight of those jurors voted against Mr. O'Connell at the several elec- tions at which that honorable gentleman was candidate for the city of Dublin. I do not mean to say that they had not a most perfect right to do so, or that because they had voted agamst him they ought of necessity to have been set aside by the Crown, or that they were unfit to exercise the duties of jurors in his case ; but we have first the fact of every Eoman Catholic on the jury list being set aside, and then we have a jury of persons admittedly hostile to him selected. There was a controversy last night respecting Mr. Thomp- son. A doubt was entertained as to the fact whether he had seconded a resolution at a corporation meeting. I beheve the fact is beyond all doubt. The resolution was to this effect : " That this meeting will support and maintain, by every means in its power, the Legislative Union between Great Britain and Ireland." There was another gentleman of more marked politics — Mr. Faulkner. It will be found in Saunders's News Letter of the 14:th of February, 1840, that at a meeting of Protestants, con- vened by the Lord Mayor in pursuance of a resolution of the Common Council, and held in the King's Room at the Man- sion House, a Mr. Jones is reported to have said : " I call on the meeting by every consideration to stand by their princi- ples, and above all, to maintain the Protestant ascendency in church and state," and then followed loud and long-continued cheering, with shouts of "no surrender," and "one cheer more." Mr. Faulkner, who was one of the jury, proposed the third resolution, and that resolution was this : " That this meeting views with deep alarm the bill introduced into parlia- ment which proposes to interfere with the municipal corpora- tions of Ireland, and which transfers the rights of Protestants to the Eoman Catholic party in Ireland." And on another occasion, in a speech of his, reported in Saunders's News Let- ter of the 13th of April, and also in the Evening Mail, Mr. 392 SELECT SPEECHES OF RICHARD LALOR SHEIL. Faulkner called upon tlie meeting to uphold the Protestant as- cendency in church and state, and gave the charter toast. Some Mend asked what was the charter toast ? and Mr. Faulkner said, " I mean the glorious and immortal memory of the great and good King William." That gentleman ought to have been struck off. I think the House, when it considers the facts of the case — when it looks to the variety of the cir- cumstances connected with the case, will consider these f ac ts to be material in determining whether the jury were legiti- mately selected? Mr. O'Connell might have begun his speech to the jury in the words of the unfortunate Lewis : "I look for judges, but I behold none but accusers here." I turn to the circumstances connected with the prosecution : the Attorney-General has overlooked many incidents which he ought to have stated and which he ought to have known would not be kept back. You have obtained what you regard as a victory over the leader of the Catholic people. That victory has been obtained by you through the instrumentality of a Protes- tant jury. If it was fairly won, I am free to acknowledge that it is not unnaturally followed by that ministerial ovation in which the Secretary for the Colonies and the Secretary for the Home Department have not thought it indecorous to indulge ; but if that victory has been unfairly won — if, while you adhere to the forms of law, you have violated the principles of justice ; if a plot was concocted at the Home Office, and executed in the Queen's Bench ; if, by an ostensible acquiescence in mon- ster meetings for nine months, you have decoyed your antago- nists into your toils ; if foully or fortuitously (and whether fortuitously or foully the result is the same) a considerable fi-action of the jury list had been suppressed ; if you have tried the Liberator of the L'ish Catholics with a jury of exasperated Protestants ; if justice is not only suspected, but comes tainted and contaminated from her impure contact with authority — then, not only have you not a just cause for exultation, but your successes are of that sinister kind which are as fatal to the victors as to the vanquished — which will tarnish you with an ineffaceable discredit, and will be followed at last by a retribu- tion, slow indeed, but, however tardy, inevitably sure. I have presented a double hypothesis to the House. Let us see to IRISH STATE TRIALS. 393 wliich of the alternatives the facts ought to be applied. I shall be permitted, in the first instance, to refer to an obser- vation made by the Secretary for Ireland in reference to my- self. The noble lord said : " He must now advert to some tiling ■whicli had fallen from a member of that House out of doors regarding Chief Baron Brady, and Mr. An- thony Blake. It had been observed by Mr. Shell, that an insult had been offered to the Catholics of Ireland because those gentlemen had not been summoned to a meeting of the council. He believed Chief Baron Brady was a Protestant. But let that pass. He took on himself the re- sponsibility of not summoning those gentlemen to the council. He thought that the measure determined on was the deliberate act of govern- ment, and he did not, therefore, think it proper to ask the opinion of political opponents." "What I said was this : " A circumstance occurred connected with the proclamation which is not undeserving of note. It has always been the usage in this country, (Ii-eland) to summon every member of the Privy Council. Upon this occasion, the Chief Baron, although hving in the neighborhood of Dub- lin, was not summoned, and Mr. Blake, a Roman CathoUc, who lives in Dublin, was not summoned. He was appointed to the office of Chief Eemembrancer by a Tory government. He had been the intimate friend of Lord Wellesley, a great Conservative statesman. He had never taken any part in any violent proceedings, but he was not summoned upon this occasion, although summoned upon every other, to the Privy Council ; while the recorder of the city of Dublin, by whom the jury list was to be revised, and in whose department an accident of a most untoward kind had happened, was summoned to the council whence the proclamation went forth." That was what I said, and I take advantage of this oppor- tunity to add, that if Mr. Blake had been at the Privy Council on Friday, he would have urged his associates not to delay the posting of the proclamation until Saturday, but would have told them, that, without any long recitals, immediate notice should be given to the people of the determination of the government. Notice of the Clontarf meeting was given for three weeks. It was to have been held upon Sunday. On the preceding Friday the council assembled. On that day the proclamation ought to have been prepared and posted. It did not appear until Saturday afternoon, and the country is in- 394 SPEECHES OF RICHARD LALOR SHEIL. debtee! to Mr. O'Connell, if upon an unarmed multitude an ex- cited soldiery was not let loose. The proclamation was obeyed. With that obedience you ought to have been con- tented. The monster meetings were at an end ; but you had previously determined to prosecute for a consj)iracy, and for that purpose you lay in wait for nine months, and that you did the proclamation itself affords a proof. The proclamation re- cites : " Whereas meetings of large numbers of persons have been akeady held in different parts of Ireland, under the like pretence, at several of which meetings, language of a seditious and inflammatory nature has been addressed to the j)ersons there assembled, calculated and intended to excite disaffection in the minds of her Majesty's subjects, and to bring into hatred and contempt, the government and constitution of the country, as by law established ; and whereas, at some of the said meet- ings, such seditious and inflammatory language has been used by per- sons," etc. If this statement be true, why did you not long before indict the individuals by whom those seditious speeches were de- livered ? Why did you not prosecute the newspapers by which inflammatory paragraphs had been almost daily pub- lished, for a period of nine months ? The motive was ob- vious. It was your purpose — your deliberate and long medi- tated purpose to make Mr. O'Connell responsible for har- angues which he had never spoken, and for pubhcations which he had never read. I content myself with giving a single instance, which will afford, however, a perfect exempHfication of the whole character of your proceedings. A Cathohc priest published an article in the Pilot newspaper, upon " The Duty of a Soldier." He signed his name, James Power, to that article. He was never prosecuted — he was never threatened ; he has escaped with perfect impunity ; but that article was given in e\idence against Daniel O'Connell, by whom it does not appear that it was even ever seen. Such a proceeding never was instituted in this country — such a proceeding, I trust in God, never will be instituted in this country — for Eng- lishmen Avould not endure it ; and this very discussion will tend to awaken them to a sense of the peril to which they are themselves exposed. IRISH STATE TRIALS. 395 Does not tlie question at once present itself to every body, if that seditious language was employed for so long a period as nine months, why did you not prosecute it before ? Why did you not prosecute such an article as this which I hold in my hand, and which was published so far back as the first of April, 1843 ? You might have proceeded by criminal infor- mation or indictment, for the publication of a poem in the Nation newspaper, on which her Majesty's Attorney-General entered into a somewhat lengthened expatiation in addressing the jury, and declared it to be a poem of a most inflammatory character. I allude to verses entitled, " The Memory of the Dead." "Who fears to speak of Ninety-eiglit ? "Wlio blushes at the name ? When cowards mock the patriot's fate. Who hangs his head for shame ? He's all a knave, or half a slave, Who slights his country thus ; But a true man, like you, man, WiU fill your glass with us. " We drink the memory of the brave, The faithful and the few — Some He far off beyond the wave, Some sleep in Ireland too ; All — all are gone — but still lives on The fame of those who died ; All true men, like you, men, Remember them with pride. "Some on the shores of distant lands Their weary hearts have laid, And by the stranger's heedless hands Their lonely gi-aves were made. But though their clay be far away Beyond the Atlantic foam — In true men, like you, men, Their spirit's still at home. "The dust of some is Irish earth ; Among their own they rest ; And the same land that gave them birth Has caught them to her breast ; And we will pray that from their clay 396 SELECT SPEECHES OF KICHAED LALOR SHELL. Full many a race may start Of true men, like you, men, To act as brave a part. *' Tliey rose in dark and evil days To right tlieir native land ; They kindled here a living blaze That nothing shall withstand. Alas ! that Might can vanquish Right — They fell and passed away ; But true men, like you, men, Ai-e plenty here to-day. " Then here's their memory — may it be For us a guiding light, To cheer our strife for liberty, And teach us to unite. Through good and ill, be Ireland's still, Though sad as theirs your fate ; And true men, be you, men, Like those of Ninety-eight." No man in tlie court, who heard tliis poem recited by the right honorable gentleman in the most emphatic manner, "will deny that it produced a great effect on the jury. The Attor- ney-General stated that this was but a single specimen of the entire volume, and that it very much exceeded in violence the productions of the same character in the year 1797. If the description is true, this poem having been published on the first of April, and a series of compositions, in prose and verse, of the same kind, having appeared for several successive months, does not every man who hears me ask, why it was that proceedings were not taken for the j)unishment of the persons by whom such articles were published, and for the prevention of offences to which such evil effects were attri- buted. My answer is this — ^you had determined to prosecute for a conspiracy, and you connived at meetings and pubHca- tions of this class. You allow these papers to proceed in their career, to run a race in sedition, and to establish a complete system for the excitement of the pubhc. You did not prose- cute the authors of the articles, or then' publishers, at the time they were published. You afterwards joined in the de- fence the editors of three newspapers, and you gave in evidence IRISH STATE TRIALS. 397 against Mr. O'Connell every article published in 1843. Was that a legitimate proceeding ? Has there been a precedent in this country of such a proceeding ? Has there been an in- stance of a man indicted for a conspiracy, being joined with these editors of newspapers, and of the articles of those news- papers being given in evidence against him ? You might tell me that the mode of proceeding was legitimate, if there were no other mode of punishing the editors of those newspapers. But was there no other mode ? Could not those pubhcations have been stopped ? Could not the channels by which sedi- tion was circulated through the country have been closed up ? Therefore, we charge yau with having stood by — (I adopt the expression of the Attorney- General) with having stood by, and with having, if not encouraged, at least permitted very strong proceedings to be adopted by the popular party ; when you thought your purpose had been obtained, you then fell on the man whom you had enclosed within your toils. I come now to the observations of the Attorney-General re- garding Mr. Bond Hughes, and I confess myself to be not a little surprised at them. He said that Mr. Bond Hughes had been denounced as a perjurer, and spoke of us as if we had painted him in colors as black as those in which Roman Cath- olic members of parliament are occasionaDy held up to the public detestation ; but he kept back the fact that Mr. Bond Hughes did make two signal mistakes in his information, and which he himself acknowledged to be mistakes, which before Mr. Bond Hughes was examined did produce no ordinary ex- citement. Not one word did the Attorney-General say in re- ference to a most remarkable incident in these trials. The facts stand thus : — Mr. Bond Hughes had sworn in his information that he saw Mr. Barrett at two meetings in Dub- lin. It was of the utmost importance to the Crown to fix Barrett, in order to imphcate him with Mr. O'ConneU. Mr. Bond Hughes sees Mr. Barrett at Judge Burton's chambers, and turning to Mr. Bay, the chief clerk of the Crown Solici- tor, informs Mr. Ray that he was mistaken with respect to Mr. Barrett, and that he had not seen him at the Dublin meetings. He suggests to Mr. Ray that something should be done to correct his misajDprehension. Ray says nothing. Bond 398 SELECT SPEECHES OF RICHARD LALOR SHELL. Hughes tlien applies to the Crown Sohcitor himself, to Mr. Kemmis, and represents to him the painful predicament in which he is placed ; Mr. Kemmis says nothing. Bond Hughes accompanies Mr. Kemmis to his house, and no rectification of tact signal mistake is made. Mr. Bond Hughes stated all this at the trial, which the Attorney-General, although he went mto exceedingly minute details, entirely forgot to mention. It is quite true that Mr. O'Connell at the trial acquitted Mr. Bond Hughes, but I leave it to the House to determine how far Mr. Kemmis should be relieved from blame. But lest you should think I am varnishing, or impeaching wantonly, the character of this immaculate Crown-Solicitor — you who charge us with tampering with Mr. Magrath, a man at this moment in the employment of the Recorder — I will read to you the statement of Mr. Bond Hughes, in which the Attorney-Gen- eral said not a word, because, I suppose, he thought it not at all relevant. Probably he supposed it to be a work of super- erogation to set the pubhc right with respect to any unfortu- nate misapprehension of Mr. Bond Hughes. The following is the evidence he gave : "Turn to Monday, tlie 9th of October — I mean the meeting in Abby-Street. Can you enumerate the persons present of the traver- sers ? — There were i^resent Mr. John O'Connell, Mr. Daniel O'Connell, Mr. Steele, the Rev. Mr. Tyrrell, Dr. Gray, Mr. Dafify, and Mr. Ray. " Then Mr. JBarrett was not amongst them ? — He was not. " Then I presume you did not see at that meeting Mr. Barrett ? — No. I made a mistake in saying he was there. *' You made that mistake on a previous day, not this day ? — ^I made the mistake on the occii-sion I refer to, and I corrected it as soon as I p ossi- bly could. " Then Mr. Barrett was not iDreseut ? — He did not deliver a speech upon the occasion ? — He did not. " The Solicitor-General has not asked jon about a dinner at the Ro- tunda. Were you there in youi* cajDacity as a reporter ? — I was. "I believe then I may assume as a fact that Mr. Barrett was not at that dinner ? — No, he Avas not there. " Of course he made no speech at the dinner ? — No, he did not. " Somebody else made a sj)eech for him ? — I was misinformed. "You mistook some one else for Mr. Barrett on the second occasion ? — ^I did, and I corrected the error as soon as I possibly could. "I think you stated, in answer to a question, that in justice to IRISH STATE TEIALS. 399 yourself, you felt it your duty to correct tlie mistake at tlie earliest period you could ? — Yes. " Were you at the house of Judge Bartou when the informations were to be sworn ? — I was. "Did you see Mr. Barrett there ? — I did. "Did you, on that occasion, depose to the infoi'mations ? — No ; I did that on a prior occasion. I had sworn to the affidavits, and I made an amended affidavit on the second occasion. " Did I understand you to say that you corrected that mistake about Mr. Barrett on a subsequent occasion ? — I did not. " Were you present at the occasion Avhen Mr. Barrett was held to bail upon the informations previously sworn against him ? — I was. "And you saw him subscribe the recognizances ? — ^I did. ' ' Did you then and there correct the mistake ? — ^I did, on the instant. " Oh, I mean as to the name of Barrett ? — Yes ; I told Mr. Ray and Mr. Kemmis. "Were they there attending on the part of the Crown ? — Yes ; they were. " Did you speak to Mr. Kemmis on the subject ? — ^No, he was engaged taking the informations, but immediately after we got out of the room I communicated it to Mr. Eay. "Let us have no mistake here. I suppose you do not mean Mr. Eay, one of the traversers ? — No ; I mean Mr. Eay, the managing clerk of Mr. Kemmis. "And did you, before you left the house of the judge, apprise these two jpersons of the mistake ? — I did, as we were leaving the house. I said I had a doubt about Mr. Barrett. " When did you say that ? — ^I said it when we were leaving the judge's chamber. "What did Mr. Kemmis say ? — I spoke chiefly to IVIr. Eay. " What did Mr. Kemmis say ? — I do not recollect. " How far was it from the judge's house ? — As we were going through Eildare Street. "Before you came to Mr. Kemmis's house ? — Yes. " Cannot you recollect what Mr. Kemmis said on that occasion?— I cannot. " Did he say it was too late to correct the mistake ? — He did not. "Did he make no observation ? — I do not remember. " And there it was left ? — There it was left. " Now you mentioned the matter to Mr. Eay. Was it in Judge Bur- ton's chamber ? — It was in the passage, as we were leaving the room. " Mr. Barrett was then in the house ? — He was ; we all left about the same time. " What did you say ? — That I had been mistaken with regard to Mr. Barrett, and I doubted whether he had been at the Eotunda or Calvert's 400 SELECT SPEECHES OF EICHAED LALOR SHEIL. Theatre ; that I hail heard his name mentioned, but was mistaken as to his identity. "What did Mr. Eay say ?— I do not remember what he said. "Very extraordinaiy that you should not recollect what was said on so important an occasion. Did not Mr. Bay return ?— No. "And no further steps were taken by you? — I thought when I had put them in possession of the mistake, that I had done all that was ne. cessary. I did not think the question of identity would have been left to me. "You had no doubt about the mistake ? — I was satisfied, as soon as I saw him, that he was not the person. " How long was it after the mistake about Mr. Tierney that the mis- take was corrected ? — ^In about three days afterwards. "That was merely a mistake about the christian name ? — Yes. "The other mistake remained uncorrected. Did you apprise Mr. Barrett of it ? — No ; I thought I had done all that was necessary when I had apprised the officers of the Crown of it. Great stress is laid bj the Attorney-General on the sworn and unsworn statements of Mr. Kemmis. He told the Attor- ney-General this, and he told the Attorney-General that, but he did not rectify the errors in Mr. Bond Hughes' affidavit. Now, I think the House must wonder that a person like the Crown-Solicitor should have been guilty of a sin of omission such as I have described ; and in the nest place, what is more extraordinary, I think the House must be not merely surprised, but astonished, that the Attorney-General, when he made it a matter of accusation against Mr. O'Connellthat Bond Hughes was a subject of imputation, and had been calumniated, did not state that Bond Hughes had been mistaken, and had ac- tually supplicated the Crown-Solicitor to rescue him from his difficulty. I wonder if Mi'. Kemmis mentioned it to the At- torney-General himself ? Did he so, or did he not ? Oh, last night you thought, that the Attorney-General had made out a triumphant case. [Loud cheers from the opposition, met by counter cheers from the other side.] Do you consider this a fitting matter for exultation? [Conservative cheers re- newed.] I must say, I cannot enter into your pecuhar views, or appreciate the excellence of Tory ethics. [Loud opposition cheering.] If these things be to you " tidings of great joy," I should be loath to disturb your self-complacency. I pass from a topic upon which I have said enough. No further lEISH STATE TEIALS. 401 comments are required ; but let it be remembered, tliat tliose gentlemen who charge us with the corruption of Mr. Magrath, who sought — to use a rather vulgar phrase — to turn the ta- bles upon us by a somewhat clumsy expedient — have them- selves, in the transaction I have mentioned, adopted the course I have described, and respecting which it is necessary for me to say one word more. But to proceed Ibo the other facts of the case : — The bills are found. The names of the witnesses on the back of the indictment are demanded by the defen- dant, that was a reasonable demand. In this country, united with Ireland — and I hope you will extend to Ireland the same principles and habits of liberty by which you are governed — in this country the practice has uniformly been to furnish the names of the witnesses on the back of the indictment. Am I not right ? The honorable and learned Attorney- General for England will do me the favor to correct me if I am mistaken. The honorable and learned gentleman intimates by gesture, that it is the practice in this country. We applied for the names of the witnesses ; we received a peremptory refusal. You asked for a trial at bar, you wish to have four judges. One of those judges was Mr. Justice Perrin. When it was convenient, the right honorable and learned Attorney- Gen- eral rehed upon the unanimity of the court, but when they dis- agreed he barely glanced at it. Attokney-Genekal, (for Ireland). — The judges were unani- mous in their judgment. Me. Sheil. — They allowed the Chief Justice to charge the jury ; they concurred with the Chief Justice in his view of the law. But do you not think any attention is to be paid to their dissent. If from their harmony you deduce consequences so valuable, from their discord are not some inferences also to be drawn ? It is the practice to give the names of the wit- nesses in England. Judge Perrin declared that he thought that in Ireland also it was a matter of right to give those names. That was a solemn decision upon the point. Judge Burton, an Enghshman, with some remnant left of the feeling for which his countrymen are distinguished, said, he thought that although it was not a matter of right, it would be judicious on the part of the Crown to give the names. Mr. Whiteside, tlie 402 SELECT SPEECHES OF KICHARD LALOR SHEIL. eloquent counsel for Mr. O'Connell, at tlie conclusion of the case, made a most reasonable suggestion. The Attorney-Gene- ral resisted it, on the ground that it would introduce a new prac- tice. I think that the right honorable and learned Attorney-Gen- eral, when he went into all those minute details of that part of the case yesterday, would have done right had he mentioned the opinion of Mr. Justice Burton, the decision of Mr. Justice Perrin, and the offer made by Mr. Whiteside on behalf of the defendant. Let the House bear in mind, and let the country bear in mind, that an application never resisted in this coun- try — admitted by the honorable and learned Attorney-General for England to be always granted as a matter of right — was by her Majesty's Attorney-General for Ireland, God knows for what reason, peremptorily rejected. I admit that the right honorable and learned Attorney- General agreed to the post- ponement of the trial upon two grounds — the first, that time was required to prepare a proper defence, as it obviously was when it was remembered evidence had to be given regarding forty-one meetings on behalf of the Crown ; and on the sec- ond ground, that there were but twenty-five Catholics upon the panel for 1843, while it was perfectly manifest that a much larger number of Catholic jurors ought to have been upon the special jury list. But I deny that the court refused the apph- cation. My impression, on the contrary, was that the court determined to grant the application. It was obvious that one of the judges at least was so disposed. But let me not be mistaken. I do not mean to say that that was distinctly stated by the court ; what I say is this — Judge Burton ex- pressed liis astonishment that there were only twenty -five Catholics on the jury list, and when that surprise was ex- pressed, the Attorney-General, having against him an u-resis- tible case, agreed to the postponement of the trial, with the view to give the parties time to prepare their defence, a course he could not avoid, and also in order that the case should not be tried before a most erroneous panel. I do not wish to deny the merit of the right honorable and learned Attorney-General ; but had he insisted upon going at once to trial with a panel admitted to be utterly imperfect, lEISH STATE TRIALS. 403 and denounced by the right honorable and learned Kecorder himself as most imperfect, surely an imputation would then have rested upon him far stronger than that which at this moment attaches to him, and, in my opinion, not without reason. I come to the suppression of a portion of the jury hst. It is right that the House should be apprised that counsel were employed on behalf of the Eepeal party and on behalf of the Conservative party, when the Eecorder was going through the parochial Hsts, and that every name was a subject of as much contention as a vote at an election. The Recorder's court became the arena of the fiercest political contention. But I will begin by declaring that in the adjudication of the paro- chial Usts the Recorder acted with the most perfect fairness, and I have no hesitation in saying that I beheve he would rather that his right hand should wither than use it in an in- famous mutilation of the jury hst. I entirely acquit him of impurity of motive. But, having made this statement, he will forgive me for saying that I do think it was his duty to have personally superintended the ultimate formation of the jury list, and if he had superintended it the mutilation of the jury list would not have taken place. He complained that he had been made the object of the vulgar abuse of hired counsel. He once belonged to the band of mercenaries himself, and might have spared the observation. But I do not think it either vulgar or vituperative to state that it would have been better if he had remained in Dubhn after his judicial duty had terminated, and when his ministerial duty had commenced. I admit as an excuse, almost as a justification, that he had great inducement to proceed to England ; for the Evening Mail, the recorder of great pubhc events, did not omit to watch the movements of the right honorable gentleman, and stated un- der the head of "Fashionable Intelligence," that the right honorable gentleman, having left Ingestre, proceeded to the residence of that distinguished statesman, who in aU likelihood was anxious to consult the Recorder on the proposed aug- mentation of the grant to the Education Board. And, may I be permitted to add, parenthetically, that upon the subject of 40-i SELECT SPEECHES OF RICHAED LALOR SHEIL. education in Ireland a judicious tacitiu-nity has been observed by the right honorable gentleman. No one will suspect that the right honorable gentleman con- nived at, or had the slightest cognizance of any misdeeds which may have taken place in the transcription of the jury list. I entirely and cheerfully acquit the Attorney-General of every sort of moral imputation, but circumstances did take plsice in reference to this list, upon which Mr. Justice Perrin remarked in open court, that there were grounds for apprehending that something had occurred which was worse than accident. Mr. Kemmis made an affidavit in reply, but he did not contradict the fact. There never was an affidavit in reply to that of Mr. Mahony respecting the fact, although other affidavits were subsequently made, and ample opportunity for contradiction was afforded. What is the case made out against us by the other side ? But the Attorney-General more than insinuates, because Mr. Magrath is a Cathohc, the traversers, or some underlings con- nected with them, tampered with him. That is the charge made, without a possibiHty of sustaining it. Does the Re- corder assent to this assault on the character of a person still in his employment ? How frontless and how preposterous is the imputation ! Does any one believe, or can any one, by the utmost stretch.of creduhty, bring himself to believe, that the defendants would subtract a hst of one parish, containing fif- teen Catholic names, in order that not one of them might be caUed on the jury ? Yet this is the insinuation made by her Majesty's Attorney-General for Ireland. Is this a fair mode of proceeding ? When the Attorney-General makes a charge of this kind he ought to invest it with plausibility ; but the Attorney-General forgot that the defendants put the very charge in issue in their challenge ; why did he not venture to controvert it ? We are charged with corrupting a public officer whose live- hhood depended upon good faith in the performance of his duties — for what ? For the purpose of removing Roman Catholics from a panel to try Roman Cathohcs? Is that plausible ? Could such assertion be received by acclamation, except by gentlemen who had been affected by the eloquence IRISH STATE TEIALS. 405 of the right honorable and learned gentleman ? The speech itself, indeed, of the right honorable and learned gentleman I was disposed to cheer, but when I found that cheers were raised for a man who was blasting the character of another, I was astonished both at the want of just feeling on the part of the Attorney- General, and that siich an accusation, destitute of proof, without plausibility, should be received with acclama- tions by a British assembly. "What took j)lace when the dis- covery was made of these missing names — I do not care whether they were sixty, or twenty-four, or twenty- seven ? The noble lord opposite very justly says they were balloted for, and selected by chance. That may be a good or bad principle, but the chances should be equal on both sides. The judge in Rabelais had a dice-box, and threw for the plaintiff and defendant ; but he did not load the dice. You remember the old practice in the House of Commons of balloting, when the names of members were put in glasses. Suppose, in such a case, the names of twenty-seven Tories were left out. Of course, honorable members, bound by their oaths, would be as incapable of doing anything unjust or im- proper as a Protestant jury, but what would the Tories say in such a case? Would they not say, give us a new ballot? Put the twenty-seven names back. But whether the jury list was lost, or whether it was stolen, there are two facts con- nected with it of no ordinary moment. When the juror's list was appHed for to the Becorder by the traversers, he expressed his anxiety to give it, if the Crown would consent to his doing so. He told us that he sent the clerk of the peace to the Crown solicitor, to ascertain whether the Crown would consent to that which the Recorder himself thought most reasonable and just. The Crown refused. The second fact is of the same character. An application was made to the sheriff for the list, and the Crown refused to consent. What was the re- sult ? That till the very last moment, the traversers' attorneys had no knowledge of the state of the jurors' book. A motion is made to quash the panel. An affidavit is sworn stating that twenty-seven Catholics were omitted. The SoKcitor-General makes an affidavit, and does not deny the fact. Judge Perrin declares that in his opinion, there is ground 406 SELECT SPEECHES OF RICHARD LALOR SHEIL. for sti'ong suspicion that foul dealing had been practised. An offer is made by the traversers to have the names restored to the paneh The Crown refused to agree. An offer is then made, and it clearly might have been done by consent, to have a new ballot, to put the omitted names into the ballot box, and that offer is also refused. The consent would have bound both parties, and that which the law contemplated would have been accomplished. The Attorney-General, notwithstanding that he professed to detail everything that had happened with the most scruj^ulous exactness, did not say a syllable about the challenge to the array. He talked of Pearse's case and Lord Hawarden's case, and fifty other cases, but not a word about the challenge : and for a very good reason, that Judge Perrin declared the challenge to be good, and the panel to be void. A challenge to the array takes place, and it is alleged in the challenge, and put in issue, that sixty names had been omitted from the jury hst, and that the omission was fraudulent and corrupt. That fact the Crown refused to try. The following are the words of part of the challenge : "And the said defendant further says, that a certain j)aper writing purporting to be a general list, made out from such several lists so cor- rected, allowed and signed as aforesaid, was illegally and fraudulently made out, for the purpose and with the intent of prejudicing the said defendant in this cause." What reason has the Attorney-General given for not joining issue on that important allegation — an allegation sustained by Judge Perrin's previous unequivocal expression of his opinion? It might have been tried at once by the officer of the court, but a demurrer was preferred. Now mark what happens. We put at issue two facts — the loss of the names most material — the fraud, still more. Was it not the duty of the Crown, un- der these circumstances, to have joined issue with us? If they had joined issue, there would have been an end to our objection ; and if the point had been decided against them, then, of course, the panel must have been altered, or some steps adopted. How did the court decide? Was the court unanimous ? Mr. Justice Perrin, who introduced the act into Ireland, which belonged to the Reform code of the right hon- orable baronet opj)Osite — Mr. Justice Perrin, who knew the IRISH STATE TEIALS. 407 object of the act — who was familiar with all its details — by whom its machinery, so to speak, had been in part altered and adapted— Mr. Justice Perrin decided that the challenge was good. But government went to trial, one of the judges having declared that the source from which justice flowed had been corrupted. A learned friend suggests to me that a de- murrer always admits the fact, but I will be candid on that sub- ject. A demurrer admits the fact, for the purpose of argument only. I did not dwell upon that point, because it was in some sort a legal fiction. I- went to what was much more substan- tial. The Crown had the opportunity of ascertaining a fact oi the utmost materiahty ; the Crown shrunk from that investi- gation. You then went on with the case with the protest of one of the judges against you, and a verdict you have obtained by the intervention of a jury condemned by one of the judges who sat in that court. If aU of the judges were unanimous as to the abstract law, as stated by the Lord Chief Justice, they were not unanimous as to the verdict, because one of the judges condemned the panel which was the foundation of the verdict, and if the panel be shaken, the entire superstruction raised upon it must of course fall too. I come now to another portion of this case — the striking-off of Eoman Catholics from the jury. *But I see I am occupying the attention of the House at too great a length ; but it is a case of paramount importance. It is a case in which I was counsel, and, of course, took a very warm interest in it — it would be strange if I did not — and I believe I am, to a certain extent, better acquamted with the facts than others can be, and I conscientiously believe I have not stated anytliing that departs in the slightest degree from the facts. With respect to the striking-off of the Eoman Catholics, it is said by Mr. Kemmis that there were ten on the list of fortj- eight jurors. Now, eight of these ten I at once admit were properly struck off. I cannot for a moment pretend that eight members of the Repeal Association, or persons who were sub- scribers to its funds, ought to have been retained on • the jury. I could no more contend for it than you should contend that Mr. Sheriff Faulkner should have been upon the jury. But there were two names struck off who were Roman OathoUcs 408 SELECT SPEECHES OF EICHAED LALOR SHEIL. but wlio were neither members of the Rej)eal Association nor subscribers to the Eepeal fund. Mark the affidavit of Mr. Kemmis ; -put it in the disjunctive — he beheved that the ten persons struck off the hst were either members of th e Eepeal Association, or had subscribed to its funds. Henrick is a Eo- man Cathohc ; what course had been taken about Henrick ? The noble lord the Secretary of State for the Colonies, who appears to know more about this part of the case than the Irish Attorney-General, told us that Henrick was considered to be a Protestant, and a Conservative. Who told him so ? Lord Eliot. — Mr. Kemmis. Mr. Sheil. — Mr. Kemmis did not swear it. It never was mentioned until this debate had commenced. You start a new case or new pretext every moment, and that new pretest is grounded on nothing better than an asseveration of his be- lief by the Crown-Solicitor regarding a fact, in reference to which he was most egregiously mistaken. Henrick was not a member of the Eepeal Association. He never subscribed to the Eepeal rent. He is a Eoman Catholic. It is sworn that he is. I requested my honorable friend, the member for the county of "Wexford, wdien this matter was in agitation, and who was acquainted with Henrick, to ask him two questions : first, jvhether he was a Eoman Catholic, and nest, whether he was a member of the Eepeal Association, or a suTbscriber to the Eepeal fund? The answer was, that he was a Eoman Catholic — that he was not a member of the Eepeal Associa- tion, and that he had never subscribed to its fund. But you now make a new case, and say that you thought he was a Protestant and a Conservative. Come to the case of Michael Dunne. You do not pretend that Dunne was either a member of the Eepeal Association, or a subscriber to its funds. But you beheved that he might have signed a requisition for a Eepeal meeting, though even that allegation is not positively made. But is there no dis- tinction between being a Eepealer and being a member of the Association ? Is there no distinction between being an advo- cate of free-trade and a member of the Anti-Corn-law League ? If Mr. Cobden, and Mr. Bright, and Mr. Yilliers, and the Globe newspaper, and the Morning Chronicle, were indicted IRISH STATE TRIALS. 409 to-morrow for a conspiracy, would the Crown be justified in setting aside, as a Juror, every man who had signed a requisi- tion in favor of free-trade, or had signed a requisition in favor of the repeal of the Corn laws ? Or suppose that in 1831 the Tories had come into office, and had indicted the Whigs for conspiring to carry Reform by intimidation, for corresponding with the Birmingham Union, and. for " swamping the House of Lords," would there be no distinction made, in empanelling a jury to try those revolutionary delinquents, between an ad- vocate of reform, and a member of that seditious association commonly called Brooks's Club, in which I had once the good fortune of hearing a most eloquent speech delivered agamst the Duke of Wellington by a great orator, who, mounted upon a table through whose planks he almost stamped, poured out an incendiary harangue, amidst enthusiastic acclamation and rapturous applause. But let us go back to the jury. The panel was bad, and was so declared by the judges. You adopted the course requiring that every Roman Catholic should be struck off the hst. Would it not have been wise if the Crown had given its con- sent that some Roman Catholics should be left on the list ? I deny that if the Crown had consented to the formation of a new panel, there would have been any objection on the part of the traversers ; and in that case, if the traversers afterwards attempted to controvert the verdict, they would clearly have been stopped by their own proceedings. But suppose no con- sent had been given, was there not another expedient that might have been adopted ? Could not the rule for the special jury have been discharged ? The sheriff for the city of Dublin is a gentleman of the high- est respectability — Mr. Latouche. When the Municipal Bill was passing, you took the appointment of the sheriffs from the corporation. You left that appointment to the corporations in England. You did not take the appointment from cities here ; but when you came to deal with us, you took the appointment of the sheriff from cities, and vested it in the Crown ; because you Said that if the new corporations appointed the sheriffs they would be just as bad as the old. I do not say whether the course you took was right or wrong ; but when the Crown 410 SELECT SPEECHES OF RICHAED LALOE SHEIL. assumed the right of appointing the sheriff, thej might most safely and vnselj have left to the sheriff the appointment of the jury in this case. You use the words " common jury," an expression, generally speaking, which means men selected from the inferior classes. Now, the jury that tried this case were, comparatively speaking, taken from the inferior classes. There were on it Protestant grocers, Protestant piano-forte tuners, and Protestant tanners. Perhaps it would have been better if persons of a higher class had been selected ; but I must admit, that there is one advantage in making the middle classes the dej)ositaries of political power, and that the middle classes are animated with as high a sense of honor and of duty as the lirst patricians m the land. I should never quarrel with the jury, if they had not been composed of political antago- nists. An expression was used by my right honorable friend, the member for the city of Edinburgh, which has strongly excited the ire of the Attorney-General for Ireland. My right honor- able friend had said that if there had been a common jury, the Attorney-General for Ireland would not have dared to set by the Eoman Cathohcs, whose names might be on the Hst. To this the Attorney-General for Ireland has rephed, " I would have dared ! " and certainly no one can deny his intrepidity. But what my right honorable friend meant was this — that the Crown, controlled by pubhc opinion — controlled, if not in Ire- land, at least in this country, by public opinion, acting under the coercion of British sentiment, would not have ventured upon an act at once so culpable, and so imprudent, as to strike off names of the highest respectability because they were Ro- man Catholics. Therefore, if you were sincere in the mani- festation of your desu-e that the Roman CathoHcs should be capable of acting on that jury, you had a very obvious mode of carrying your purpose into effect, and of realizing that de- sire ; for when you found the mistake on the panel by all the Roman Catholics being excluded, you might have got a com- mon jury, and in that case, the verdict would have been jinim- peachable, and all the controversy which has taken place, and all its consequences, and all the natural and inevitable irrita- tion, might have been avoided. Under these circumstances, is lEISH STATE TRIALS. 411 it wonderful that in Ireland great excitement should have taten place ? Is it astonishing that the Eoman Catholics of Ireland should have felt indignant to a man on the subject ? Is it wonderful that great public meetings should have taken place in every district of the country, to take the subject into consid- eration ? Were these meetings called by factious men ? At the head of them stood Lord Kenmare, one of the advocates of the Union — a man of large possessions, of very ancient birth and a man highly allied in this country. That nobleman felt' that these proceedings were an insult offered to him ; he, there- fore, not for the purposes of partisanship, not to gratify any political passion, not from any predilection in favor of Mr. O'ConneU, signs a requisition to call a public meeting to com- plain of the course pursued by the Crown. There was another circumstance which gave an additional poignancy to the feelings of the Roman Cathohcs ; that cir- cumstance was this, and as the Attorney-General for Ireland thought it judicious on his part to advert to the course I pur- sued on a trial at Carrick-on-Suir, he will excuse me if I refer to something which concerns himself, and to an occasion on which he made himself most conspicuous in Ireland. I do not mention this for the purpose of malevolence — I bear no ill will to the right honorable gentleman^ — I have no motive for ill will — he never did me wrong ; and that that right honorable gen- tleman should have imagined that a conspiracy was formed against him at the bar, for the purpose of wounding his feel- ings and injuring his prospects, was a most unfortunate haUu- cination on his part. I beg, on my honor, to assure him that no such intention was ever entertained. But he is a pubhc man, and considering that in the management of the important duties it has imposed upon him he did not exhibit any great dehcacy towards others, he must expect that when his poHtical antagonists scrutinize his motives and his conduct, they will ask what manner of man this must have been, and what course has he pursued ? He last night alluded to my conduct at a trial which took place many years ago ; and he said, also, that he was sorry for what he had said at the meeting which he at- tended in 1837. As being contrite, he is to be forgiven. But when the Roman Cathohcs of Ireland come to compare the 412 SELECT SPEECHES OF RICHARD lALOR SHEIL. course pursued by the Attorney-General, at the late trial in Dublin, with the opinions he had previously expressed, it was imjjossible that then- suspicion should not be confirmed that unfair dealings were practiced in their regard. The House is already aware of the course pursued by the right honorable gentleman upon the Education Question — a question upon which the Eecorder of Dublin took care to spare his right honorable friend, when he endeavored to escape from it. But the right honorable gentleman had distinguished himself still more upon another question. In the year 1837, a great Protestant meeting was held in Dubhn — sx3eeches and resolutions of the most violent character were made and passed at that meeting. One of the barristers who took xoart in those proceedings has been made Master in Chancery ; two of them have been made Judges, Lefroy and Jackson ; and the right honorable gentleman himself has been made Attorney-General by a government which professes to govern Ireland without reference to party. At that meeting a resolution was passed declaring that the Protestants of Ire- land were in as perilous a condition now, as they were in 1641, when the most frightful massacres of Protestants are said to have taken place. But what did the right honorable gentle- man say at that meeting ? He said that Roman Cathohcs m parhament had no regard to their oaths. That declaration, censurable as it was, was more manly than if he had dealt in insidious hints and despicable insinuations. But, surely, when the public functionary by whom that language was uttered caused ten Eoman Catholics to be struck off fi-om the special jury, it was impossible not to connect that proceeding with his former conduct — it was impossible not to attribute it to the most offensive motives. Meetings took place in almost every district in Ireland, and even the Roman Cathohcs of England were sthred into resentment. They are, to a man, opposed to the repeal of the Union. But this outrage to the feehngs of every Roman Cathohc in the empire they could not endure. When the First Lord of the Treasury came into office. Lord Shrewsbury addressed a letter to Mr. O'Connell, calling on him to support the present administration. But the blood of the Talbots had caught fire — the first earl in England de- lEISH STATE TKIALS. 413 nounces tlie gross affront offered to the religion of that com- munity of which he is an ornament. The following letter Avas written by Lord Shrewsbury to Lord Camoys, on the occasion of the latter noble lord presiding at a meeting of English Cath- olics in the metropolis : "Alxon Towees, Feb. 6, 181i. "My Deak Lobd : — I regret extremely that circumstances -will not allow me to attend the meeting over which you are to preside to-morrow, as I was anxious for an opportunity of expressing my indignation, in common with yourself and many others, at the fresh insult offered to the Avhole Catholic population of these kingdoms, by the conduct of the law officers of the Crown in the preliminary proceedings on the interesting and important trials now taking place in Dublin. The Catholics appear to have been struck off the panel en masse, upon the ground that they were all Bepealers ; but while this fact is asserted on the one side, it is stoutly denied upon the other. In the absence of any positive evidence on the point, we are, I think, fully justified in the inference that, whether Eepealers or not, no Catholic would have been allowed to sit upon that jury, seeing that such determination would have been in perfect keeping with what has hitherto been the fixed policy of the present government in Ireland, to exclude Catholics from all share in the ad- ministration of public affairs, and while professing to do equal justice to all, refusing them every grace and right enjoyed by their Protestant fellow-subjects. The exceiitions are too trifling even to form the shadow of an argument. "But even presuming that the facts are upon their side, does it evince a spirit of justice in the government to discard every man who was known to be favorable to Repeal, and at the same time to leave upon the panel many who were notoriously Anti-Repealers, and who are now actually, sitting in judgment upon the traversers ? In either case, then, the first, principles of justice have been violated, and a gross insult of- fered to the people of Ireland ; and I am sorry that I have only been able to mark my reprobation of such conduct by signing the requisition for a meeting to express our common feelings upon the subject. I remain, my dear lord, Very truly and faithfully yours, Shkewsbtjky. 'To THE Lobd Camoys." Is not the fact itself a monstrous one, that in a great Cathohc country, in the greatest State prosecution that has ever been instituted in that country, the Liberator of that country should be tried by an exclusive Jury marshalled in antagonism against him ? Strip the case of all those details 414 SELECT SrEECHES OF BICHAKD LALOR SHEHi. upon which there has been so much controversy, look at that bare naked fact, and say whether it can be reconciled with the great principles of Catholic Emancipation? As far as trial by jury is concerned, Catholic Emancipation is repealed, and repealed in a spirit as preposterous as it is unjust. We are admitted to the Bench of Justice — that Bench of Justice which was adorned by a Catholic Chief Baron and a CathoUc Master of the Kolls ; we are admitted to the Imperial Senate, which I have at tliis mom,ent the honor of addressing ; we are admitted to the Treasury Board, to the Board of Admiralty, to the Board of Trade ; we are admitted to the Privy Council. But, admitted to the Bench; and admitted to the parliament, and admitted to the Treasury, to the Admnalty, to the Board of Trade, and to the Privy Council, we are driven from the Jury — we are ignominiously driven from the jury box, where a refuge has been supphed to that Protestant ascendency which you have re-mvested with all the most odious attributes of its most detestable domination. And yet the noble lord the Secretary for Ireland tells us that he is anxious for the impartial administration of justice ! At the last London election Mr. Baring was asked, by a formidable interrogator, whether he was favorable to free trade ? He answered that he was favorable to free trade in the abstract. But when he was asked whether he would vote for the repeal of the sliding scale, he said that was quite an- other question. And so it is with the noble lord. He is favor- able to impartial justice in the abstract. Ask him to admit a Eoman Catholic as a juror upon a state prosecution, and he exclaims, " Oh, that is quite another thing." I must, how- ever, admit, that I believed the noble lord to have erred from a certain infirmity of purpose, which, although lamentable, is not so reprehensible as the Yorkshire yeomanry authoritative- ness, and the Fermanagh fanaticism of my Lord de Grey. There is in Dublin a society called the Protestant Opera- tive Association. It exhibits in its characters the results of Conservative policy in Ireland. That Association presented an address to Lord de Grey immediately after the proclama- tion had been issued. In that address it stated that " the Sacrifice of the Mass is a blasphemous fable, and that a sys- IRISH STATE TRIALS. 415 tern of idolatry unliappily prevails in our country." It sub- mits to the Lord Lieutenant that " we want in Ireland laws which shall have the effect of abohshing Popery." It calls for the suppression of the College at Ma^Tiooth ; the address, in short, is in keeping with another address from the same socie- ty in which the Oathohc religion is designated as a " God-dis- honoring, Christ-blaspheming, and a Bible-denying supersti- tion, whose climax is gross idolatry." Popery is called " the masterpiece of Satan." It states " there are idolaters upon the bench — idolaters on the judgment-seat." They conclude with a panegyric on the honorable member for Knaresborough, whose arrival in Dublin they announce as an event to be glad- ly anticipated by all Irish Protestants. The other day he read a speech attributed to me ; I acquit him of all blame, but that speech was not made by me, but by a person of the same name, resident in Thomas Street, Dublin. In the Annual Eegister the speech is given to me by mistake. This Protes- tant Operative Association, this natural product of your sacer- dotal institutions, having addressed the Lord Lieutenant in reference to the proclamation, what answer did he give ? Did he denounce — did he reprove contumely so wanton and so un- provoked ? Did he, as the representative of his sovereign, who charged him when he went to Ireland to govern the country with impartiality, and expressed to him her tender solicitude for the weKare of her Irish people, express the slightest con- demnation of the atrocious language which had been em- ployed in reference to the religion of seven eighths of the in- habitants of Ireland ? No, sir. But in his answer to the con- gratulations of these conspirators against the first principles of Christian charity, he expresses his " warm acknowledgments for the honors which they have conferred upon him, in the expression of their thanks for his conduct on a late occasion." Does the First Lord of the Treasury approve of this proceed- ing on the part of his " Lord Deputy of Ireland ?" The Secre- tary for the Home Department considers it as indiscreet, but as to the Secretary for the Colonies, as he, in all likehhood, sympathizes with the Protestant Operative Association, I beg to hand him their address to .Lord de Grey, as it will furnish admirable materials for his next " No Popery" speech. The 416 SELECT SPEECHES OF EICHAED LALOR SHEIL. moral effect of the verdict will not be enhanced by the conduct of Lord de Grey, or by the speeches of the Secretary for flie Colonies, or the Secretary for the Home Department. That right honorable gentleman spoke of " convicted conspirators" not being able to upset the Established Church. Even if your verdict had been legitimately obtained, you should abstain fi'om such expressions. You should not give way to this inglo- rious exultation. You are an Enghshman, and you ought not to hit a man when he is down. As to the noble lord the Secretary for the Colonies, he never fails to apply a provocative to our resentments, and to verify what my friend Mr. Fonblanque says of his orations — " Every one of them is a blister of shiniag flies." I am sm-prised that the First Lord of the Treasury, knowing, as he must know, that so hot a horse is likely to bolt, allowed him to be entered for the race. He ought, at all events, if the noble lord was de- termined to speak, to have suggested to him, that as his gov- ernment of Ireland had not been peculiarly successful, to avoid the topics which are most hkely to add to the national irritation ; he ought to have admonished him not to make such a speech as in Canada would be likely to produce great irrita- tion amongst the large Catholic community of that important colony. Perhaps the Prime Minister did give him some such warning, and probably, Hke the L;ish Attorney-General, he promised to put a restraint on himself, and to extend his Con- servative habits to his temper. But once on his legs, all his good resolutions were forgotten, and he could not deny himself the luxmy of offering every Catholic in the house an affront in the Pharisaical homily wliich he dehvered on the oaths taken by Catholics in parhament. He read the oath — read it in ital- ics — he read it almost as well as the Chief Justice read the speech of Daniel O'Connell. He begged of us to examine our consciences, and to consider the awful obhgation which was imposed upon us. In giving us a lecture on perjury, he does not mean to offend us. Be it so ; but suj^pose that, in the spirit of retahatory gratitude, I were to give him a lecture on an offence of far inferior culpabihty, on political apostasy, and were to say — " My lord, I do not taean to offend you, but I en- treat you not to give way to the acrimonious feelings by which IRISH STATE TRIALS. 417 tergiversation is habitually characterized ; don't play the fierce and vindictive renegade, for the sake of men with whom the partner of your conversion declared that it would be in the last degree discreditable to consort, and remember that ' sa7is changer ' is the motto attached to your illustrious name." I very much question whether the noble lord would consider these amiable suggestions as giving me any very peculiar title to his thanks. But there was something even more remarkable than his advice in reference to the Catholic oath in the speech of the noble lord. He was exceedingly indignant at the reflections on the Chief Justice in reference to whom deh- cacy forbids me saying anything, as he was " counsel on the other side," and insisted that a judge of the land ought not to be made the subject of criticism in this House ; yet when he was a Whig Cabinet Minister he did not exhibit this vir- tuous squeamishness, but thought Baron Smith, the father of the Irish Attorney-General, would give capital sport in a com- mittee of the House of Commons. He proposed an inquiry into the conduct of Baron Smith— an inquiry into the accuracy of the charge of Mr. Baron Smith. Lord Stanley. — No, I didn't. Mr. Sheil. — Didn't you? Lord Stanley. — No, I didn't. Mr. Sheil. — What! No vote of censure? Lord Stanley. — No. Mr. Sheil. — ^No motion for a committee? Lord Stanley. — No. Mr. Sheil. — Then, what was it? There was a motion I know made in this House for a committee to inquire into the con- duct of Mr. Baron Smith in charging the grand jury. Lord Stanley. — No. Mr. Sheil. — Yes, but there was. The Secretary for the Home Department perhaps can tell me, because he voted against the noble lord. The Secretary for the Home Depart- ment was shocked at such a proceeding, and my Lord Mont- eagle, whose nerves are better now, was shocked too. Upon that occasion the noble lord (Lord Stanley) and the Secretary for the Home Department were divided ; there was then only one star in the Gemini. But let me turn from the noble lord. 418 SPEECHES OF RICHARD LALOR SHEIL. wliose conduct and whose advice we hold in the estimate which they deserve, to the country to which he once said that he would give a lesson — and inquire how it is that you intend that the government of Ireland, for the fature, shall be carried on. Ireland is not to be ruled by force. Indeed ! It is to- be ruled through Protestant jurors, and Protestant charges, and Protestant jailers ; but Protestant jurors, and Protestant charges, and Protestant jailers, require that Protestant bayo- nets should sustain them, and that, with the discretion of the Home Office, the energy of the Horse Guards must be com- bined. But let me come to your specific measures. You have issued a landlord and tenant commission, composed exclusively of proprietors. You did not place upon it a Catholic bishop, or any other eminent ecclesiastic, having an intimate acquaint- ance with the sufferings of the poor. These commissioners are to fill up three or four folios of evidence, to prove to us, what every one of us already knows. The Home Secretary tells us, that he is inclined to render the landlord's remedy more compendious, but he ought to remember that Mr. Lynch, the master in Chancery, who is thoroughly acquainted with Ireland, a first-rate lawyer, and an excellent man, who has managed his own property with the most humane concern for his tenants, thought the remedy of the quarter-sessions preferable to an ejectment in the superior courts, because the costs in the superior courts are overwhelming, and the tenant purchases a little delay at a price utterly ruinous, and which deprives him of all chance of redeeming his land. The right honorable gentleman also informed us that he had a Eegistration Bill in liis thought ; I admit that the govern- ment are entitled to large praise for having thrown the Secre- tary of the Colonies overboard ; but why does not the right honorable gentleman inform us of his plan ? He will cut down the franchise with one hand, and extend it with the other ; but how will he extend it ? By the Chandos clause ; that is, he will discourage the granting of long leases, and he will create a mass of vassalage in times of tranquillity, and in seasons of political excitement he will create an open revolt, by which the whole country will be distracted. But what does IRISH STATE TRL\LS. 419 he mean shall be done with regard to the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church — ^with regard to the church with a congregation and without a revenue, and the church with a revenue and without a congregation ? Will he grant glebe leases to the Catholic clergy, will he build Catholic houses of worship, will he augment Maynooth ? — On these subjects the government are silent, but it is intimated that with the revenues of the establishment no sacrilegious innovation shall be permitted to interfere, and that the Established Church shall bo maintained in the plenitude of its possessions, in a country in which two thirds of the Irish members are returned by Roman CathoKcs, in which Roman Catholics are masters of all the corporations in the south of Ireland, in which every day the Catholic millions are making a wonderful progress in wealth, in industry, in intelligence, in personal self-respect, and in individual determination. And why is the Church to be maintained in its superfluous temporalities ? Because we are told that it is founded in Christian Protestant truth. Be it so ; but permit me to inquire on which side of the Tweed in Great Britain Protestant truth is to be found ? On the north- ern bank it is impersonated in the member for Perth — in the member for Oxford on the south. It is Calvinistic in the north, Arminian in the south ; it is dressed in a black gown and a white band in the north ; in the south it is episcopally enthroned, mitred, and crosiered, and arrayed in all the pomp of pontifical attire. On the north it betrays its affinity to Geneva. On the south it exhibits a strong family resemblance to that Babylonian lady, toward whom, under the auspices ol Doctor Pusey, its filial affection is beginning to return. If I shall ever be disposed to recant the errors which have now continued for 1800 years, in order that, being permitted to assail the Irish Church from without, I may, as a Protestant, undermine it from within, perhaps the Secretary for the Home Department, who is a borderer, will teU me on which bank ol the Tweed the truth is to be discovered. But wherever it is to be found, it must be admitted that the Irish Church has not been very instrumental in its propagation. You have made no way in two centuries in Ireland, while Popery is every day, and in every way, upon the advance. The Catholic religion, 420 SELECT SPEECHES OF EICHARD LALOR SHEIL. iudigenous to the mind of Ireland, has struck its root pro- foundly and widely in the belief and the affections of the peo- ple — it has grown beneath the axe, and risen in the blast — while Protestant truth, although preserved in a magnificent conservatory, at prodigious cost, pines like a sickly exotic, to which no natural vitality can be imparted, which by every diversity of expedient you have striven to force into freshness, and warm into bloom, in vain. But you may resolve, per fas aid oiefas, to maintain the abuses of the Church, but it is right that you should know, that among the Catholics of Ireland there exists but one opinion on the subject. You heard my honorable friend the member for Kildare — he is a gentleman of fortune and of birth, highly connected, and who has again and again refused to take the Kepeal pledge. He tells you that he is thoroughly convinced that an alteration in your establishment is required. A vast body of the Pro- testant Irish aristocracy entertain the same sentiment ; and even here, the supporters of a Conservative government can- not refrain from teUing you that a revision of the church can- not be long avoided. The honorable member for Wakefield, who was one of the vice-presidents, if I remember right, at the dinner given in 1838, to the first Lord of the Treasury, at the Merchant tailors'-haU, bore his important, although reluct- ant, testimony to the necessity of a change. That change is said to be against principle. But what an incongruity between your theory and practice : take, as an instance, the Canada clergy and reserves. The clergy reserves were appropriated by act of parliament, by one of the fundamental laws of the colo- ny, to the maintenance of the propagation of the Protestant religion. Before the revolt in Canada (that painful instrument of po- htical amelioration) we were told that the clergy reserves were set apart for sacred and inviolable purposes. But the Cana- dian insurrection produced one good result ; the Archbishop of Canterbury did no more than stipulate for a change of plirase- ology in an act of parhament, and the Protestant clergy reserves are at this moment applied, in part, to the sustain- ment and the diffusion of the Cathohc rehgion. The present Prime Minister, the secretary for the Colonies, the secretary IRISH STATE TRIALS. 421 for the Home Department, the Bishop of London, all agreed to this momentous ahenation. The Bishop of Exeter alone stood by his colors ; he implored, he adjured the House of Lords in vain — he called on the bishops to remember their oaths, he poiated out the disastrous precedent which you were about to make. He was right — the inference is irresistible, the whole appropriation question is involved in the clergy reserves. But consider whether, even in your deahngs with the Irish Church, you have not acted in such a way as to render your position utterly untenable. By the Church Temporali- ties Act you abolished Irish Church rates. You thereby sub- tracted so much from the property of the church — ^you sup- pressed a certain number of bishoprics, why should you not suppress a corresponding number of benefices ? You do not want so many bishops — how can so many parsons be required by you ? But the Tithe Bill is a stiU stronger case. In 1831 the Catholic members asked nothing more than that you should apply the surplus of church property to char- ity and education. They never proposed to confiscate a fourth and give it to the Irish landlords. In 1835 that proposition was made by the present Secretary-at-war, then Secretary for Ireland. To the Tories the entire merit of originating that wild and "Wellingtonian measure exclusively belongs. But the gaUant officer, when Secretary for Ireland, proposed a bill by which one fourth of the tithe was confiscated and put into the coffers of the landlords — ^you would not ahenate church pro- perty — not you ; but with one blow you take away one fourth of their tithes from the church, and surrender the precious fragment to the Protestant landlords of Ireland. Your own conduct in reference to the Education Question is the strongest illustration of your own sense of the incompe- tence of the Irish Church to fulfill the duties of an establish- ment. In England, where you have an Established Church which teaches the religion of the people, you gave up the Fac- tory Bill ; you have perpetuated ignorance, and aU the vices which it engenders, rather than infringe on the sacerdotal pre- rogative of your establishment, which claims the tutelage of the nation's mind; while in Ireland you have stripped the church of all its privileges, and declared it to be unfit for one 422 SELECT SPEECHES OF RICHARD LALOR SHEIL. of its most important functions — the direction of the public mind ; nay, more, the Secretary for Ireland, who now thinks it politic to offer his homage to the clergy of the Established Church, with a sincerity of panegyric commensurate, I hope, with its exaggeration, denounced that clergy for their factious opposition to the Education Board. You have thus, by your own acts, pronounced a virtual condemnation of your Estab- lishment — that monster anomaly to which nothing in Europe is to be compared. Yes ; there is one analogy to be found to your sacerdotal institutions — there is one country in Europe in which your Irish pohcy has been faithfully copied. In a series of remarkable ukases the Emperor of aU the Eussias proclaims the eternal union between Poland and Russia, de- clares it to be the means of developing the great national ad- vantages of Poland, expresses his surprise that the Poles should be so utterly insensible to his benevolence, reprobates the malcontents by whom fanciful grievances are got upj and establishes the Greek Church as an excellent bond of connexion between the two countries. Is there a single argument that can be urged in favor of the English Church in Ireland which does not apply to the establishment of the Greek Church in Poland ? The fee-simple of Poland is now Russian. Property in Poland has been Tar- tarized, by very much the same process by which it has been Protestantized in Ireland. A Greek hierarchy will compensate for the absence of the nobility in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and it will be eminently conducive to pubhc usefulness, that a respectable Greek clergyman should be located, as a resident, in every parochial subdivision of Poland, with a living, in the inverse ratio of a congregation. Almost every year we have a debate in this house touching the wrongs of Poland, and an assurance is given by the right honorable baronet that he will use his best endeavors to procure a mitigation of the suffer- ings of Poland. I have sometimes thought, that in case Lord Aberdeen should venture on any vehement expostulation, which is not, however, very Ukely, Count Nesselrode might ask, whether Russia had not adopted the example of England towards Ireland ; whether, in Ireland, torrents of blood had not been poured out by your forefathers ; whether Ireland had , lEISH STATE TKIALS. 423 not been put through a process of repeated confiscation; whether the laws of Russia were more detestable than your barbarous penal code ; and whether, to this day, you do not persevere in maintaining an ecclesiastical institution repugnant to the interests, utterly at variance with the creed, and abhor- rent to the feelings of a vast majority of the people ? Such, I think, would be the just reply of a Eussian statesman to my Lord Aberdeen ; and, since I have named my Lord Aberdeen, I gladly avail myself of the opportunity to express my unquali- fied approbation of his foreign policy. When the home office plays, in reference to Ireland, so belligerent a part, and when the Secretary of the Colonies, in speaking of Ireland, *' stiffens the sinews " and *' summons up the blood," and, I may venture to add, imitates the action of the tiger, nothing wiU become my Lord Aberdeen so much as " mild behavior and humility." Rightly did my Lord Ashburton, under his auspices, con- cede to America far more than America could plausibly claim. — Rightly will he relinquish the Oregon territory ; rightly has he endured the intrigues of the French Cabinet in Spain ; rightly did he speak of jilgiers as a "fait accomplV' Rightly will he abandon the treaties of 1831 and 1833, for the sup- pression of the slave trade ; but, after all, this prudential com- plaisance may be ultimately of httle avail ; for who can rely upon the sincerity of that international friendship, which rests on no better basis than the interchange of royal civilities? Who can rely upon the stability of that throne of the Barri- cades, which has neither legitimacy for its foundation, nor free- dom for its prop ? And if it falls, how fearful the consequences that may grow out of its ruins ! The First Lord of the Treas- ury will then have cause to revert to his speech of 1829, to which my honorable and learned friend the member for Wor- cester, so emphatically and so impressively adverted. The admonitions of the noble lord, the member for Sunderland, will then be deserving of regard. These topics are perilous ; but I do not fear to touch them. It is my thorough conviction that England would be able to put down any insurrectionary movement, with her gigantic force, even although maddened and frantic Ireland might be aided by calculating France. But at what a terrible cost of 424 SELECT SPEECHES OF RICHAKD LALOR SHEIL. treasure and of life would treason be subdued ! Well might the Duke of Wellington, although famihar with fields of death, express his horror at the contemplation of civil war. War in Ireland would be worse than civil. A demon would take possession of the nation's heart — every feeling of humanity would be extinguished — neither to sex nor to age would mercy be given. The country would be deluged with blood, and when that deluge had subsided, it would be a sorry consola- tion to a British statesman, when he gazed upon the spectacle of desolation which Ireland would then present to him, that he beheld the spires of your Established Church still standing secure amidst the desert with which they would be encom- You have adjured us, in the name of the oath which we have sworn on the Gospel of God — I adjure you, in the name of every precept contained in that holy book — in the name of that rehgion which is the perfection of humanity — in the name of every obhgation, divine and human, as you are men and Christians, to save my country from those evils to which I point, but to avert them, and to remember, that if you shall be the means of precipitating that country into perdition, pos- terity will deliver its great finding against you, and that you will not only be answerable to posterity, but responsible to that Judge, in whose presence, clothed with the blood of civil warfare, it will be more than dreadful to appear. But God forbid that these evils should ever have any other existence, except in my own affrighted imaginings, and that those visions of disaster should be embodied in reality. God grant that the men to whom the destinies of England are confided by their sovereign, may have the virtue and the wisdom to save her from those fearful ills that so darkly and so densely lower upon her. For my own part, I do not despair of my country ; I do not despair of witnessing the time when Ireland will cease to be the battle-field of faction ; when our mutual acrimonies will be laid aside ; when our fatal antipathies wiU be sacrificed to the good genius of our country. Within the few days that have elapsed since my return to England, I have seen enough to convince me, that there exists amidst a large portion of the great British community, a sen- IRISH STATE TRIALS. 425 timent of kindliness and of good feeling towards Ireland. I have seen proofs that Englishmen have, with a generous promp- titude, if they have felt themselves wronged, forgiven the man who may have done them wrong. That if Englishmen, noble and high-minded Englishmen, do but conjecture that injustice has been done to a pohtical antagonist, swayed by their pas- sion for fair play, they will fly to his succor, and with an instinct of magnanimity, enthusiastically take his part. I do trust that this exalted sentiment will be appreciated by my country- men as it ought to be ; and that it may be so appreciated, and that it may lead to a perfect rational reconciliation, and that both countries, instead of being bound by a mere parchment union — a mere legal Hgament, which an event may snap — shall be morally, pohtically, and socially identified, is the ardent desire of one who has many faults, who is conscious of numer- ous imperfections, but who, whatever those imperfections may be, is not reckless of the interests of his country ; is devotedly attached to his sovereign ; and, so far from wishing for a dis- memberment of this majestic empire, offers up a prayer, as fer- vent as ever passed from the heart to the hps of any one of you, that the greatness of that empire may be imperishable, and that the power, and that the affluence, and that the glory, and that, above aU, the liberties of England may endure for reiiiwpwv'rrii,i|ii' mm s^i^s*-^ SPEECHES OP THE RIGHT HON. JOHN PHILPOT CURUAN. MEMOIR OF JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN. John Philpot Cukean, the greatest Irish orator of the last cen- tury, was born in , at the httle town of Newmarket, in the north- west corner of the comity of Cork, where his father was seneschal of the manor and petty judge. A wild, lively boy, he owed his best early training to his pastor, Eev. Mr. Boyse, who sent him to Middleton school, whence he passed to Trinity, storing his mind with classic lore, which he ever loved, but never paraded, though at times a well-timed quotation fell from his lips. He entered Trinity in 1767, and contrived to graduate with honor in spite of a fondness for scrapes. Then giving up his first choice, the church, he went to London and entered the Middle Tem- ple. "While preparing for the bar, he married his cousin. Miss Creagh, and in 1775 began his career in the profession. It will hardly be believed, but is nevertheless a fact, that this great orator and lawyer rose slowly, and at first showed a great diffidence and awkwardness, that gave little token of future emi- nence. The case of Father Neale against Lord Doneraile in 1780, at once raised him to distinction and popularity. The aristocrat had brutally beaten a venerable priest for refusing to violate the rules of his church. Every lawyer on the circuit refused to act as the poor priest's counsel, but Curran volunteered, and tried the case with such scathing eloquence and remarkable ability that the jury forgot their bigotry and gave a verdict. His language cost him a duel, but this only increased his fame. He entered the Irish parliament in 1783, as member for Kilbeg- gan, and continued in that body till its close. Yet his true field was the bar ; his eloquence was for the forum, not for the sen- ate. His speeches on State Trials, in which his whole soul was aroused, give the fullest and fairest ideas of his power. And the 430 MEMOIR OF JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN. defence of prisoners in 1798, was not without its perils. Threats, of violence were frequent ; but Curran was undaunted. " You may assassinate me," he exclaimed, when the bayonets were lev- elled at his breast, " but you shall not intimidate me." He could not always save the victim from the doom pronounced in secret councils of government, for the trials were a mere mockery of jus- tice, but Curran's speeches, models of eloquence and imdying ex- hortations to justice and honor, will, to the judgment day, stand as the fearful indictment of English rule in Ireland. After the Union, Curran devoted himself to his private practice, but domestic affliction saddened his later years ; his elevation to the Mastership of the Rolls, a judicial office in the Court of Chan- cery, was a mistake, and he resigned in 1814. He had two years previous been defeated in Newry in a parliamentry election, and thus retired from political and legal life. In October, 1817, he was struck with apoplexy, and died on the 14th, and is buried in Glasnevin cemetery. " A companion unri- valled in sympathy and wit ; an orator whose thoughts went forth like ministers of nature, with robes of Ught and swords in their hands ; a patriot, who battled best when the flag was trampled down, and a genuine earnest man, breathing of his chmate, his country and his time." SPEECHES OF THE El&HT HON. JOHN PHILPOT CURMN. SPEECH ON PENSIONS, MAECH 13, 1786. I OBJECT to adjourning this bill to tlie - first of August, be- cause I perceive in tlie present disposition of the House, that a proper decision will be naade upon it this night. We have set out upon our inquiry in a manner so honorable, and so consistent, that we have reason to expect the happiest success, which I would not wish to see baffled by delay. "We began with giving the full affirmative of this House, that no grievance exists at all ; we considered a simple matter of fact, and adjourned our opinion : or rather we gave sentence on the conclusion, after having adjourned the premises. But I do begin to see a great deal of argument in what the learned baronet has said ; and I beg gentlemen will acquit me of apostasy, 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 maintained by its different component parts, mutually checking and controlling each other ; they seem to think, with Hobbes, that a state of nature is a state of warfare; and that, like Mahomet's coffin, the constitution is suspended between the attraction of different powers. My friends seem to think that the Crown should be restrained from douig wrong by a physical necessity ; forget- ting, that if you take away from man aU power to do wrong, 432 SILECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUEEAN. 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 math- ematical rectitude but to pubhc harmony ; but if, instead of privilege setting up his back to oppose prerogative he were to saddle his back, and invite prerogative to ride, how com- fortably they might both jog along ! and therefore it dehghts me to hear the advocates for the royal bounty flowing freely and spontaneously, 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 be- tween the Crown and its true servants, is not confined at home ; it extends its influence to foreign powers. Our mer- chants have been insulted in Portugal, our commerce inter- dicted ; what did the British lion do ? Did he whet his tusks ? did he bristle up, and shake his mane ? did he roar ? No ; no such thing , the gentle creature wagged his tail for six years at the court of Lisbon ; and now we hear fi'om the Delphic oracle on the treasury bench, that he is wagging his tail in London to Chevalier Pinto, who, he hopes soon to be able to tell us, will allow his lady to entertain him as a lap-dog ; and when she does, no doubt the British factory will furnish some of their softest woolens, to make a cushion 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 surprised at the vengeance he will take. This polyglot of wealth, this museum of curiosities, the pen- sion list, embraces every link in the human chain, every de- scription of men, women, and children, from the exalted ex- cellence of a Hawke or a Eodney, to the debased situation of the lady who humble th herself that she may be exalted. But SPEECH ON PENSIONS. 433 tlie lessons it inculcates form its greatest perfection ; it teacli- eth, that sloth and vice may eat that bread which virtue and honesty may starve for after they have earned it. It teaches the idle and dissolute to look up for that support which they are too proud to stoop and earn. It directs the minds of men to an entke reliance on the ruling power of the state, who feed the ravens of the royal aviary, that cry continually for food. It teaches them to imitate those saints on the pension hst that are like the lihes of the field — they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet are arrayed like Solomon in his glory. In fine it teaches a lesson, which, indeed, they might have ^learned from Epictetus, that it is sometimes good not to be over vir- tuous ; it shows, that in proportion as our distresses increase, the munificence 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 liberaht'y, its profusion, is laying a foundation for the independence of parhament ; 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 kingdom has a shilhng, they will not want one. Suppose at any future period of time the boroughs of Ire- land should decline from their present flourishing and prosper- ous state — suppose they should fall into the hands of men who would wish to drive a profitable commerce, by having mem- bers of parliament to hire or let ; in such a case a secretary would find great difficulty, if the proprietors of members should enter into a combination to form a monoply ; to prevent wliich, in time, the wisest way is to purchase up the raw material, young members of parliament, just rough from the grass; and when they are a little bitted, and he has got a pretty stud, per- haps of seventy, he may laugh at the slave merchant ; some of them he may teach to sound through the nose, Hke a barrel organ ; some in the course of a few months, might be taught 434 SELECT SPEECHES OP JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN. to cry, "Hear! hear!" some, "Chair! chair!" upon occasion — though those latter might create a Httle confusion, if the •were to forget whether they were calling inside or outside of those doors. Again, he might have some so trained that he need only pull a string, and up gets a repeating member ; and if they were so dull that they could neither speak nor make orations, (for they are different 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 color ; and of a Sunday, he might march them to church two by two, to the great edification of the people, and the honor of the Christian religion ; afterwards, like an- cient Spartans, or the fraternity of Kilmainham, they might dine all together in a large hall. Good heaven ! what a sight to see them feeding in public, upon public viands, and talking of public subjects, for the benefit of the public ! It is a pity they are not immortal ; but I hope they will flourish as a cor- poration, and that pensioners will beget pensioners to the end of the chapter. SPEECH ON THE TEIAL OF AKCHIBALD HAMIL- TON ROWAN, 29th JANUARY, 1794. Gentlemen of the jury, when I consider the period at which this prosecution is brought forward ; when I behold the extra- ordinary safeguard of armed soldiers resorted to, no doubt for the preservation of j)eace and order ;- when I catch, as I can- not 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 character, of one of the most respectable families of our country — ^himself the only individual of that family ^I may almost say of that country — who can look to that possible fate with unconcern ? * A few moments before Mr. Curran entsred into his client's defence, a guard was brought into the Court-house by the sheriff (Gifford). TRIAL OF ARCHIBALD HAIHILTON ROWAN. 435 Feeling, as I do, all these impressions, it is in the honest sim- plicity of my heart I speak, when I say, that I never rose in a court of justice with so much embarrassment as upon this oc- casion. If, 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 undisturbed, 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 ; butQC have a right to call upon you, in the name of your country, in the name of the liv- ing God, of whose eternal justice you are now administering that portion which dwells with us on this side of the grave, to discharge your breasts, as far as you are able, of every bias of prejudice or passion, that if my chent be guilty of the offence charged upon him, you may give tranquiUity to the pubhc, 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 of the paltry artifices and senseless clamors that have been re- sorted to, 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 just heard on the part of the prosecution. I know well the virtues and talents of the excellent person who conducts that prosecution ;* 1 know how much ho 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 feehngs, 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 op- portunity of growing cool and resuming themselves, by coming to a calm and uncolored statement of mere facts, premising * The late Lord Kilwarden, then Attorney-General Wolfe 436 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILrOT CUEEAN. only to you, that I have it in strictest injunction from my cli- ent, to defend him upon facts and evidence only, and to avail myseK of no technical artifice or subtlety that could witlidraw his cause from the test of that inquiry which it is your pro- Aince to exercise, and to which only he wishes to be indebted for an acquittal. In the month of December, 1792, Mr. Eowan was arrested on an information, charging him with the offence for which he is now on his trial. He was taken before an honorable per- sonage now on that bench, and admitted to bail.* He remained a considerable time in this city, soliciting the present prosecution, and offering himself to a fair trial by a jury of his country. But 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, by sending up a bill of in- dictment to a grand jury. I do not mean by this to say that informations ex-officio 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 pre- viously foimd by the grand inquest, and supported by the naked assertion only of the King's prosecutor, that the accu- sation labors under a weakness of probability which it is diffii- cult to assist. If the charge had no cause of dreading the hght — 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 the more constitutional mode, and preferred to come forward in the ungracious form of an ex-qfficio informa- tion. If such a bill had been sent up and found, Mr. Rowan would have been 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 be tried upon it, an error, it seems, was discovered in the record. Mr. RoAvan offered to waive it, or consent to any amendment desired. No, that proj^osal could not be accepted : a trial must have followed. That in- formation, therefore, was withdrawn, and a new one filed ; that * The Honorable Justice Downes, afterwards Lord Downes, and Chief Jus- tice of the King's Bench. TEIAL OF ARCHIBALD HAMILTON EOWAN. 437 is, in fact, a third prosecution was instituted upon the same charge. This last was filed on the 8th day of last July. Gentlemen, these facts cannot fail of a due impression upon you. You will find a material part of your inquiry must be, whether Mr. Eowan is pursued as a criminal, or hunted down as a victim. It is not, therefore, by insinuation or circuity, but it is boldly and directly that I assert, that oppression has been intended and practiced upon him, and by those facts wliich I have stated, I am warranted in the assertion. His demand, his entreaty to be tried, was refused, and why ? A hue and cry was to be raised against him ; the sword was to be suspended over his head ; some time was necessary for the public mind to become heated by the circulation of artful clamors of anarchy and rebellion, these same clamors which, with more probability, but not more success, had been cu'culat- ed before through England and Scotland. In this country, the causes and the swiftness of their progress were as obvioiis as their folly has since become to every man of the smallest ob- servation. I have been stopped myself with — " Good God, sir, have you heard the news ?" " No, sir, what ?" " Why one French emissary was seen travelling through Connaught in a post-chaise, and scattering from the window, as he passed, httle doses of political poison, made up in square bits of pa- per ; another was actually surprised in the fact of seducing our good people from their allegiance, by discourses upon the indivisibihty of French robbery and massacre, wliich he preached in the French language, to a congregation of Irish Such are the bugbears and spectres to De raised to warrant the sacrifice of whatever little public spirit may remain amongst us. But time has also detected the imposture of these 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 view 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 438 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUERAN. calumny is conveyed tlirougli a vehicle whicli ought to be con- secrated to public information. Neither, on the 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 pros- ecuted for a libel on the state. The peculiarity of the British constitution, (to which, in its fuUest extent, we have an un- doubted right, however distant we may be from the actual en- joyment,) and in which it surj)asses every known government in Europe, is this, that its only professed object is the general good, and its only foundation, the general will ; hence the peo- ple have a right, acknowledged from time immemorial, fortified by a pile of statutes, and authenticated by a revolution that speaks louder than them all, to see whether abuses have been committed, and whether their properties and their liberties have been attended to as they ought to be. . This is a kind of subject by which I feel myself overawed when I approach it ; there are certain fundamental principles which nothing but necessity should expose to pubhc examina- tion ; they are pillars, the depth of whose foundation you can- not 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 to keep an eternal watch upon the conduct of their rulers ; and in order to that, the freedom of the press has been cher- ished by the law of England. In private defamation, let it never be tolerated ; in wicked and wanton aspersion u^^on a good and honest administration, let it never be supported. Not that a good government can be exposed to danger by groundless accusation, but because a bad government is sure to find, in the detected falsehood of a licentious press, a se- curity and a credit, which it could never otherwise obtain. I said a good government cannot be endangered ; I say so again ; for whether it be good or bad, it can never depend upcm 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 happiness of the people. Do four millions of TRIAL OF AECHIBALD HAMILTON EOWAN. 439 people in tliis country gather those fruits from that govern- ment, to whose injured purity, to whose spotless virtue and violated honor this seditious and atrocious libeller is to be immolated upon the altar of the constitution ? To you, gen- tlemen of the jury, who are bound by the most sacred obliga- tion to your country and your God, to speak nothing but the truth, I put the question — do the people of this country gather those fruits ? — are they orderly, industrious, rehgious, and contented ? — do you find them free from bigotry and ig- norance, those inseparable concomitants of systematic oppres- sion ? Or, to try them 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 prop- erly, revived and restored the law respecting trials of this kind. For the space of thirty 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 ; and you will give it credit, not from any ad- ventitious circumstances of authority, but merely so far as it meets the concurrence of your own understandings. 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 disposition, and mahciously designing and in- tending to excite and diffuse among the subjects of this realm of Ireland, discontents, jealousies, and suspicions of our Lord the King and his government, and disaffection and disloyalty to the person and government of our said Lord the King, and to raise very dangerous seditions and tumults within this king- dom of Ireland, and to draw the government of this kingdom into great scandal, infamy, and disgrace, and to incite the subjects of our said Lord the King, to attempt, by force and violence, and with arms, to make alterations in the government, state, and constitution of this kingdom, and to incite his 44:0 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUEKAN. Majesty's said subjects to tumult and anarchy, and to overturn tlie established constitution of this kingdom, and to overawe and intimidate the legislature of this kingdom by an armed force;" did " mahciously and seditiously " publish the paper in question. ■ Gentlemen, without any observation of mine, you must see, that this information contains a direct charge upon Mr. Eowan ; namely, that he did, with the intents set forth in the information, publish the paper ; so that here you have, in fact, two or three questions for your decision. First, the mat- ter of fact of the publication ; namely, did Mr. Rowan publish the paper ? If Mr. Rowan did not in fact publish that paper, you have no longer any question on which to employ your minds ; if you think that lie was in fact the pubhsher, then, and not till then, arises the great and important subject to which your judgments must be directed. And that comes shortly and simply to this. Is the paper a libel ? and did he pubhsh it with the intent charged in the information ? For whatever you may think of the abstract question, whether the paper be hbeUous or not, and of which paper it has not even been insinuated that he is the author, there can be no ground for a verdict against him, unless you also are persuaded that what he did was done with a criminal design I wish, gentlemen, to simplify, and not to perplex ; I there- fore say again, if these three circumstances conspire, that he pubhshed it, that it was a libel, and that it was pubHshed with the purposes alleged in the information, you ought unques- tionably to find him guilty ; if, on the other hand, you do not find that all these circumstances concurred ; if you cannot upon your oaths say that he published it ; if it be not in your oj)inion a libel ; and if he did not publish it with the intention alleged; I say upon the failure of any one of these points, my chent is entitled, in justice, and upon your oaths, to a verdict of acquittal. Gentlemen, Mr. Attorney- General has thought proper to direct your attention to the state and circumstances of public affairs at the time of this transaction ; let me also make a few retrospective observations on a period at which he has but shghtly glanced ; I speak of the events which took place before TKIAL OF AKCHIBALD HAMILTON EOWAN. 441 tlie close of the American war. You know, gentlemen, that France had espoused the cause of America, and we became thereby engaged in a war with that nation. " Heu nescia mens hominum futuri ! " Little did that ill-fated monarch know that he was forming the first causes of those disastrous events, that were to end m the subversion of his throne, in the slaughter of his family, and the delugmg of his country with the blood of his people. You cannot but remember that, at a time when we had scarcely a regular soldier for our defence, when the old and young were alarmed and terrified with apprehensions of des- cent upon our coasts, that Providence seemed to have worked a sort of miracle in our favor. You saw a band of armed men come forth at the great call of nature, of honor, and their country. You saw men of the greatest wealth and rank ; you saw every class of the community give up its members, and send them armed into the field, to protect the pubhc and private tranquillity of Ireland. It is impossible for any man to turn back to that period, without reviving those sentiments of tenderness and gTatitude, which then beat in the public bosom, to recollect amidst what applause, what tears, what prayers, what benedictions, they walked forth amongst specta- tors, agitated by the muigied sensations of terror and of re- liance, of danger and of protection, imploring the blessings of heaven upon their heads, and its conquest upon their swords. That illustrious, and adored, and abused body of men, stood forward and assumed the title, which I trust the ingratitude of their country will never blot from its history, — " The YOLUNTEEES OF IeELAND." Give me leave now, with great respect, to put this question to you : — Do you think the assembUng of that glorious band of patriots was an insurrection ? Do you think the invitation to that assembhng would have been sedition? They came under no commission but the call of their country ; unauthor- ized and unsanctioned, except by public emergency and pubhc danger. I ask, was that meeting insurrection or not ? I put another question : If any man then had published a call on that body, and stated that war was declared against the state ; 442 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHn^POT CUERAN. that the regular troops were withdrawn ; that our coasts were hovered round by the ships of the enemy ; that the moment was approaching, when the unprotected feebleness of age and sex, when the sanctity of habitation, would be disregarded and profaned by the brutal ferocity of a rude invader ; if any man had then said to them — " Leave your industry for a while, that you may return to it again, and come forth in arms for the public defence ; " I put the question boldly to you, (it is not the case of the Volunteers of that day ; it is the case of my client at this hour, which I put to you,) would that call have been pronounced in a court of justice, or by a jury on their oaths, a criminal and seditious invitation to insurrection ? If it would not have been so then, upon what principle can it be so now ? What is the force and perfection of the law ? It is, the permanency of the law ; it is, that whenever the fact is the same, the law is also the same ; it is, that the letter remains written, monumented and recorded, to pronounce the same decision, upon the same facts, whenever they shall arise. I will not affect to conceal it ; you know there has been artful, ungrateful, and blasphemous clamor raised against these illus- trious characters, the saviours of the King of Ireland. Hav- ing mentioned this, let me read a few words of the paper alleged to be criminal : " You first took up arms to protect your country from foreign enemies, and from domestic dis- turbance. For the same purposes it now becomes necessary that you should resume them." I should be the last man in the world to impute any want of candor to the right honorable gentleman, who has stated the case on behalf of the- prosecution ; but he has certainly fallen into a mistake, which, if not explained, might be highly injurious to my client. He supposed that this publication was not addressed to those ancient Volunteers, but to new com- binations of them, formed upon new principles, and actuated by different motives. You have the words to which this con- struction is imputed upon the record ; the meaning of his mind can be collected only from those v\^ords which he has made use of to convey it. The guilt imputable to him can only be inferred from the meaning ascribable to those words. Let his meaning then be fairly collected by resorting to them. TKIAL OF ARCHIBALD HAMILTON EOWAN. 443 Is there a foundation to suppose that this address was directed to any such body of men as has been called a banditti, (with what justice it is unnecessary to inquire,) and not to the old Volunteers ? As to the sneer at the words citizen soldiers, I should feel that I was treating a very respected friend with an insidious and unmerited kindness, if I affected to expose it by any gravity of refutation. I may, however, be permitted to ob- serve, that those who are supposed to have disgraced this ex- pression by adopting it, have taken it from the idea of the British constitution, "that no man in becoming a soldier ceases to be a citizen." Would to God, all enemies as they are, that that unfortunate people had borrowed more from that sacred source of liberty and virtue ; and would to God, for the sake of humanity, that they had preserved even the little they did borrow! If ever there could be^n objection to that appellation, it must have been strongest when it was first assumed. To that period the writer manifestly alludes ; he addresses " those who first took up arms." " You first took up arms to protect your country from foreign enemies and from domestic disturbance. For the same purposes, it now becomes necessary that you should resume them," Is this ap- plicable to those who had never taken up arms before ? "A proclamation," says this paper, " has been issued in England for embodying the militia, and a proclamation has been issued by the Lord Lieutenant and Council of Irela,nd, for repress- ing all seditious associations. In consequence of both these proclamations, it is reasonable to apprehend danger from abroad, and danger at home." God help us from the situa- tion of Europe at that time ; we were threatened with too probable danger from abroad, and I am afraid it was not without foundation we were told of our having something to dread at home. I find much abuse has been lavished on the disrespect with which the proclamation is treated, in that part of the paper alleged to be a libel. To that my answer for my cHent is short ; I do conceive it competent to a British subject, if he thinks that a proclamation has issued for the purpose of rais- ing false terrors ; I hold it to be not only the privilege, but the 444 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUEEAN. duty of a citizen, to set liis countrymen right, with respect to such misrepresented danger ; and until a proclamation in this country shall have the force of law, the reason and grounds of it are sui'ely at least questionable by the people. Nay, I will go farther ; if an actual law had passed, receiving the sanction of the three estates, if it be exceptionable in any matter, it is warrantable to any man in the community to state, in a becoming manner, his ideas upon it. And I should be at a loss to linow, if the positive laws of Great Britain are thus questionable, upon what grounds the proclamation of an Irish government should not be open to the animadversion of Irish subjects. " Whatever be the motive, or from whatever quarter it arises," says this paper, " alarm has arisen." Gentlemen, do you not know that to be fact ? It has been stated by the At- torney-General, and most trul}^, that the most gloomy appre- hensions were entert*ned by the whole country. " You, Yol- unteers of Ireland, are therefore summoned to arms, at the instance of government, as well as. by the responsibijity at- tached to your character, and the permanent obligations of your institution." I am free to confess, if any man, assuming the hberties of a British subject to question public topics, should, under the mask of that privilege, publish a proclama- tion, inviting the profligate and seditious, those in want, and those in despair, to rise up in arms to overawe the legislature — to rob us of whatever portion of the blessing of a free gov- ernment we possess ; I know of no offence involving greater enormity. But that, gentlemen, is the question you are to try. If my client acted with an honest mind and fair intention, and having, as he believed, the authority of government to support him in the idea that danger was to be apprehended, did apply to that body of so known and so revered a character, calling upon them by their former honor, the principles of their glo- rious institution, and the great stake they possessed in their country : if he interposed, not upon a fictitious pretext, but a real belief of actual and imminent danger, and that their arm- ing at that critical moment was necessary to the safety of their coimtry, his intention was not only innocent, but highly merito- rious. It is a question, gentlemen, upon which you only can TRIAL OP AEGHIBALD HAMILTON EOWAN. 445 decide ; it is for you to say, whether it was criminal in the defendant to be misled, and whether he is to fall a sacrifice to the prosecution of that government by which he was so de- ceived. I say again, gentlemen, you can look only to his own words as the interpreters of his meaning ; and to the state and circumstances of his country, as he was made to beheve 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 proclamation, stating the country tO be in danger fi-om abroad, and at home ; and, thus alarmed, thus, upon the authority of the prosecutor, alarmed, applies to that august body, before whose awful presence sedition must vanish, and insurrection disappear. You must surrender, I hesitate not to say, your oaths to un- founded assertion, if you can submit to say, that such an act, of such a man, so warranted, is a wicked and seditious libel. If he was a dupe, let me ask you, who w%s the impostor ? I blush and shrink with shame and detestation from tliat mean- ness of, dupery and servile complaisance, which could make that dupe a victim to the accusation of an impostor. You perceive, gentlemen, that I am going into the merits of this publication 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 brevity or clearness, by returning to the more methodical course of observation. I have been naturally drawn from it by the superior importance of the topic I am upon, namely, the merit of the publication in question. This pubhcation, if ascribed at all to Mr. Rowan, contains four distinct subjects : the first, the invitation to the Yolunteers to arm : upon that I have already observed ; but those that remain are surely of much importance, 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 of Ireland ; and, as necessary to the achievement of all these ob- jects, does, fourthly, state the necessity of a general delegated convention of the people. 446 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN. It has been alleged, that Mr. Eowan intended, by this publi- cation, to excite the subjects of this country to effect an alter- ation in the form of your constitution. And here, gentlemen, perhaps you may not be unwilling to follow a httle farther than Mr. Attorney-General has done, the idea of a late prose- cution in Great Britain, upon the subject of a public hbel. It is with peculiar fondness I look to that country for solid prin- ciples of constitutional liberty and judicial example. You have been impressed in no small degree with the manner in which this pubhcation marks the different orders of our con- stitution, and comments upon them. Let me show you what boldness of animadversion of such topics is thought justifiable in the British nation, and by a British jury. I have in 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 pubh- cation, 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 peace- able and friendly manner, for the communication of thoughts, the form- ation of opinions, and to promote the general happiness, we think it un- necessary to offer any apology for inviting you to join us in this manly and benevolent pursuit ; the necessity of the inhabitants of every com- munity endeavoring to procure a true knowledge of their rights, their duties, and their interests, will not be denied, except by those who are the slaves of prejudice, or interested in the continuation of abuses. As men who wish to aspire to the title of freemen, we totally deny the wis- dom and the humanity of the advice, to approach the defects of govern- ment with 'pious awe and trembling solicitude.' What better doctrine could the pope or the tyrants ojE Europe desire ? We think, therefore, that the cause of truth and justice can never be hurt by temperate and honest discussions ; and that cause which will not bear such a scrutiny, must be systematically or practically bad. We are sensible that those who are not friends to the general good, have attempted to inflame the jDublic mind with the cry of ' Danger, ' whenever men have associated for discussing the principles of government ; and we have little doubt but such conduct will be pursued in this place ; we would therefore caution every honest man, who has really the welfare of the nation at heart, to avoid being led away by the prostituted clamors of those who live on the sources of corruption. We pity the fears of the timorous, and we are totally unconcerned respecting the false alarms of the venal. TEIAL OF AECHIBALD HAJIILTON EOWAN. 447 * We view with concern the frequency of wars. We are persuaded that the interests of the poor can never be promoted by accession of territoiy, when bought at the expense of their labor and blood ; and we must say, in the language of a celebrated author, ' We, who are only the people, but who pay for wars -with our substance and our blood, wiU not cease to tell kings, ' or governments, 'that to them alone wars ai-e lorofilable ; that the true and just conquests are those which each makes at home, by comforting the peasantry, by promoting agriculture and manufactures, by multiplying men and the other productions of nature ; that then it is that kings may caU themselves the image of God, whose will is perpetually directed to the creation of new beings. If they con- tinue to make us fight, and kill one another in uniform, we will continue to write and speak, until nations shall be cured of this folly.' "We are certain our present heavy burdens are owing, in a great measure, to cruel and impolitic wars, and therefore we will do all on our part, as peaceable citizens, who have the good of the community at heart, to enlighten each other, and protest against them. " The present state of the representation of the peoj)le calls for the Ijarticular attention of every man Avho has humanity sufficient to feel for the honor and happiness of his country, to the defects and cor- ruptions of which we are inclined to attribute unnecessary wars, etc. We think it a deplorable case when the poor must support a corruption which is calculated to oppress them ; when the laborer must give his money to afiford the means of preventing him having a voice in its dis- posal ; when the loAver classes may say — ' We give you our money, for which we have toiled and sweated, and which would save our families from cold and hunger ; but we think it more hard that there is nobody whom we have delegated, to see that it is not improperly and wickedly silent ; we have none to watch over our interests ; the rich only are represented. ' An equal and uncorrupt representation would, we are persuaded, save us from heavy exi^enses, and deUver us from many oppressions ; we will therefore do our duty to procure this reform, which appears to us of the utmost importance. "In short, we see, with the most lively concern, an army of i^lacemen, pensioners, etc., fighting in the cause of corruption and prejudice, and spreading the contagion far and wide. "We see, with equal sensibility, the present outcry against reforms, and a proclamation (tending to cramp the liberty of the press, and dis- credit the true friends of the people) receiving the support of numbers of our countrymen. "We see burdens multiphed, the lower classes sinking into poverty, disgrace and excesses, and the means of those shocking abuses increas ed for the purpose of revenue. "We ask ourselves, 'Are we in England?' Have our forefathers fought, bled, and conquered for Uberty ? And did they not think that 4:4.8 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN THILPOT CUKKAN. the fruits of their patriotism would be more abundant in peace, plenty, and happiness ? "Is the condition of the poor never to be improved? "Great Britain must have arrived at the highest degree of national happiness and prosisei'ity, and our situation must be too good to be mended, or the i)rescnt outcry against reforms and improvements is inhuman and criminal. But we hope our condition will be speedily improved, and to obtain so desirable a good, is the object of our present association : an union founded on principles of benevolence and hu- manity ; disclaiming all connexion with riots and disorder, but firm in our purpose, and warm in our affections for liberty. "Lastly, we invite the friends of freedom throughout Great Britain to form similar societies, and to act with unanimity and firmness, till the people be too wise to be imposed upon; and their influence in the government be commensurate with their dignity and importance. Then shall we be free and hajspy." Such, gentlemen, is the language, wliich a subject of Great Britain thinks himself warranted to hold, and upon such lan- guage has the corroborating sanction of a British jury been stamped by a verdict of acquittal. Such was the honest and manly freedom of publication ; in a country, too, where the complaint of abuses has not half the foundation it has here. I said I loved to look to England for principles of judicial ex- ample ; I cannot bnt say to you that it depends on your spirit, whether I shall look to it hereafter with sympathy or with shame. Be pleased, now, gentlemen, to consider whether the statement of the imperfection in your representation has been made with a desire of inflaming an attack upon the public tranquillity, or with an honest purpose of procuring a remedy, for an actually existing grievance. It is impossible not to revert to the situation of the times : and let me remind ^-^ou, that Avhatever observations of this kind I am compelled thus to make in a court of justice, the uttering of them in this place is not imputable to my client, but to the necessity of defence imposed upon him by this ex- traordinary prosecution. Gentlemen, the representation of our people is the vital principle of then- political existence ; without it they are dead, or they live only to servitude ; without it there are two estates acting upon and against the third, instead of acting in co-op- eration with it ; without it, if the people are oppressed by TEIAL OF AECHIBALD HAMILTON EOWAN. 440 their judges, where is the tribunal to which their judges can be amenable? without it, if they are trampled upon and plun- dered by a minister, where is the tribunal to which the of- fender shall be amenable ? without it, where is the ear to hear, or the heart to feel, or the hand to redress their sufferings ? Shall they be found, let me ask you, in the accursed bands of im23S and minions that bask in their disgrace, and fatten upon their spoUs, and flourish upon their ruin ? But let me not put this to you as a merely speculative question. It is a plain question of fact ; rely upon it, physical man is everywhere the same ; it is only the various operations of moral causes that gives variety to the social or individual character and condi- tion. How otherwise happens it that modern slavery looks quietly at the despot, on the very spot where Leonidas ex- pired ? The answer is, Sparta has not changed her chmate, but she has lost that government which her liberty could not survive. I call you, therefore, to the plain question of fact. This paper recommends a reform in j)arliament ; I put that ques- tion to your consciences ; 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 milhons of your countrymen have, by the ex- press letter of the law, been excluded from the reality of ac- tual, and even from the phantom of vktual representation. Shall we then be told that this is only the affirmation of a wicked and seditious incendiary? If you do not feel the mockery of such a charge, look at yom- country ; in what state do you find it ? Is it in a state of tranquillity and general sat- isfaction ? These are traces by which good are ever to be dis- tinguished from bad governments, without any very minute inquiiy or speculative refinement. Do you feel that a venera- tion for the law, a pious and humble attachment to the consti- tution, form the poHtical morality of the people ? Do you find that comfort and competency among your people, which are always to be found vv^here a government is mild and moderate, where taxes are imposed by a body who have an interest in 450 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUERAN. treating the poorer orders witli compassion, and preventing tlie weight of taxation from pressing sore upon them ? Gentlemen, I mean not to impeach the state of your repre- sentation ; 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 either of us directly to decide ; but you cannot refuse them some passing considera- tion at least ; when you remember that on this subject the real question for your decision is, whether the allegation of a defect in your constitution is so utterly unfounded and false, that you can ascribe it only to the malice and perverseness of a wicked mind, and not to the mnocent mistake of an ordinary under- standing ; whether it may not be mistake ; whether it can be only sedition. And here, gentlemen, I own I cannot but regret, that one of our countrymen should be criminally pursued, for asserting the necessity of a 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. Far am I from imputing any sinister design to the virtue or wisdom of our government ; but who can avoid feeling the deplorable impression that must be made on the public mind, when the demand for that reform is answered by a criminal information. I am the more forcibly impressed by this consideration, when I consider, that when this information was first put on the file, the subject was transiently mentioned in the House of Commons. Some ckcumstances retarded the progress of the inquiry there, and the progress of the information was equally retarded here. On the first day of this session, you all know, that subject was again brought forward in the House of Com- mons, and, as if they had slept together, this prosecution was also revived in the court of King's Bench, and that before a jury taken from a panel partly composed of those very mem- bers of parhament, who, in the House of Commons, must de- bate upon this subject as a measure of public advantage, TRIAL OF ARCHIBALD HAMILTON ROWAN. 451 wliicli they are here called upon to consider as a public crime. This paper, gentlemen, insists upon the necessity of eman- cipating 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 for another year, how much would remain for a jury to decide upon, I should be at a loss to discover. It seems as if the progress of public information 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 in- terval our Catholic brethren have obtained that admission, which, it seems, it was a libel to propose ; in what way to ac- count for this, I am really at a loss. Have any alarms been occasioned by the emancipation of our Catholic brethren ? has the bigoted malignity of any individuals been crushed ? or has the stability of the government, or that of the country, been weakened ? or is one million of subjects stronger than four millions ? Do you think that the benelit they received should be poisoned by the sting of vengeance ? If you think so, you must say to them — " You have demanded emancipation, and you have got it ; but we abhor your persons, we are outraged at your success, and we will stigmatize by a criminal prosecu- tion the adviser of that relief which you have obtained from the voice of your country." I ask you, do you think, as hon- est men, anxious for the public tranquillity, conscious that there are wounds not yet completely cicatrized, that you ought to speak this language at this time, to men who are too much disposed to think 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 the revoca- tion 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 your oaths ; do you think that a blessing of that kind, that a victory obtained by justice over bigotry and op- pression, should have a stigma cast upon it by an ignominious sentence upon men bold and honest enough to propose that measure ? to propose the redeeming of religion from the abuses of the church, the reclaiming of three millions of men 452 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILrOT CURRAN. from bondage, and gi^^ng liberty to all who had a right to de- mand it ; giving, I say, in the so much censured words of this paper, giving " universal emvncipation !" I speak in the spuit of the British law, which makes liberty commensurate with and inseparable from British soil ; which proclaims even to the stranger 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 in what language his doom may have been pro- nounced ; no matter what complexion incompatible with free- dom, an Indian or an African sun 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 ma- jesty ; his body sweUs beyond the measm'e of his chains, that burst from around him ; and he stands redeemed, regenerated, and disenthralled, by the irresistible genius of universal eman- cipation. [A sudden burst of applause from the court and hall, which was L-epeated for a considerable length of time, interrupted Mr. Cur- ran. Silence being at length restored, he proceeded :] Gentlemen, I am not such a fool as to ascribe an effusion of this sort to any merit of mine. It is the mighty theme, and not the inconsiderable advocate that can excite interest in the hearer. "What you hear is but the testimony which nature bears to her own character;,, it is the effusion of her gratitude to that Power which stamped that character upon her. And permit me to say, that if my cHent had occasion to de- fend his cause by any mad or drunken appeals to extrava- gance or licentiousness, I trust in God I stand in that situa- tion 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 friend- ship ; and saying this, I cannot but add, that I consider not to be acquainted with such a man as Mr. Eowan, a want of per- sonal good fortune. But upon this great subject of reform and TEIAL OF AECHIBALD HAMILTON EOWAN. 453 emancipation, there is a latitude and boldness of remark, jus- tifiable in tlie people, and necessary to the defence of Mr. Eowan, for which the habit of professional studies, and tech- nical 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 be material. Gentlemen, you are sitting in a country which has a right to the British constitution, and which is bound by an indisso- luble union with the British nation. If you were not 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 an aUiance, 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 would now say — We will enter into society and union with you : "Uua salus ambobus erit, commune periciilum. " But to accomphsh that union, let me tell you, you must learn to become like the English people. It is vain to say you will protect their freedom, if you abandon your own. The pillar whose base has no foundation, can give no support to the dome under which its head is placed ; and if you profess to give Eng- land that assistance which you refuse to yourselves, she will laugh at you^^ foUy, and despise your meanness and insincerity. Let us follow this a Httle further — I know you will interpret what I say with the candor in which it is spoken. England is marked by a natural avarice of freedom, which she is studious to engross and accumulate, but most unwilling to impart ; whether from any necessity of her policy, or from her weak- ness, 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 from the learned counsel for the Crown, — " that notwith- standing 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 454 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUREAN. 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 gi'eat spirit indeed of Ireland if she shall continue free. Eely upon it, she shall ever have to hold her course against an adverse current ; rely upon it, if the popular spring does not continue strong and elastic, a short interval of debil- itated nerve and broken force will send you down the stream again, and reconsign you to the 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 tlie 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 j)reserved only by her own degradation. In such a precarious and wretched state of things, if it shall 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 in- fusion of new health and blood into the constitution." He will see how deep a stake each country has in the hberty 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 of an oppressed, enfeebled, and suspected dependent ; he will see how grossly the creduhty of Britain is abused by those who make her believe that her interest is promoted by our depression ; he will see the desperate precipice to which she approaches by such conduct ; and with an animated and generous piety, he will labor to avert her clanger. But, gentlemen of the jury, what is likely to be his fate ? The interest of the sovereign must be forever the interest of his people, because his interest lives beyond his life : it must live in his fame ; it must live in the tenderness of his soHci- tude for an unborn posterity ; it must hve in that heart-attach- ing bond, by which milhons of men have united the destinies of themselves and their children with his, and call him by the endearing appeUation of king and father of his people. TEIAL OF AKCHIBALD HAMILTON ROWAN. 455 But what can be the interest of such a government as I have described ? Not the interest of the King — not the inter- est of the people ; but the sordid interest of the hour ; the interest in deceiving the one, and in oppressing and defaming the other; the interest of unpunished raj^ine and unmerited favor : that odious and abject interest, that prompts them to extinguish pubhc spirit in punishment or in bribe, and to pur- sue every man, even to death, who has sense to see, and integ- rity and firmness enough to abhor and to oppose them. What, therefore, I say, will be the fate of the man who embarks in an enterprise of so much difficulty and danger ? I will not answer it. Upon that hazard has my client put everything that can be dear to man, his fame, his fortune, his person, his liberty, and his children ; but with wliat event your verdict only can answer, and to that I refer your country. There is a fourth point remaining. Says this paper, — " For both these purposes, it appears necessary that provincial con- ventions should assemble, preparatory to the convention of the Protestant people. The delegates of the Catholic body are not justified ia communicating with individuals, or even bodies, of inferior authority ; and therefore an assembly of a similar nature and organization is necessary to establish an intercourse of sentiment, 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 that on the other, the common cause will split into the partial interests ; the peo- ple will relax into inattention and inertness ; the union of affection and exertion will dissolve ; and, too probably, some local insurrection, instigated by the malignity of our common enemy, may commit the character, and risk the tranquillity of the island, which can be obviated only by the influence of an assembly arising from, and assimilated with the people, and whose spirit may be, as it were, knit with the soul of the na- tion. Unless the sense of the Protestant people be, on their part, as fairly collected and as jvidiciously directed ; unless individual exertion consolidates into collective strength ; unless the particles unite into one mass, we may, perhaps, serve some person or some party for a little, but the public not at all. The nation is neither insolent, nor rebellious, nor seditious ; 456 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CURKAN. wliile it knows its riglits, it is unwilliug to manifest its powers ; it would rather supplicate administration to anticipate revolu- tion by well-timed reform, and to save their country in mercy to themselves." Gentlemen, it is with something more than common reve- rence, it is with a species of terror that I am obliged to tread this ground. But what is the idea, put in the strongest point of view ? We are willing not to manifest our powers, but to supplicate administration to anticipate revolution, that the legislature may save the country, in mercy to itself. Let me suggest to you, gentlemen, that there are some cir- cumstances, which have happened in the history of this coun- try, that may better serve as a comment upon this part of the case, than any I can make. I am not boimd to defend Mr. Eowan, as to the truth or wisdom of the opinions he may have formed. But if he did really conceive the situation of the country such, as that the not redressing her grievances might lead to a convulsion ; and of such an opinion not even Mr Eowan is answerable here for the wisdom, much less shall I insinuate any idea of my own upon so awful a subject ; but if he did so conceive the fact to be, and acted from the fair and honest suggestion of a mind anxious for the public good, I must confess, gentlemen, I do not know in what part of the British constitution to find the principle of his criminality. But, be pleased further to consider, that he cannot be un- derstood to put the fact on which he argues on the authority of his assertion. The condition of Ireland was as open to the observation of every other man, as to that of Mr. Rowan. What, then, does this part of the pubhcation amount to ? In my mind simply to this : "The nature of oppression in all countries is such, that, although it may be borne to a certain degree, it cannot be borne beyond that degi-ee. You find that exemiilified in Great Britain ; you find the people of England patient to a certain point, but patient no longer. That infatuated monarch, James II., experienced this. The time did come, when the measure of popular sufferings and po^aular patience was full — when a single drop was sufficient to make the waters of bitterness to overflow. I think this measure in Ireland is brimful at present ; I think the state of the representation of the people in parliament is a griev- ance ; I think the utter exclusion of three millions ot people is a TRIAL OF AECHIBALD HAMILTON EOWAN. 457 grievance of that kind, that the people are not likely long to endure, and the continuation of which may plunge the country into that state of despair, which wrongs, exasperated by perseverance, never fail to pro- duce." But to whom is even tliis language addressed ? Not to the body of the people on whose temper and moderation, if once excited, perhaps not much confidence could be placed ; but to that authoritative body, whose influence and power would have restrained the excesses of the irritable and tumultuous, and for that purpose expressly does this publication address the Volunteers. " We are told that Ave are in danger. I call upon you, the great constitutional saviours of Ireland, to defend the country to which you have given political existence, and to use whatever sanction your great name, your sacred character, and the weight you have in the community, must give you, to repress wicked designs, if any there are. "We feel ourselves strong — the people are always strong ; the public chains can only be riveted by the j)ublic hands. Look to those devoted regions of southern despotism : behold the exjpiring victim on his knees, presenting the javelin, reeking with his blood, to the ferocious monster who returns it into his heart. Call not that monster the tyrant ; he is no more than the executioner of that inhuman tyranny, which the people practice upon 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, whero the sanguinary characters are more legible — whence you almost hear the groans of death and torture. Do you ascribe the rapine and murder in France to the few names we are execrating here ? or do you not see that it is the frenzy of an infuriated multitude, abusing its own strength, and practicing those hideous abominations upon itself ? Against the vio- lence of this strength, let your virtue and influence be our safeguard. " What criminality, gentlemen of the jury, can you find in this? What, at any time ? but I ask you, peculiarly at this momentous period, what guilt you can find in it ? My chent saw the scene of horror and blood which covers almost the face of Europe ; he feared that causes, which he thought similar, might produce similar effects ; and he seeks to avert those dangers, by calling the united virtue and tried moderation of the country into a state of strength and vigilance. Yet this is the conduct which the prosecution of this day seeks to punish and stigmatize ; and this is the language for which this paper is reprobated to-day, 458 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUKEAN. as tending to turn the hearts of the people against their sover- eign, and inviting them to overturn the constitution. Let us now, gentlemen, consider the concluding part of this publication. It recommends a meeting of the people, to de- liberate on constitutional methods of redressing grievances. Upon this subject I am inchned to suspect that I have in mj youth taken up crude ideas, not founded, perhaps, in law; but I did imagine that, when the biU of rights restored the right of petitioning for the redress of grievances, it was under- stood that the people might boldly state among themselves that grievances did exist ; I did imagine it was understood that people might lawfully assemble themselves in such man- ner as they might deem most orderly and decorous. I thought I had collected it from the greatest luminaries of the law. The power of petitioning seemed to me to imply the right of assembling for the purpose of deliberation. The law requiring a petition to be presented by a limited number, seemed to me to admit that the petition might be prepared by any number whatever, provided, in doing so, they did not commit any breach or violation of the public peace. I know that there has been a law passed in the Irish parhament 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, think, or petition for them. If that law had not passed, I should have thought that the assembUng by a delegate convention was re- commended, in order to avoid the tumult and disorder of a promiscuous assembly of the whole mass of the people. I should have conceived, bef-ore 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 fact, be a law not to restrain but to promote insurrection. But that law has spoken, and my error must stand corrected. Of this, however, let me remind you ; you are to try this part of the publication by what the law was then, noL by what it is now. How was it understood until last session of parha- ment? You had, both in England and Ireland, for the last ten years, these delegated meetings. The Volunteers of Ireland, TRIAL OP ARCHIBALD HAMILTON ROWAN. 459 in 1783, met by delegation ; tliey framed a plan of parliament- ary reform ; they presented it to tlie representative wisdom of the nation. It was not received ; but no man ever dreamed that it was not the undoubted right of the subject to assemble in that manner. They assembled by delegation at Dungan- non ; and to show 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 convention in the heart of your capital, carrying on an actual treaty with the existing government, and under the eye of your own parhament, which 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 commu- nication and 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 hberty ; I should not think it becoming in me to express any complaint against a law, when 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 the 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 enlightened 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 unre- strained, the mind, by the collision of intercourse, 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 dissi- 460 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUERAN. patecL But now, if any aggregate assembly sliall meet, they a»e censured ; if a printer publishes their resolutions, he is punished ; rightl}^, to be sure, in both cases, for it has been lately done. If the people say, let us not create tumult, but meet in delegation, they cannot do it ; if they are anxious to promote parliamentary reform in that way, they cannot do it ; the law of the last session has for the first time declared such meetings to be a crime. What then remains ? The liberty of the press only — that sacred palladium, which no influence, no power, no minister, no government — 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 public communication left open to them ? I will tell you, gentlemen, w^hat they are saved from, and what the government is saved from ; I will tell 3^ou also to what both are exposed by shutting up that communication. In one case, sedition speaks aloud and walks abroad ; the demagogue goes forth^the pubhc eye is upon him — he frets his busy hour upon the stage ; but soon either weariness, or bribe, or punishment, or disappointment, bears him down, or drives him off, and he appears no more. In the other case, how does the work of sedition go forward ? Night after night the muffled rebel steals forth in the dark, and casts another and another brand upon the pile, to which, when the hour of fatal -maturity shall arrive, he will apply the torch. If you doubt of the horrid consequence of suppressing the effu- sion even of indi"sddual discontent, look to those enslaved countries where the protection of despotism is supposed to be secured by such restraints. Even the person of the despot there is never in safety. Neither the fears of the despot, nor the machinations of the slave, have any slumber — the one an- ticipating the moment of peril, the other watching the opportu- nity of aggression. The fatal crisis is equaUy a surprise upon both ; the decisive instant is precipitated without warning — by foUy on the one side, or by frenzy on the other ; and there is no notice of the treason, till the traitor acts. In those un- fortunate countries — one cannot read it without horror — there are officers, whose province it is to have the water which is to be drunk by their rulers sealed up in bottles, lest some TRIAL OF ARCHIBALD HAJVIILTON ROWAN. 461 wretched miscreant sliould throw poison into the draught. But, gentlemen, if you wish for a nearer and more interest- ing examj)le, you have it in the history of your ownrevohitiou. You have it at that memorable period, when the monarch found a servile acquiescence in the ministers of his folly — when the Hberty of the press was trodden under foot — when venal sheriffs returned packed juries, to carry into effect those fatal conspiracies of the few against the many — when the devoted benches of public justice were filled by some of those found- lings of fortune, who, overwhelmed in the torrent of corruption at an early period, lay at the bottom, like drowned bodies, while soundness or sanity remained in them ; but at length, becoming buoyant by putrefaction, they rose as they rotted, and floated to the surface of the polluted stream, where they were drifted along, the objects of terror, and contagion, and abomination. In that awful moment of a nation's travail, of the last gasp of tyranny, and the first breath of freedom, how pregnant is the example ! The press extinguished, the people enslaved, and the prince undone. As the advocate of society, therefore — of peace — of domestic liberty — and the lasting union of the two countries — ^I conjure you to guard the liberty of the press, that great sentinel of the sfcate, that grand detector of public imposture ; guard it, because, when it sinks, there sinks with it, in one common grave, the liberty of the subject, and the security of the Crown. Gentlemen, I am glad that this question has not been brought forward earlier ; I rejoice, for the sake of the court, of the jury, and of the public repose, that this question has not been brought forward till now. In Great Britain, analogous circumstances have taken place. 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 general par- oxysm, 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. 462 SELECT SrEECHES OF JOBN PHILPOT CUERAN. There is a sort of aspiring and adventurous credulity, which disdains assenting to obvious truths, and delights in catching at the improbability of circumstances, as its best grounds of faith. To what other cause, gentlemen, can you ascribe, that in the wise, the reflecting, and the philosophic nation of Great Britain, a printer has been gravely found guilty of a libel, for publishing those resolutions to which the present minister of that kingdom had actually subscribed his name ? — To what other cause can you ascribe, what in my mind is still more as- tonishing, in such a country as Scotland — a nation cast in the happy medium between the spiritless acquiescence of a sub- missi^^e poverty, and the sturdy creduhty of pampered wealth — cool and ardent — adventurous and persevering — winging her eagle flight against the blaze of every 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 wealth 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 barbarous soil, condemned to pine under the horrid communion of vulgar vice and base-born profligacy, for twice the period that ordinary calculation gives to the con- tinuance of human life. But I will not further press an idea that is so painful to me, and I am sure must be painful to you. I wiU 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 palli- ate a servile imitation of their frailty, by a paltry affectation 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 of that intellect recovered and restored. In that TEIAIi OF AECHIBAU) HAMILTON ROWAN. 463 case wliicli Mr. Attorney-General has cited himself— I mean that of the trial of Lambert, in England — is there a topic of invective against constituted authorities, is there a topic of abuse against every department of British government, that you do not find in the most glowing and unqualified terms in that publication, for which the printer of it was prosecuted, and acquitted by an Enghsh jury ? See, too, what a difference there is between the case of a man pubhshing his own opin- ion of facts, thinking that he is bound by duty to hazard the promulgation of them, and without the remotest hope of any personal advantage, and that of a man who makes publication his trade. And saying this, let me not be misunderstood. It is not my province to enter into any abstract defence of the opinions of any man upon public subjects. I do not affirma- tively state to you that these grievances, which this paper sup- ]30ses, do, in fact, exist ; yet I cannot but say, that the movers of this prosecution have forced this question upon you. Their motives and their merits, Hke those of all accusers, are put in issue before you ; and I need not tell you how strongly the motive and merits of any informer ought to influence the fate of his accusation. I agree most imphcitly with Mr. Atfcorney-General, that nothing can be more criminal than an attempt to w^ork a change in the government by armed force ; and I entreat the court will not suffer any expression of mine to be considered as giving encouragement or defence to any design to excite disaffection, to overawe or to overturn the government. But I put my cUent's case upon another ground ; if he was led into an opinion of grievances, where there were none, if he thought there ought to be a reform, where none was neces- sary, he is answerable only for his mtention. He can be an- swerable to you in the same way only that he is answerable to that God, before whom the accuser, the accused, and the judge, must appear together ; that is, not for the clearness of his understanding, but for the purity of his heart. Gentlemen, Mr. Attorney-General has said, that Mr. Eowan did by this pubHcation (supposing it to be his) recommend, imder the name of equality, a general indiscriminate assump- tion of pubUc rule, by every the meanest person in the state. 464 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN THILPOT CURRAN. LoAV as we are in point of public information, there is not, I believe, any man, who thinks for a moment, that does not know that all which the great body of the people of any coun- try can have from any government, is a fair encouragement to their industry, and protection for the fruits of their labor. And there is scarcely any man, I believe, who does not know, that if a people could become so silly as to abandon their sta- tions in society, under pretence of governing themselves, they would become the dupes and the victims of then' own folly. But does this pubhcation recommend any such infatuated abandonment, or any such desperate assumption ? I will read the words which relate to that subject : " By liberty, we never understood unhmited freedom ; nor by equality, the levelling of property, or the destruction of subordination," I ask you, with what justice, upon what principle of common sense, you can charge a man with the pubhcation of sentiments the very reverse of what his words avow, and that, when there is no collateral evidence, where there is no foundation whatever, save those very words, by which his meaning can be ascer- tained ? Or, if you do adopt an arbitrary principle of imput- ing to him your meaning, instead of his own, what publication can be guiltless or safe ? It is a sort of accusation that I am ashamed and sorry to see introduced in a court acting on the principles of the British constitution. In the bitterness of reproach it was said, " Out of thine own mouth win I condemn thee." From the severity of justice I demand no more. See if, in the words that have been spoken, you can find matter to acquit or condemn : " By hberty, we never understood unlimited freedom ; nor by equahty, the lev- elling of property, or the destruction of subordination. This is a calumny invented by that faction, or that gang, which misrepresents the King to the people, and the people to the King — traduces one half of the nation, to cajole the other — and, by keeping up distrust and division, wishes to continue the proud arbitrator of the fortune and fate of Ireland." Here you find that meaning, disclaimed as a calumny, which is art- fully imputed as a crime. I say, therefore, gentlemen of the jury, as to the four parts into which the publication must be divided, I answer thus. It TEIAL OF ARCHIBALD HAMILTON EOWAN. 465 calls upon the Volunteers. Consider the time, the danger — the authority of the prosecutors themselves for believing that danger to exist — the high character, the known moderation, the approved loyalty of that venerable institution — the simi- larity of the circumstances between the period at which they were summoned to take arms, and that in which they have been called upon to re-assume them. Upon this simple ground, gentlemen, you will decide, whether this part of the publica- tion was libellous and criminal or not. As to reform, I could wish to have said nothing upon it ; I believe I have said enough. If Mr. Eowan, in disclosing that opinion, thought the state required it, he acted Hke an honest man. For the rectitude of the opinion he was not answerable ; he discharged his duty in telling the country he thought so. As to the Emancipation of the Cathohcs, I cannot but say that Mr. Attorney-General did very wisely in keeping clear of that subject. Yet, gentlemen, I need not tell you how impor- tant a figure it was intended to make upon the scene ; though, from unlucky accidents, it has become necessary to expunge it during the rehearsal.* Of the concluding part of this publication, the convention which it recommends, I have spoken already. I wish not to trouble you with saying more upon it. I feel that I have al- ready trespassed much upon your patience. In truth, upon a subject embracing such a variety of topics, a rigid observance either of conciseness or arrangement could, perhaps, scarcely be expected. It is, however, with pleasure I feel I am draw- ing to a close, and that only one question remains, to which I would beg your attention. Whatever, gentlemen, may be your opinion of the meaning of this publication, there yet remains a great point for you to decide upon — namely, whether, in! point of fact, this publica- tion be imputable to Mr. Eowan, or not? — whether he did l^ubhsh it or not ? — Two witnesses are called upon to that fact — one of the name of Lyster, and the other of the name of Morton. You must have observed that Morton gave no evi- dence upon which that paper could have even been read ; ho * Referring to tlie Emancipation Act of 1793. 466 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHELPOT CURKAN. produced no paper — lie 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 up- on the evidence of the other witness. He has stated that he went to a pubhc meeting, in a place where there was a gal- lery 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 feeUngs 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 circumstances 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 memorandum upon the back of that paper, it being his general custom, when he got such papers, to make an indorsement upon them — that he did this from mere fancy — that he had no intention of giv- ing 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. Ly- ster is or is not a man deser%dng 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 beheved upon his oath ? He did not attempt to say that he did. The best he could say was, that he "would hesitate." Do you believe Blake? 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 you do not know him, you must take his credit for an unimpeached witness, swearing that he would hesitate to believe him. In my mind, there is a TEIAL OF ARCHIBALD HAMILTON ROWAN. 467 circumstance of the strongest nature tliat came out from Ly- ster 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 he produced no person to support that credit. What said Mr. Smith ? " 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 said he had heard Blake would be here, but not in time to prepare himself. • Mr. Curran. — But what said Mrs. Hatchell? Was the production of that witness a surprise upon Mr. Lyster? Her cross-examination shows the fact to be the contrary. The learned counsel, you see, was perfectly apprised of a chain of private circumstances, to which he pointed his questions. This lady's daughter was married to the elder brother of the wit- ness Lyster. Did he know these circumstances by inspiration ? No ; they could come only from Lyster himself. I insist, there- fore, that the gentleman knew his character was to be im- peached ; his 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 conviction against my client, when the only witness produced to the fact of publica- tion is impeached, without even an attempt to defend his character? Many hundreds, he said, were at that meeting. Why not produce one of them, to swear to the fact of such a meeting ? One he has ventured to name ; but he was certain- ly 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 have any doubt as to the guilt or innocence of the de- fendant. 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 ia 468 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUERAN. this your task is easy. I will venture to say, tliere is not a man in this nation more known than the gentleman who is the subject of this prosecution ; not only by the part he has taken in pubHc 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 your streets, that you do not also see the advocate of their sufferings — that you do not . see his honest and manly figure, with uncovered head, soUciting for their relief — searching the frozen heart of charity for every string that can be touched by compassion, and urging the force of every argument and every motive, save that which his mod- esty 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 mes- senger of heaven, bringing with him food, and medicine, and consolation. Are these the materials of which you suppose anarchy and public rapine to be formed ? Is this the man on whom 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, gentlemen of the jury, if you agree with his prosecutors, in thinking that there ought to be a sa- crifice of such a man on such an occasion — and upon the credit of such evidence you are to convict him — never did you, never can you give a sentence, consigning any man to public punishment, with less danger to his person or to his fame : for where could the hireling be found to fling contumely or ingrati- tude at his head, whose private distresses he had not endeav- ored to alleviate, or whose pubhc condition he had not labored to improve ? I cannot, however, avoid reverting to a cu'cumstance that distinguishes the case of Mr. Rowan from that of the late sacrifice in a neighboring kingdom.^ * Scotland, from wlience Messrs. Muir, Palmer, and others, were transported for sedition. TRIAL OF ARCHIBALD HAMILTON ROWAN. 469 The severer law of that country, it seems^and happy for them that it should — enables them to remove from their sight the victim of their infatuation. The more merciful spirit of our law deprives you of that consolation ; his sufferings must remain forever before our eyes, a continual call upon your shame and your remorse. But those sufferings will do more : they wiU not rest satisfied with your unavailing contrition — 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 this deed ? The moment he ceases to be re- garded as a criminal, he becomes of necessity an accuser ; and let me ask you, what can your most zealous defenders be prepared to answer to such a charge ? When your sentence shall have sent him forth to that stage, which guilt alone can render infamous, let me teU you he will not be hke a Kttlo statue upon a mighty pedestal, diminishing by elevation ; but he will stand a striking and imposing object upon a monu- ment, which, if it does not (and it cannot) record the atrocity of his crime, must record the atrocity of his conviction. Upon this subject, therefore, credit me when I say, that I am still more anxious for you than I can possibly be for him. I cannot but feel 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 box by a person certainly no friend to Mr. Rowan — certainly not very deeply interested in giving him a very impartial jury. Feeling this, as I am per- suaded you do, you cannot be surprised, however you may be distressed, at the mournful presage with which an anxious public is led to fear the worst from your possible determination. But I will not, for the justice and honor of our common country, suf- fer my mind to be borne away by such melancholy anticipa- tion. I will not relinquish the confidence that this day will be the period of his sufferings ; and, however mercilessly he has been hitherto pursued, that your verdict wiH send him home to the arms of his family, and the wishes of his country. But if, which heaven forbid ! it hath still been unfortunately deter- mined, that because he has not bent to power and authority, because he would not bow down before the golden calf, and 470 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUEEAN. worsliip it, he is to be bound and cast into the furnace ; I do trust in God that there is a redeeming spirit in the constitution "vrhich will be seen to walk with the sufferer through the flames, and to preserve him unhurt by the conflagration. February Uh 1794. [The Eecorder applied to set aside the verdict given in the case of Archibald Hamilton Rowan, Esq. The appUcation was ground- ed upon different affidavits sworn in court, charging, 1st, One of the juroi-s with a declaration against Mr. Rowan, previous to trial ; 2ndly, Partiality in one of the high sheriffs ; 3rdly, That John Lyster, the principal evidence, was not to be beUeved upon his oath; he, as the affidavits stated, having been guilty of perjury. And 4thly, — upon which the learned gentleman rested his ca«e — the misdirection of the court. After much discussion, Mr. Curran fol- lowed on the same side, and said :] It was an early idea, that a verdict in a criminal case could not be set aside inconsulto rege ; but the law had stood other- wise, without a doubt to impeach its principle, for the last two reigns. Common 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 prose- cution may be considered either as an attempt to extinguish liberty, or as a necessary measure for the purpose of represent- ing the virulence of public hcentiousness and dangerous fac- tion ; where there can be no alternative between guilt or mar- tyrdom ; where the party prosecuted must either be consid- ered as a culprit sinking beneath the punishment of his own crimes, or a victim sacriticed to the vices of others. But when it clearly appears that the party has fallen a prey to persecut- ing combination, there remains but one melancholy question — how far did that combination reach ? There have been two cases lately decided in this very court ; the King and Pentland, where the motion was made and re- fused ; and the King and Bowen, where it was granted ; both of which show, that captious sophistry and technical pedantrj; TRIAL OF AECHIBALD HAMILTON ROWAN. 471 have here, as well as in England, given way to liberal and ra- tional inquiry ; and that the court will not now, in their dis- cretion, refuse a motion of this kind, unless they can, at the same time, lay their hands upon their hearts, and say, they believe in their consciences, that justice has been done ; such was the manly language of one of your lordships, (Mr. Justice Downes,) and such the opinion of the court on a former oc- c asion. [He then cited 7 Modern 57, as referred to in Bacon, tit. Trial, to show that where there was good ground of challenge to a juror, not known at the trial, it was sufficient cause for setting aside the verdict.] In England they have a particular act of parliament, entit- ling 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 his jurors were to be. There are certain indulgences granted at times, perhaps bj the connivance of humanity, which men who are not entitled to demand them in an open court, obtain, nevertheless, by sidelong means ; and perhaps the little breach which affords that light to the mind of the man accused, is a circumstance concerning which the court would feel pain, even if called upon to say, that it should, in all cases, be prevented ; but to over- turn principles and authorities, for the purpose of oppressing the subject, is what this court wUl never do. The first of the affidavits I shall consider, is that of the tra- verser. I do not recollect whether it states the sheriff, in avowed terms, to be an emissary or a hireling agent of the castle, therefore I do not state it from the affidavit ; but he swears that he does believe that he did labor 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 like 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 assertion — he was not certainly obHged to answer it : for no man is bound to convict himseh. But 472 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUBKAN. 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 b& under the dominion of bad dispositions, might be, at least, the dupes of good." The most favorable thing that can be said is this, you sought to bring against me honest prejudices, but you brought against me wicked ones. The very general charge that he sought for persons who, he knew, were most likely to bring prejudices with them into the jury box, is a part of the affida- vit that it Avas incumbent on him to answer if he could. I do not contend, that what is charged in the affidavit would have been a ground of principal challenge to the array ; but I hold it to be the better opinion, that a challenge to the array for favor does well He in the mouth of the defendant. The ancient notion was, you shall not challenge the array for favor, where the King is a party ; the King only can challenge for favor ; for the principle was, that every man ought to be favor- able to the Crown ; but, thank God, the advancement 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, dis- carded, and antiquated scruples. The true question has been already stated from the authority of Mr. Justice Downes, and that question is — " Has justice been done ?" It is a matter upon which scarce any understanding would condescend to hesitate, whether a man had been fairly tried, whose triers had been collected together by an avowed enemy, whose conduct had been such as to leave no doubt that he had purposely brought prejudiced men into 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 time when there shall not be men found zeal- ous for the actual government of the day. So, on, the other hand, I trust there will never be a time, when there mU not be found men zealous and enthusiastic in the cause of popular freedom, and of the pubhc rights. If, therefore, a person in pubhc office suffers liis own prejudices, however honestly anx- ious 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 TRIAL OF ARCHIBALD HAMILTON ROWAN. 473 knowledge devoted to the principles he espouses, it is an error which a High Court of Judicature, seeking to do right Justice, will not fail to correct. A sheriff, in such a case, might not have perceived the par- tiahty of his conduct, because he was surveying through the medium of prejudice and habitual corruption ; but it is impos- sible to think that this sheriff meant to be impartial ; it is an interpretation more favorable than his 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 not an- swering it, he has left unimpeached the credit of the charge itself. [The sheriff here tendered some form of an affidavit, which the court would not allow to be sworn or read, for the same reason, that those sworn and tendered by the defendant's counsel, had been before f-efused. Mr. Curran, however, consented to its being- sworn and read, which the Attorney-General declined, being unac- quainted with the contents, and uninstructed as to its tendency ; it, therefore, was not sworn.] Mr. Curran proceeded — Is this, then, the way to meet a fair application to the comi;, to see whether justice has been done between the subject and the Crown ? I offer it again : let the affidavit be read. And let me remind the court, that the great reason for sending a cause back to a jury is, that new light must be shed upon it ; and how must your lordships feel, when you see that indulgence granted to the conscience of the jury denied to the court. The Attorney-General. — I am concerned that any lawyer should make a proposition in the manner Mr. Curran has done ; he proposes to have an affidavit read, provided we con- sent that others, which the court has abeady refused, should be now read. I did not hear it offered ; but is it to be pre- sumed that I will consent to have an affidavit read, about which I know nothing ? Yesterday, without any communica- tion with a human being, I did say, that I conceived it un- necessary to answer any of the affidavits, thinking that they were not sufficient to ground the application made to the court. And it is presumed I am so mad as to consent to the reading of affidavits which I have not seen. 47i SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUEEAN. [Mr. Attorney-General, it may be proper to observe, mistook Mr. Curran's proposal, which was an unqualified offer to have Mr. ' Gifford's affidavit read. Some altercation here took place, when Lord Clonmel, Chief Justice, interposed, and said, that the counsel had certainly a right to argue it on the ground that the sheriff was biased, and did return a jury prejudiced against the traversers. 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 the country, until the defendant was either hanged or banished," when it was asked by the court, whether the time of its coming to the knowledge of the traverser, that the sheriff was biased, was stated in his affidavit ?] Me. Cueean. — He was in prison, and could not have the at- tendance of those counsel whose assistance he had in court ; and, besides, from the nature of the circumstances, it was im- possible he could have been sufficiently apprised of its con- sequences, for he saw not that panel till the day of the trial, when he could not have had time to make any inquiry into the characters, dispositions, or connexions of the jury. If triers had been appointed to determine the issue, favor- able or not, what would have been their finding ? Could they say upon their oaths, that he was not unfavorable to that party against whom he could make such a declaration ? Favor is not cause of principal challenge, which, if put upon a pleading, would conclude the party. Eavor is that which makes the man, in vulgar 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 tak-e his trial. I will not glance at the character of any absent noble per- son, high in office ; but let it be remembered, that it is a gov- ernment prosecution, and that the witness has, from a low and handicap situation, scraped himself into preferment, perhaps — for I will put the best construction upon it — by offering himself as a man honestly anxious for the welfare of his coun- try ; in short, it is too obvious to require any comment, what the natm-e of the whole transaction has been, that he got his commission as a compensation pro labore impendendo and camo afterwards into court, to pay down the stipulated purchase. TEIAL OF AECHIBALD HAMILTON EOWAN. 475 Had this, then, been an unbiased jury, was there not some- thing in all these circumstances, that might have afforded more deliberation than that of one minute per man, for only so long was the jury out ? and, had this been a fair witness, would he have lain down under a charge which, if true, ought not only to damn this verdict, but his character forever ? What would a corps of brother officers think of a person, charged upon oath with the commission of two willful perju- ries, and that charge remaining undenied? Here is an un- denied charge, in point of fact ; and although I do not call upon the court to say that this is a guilty and abominable person, yet surely the suspicion is strongly so, and must be considered. This was at least a verdict where the evidence went to the jury, under slighter blemishes than it will if my client has 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 character, and yet has not called a human being to say that he entertained a contrary opinion of him. Was he known anywhere ? Did he crawl unobserved to the castle? Was it without the aid or knowledge of anybody that that gaudy plumage grew on him, in which he appeared in court ? If he was known for anything else than what he is stated to be, it was, upon that day, almost a physical impos- sibihty, in a court-house, which almost contained the country, not to have found some person, to give some sort of testimony respecting his general character. For though no man is bound to be ready at all times to answer particular charges, yet every man is supposed to come with his pubhc attestation of common and general probity. But he has left that char- acter, upon the merits of which my client is convicted, unsup- ported, 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 convicted, and sentenced to punishment, in a country where humanity is the leading feature even of the criminal law. I have now to deal with the evidence of the second witness. A man coming to support the credit of another collaterally, 476 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN. is himself particularly pledged ; then, what was liis testimony? He did not know whether Mr. Gifford was concerned in the newspaper ! And now, you have the silence of Gifford him- self, in not answering Mr. Eowan's affidavit, to contradict that. And next, he did not know whether his own cousin-german was the relation of tlieir common uncle ! I call upon you, my lords, in the name of sacred justice and your country, to de- clare whether the melancholy scenes and murderous plots of the Meal-tub and the Kye-house are to be acted over again ; and whether every Titus 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 du'ection of the court was not agreeable to the law of Ireland. The defence of my chent was rested upon this : that there was no evidence of the fact of publication ; upon the incredibility of the fact ; iand the circumstances of discredit in the character of the witness ; yet the court made this observation : " Gentlemen, it scarcely lies in th-e mouth of Mr. Bo wan to buHd a defence upon ob- jections of this kind to the characters of witnesses, because the fact was pubhc ; there were many there; the room was crowded below, the gallery was crowded above ; and the pub- licity of the fact enabled him to produce a number of wit- nesses to falsify the assertion of the prosecutor, if, in fact, it could be falsified ! " Is that the principle of criminal law ? Is it a part of the British law, that the fate of the accused shall abide, not the positive estabhshment of guilt by the prosecutor, but the negative proof of innocence by himself ? Why has it been said iia foohsh old books, that the law sup- poses the innocence of every man, till the contrary is proved ? How has it happened that that language has been admired for,its humanity, and not laughed at for its absurdity, in which the prayers of the court are addressed to heaven for the safe dehverance of the man accused ? How comes it that so much public time is wasted in gomg into evidence of guilt, if the bare accusation of a man did call upon him to go into evi- dence of his innocence ? The force of the observation is this. Mr. Bowan impeaches the credit of a witness, who has sworn that he saw him present, and doing certaiu acts, at a certain TEIAL OF AKCHEBALD HAMILTON ROWAN. 477 meeting ; but it is asked, lias he substantiated that discredit, by caUing all the persons who were present to prove his ab- sence from that meeting, which is only stated to have existed by a witness whom he alleges to have perjured himself? I call upon the example of judicial character ; upon the faith of that . high office, which is never so dignified as when it sees its errors and corrects them, to say, that the court was for a mo- ment led away, so as to argue from the most seductive of all sophisms, that of the petitio iDrincijpii. See what meaning is to be gathered from such words : we say the whole that this man has sworn, is a consummate lie ; show it to be so, says the court, by admitting a part of it to be true. It is a false swearing ; it is a conspiracy of two wit- nesses against this defendant ; well, then, it lies upon him to rebut their testimony, by proving a great deal of it to be true ! Is conjecture, then, in criminal cases, to stand in the place of truth and demonstration ? Why were not some of those, (I will strip the case of the honor 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 objec- tions to their credit, if, as it is stated, it happened in the pres- ence 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 : Mr. 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 ! It is impossible for the human mind to suppose a case, in which infatuation must have prevailed in a more progressive degree, than when a jury are thus, in fact, directed to receive no refutation, nor proof of the perjury of the witness, but only of his truth. We will permit you to deny the charge, by es- tablishing the fact : we wiU permit you to prove that they 478 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CURKAN. swore falsely to your being there, by producing another wit- ness to prove to a certainty that you were there. [Mr. Curran was here interrupted by Lord Chief Justice Clon- mel.] Lord Clonmel. — The reasoning of the court was strong upon that point ; this is a transaction stated by the witness to haye happened in open day, in a crowded assembly, in the capital, amidst a number of persons dressed in the uniform of Hamilton Eowan. There has been nothing suddenly brought forward to surprise the traverser ; yet what has he done ? Did he offer, as in the common course, to prove an alibi ? It is stated to be at such a day; the witness swears at such an hour; the place is sworn to have been full of people, of Mr. Rowan's friends ; but if there was even a partial assembly, it would be easy still to produce some one of those persons who were present, to say, that the fact did not happen which has been sworn to ; or if you say Mr. Rowan was not there, it is easier still to prove it, by showing where he was ; as thus : I breakfasted with him, I dined with him, I supped with him ; he was with me, he was not at Pardon's : disprove that asser- tion by proving an affirmation inconsistent with it. Mr. Cueran. — I beg leave to remind the court of what fell from it. " He may call," said the court, " any of those per- sons ; he has not produced one of them ;" upon this, I think, a most material point does hang. " 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 was no meeting at all, 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-pro- duction of them was a " volume of evidence" upon that point. No refinement can avoid this conclusion, that, even as your lordship now states the charge, the fate of the man must de- pend upon proving the negative. Until the credit of the witness was estabhshed, he could not be called upon to bring any contrary evidence. What does the duty of every counsel dictate to him, if the case is not TEIAL OP AECHIBALD HAMILTON EOWAN. 479 made out by his adversary or prosecutor ? Let it rest ; the court is bound to tell the jury so, and the jury are bound to find him not guilty. It is a most unshaken maxim, that nemo teneticr prodere seipsum. And it would indeed be a very in- quisitorial exercise of power, to call upon a man to run the risk of confirming the charge, under the penalty of being con- victed by nil dicit. Surely, at the criminal side of this court, as yet, there has been no such judgment pronounced. It is only when the party stands mute from malice, that such ex- tremes can be resorted to. I never before heard an intimation from any judge to a jury, that bad evidence, Hable 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 honor and rehgion of the law, I demand it of you, must not the jury have understood that this silence was evidence to go to them ? is the meaning contained in the expression, " a volume of evidence," only insinuation ? I do not know where any man could be safe ; I do not know what 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 was to be charged with the commission of some crime, to be expiated to society by the 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 " that he is guilty of the crime ; where is it written ? I know there is a place where vulgar frenzy cries out, that the public instrument must be drenched in blood ; where defence is gagged, and the devoted wretch must perish. But even there, the victim of such tyranny is not made to fill, by voluntary silence, the de- fects of his accusation ; for his tongue is tied, and therefore no advantage is taken of him by construction ; it cannot be there said that his not speaking is a volume of evidence to prove his guilt. But to avoid all misunderstanding, see what is the force of my objection ; is it, that the charge of the court cannot receive 480 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUEEAN. 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 long, and observed too much, not to know, that every word in a phrase is one of the feet upon which it runs, and how the shortening or lengthening of one of those feet will alter the progress or direction of its motion. I am not arguing that the charge of the court cannot by any possibility be reconciled to the principles of law ; I am agi- tating a more imj^ortant question ; I am putting it to the con- science 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 ex- planation, 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 known 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 mak- ing that sort of application which the expansion of liberal reason and the decay of technical bigotry have made a favored application. In earher times, it might have been thought sacrilege to have meddled with a verdict once pronounced ; since then, the true principles of justice have been better understood ; so that now, the whole wisdom of the whole court will have an opportunity of looking over that verdict, and setting right the mistake which has occasioned it. [Mr. Curran made other observations, as well in corroboration of his own remarks, as in answer to the opposite counsel, of which it is impossible to give an exact detail, and concluded :] 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, "Bum versatur 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 TRIAL OF ARCHIBALD HAMILTON EOWAN, 481 have beaten, and your infant eyes have overflowed, at reading the sad history of the sufferings of a Eussell or a Sidney. [The court sentenced Eowan to a fine of £500, and two years' imprisonment, and to find security, but he escaped to France.] SPEECH ON CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. October 17th, 1796. [On the 17th of October, Grattan moved " that the admissibility of persons professing the Koman Cathohc religion to seats in par- liament is consistent with the safety of the Crown and the connexion of Ireland with Great Britain." George Ponsonby seconded it, and it was opposed with fury by the government. The speaker immedi- ately preceding Curran was Dr. Duigenan, who attacked the Catho- lics coUectively and individually, past, present, and future, in most insolent language. Curran said :] I declare, sir, that I have no words to express the indigna- tion I feel at the despicable attempt to skulk from the discus- sion of so important and so necessary a question, by the affec- tation of an appeal to our secrecy and our discretion ; the lu- dicrous, the ridiculous secrecy of a public assembly ; the non- sense of pretending to conceal from the world what they know as well, or better, than ourselves; the rare discretion of an Irish parliament hiding from the Executive Directory of the French Republic the operations of their own armies ; conceal- ing from them their victories in Italy, or their humiliation of Great Britain ; concealing from them the various coquetry of lier negotiations, and her now avowed solicitations for a peace. As ridiculous and as empty is the senseless parade of affecting to keep our own deliberations a secret. Rely upon it, sir, if our enemies condescend to feel any curiosity as to our discus- sion, you might as well propose to conceal from them the course of the Danube, or the course of the Rhine, as the course of a debate in this assembly, as winding, perhaps, and perhaps as muddy as either. But the folly of the present advocates for silence and for secrecy goes still farther : it proposes to keep all 482 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUKRAN. these matters a profound secret from ourselves ; it goes to the extravagant length of saymg, that if we be beaten, we are not to dehberate uj)on the means of repairing our disasters, be- cause that would be to own that we were beaten ; that if the enemy were at our gates it would not be prudent to acknowl- edge so terrifying a fact, even in considering the means of re- pelling him ; that if our people are disaffected, we ought to be peculiarly cautious of any measures that can possibly tend to conciliation and union, because the adoption, or even the dis- cussion, of such measures, would be in effect to teU ourselves, and to tell all the world, that the people are disaffected. The infatuation or the presumption of ministers goes even further than this — it insists upon the denial and the avowal of the very same facts ; that we are to be alarmed with an invasion, for the purpose of making us obsequious to all the plans of min- isters for intrenching themselves in their places ; that we are to be panic-struck for them, but disdainful for ourselves ; that our people are to be disaffected, and the consequences of that disaffection to be the most dangerous and the most imminent, for the purpose of despoihng ourselves of our best and most sa- cred privileges. So imminent is this danger, that it is declared by ministers and by their adherents, that in order to preserve our liberties forever, it is absolutely necessary to surrender them for a time ; the surrender has been actually made. So fright- fully disunited and divided are we, that we cannot venture to trust ourselves with the possession of our freedom, but we are aU united as one man against redressing the grievances of the great majority of ourselves ; we are all united as one man against the conciliation of our animosities, and the consolida- tion of our strength. I, for one, will never submit to be made the credulous dupe of an imposture so gross and so impudent. I know that the times are critical indeed ; I know that it is necessary to open our eyes to our danger, and to meet it in the front ; to consider what that danger is, and to consider of the best, and, perhaps, the only, possible means of averting it. For these reasons I consider the resolution not only a measure of justice and of honesty, but of the most pressing necessity. [Mr, Curran entered largely into the state of the empire and of its allies — of the disposition of our enemies towards Great Britain CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 483 — of the nature of their political principles, and of the rapid dis- semination of those principles.] It is difficult to tell whether the dissemination of these prin- ciples is hkely to be more encouraged, by the continuance of the war or by the establishment of a peace ; and if the war be, as has been repeatedly insisted on, a war on our part for the preservation of social order and of limited monarchy, an im- mediate necessity exists of making those objects the common interest and the common cause of every man in the nation. I spurn the idea of any disloyalty in the Catholics, — an idea which is sometimes more than intimated, and sometimes as vehemently disclaimed, by the enemies of Catholic emancipa- tion. But the Catholics are men, and are, of course, sensible to the impression of kindness and injury, and of insult ; they know their rights, and feel their wrongs, and nothing but the grossest ignorance, or the meanest hypocrisy, can represent them as cringing with a slavish fondness to those who oppress and insult them. I sought to remove their oppressions, in or- der to make the interests of the whole nation one and the same ; to this great object the resolution moved by my right honorable friend, manifestly tends ; and I lament exceedingly that so indecent and so disingenuous a way of evading that motion has been resorted to, as passing to the order of the day — a conduct that, however speciously the gentlemen who have adopted it may endeavor to excuse, can be regarded by the Catholics, and by the public, no otherwise than as an ex- pression of direct hostility to the Catholic claims. It has been asserted that the Catholics are already in possession of civil liberty, and are only seeking for political power. "What is it, then, that we are so anxiously withholding, and so greed- ily monopolizing ? The answer which has been given to that assertion, by a learned and honorable friend near me, (Mr. W. Smith,) is that of a true patriot, and of a sound constitutional lawyer ; namely — that civil liberty was a shadow, without a sufficient portion of political power to protect it. [Having replied to the arguments of several members who had preceded him in the debate, Mr. Garran came to the speech that 484 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUEKAN. had been delivered by Mr. Duigenan, and entertained the House, for about half an hour, with the most hvely sallies of wit and humor.] The learned' doctor has made himself a very prominent fig- ure in this debate. Furious, indeed, has been his anger, and manifold his attack ; what argument, or what man, or what thing has he not abused ? Half choked by his rage in refuting those who have spoken, he has relieved himself by attacking those who have not sjpoken. He has abused the CathoUcs, he has abused their ancestors, he has abused the merchants of Ire- land, he has abused Mr. Burke, he has abused those who voted for the order of the day . I do not know but I ought to be obliged to the learned doc- tor, for honoring me with a place in the invective ; he has called me the bottle-holder of my right honorable friend. Sure I am, that if I had been the bottle-holder of both, the learned doctor would have less reason to complain of me than my right honorable friend ; for him I should have left per- fectly sober, whilst it would very clearly appear, that, with respect to the learned doctor, the bottle had not only been managed fairly, but generously ; and if, in furnishing him with hquor, I had not furnished him with argument, I had, at least, furnished him with a good excuse for wanting it ; with the best excuse for that confusion of history and divinity, and civil law and canon law — ^that rollicking mixture of politics and theology, and antiquity, with which he has overwhelmed the debate ; for the havoc and carnage he has made of the population of the last age, and the fury with which he seemed determined to exterminate, and even to devour the population of this ; and which urged him, after tearing and gnawing the characters of the Catholics, to spend the last efforts of his rage with the most unrelenting ferocity, in actually gnawing their names. [Alluding to Dr. Duigenan' s pronunciation of the name of Mr. Keogh, and which, Mr. Curran said, was a kind of pronunciatory defamation.] In truth, sir, I felt some surprise, and some regret, when I heard him describe the sceptre of lath, and tiara of straw, and mimic his bedlamite Emperor and Pope with such refined and happy gesticulation, CATHOLIC EMAJi^CIPATION. 485 that lie could be prevailed on to quit so congenial a company, I should not, however, be disposed to hasten his return to them, or to precipitate the access of his fit, if, by a most un- lucky felicity of indiscretion, he had not dropped some doc- trines which the silent approbation of the minister seemed to have adopted. I do not mean, amongst these doctrines, to place the learned doctor's opinions touching the revolution, nor his wise and valorous plan, in case of an invasion, of arming the beadles and the sextons, and putting himself in wind for an attack upon the French, by a massacre of the Papists ; the doctrine I mean is, that Catholic franchise is inconsistent with British connexion. Strong, indeed, must the minister be in so wild and desperate a prejudice, if he can ven- ture, in the fallen state of the empire, under the disasters of the war, and with an enemy at the gate — if he can dare to state to the great body of the Irish nation, that their slavery is the condition of theh connexion with- England ; that she is more afraid of yielding to Irish liberty than of losing Irish connex- ion. The denunciation is not yet upon record ; it might yet be left with the learned doctor, who, I hope, has embraced it only to make it odious — has hugged it in his arms with the generous purpose of plunging with it into the deep, and ex- posing it to merited derision, even at the hazard of the char- acter of his own sanity. It is yet in the power of the minis- ter to decide whether a blasphemy of this kind shall pass for the mere ravings of frenzy, or for the solemn and mischievous lunacy of a minister. I call, therefore, again to rouse that minister from his trance, and in the hearing of the two coun- tries, to put this question to him, which must be heard by a 'third. Whether at no period, upon no event, at no extremity, we are to hope for any connection with Britain, except that of the master and the slave, and this, even without the assertion of any fact that could support such a proscription ? It is ne- cessary, I find, to state the terms and the nature of the con- nexion ; it has been grossly misrepresented ; it is a great fede- ral contract between perfectly equal nations, pledging them- selves to equal fate, upon the terms of equal liberty — upon perfectly equal liberty. The motive to that contract is the mu- tual benefit to each — the object of it their mutual and common 486 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUBRAN. benefit ; the condition of the compact is, the honest and fair performance of it, and from tbat honest and fair performance, and from that only, arises the obhgation of it. If England show a decided purpose of invading our liberty, the compact, by such an act of foulness and perfidy, is broken, and the con- nexion utterly at an end ; but I say, the resolution moved for by my right honorable friend, to the test of this connexion, to invade our liberty, is a dissolution of it. But what is liberty, as known to our constitution ? It is a portion of political power necessary to its conservation ; as, for instance, the liberty of the Commons of those kingdoms is that right, accompanied with a portion of political power to preserve it against the Crown and against the aristocracy. It is by invading the power that the right is attacked in any of its constituent parts ; hence it is, that if the Crown show a de- liberate design of so destroying it, it is an abdication ; and let it be remembered that by our compact we have given up no constitutional right. Therefore I am warranted, as a consti- tutional lawyer, in stating, that if the Crown or its ministers, by force or by fraud, destroy that fair representation of the people, by which alone they can be protected in their liberty, it is a direct breach of the contract of connexion; and I do not scruple to say, that if a House of Commons could be so debased as to deny the right stated in the resolution, it is out of their own mouths conclusive evidence of the fact. I insist that the claim of the Catholics to that right is directly within the spirit of the compact. And what are the al'guments advanced agamst the claim? One is an argument which, if founded on fact, would have «ome weight ; it is, that the Cath- olics did not make the claim at all. Another argument is used, which, I think, has as little foundation in fact, and is not very easily to be reconciled to the other — it is, that the Catholics make their claim with insolence, and attempt to carry their object by intimidation. Let gentlemen take this fact, if they please, in opposition to their own denial of it. The Catholics then do make the demand. Is their demand just ? — is it just that they should be free ? — is it just that they should have franchise ? The justice is expressly admitted. Why not give it, then? The aitswer is, they demand it with insolence. CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION. 487 Suppose that assertion, false as it is in fact, to be true, is it any argument witli a public assembly, that any incivility of demand can cover the injustice of refusal ? How low must that assem- bly be fallen which can suggest as an apology for the refusal of an incontestable right, the answer which a bankrupt buck might give to the demand of his tailor — ^he will not pay the bill, be- cause " the rascal had dared to threaten his honor." As another argument against their claims, their principles have been mahgned ; the experience of a century is the refu- tation of the aspersion. The articles of their faith have been opposed, by the learned doctor, to the validity of their claims. Can their rehgion be an objection, where a total absence of all religion, where atheism itself, is none ? The learned doctor, no doubt, thought he was praising the mercy with which they have been governed, when he dilated upon their poverty ; but can poverty be an objection in an assembly whose humble and Christian condescension shut not its doors even against the common beggar ? He has traduced some of them by name : " Mr. Byrne, Mr. Keogh, and four or five rufl&ans from the Liberty ;" but this is something better than frenzy ; this is something better 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 im- press the necessity of it more strongly upon the justice, upon 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 in- tegrity, could be made the butts of such idle and unavaiHng, such unworthy, such shameful abuse, without the possibility of having an opportunity to vindicate themselves — when men of that class can be exposed to the degradation of unanswered calumny, or the more bitter degradation of eleemosynary do- fence ? [Mr. Curran touched upon a variety of other topics, and con- cluded with the most forcible appeal to the Minister, to the House, 488 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CURKAN. and to tlie country, upon the state of public affairs at home and abroad.] I insist that the measure is not, as it has been stated to be, a measure of mere internal poUcy ; it is a measure that in- volves the question of right and wrong, of just and unjust ; but it is more ; it is a measure of the most absolute necessity, which cannot be denied, and which cannot safely be delayed. I cannot foresee future events ; I cannot be appalled by the fu- ture, 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 po- litical life, or political extinction ; it is a time fairly to state to the country whether they have anything, and what, to j&ght for ; whether they are to struggle for a connexion of tyranny or of privilege ; whether the administration of England will let us condescend to forgive the insolence of her happier days ; or whether, as the beams of her prosperity have wasted and consumed us, so even the frost of her adversity shall perform the deleterious effects of fire, and burn upon our privileges and our hopes forever. PARLIAMENTARY REFORM. May 15th, 1797. [Mr. W. Ponsonby, in a short prefatory speech, proposed his Resolutions on Parliamentary Reform. Before he moved any of them, specilically, he read them all to the House. They are in sub- stance as follow :] " Besolved, that it is indispensably necessary to a fandamental reform of the representation, that all disabilities on account of religion be for ever abolished, and that Catholics shall be admitted into the legislature, and all the great offices of state in the same extent, etc. , as Protestants now are. ' That it is the indispensable right of the people of Ii-eland to be fully and fairly represented in parliameut. PAELIAMENTARY EEFORM. 489 "That in order that the people may be fully enabled to exercise that right, the privilege of returning members for cities, boroughs, etc., in the present form, shall cease ; that each county be divided into districts, consisting of 6,000 houses each, each district to return two members to parliament. " That all persons possessmg freehold property to the amount of 40s. per annum ; all possessed of leasehold interests, of the value of ; all possessed of a house of the value of ; all who have resided for a certain number of years in any great city or town, following a trade ; and all who shall be free of any city, etc., by birth, marriage, or servi- tude, shall vote for members of j)arliament. " That seats in parliament shall endure for number of years. (The blanks were left to be filled up by the discretion of the House.)" I consider this as a measure of justice, with respect to the CathoHcs, and the people at large. The Catholics in former times groaned under the malignant folly of penal laws — wan- dered like herds upon the earth — or gathered 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 favor and protection. They are no longer mean dependents, but owners of their country, and claiming simply and boldly, as Irishmen, the national privileges of men, and natives of their country. [Upon this part of the question, he went into a variety of very interesting topics, descriptive of their importance and their oppres- sions, which he attributed wholly to the wicked propagation of re- ligious antipathies, and concluded that their claim to perfect free- dom in their own land could be denied only by the grossest mahg- nity and tyranny.] I now proceed to answer the objections to the measure. I was extremely shocked to see the agent of a foreign cabinet rise up in the assembly that ought to represent the Irish na- tion, and oppose a motion that was made on the acknowledged and deplored corruption which has been imported from this country. Such an opposition is a proof of the charge, which I am astonished he could venture upon at so awful a crisis. I doubt whether the charge, or this proof of it, would appear most odious. However, I will examine the objections. It is said ■ — It is not the time. This argument has become a jest in Ire- 490 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUKEAN. land, for it lias been used in all times ; in war, in peace, in quiet, and in disturbance. It is the miserable, dilatory plea of persevering and stupid corruption, that wishes to postpone its fate by a promise of amendment, which it is resolved never to perform. Reform has become an exception to the proverb that says, there is a time for aU things ; but for Reform there is no time, because at all times corruption is more profitable to its authors than public virtue and propriety, which they know must be fatal to their views. As to the present time, ths objections to it are a compound of the most unblushing impu- dence and folly. Forsooth it would seem as if the House had yielded through fear. Personal bravery or fear are inapplica- ble to a pubhc assembly. I know no cowardice so despicable as the fear of seeming to be afraid. To be afraid of danger is not an unnatural sensation ; but to be brave in absurdity and injustice, merely from fear of having your sense or honesty im- puted to your own apprehension, is a stretch of folly which I have never heard of before. But the time is pregnant with ar- guments very different, indeed, from those I have . heard ; I mean the report of the Secret Committee, and the dreadful state of the country. The allegation is, that the people are not to have justice, because a rebellion exists within, and be- cause we have an enemy at our gates — because, forsooth, re- form is only a pretext, and separation is the object of the leaders. If a rebellion exist, every good subject ought to be detached from it. But if an enemj' threaten to invade us, it is only common sense to detach every subject from the hostile standard, and bring him back to his duty and his country. The present miserable state of Ireland — its distractions, its distresses, its bankruptcy, are the effects of the war, and it is the duty of the authors of that war to reconcile the people by the most timely and liberal justice ; the utmost physical strength should be cahed forth, and that can be done only by union. This is a subject so tremendous, I do not wish to dwell on it ; I will therefore leave it ; I wiU support a Reform on its own merits, and as a measure of internal peace at this most momentous juncture. Its merits are admitted by tlie ob- jection to the time, because the objection admits that at any other time it would be proper. For twenty years past there PAEUATilENTARY EEFOEM. 491 was no man of any note in England or Ireland wlio did not consider the necessity of it as a maxim ; tliey all saw and con- fessed that the people are not represented, and that they have not the benefit of a mixed monarchy. They have a monarchy which absorbs the two other estates, and, therefore, they have the insupportable expense of a monarchy, an aristocracy, and a democracy, without the simplicity or energy of any one of those forms of government. In Ireland this is peculiarly fatal, because the honest representation of the people is swallowed in the corruption and intrigue of a cabinet of another country. From this may be deduced the low estate of the Irish people ; their honest labor is wasted in pampering their betrayers, in- stead of being employed, as it ought to be, in accommodating themselves and their children. On these miserable conse- quences of corruption, and which are all the fatal effects of in- adequate representation, I do not wish to dwell. To expatiate too much on them might be unfait, but to suppress them would be treason to the public. It is said, that reform is only a pretence, and that separation is the real object of leaders ; if this be so, confound the lead- ers by destroying the pretext, and take the followers to your- selves. You say there are one hundred thousand ; I firmly believe there is three times the number. So much the better for you : if these seducers can attach so many followers to rebellion, by the hope of reform, through blood, how much more readily will you engage them, not by the promise, but the possession, and without blood? You allude to the British fleet ; learn from it to avoid the fatal consequence that may follow even a few days' delay of jastice. It is said to be only a pretext ; I am convinced of the contrary — I am con- vinced the.people are sincere, and would be satisfied by it. I think so from the perseverance in petitioning for it for a num- ber of years ; I think so, because I think a monarchy, proper- ly balanced by a fair representation of the people, gives as X3erfect hberty as the most celebrated republics of old. But, of the real attraction of this object of reform, you have a proof almost miraculous : the desu-e of reform has annihilated religious antipathy, and united the country. In the history of mankind it is the only instance of so fatal 492 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CURKAN. a religious fanaticism being discarded by tlie good sense of mankind, instead of dying slowly by the development of its folly. And I am persuaded the hints thrown out this night, to make the different sects jealous of each other, will be a detect- ed trick, and will only unite them still more closely. The CathoHcs have given a pledge to then- countrymen of their sin- cerity and their zeal, which cannot fail of producing the most firm rehance ; they have solemnly disclaimed all idea of what is called Emancipation, except as a part of that reform without which their Presbyterian brethren could not be free. Reform is a necessary change of mildness for coercion. The latter has been tried ; what is its success ? The convention bill was passed to punish the meetings at Dungannon, and those of the CathoHcs : the government considered the Cath- ohc concessions as defeats that called for vengeance, and cruelly have they avenged them. But did that act, or those which followed it, put down those meetings ? The contrary was the fact. It concealed them most foolishly. When popu- lar discontents are abroad, a wise government should put them into a hive of glass. You hid them. The association, at first, was small ; the earth seemed to drink it as a rivulet, but it only disappeared for a season. A thousand streams, through the secret windings of the earth, found their way to one course, and swelled its waters, until at last, too mighty .to be contained, it bursts out a great river, fertihzing by its exu- dations, or terrifying by its cataracts. This is the effect of our penal code : it swelled sedition into rebellion. What else could be hoped from a system of terrorism ? Fear is the most tran- sient of all the passions — it is the warning that nature gives for self-preservation. But when safety is unattainable, the warning must be useless, and nature does not, therefore, give it. Administration, therefore, mistook the quahty of penal laws ; they were sent out to abolish conventions, but they did not pass the threshold — they stood sentinels at the gates. You think that penal laws, hke great dogs, will wag their tails to their masters, and bark only at their enemies. You are mis- taken — 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 PABLIAMENTABY REFORM. 493 the nature of fear ; it cannot last ; neither while it does can it be concealed. The feeble ghmmering of a forced smile is a light that makes the cheek look paler. Trust me, the times are too humanized for such systems of government. Humani- ty will not execute them, but humanity will abhor them, and those who wish to rule by such means. This is not theory ; the experiment has been tried, and proved. You hoped much, and, I doubt not, meant well by those laws ; but they have miserably failed you — it is time to try milder methods. You have tried to force the people : the rage of your penal laws was a storm that only drove them in groups to shelter. Youi convention law gave them that organization which is justly an object of such alarm ; and the very proclamation seems to have given them arms. Before it is too late, therefore, try the bet- ter force of reason, and concihate them by justice and human- ity. The period of coercion in Ireland is gone, nor can it ever return untU the people shah return to the folly and to the nat- ural weakness of disunion. Neither let us talk of innovation ; the progress of nature is no innovation. The increase of peo- ple, with the growth of mind, is no innovation ; it is no way alarming, unless the growth of our minds lag behind. If we think otherwise, and think it an innovation to depart from the folly of our infancy, ^ve 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 proposed, you must take it on principles — they are simply two, the abolition of religious disabilities, and the representation of the people. I am confident the effects would be everything to be wished. The present alarming discontent will vanish, the good will be separated from the evil-intentioned ; the friends of mixed government in Ireland are many ; every sensible 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 inviucible against a foreign or domestic enemy ; it would make the em- pire strong at this important crisis ; it would restore to us lib- erty, 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 494 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN. but theirs, and conciliate them by justice and reason. I am censured heavily for having acted for them in the late prose- cutions. 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 prose- cuted by the state. I think every counsel is the property of his fellow-subjects. If, indeed, because I wore his Majesty's gown, I had declined my duty, or done it weakly or treacherously — if I had made that gown a mantle of hypocrisy, and betrayed my client, or sacrificed him to any personal view, I might, per- haps, 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 my friends can see left to save us. It is certainly a time for decision, and not for half measures. I agree that unanimity is indispensable. 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 responsibihty in which they stand to their country and to their conscience, before they set the example to the people of abandoning the constitution and the law, and resorting to the terrible expedient of force [Grattan followed him, closing the debate, his speech, and the attendance of the opposition, in these words :] " Before they are to be reformed, rebellion, you tell us, must be subdued. You tried that experiment in America. America required self-legislation ; you attempted to subdue America by force of angry laws, and hj force of arms — you exacted of America unconditional submission — the stamp act and the tea tax were only pretexts. So you said. The object, you said, was separation. So here the Ke- form of Parliament, you say, and Catholic Emancipation are only pretexts ; the object you say is separation. And here you exact unconditional submission : "You must subdue before you reform" — indeed ! Alas, you think so ; but you forget you subdue by re- forming. It is the best conquest you can obtain over your own people. But let me suppose you succeed ; what is your success ? THE CASE OF PETEli FINNERTY. 495 A military government, a perfect despotism, a hapless yictory over the principles of a mild government and a mild constitution. But what may be the ultimate consequence of such a victory ? — 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, but I wish you to think of it, and to make a better preparation against such an event than such conquests and such victories. "When you consider the state of your arms abroad, and the ill-assured state of your government at home, precipitating on such a system, surely you should pause a httle. Even on the event of a peace you are ill-se- cured against a future war, which the state of Ireland, under such a system, would be too apt to invite ; but in the event of the continua- tion of the war, your system is perilous, indeed. I speak without asperity — I speak without resentment ; I speak, perhaps, my delu- sion, but it is my heartfelt 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, every- thing which 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 with more satisfaction than is usual in the acknowledg- ment of error. I cannot, however, banish from my memory the lesson of the American war ; and yet at that time the English government was at the head of Europe, and was possessed of re- sources comparatively unbroken. If that lesson has no effect on ministers, surely I can suggest nothing that will. We have offered you our measure — ^you will reject it ; we deprecate yours — you 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, shall not attend the House of Commons !" THE CASE OF PETER FINNERTY. December 22, 1797. [The Counsel for the prosecution were the Attorney-General, (Arthur Wolfe,) Prime Sergeant, Solicitor-General, (Toler,) Messrs. Eidgeway, Townshend, and Worthington ; for the defence, Curran, Fletcher, M'Nally, Sampson, Shears, and Orr. The Attorney- 496 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHTLPOT CUKitAlM. General stated the case, and produced witnesses, who proved print- ing and publication. Mr. Fletcher opened the defence, and called Lord Yelverton and Mr. E. Cooke (Chief Clerk in the Secretary's office) to prove the truth of the libel ; but the. evidence was soon stopped, as illegal, and then Curran spoke as follows :] Never did I feel myself so sunk under the importance of any cause. To speak to a question of this kind, at any time, would require the greatest talent and the most mature delib- eration ; but to be obliged, without either of those advantages, to speak to a subject that has so deeply shaken the feelings of this already irritated and agitated nation, is a task that fills me with embarrassment and dismay. Neither my learned colleague nor myself received any in- struction or license until after the jury were actually sworn, and we both of us came here under an idea that we should not take any part in the trial. This circumstance I mention, not as an idle apology for an effort that cannot be the subject of either praise or censure, but as a call upon you, gentlemen of the jury, to supply the defects of my, efforts, by a double exer- tion of your attention. Perhaps I ought to regret that I cannot begin with any compliment, that may recommend me or my client personally to your favor. A more artful advocate would probably begin his address to you by compliments on your patriotism, and hj felicitating his client upon the happy selection of his jury, and upon that unsuspected impartiality in which, if he was inno- cent, he must be safe. You must be conscious, gentlemen, that such idle verbiage as that, could not convey either my sentiments, or my client's upon that subject. You know, and we know, upon what occasion you are come, and by whom you have been chosen ; you are come to try an accusation professedly brought forward by the state, chosen by a sheriff who is appointed by our accuser. [The Attorney-General, interrupting Mi-. Curran, said the .sheriff was elected by the city, and that the observation was therefore unfounded.] Be it so [continued Mr. Curran] : I will not" now stop to in- quire whose property the city may be considered to be ; but the learned gentleman seems to forget, that the election by THE CASE OF PETER FINNEETY. 497 that city, to whomsoever it may belong, is absolutely void with- out the approbation of that very Lord Lieutenant, who is the prosecutor in this case. I do therefore repeat, gentlemen, that not a man of you has been called to that box by the voice of my chent ; that he has had no power to object to a single man among you, though the Crown has ; and that you your- selves must feel under what influence you are chosen, or for what quahfications you are particularly selected. At a mo- ment when this wretched land is shaken to its centre by the dreadful conflicts of the different branches of the community ; between those who call themselves the partisans of liberty, and those who call themselves the partisans of power ; between the advocates of infliction and the advocates of suffering ; upon such a question as the present, and at such a season, can any man be at a loss to guess to what class of character and opin- ion, a friend to either party would resort for that jury, which was to decide between both ? I trust, gentlemen, you know me too well to suppose that I could be capable of treating you with any personal disrespect : I am speaking to you in the honest confidence of your fellow-citizen. When I aUude to those unworthy imputations of supposed bias, or passion, or partiality, that may have marked you out for your present sit- uation, I do so in order to warn you of the ground on which you stand, of the point of awful responsibility in which you are placed, to your conscience, and to your country ; and to remind you, that if you have been put into that box from any unwortliy reliance on your complaisance or your servihty, you have it in your power, before you leave it, to refute and to punish so vUe an expectation, by the integrity of your verdict ; to remind you, too, that you have it in your power to show to as many Irishmen as yet linger in this country, that all law and justice have not taken their flight with our prosperity and peace ; that the sanctity of an oath, and the honesty of a juror are not yet dead amongst us ; and that if our courts of justice are superseded by so many strange and terrible tribu- nals, it is not because they are deficient either in wisdom or virtue. Gentlemen, it is necessary that you should have a clear idea, first, of the law by which this question is to be decided ; sec- 498 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUEEAN. oncUy, of the nature and object of the prosecution. As to the first, it is my duty to inform you, that the law respecting hbels has been much changed of late. Heretofore, in consequence of some decisions of the judges in Westminster Hall, the jury was conceived to have no province but that of finding the truth of the innuendoes, and the fact of publication ; but the libel- lous nature of that publication, as well as the guilt or innocence of the pubhcation, were considered as exclusively belonging to the court. In a system like that of law, which reasons logically, no one erroneous x^rinciple can be introduced, without producing every other that can be deducible from it. If in the premises of any argument you admit one erroneous proposition, nothing but bad reasoning can save the conclusions from falsehood. So it has been with this encroachment of the court upon the province of the jury with respect to hbels. The moment the court assumed as a principle that they, the court, were to de- cide upon everything but the pubhcation ; that is, that they were to decide upon the question of libel or no libel, and upon the guilt or innocence of the intention, which must form the essence of every crime, the guilt or innocence must of necessity have ceased to be material. You see, gentlemen, clearly, that the question of intention is a mere question of fact. Now the moment the court determined that the jury was not to try that question, it followed of necessity that it was not to be tried at aU ; for the court cannot try a question of fact. When the court said that it was not triable, there was no way of fortifying that extraordinary proposition, except by assert- ing that it was not material. The same erroneous reasoning carried them another step, still more mischievous and unjust ; if the intention had been material, it must have been decided upon as a mere fact, under all its circumstances. Of these cir- cumstances, the meanest understanding can see that the lead- ing 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 England who published the most un- deniable truth and with the j)urest intention, might be pun- THE CASE OF PETEE FINNERTY. 499 posing on the prosecutor the necessity of proving his guilt, or his getting any opportunity of showing his innocence. I am not in the habit of speaking of legal institutions with disrespect ; but I am warranted in condemning that usurpa- tion upon the right of juries, by the authority of that statute by which your jurisdiction is restored. For that restitution of justice, the British subject is indebted to the splendid exertions of Mr. Fox and Mr. Ersldne, those distinguished supporters of the constitution and of the law ; and I am happy to say to you, that though we can claim no share m the glory they have 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 circum- stances, and of course, to determine by your verdict, whether this publication be a false and scandalous libel ; false in fact, and published with the seditious purpose alleged, of bringing the government into scandal, and instigating the people to insurrection. Having stated to you, gentlemen, the great and exclusive ex- tent of your jurisdiction, I shall beg leave to suggest to you a distinction that will strike you at first sight ; and that is, the distinction between public animadversions upon the character of private individuals, and those which are written upon meas- ures of government, and the persons who conduct them. The former may be called personal, and the latter political publications. No two things can be more different in their na- ture, nor in the point of view in which they are to be looked on by a jury. The criminality of a mere personal libel con- sists in this, that it tends to a breach of the peace ; it tends to all the vindictive paroxysms of exasperated 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 500 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHELPOT CUEKAN. emerges, like tlie moon from a passing cloud, to its original brightness. It is right, however, that the law, and that you, should hold the strictest hand over this kind of public anim- adversion, that forces humility and innocence from their retreat into the glare of public view ; that wounds and terri- fies, that destroys the cordiality and the peace of domestic hfe, and that, without eradicating a single vice, or single folly, plants a thousand thorns in the human heart. In cases of that kind, I perfectly agree with the law as stat- ed from the bench ; in such cases, I hesitate not to think, that the truth of 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 punished if it is true, and the accuser, if it is false. But far differently do I deem of the freedom of political publication. The salutary restraint of the former species, which I talked of, is found in the gene- ral law of all societies whatever ; but the more enlarged free- dom of the press, for which I contend, in political publication, I conceive to be founded in the peculiar nature of the British constitution, and to follow directly from the contract on which the British government hath been placed by the Revolution. By the British constitution, the power of the state is a trust, committed by the people, upon certain conditions, by the vio- lation of which, it may be abdicated by those who hold, and resumed by those who conferred it. The real security, there- fore, of the British sceptre, is, the sentiment and opinion of the people, and it is, consequently, their duty to observe the conduct of the government; and it is the privilege of every man to give them full and just information upon that impor- tant subject. Hence the liberty of the press is inseparably twiited with the Hberty of the people. The press is the great public monitor : its duty is that of the historian and the witness, that " nil falsi audeat, nil veri non aiideat dicere-^' that its horizon shall extend to the farthest verge and hmit of truth ; that it shall speak truth to the 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 veracity, and become an unheeded warner of real danger : lest it should THE CASE OP PETER FINNERTY. 501 Tainly warn tnem of that sin, of which the inevitable conse- quence is death. This, gentlemen, is the great privilege upon which you are to 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, which I shall find it ne- cessary to compare with the principles I have now laid down. And now, gentlemen, let us come to the immediate subject of the 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 you by the statement of the learned coun- sel who has taken a much wider range than the mere limits of the accusation, and has endeavored to force upon your consid- eration extraneous and irrelevant facts, for reasons which it is not my duty to explain. The indictment states simply that Mr. Finnerty has pub- lished a false and scandalous hbel 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 ex- pected, that, without stating any other matter, the counsel for the Crown Avould have gone directly to the proof of this alle- gation ; but he has not done so ; he has gone to a most extra- ordinary length, indeed, of preliminary observation, and an allusion to facts, and sometimes an assertion of facts, at wliich, I own, I 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 the judges. He has been pleased to say, that this prosecution is brought against this letter signed " Marcus," merely as a part of what he calls a system of attack upon the government, by the pa- per called " The Press." As to this, I will only ask you v»rhether you are fairly dealt with ? whether it is fair treatment to raen upon their oaths, to insinuate to them, that the gener- al character of a newspaper (and that general character founded merely upon the assertion of the prosecutor) is to have any influence upon their minds, when they are to judge of a particular publication ? I will only ask you, what men you must be supposed to be, when it is thought, that even in a court of justice, and with the eyes of the nation upon you, 502 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUREAN. you can be the dupes of that trite and exploded expedient, so scandalous of late in this country, of raising a vulgar and mercenary cry against whatever man, or whatever principle, it is thought necessary to put down ; and I shall, therefore, merely leave it to your own pride to suggest upon what founda- tion it could be hoped, that a senseless clamor of that kind could be echoed back by the yell of a jury upon their oaths, I trust you see that this has nothing to do with the question. Gentlemen of the jury, other matters have been mentioned which I must rejDeat for the same purpose ; that of showing you that they have nothing to do with the question. The learned counsel has been pleased to say, that he comes for- ward in this prosecution as the real advocate for the liberty of the press, and to protect a mild and a merciful government from its licentiousness ; and he has been pleased to add, that the constitution can never be lost while its freedom remains, and that its hcentiousness alone can destroy that freedom. As to that, gentlemen, he might as well have said, that there is only one mortal disease of which a man can die : I can die the death inflicted by tyranny ; and when he comes forward to ex- tinguish this paper, in the ruin of the printer, by a state pro- secution, in order to prevent its dying of licentiousness, you must judge how candidly he is treating 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 freedom of publication ? I know not whether the prin- ter of the Northern Star may have heard of such things in his captivity ; but I know that his wife and children are well ap- prised 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 pro- secuted, in order to assert the freedom of the press, it starts a train of thought — of melancholy retrospect and direful pros- pect — to which I did not think the learned counsel would have wished you to commit your minds. It leads you naturally to reflect at what times, from w^hat motives^ and with what conse- quences, the government has displayed its patriotism, by pro- THE CASE OP PETER FINNERTY. 503 secutions of this sort. As to the motives, does history give you a single instance in which the state has been provoked to these conflicts, except by the fear of truth and by the love fo vengeance ? Have you ever seen the rulers of any country bring forward a prosecution from motives of filial piety, for libels upon their departed ancestors ? Do you read that Eliz- abeth directed any of those state prosecutions against the libels which the divines of her times had written against her Catholic sister, or against the other libels which the same gen- tlemen had written against her Protestant father ? No, gen- tlemen, we read of no such thing ; but we know she did bring forward a prosecution from motives of personal resentment ; and we know that a jury was found time-serving and mean enough to give a verdict which she was ashamed to carry into effect. I said the learned counsel drew you back to the times that have been marked by these miserable conflicts. I see you turn your thoughts to the reign of the second James. I see you turn your eyes to those pages of governmental abandon- ment, of popular degradation, of expiring liberty, of merciless and sanguinary persecution ; to that miserable period, in which the fallen and abject state of man might have been almost an argument in the mouth of the atheist and the blasphemer, against the existence of an all-just and an all- wise Eirst Cause ; if the glorious era of the Kevolution that followed it had not refuted the impious inference, by showing that if a man de- scends, it is not in his own proper motion ; that it is with labor 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 the state seeks for shelter in the destruc- tion of the press ; it is in a period hke that, that the tyrant prepares for an attack upon the people, by destroying the lib- erty 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 faUen, he beholds his own image, and is turned into stone. It is at those periods that the honest man dares not speak, because truth is 504 SELECT SPEECHES OP JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN. too clreadM to be told ; it is then humanity has no ears, because humanity has no tongue. It is then the proud man scorns to speak, but, hke a physician baffled by the wayward excesses of a dying patient, retires indignantly from the bed of an unhappy wretch, whose ear is too fastidious to bear the sound of whole- some advice, whose palate is too debauched to bear the salu- tary bitter of the medicine that might redeem him ; and there- fore leaves him to the felonious piety of the slaves that talk to him of life, and strip him before he is cold. I do not care, gentlemen, to exliaust too much of your at- tention, by following this subject through the last century with much minuteness ; but the facts are too recent in your mind not to show you, that the liberty of the press and the hberty of the people sink and rise together ; that the liberty of speak- ing and the liberty of acting have shared exactly the same fate. You must have observed in England, that their fate has been the same in the successive vicissitudes of their late de- pression ; and sorry I am to add, that this country has exhib- ited a melancholy proof of their inseparable destiny, through the various and fitful stages of deterioration, down to the pe- riod of their final extinction, when the constitution has given place to the sword, and the only printer in Ireland who dares to speak for the people is now in the dock. 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 object, as inapplicable to the subject of this prosecution — that I trust you will think me excusable 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 the subject of this trial. I agree with the learned counsel that the charge made against the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland is that of having grossly and inhumanly abused the royal prerogative of mercy, of which the 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 is indifferent, and they are shortly these, as they appear in this publication. William Orr was indicted for having administered the oath of a United Irishman. Every man now knows what the oath is ; that it is simply an engagement, first, to promote a bro- THE CASE OP PETER FINNERTY. 505 fcherhood of affection among men of all religious distinctions ; secondly, to labor for the attainment of a parliamentarj^ re- form ; and thirdly, an obligation of secrecy, which was added to it when the convention law made it criminal and punish- able to meet by any public delegation for that purpose. After remaining upwards of a year in jail, Mr. Orr was brought to his trial ; was prosecuted by the state ; was sworn against by a common informer of the name of Wheatley, Avho himself had taken the obligation ; and was convicted under the Insurrection Act, which makes the administering such an ob- ligation felony of death. The jury recommended 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 into their box ; that they were brutally threatened by some of their fellow-jurors with crimi- nal 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 him in their consciences to be innocent. That further inquiries were made, which ended in a discovery of the infamous life and character of the in- former ; that a respite was therefore sent at once, and twice, and thrice, to give time, as Mr. Attorney-General has stated, for his Excellency to consider whether mercy could be ex- tended to him or not ; and that with a knowledge of all these circumstances, his Excellency did finally determine that mercy should not be extended to him ; and that he was accordingly 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 n^entioned in this 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 presid- 500 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHELPOT CUKRAN. eel at liis trial, with the mildness and temper that became them upon so awful an occasion as the trial of life and death. Sure am I, that if they had been charged with inhumanity or injustice, and if they had condescended at all to prosecute the reviler, they would not have come forward in the face of the pubhc to say, as has been said this day, that it was immaterial whether the charge was true or not. Sure I am, their first object would have been to show that it was false, and readily should I have been an eye-witness of the fact, to have dis- charged the debt of ancient friendsliip, of private respect, and of public duty, and upon my oath to have repelled the false- hood of such an imputation. Upon this subject, gentlemen, the j)resence of those vener- able 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 beheve their characters to have any community of cause what- ever 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, suffering a man under such circumstances to perish like a common malefactor. For this Mr. Attorney-General calls for your conviction as a false and scandalous hbel ; and after stating himself 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 foUows that profession for bread, and who, at a time of great public misery and terror, when the people are restrained by law from debating under any delegated form ; when the fcAv constituents that we have are prevented by force from meeting in their own persons, to deliberate or to petition ; when every other newspaper in Ire- land is put down by force, or j)urcliased by the administration THE CASE OF PETEK EINNEETY. 507 (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 like this, Mr. Finnerty has had the courage, perhaps the folly, to print the publication m 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 gentlemen mean to say, that his conduct 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 intemperance 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 antagonist, 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 e]3ithet of contumely, or of reproach, that hatred or that fancy could suggest, that is not publicly lavished upon them ? Do you not find the words, " ad- vocate of despotism," "robber of the public treasure," " mur- derer of the King's subjects," " debaucher of the public mor- ality," " 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 ordi- nary 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 per- sonal slander do not apply to rulers or to ministers ; that to pubhsh an attack upon a public 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 508 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CRERAN. the peace, gentlemen, I pray you, in such a case ? Is it the tendency of such pubHcations to provoke Mr. Pitt or Mr. Dun- das to break the head of the writer, if they should happen to meet him ? No, gentlemen ; 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 honors of genius, and virtue, and philosophy, whether a Hardy or a Tooke, will find certain protection in the honesty and spirit of an English jury. But, gentlemen, I suppose Mr, Attorney-General will scarce- ly wish to carry his doctrine altogether so far. Indeed, I re- member, he declared himself a most zealous advocate for the liberty of the press. I may, therefore, even according to him, presume to make some observations on the conduct of the ex- isting government. I should wish to know how far he sup- poses it to extend ; is it to the composition of lampoons and madrigals, to be sung down the grates by ragged ballad-mon- gers to kitchen-maids and footmen ? I will not suj)pose that he means to confine it to the ebullitions of Billingsgate, to those cataracts of ribaldry and scurrihty, that are daily spout- ing upon the miseries of our wretched fellow-sufferers, and the unavailing efforts of those who have vainly labored in their cause. I will not suppose that he confines it to the poetic H- cense of a birth-day ode ; the laureat 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 laureate ; as perfectly unrestrained by the 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 the learned gentleman has not favored you with his notion of the liberty of the press. Suppose an Irish Yiceroy acts a very little absurdly, may the THE CASE OP PETER FINNERTY. 509 press venture to be respectfully comical upon that absmxlity ? The learned counsel does not, at least in terms, give a negative to that. But let me treat you honestly, and go further, to a more material point ; suppose an Irish Viceroy does an act that brings scandal upon his master, 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, but in common confederacy for common safety. What is that honest man in that case to do ? I am sorry the right honorable advocate for the hberty of the press has not told you his opinion, at lea.st in any express words. I will therefore venture to give you my far humbler thoughts upon the subject. I think an honest man ought to tell the people frankly and boldly of their peril ; and I must say I can imagine no villainy greater than that of his holding a traitorous silence at such a crisis, except the villainy 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 known principle of the revolution of England, namely, that the Grown itself may be abdicated by certain abuses of the trust reposed ; and that 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 hfe. Now, gentlemen, if this reasoning be admitted, and it can- not be denied ; if there be any possible event in which the people are obliged to look only to themselves, and are justified in doing so ; can you be so 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 them that the miser- able event has actually arrived, or is imminently approaching ? Far am I, gentlemen, from insinuating that (extreme as it is) our misery has been matured into any deplorable crisis of this kind, from which I pray that the Almighty God may forever preserve us ! But I am putting my principles upon the strong- est ground, and most favorable to my opponents, namely, that it never can be criminal to say anything of government but what is false ; and I put this in the extreme, in order to de- monstrate to you, a fortiori, that the privilege of spealdng truth 510 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUERAN. to the people, wliicli holds in the last extremity, must also ob- tain in eveiy stage of inferior importance ; and that, however a court may have decided, before the late act, that the truth was immaterial in case of hbel, 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 insurrection. 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 prosecutor, and is not attempted to be de- nied ? And, gracious God ! gentlemen of the jury, is the pub- lic statement of the King's representative tliis, " I have done a deed that must fill the mind of every feehng or thinking man with horror and indignation ; that must alienate every man that knows it from the King's government, and endanger the separation of this distracted empire : the traverser has had the guilt of publishing this fact, which I myself acknowledge, and I pray you to find him guilty ?" Is this the case which the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland brings forward? Is this the prin- ciple for which he ventures, at a dreadf til crisis like the present, to contend in a court of justice ? Is this the picture which he wishes to hold out of himself to the justice and humanity of his own countrymen? Is this the history which he wishes to be read by the poor Irishmen of the South and of the North, by the sister nation, and the common enemy ? With the profoundest respect, permit me humbly to defend his Excellency, even against his own opinion. The guilt of this publication he is pleased to think consists in this, that it tends to insurrection. Upon what can such a fear be support- ed ? After the multitudes that have perished in this unhappy nation within the last three years, unhappiness 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 con- duct of an honest man ? Should it not be to apprise the gov- ernment of the country and the Viceroy — you will drive the THE CASE OF PETER FINNEETY. 511 people to madness, if you persevere in such bloody counsels ; you will alienate the Irish nation ; you wiU distract the com- mon force ; and you will invite the common enemy ? Should not an honest man say to the people — the measure of your affliction 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. At such a moment, can you be so senseless as not to feel, that any one of you ought to hold such language ; or is it possible you could be so infatuated, as to punish the man who was honest enough to hold it? — or is it possible that you could bring yourselves to say to your coun- try, that at 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 the door, or the flames bursting from the windows, whUe the inhabitant is wrapt in sleep, and cries out that " 'tis] past five o'clock, the morning is fair, and all well." On this part of the case I shall only put one question to you. I do not affect to say it is similar in all its points ; I do not affect to compare the humble fortunes of Mr. Orr with the sainted names of Russell or 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 you, completely parallel in principle : When that unhappy and misguided monarch had 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 his abhorrence of such a deed, what would you have thought of the English jury that could have said — we know in our hearts what he said was true and honest, but we will say, upon our oaths, 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 heaven for redress ? Gentlemen, I am perfectly aware that what I may say may be easily misconstrued ; but if you listen to me with the same fairness that T address you, I cannot be misunderstood. When I show you the full extent of your political rights and remedies ; 512 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN. when I answer those slanderers of Britisli liberty, who degrade the monarch into a despot, who pervert the steadfastness of law into the waywardness of will ; when I show you the inestima- ble stores of pohtical wealth, so dearly acquired by our ances- tors, and so solemnly bequeathed ; and when I show you how much of that precious inheritance has yet survived all the pro- digaUty of their posterity, I am far from saying that I stand in need of it all upon the present occasion. No, gentlemen, far am I indeed from such a sentiment. No man more deeply than myself deplores the present melancholy state of our un- happy 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 on the one side or the retaliation of them on another. I have of late seen too much of political rebuilding, not to have observed, that to demolish is not the shortest way to repair. It is with pain and anguish that I should search for the miserable right of breaking ancient ties, or going in quest of new relations, or untried adventures. No, gentlemen ; the case of my client rests not upon these sad privileges of de- spair. I trust, that as to the fact, namely, the intention of ex- citing insurrection, you must see it cannot be found in this pubHcation ; that it is the mere idl'e, unsupported imputation of malice, or panic, or falsehood. And that as to the law, so far has he been from transgressing the li-mits of the constitu- tion, that whole regions lie between him and those hmits, which he has not trod, and which I pray to heaven it may never be necessary for any of us to tread. Gentlemen, Mr. Attorney-General has been pleased to open another battery vipon tliis publication, which I do trust I shall silence, unless I flatter myself too much in supposing that hitherto my resistance has not been utterly unsuccessful. He abuses it for the foul and insolent familiarity of its ad- dress. I do clearly understand his idea ; he considers the freedom of the press to be the license of offering that paltry adulation which no man ought to stoop to utter or to hear ; he supposes the freedom of the press ought to belike thefreedom of a king's jester, who, instead of reproving the faults of which THE CASE or PETEE FINNERTY. 513 majestj ouglit to be ashamed, is base and cunning enougli, un- der the mask of servile and adulatory censure, to stroke down and pamper those vices of which it is foolish enough to be yain. He would not have the press presume to tell the Yice- roy, that'the prerogative of mercy is a trust for the benefit of the subject, and not a gaudy feather stuck int« the diadem to shake in the wind, and by the waving of the gorgeous plumage to amuse the vanity of the Avearer. 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 that in the one case, as well as the other, wherever the propriety of the ex- ercise of it appears, it is equally a matter of right. He would have the press all fierceness to the people, and all sycophancy to power ; he would consider the mad and frenetic outrages of authority, like the awful and inscrutable dispensations of Pro- vidence, and say to the unfeeling and despotic spoiler, in the blasphemed and insulted language of religious resignation, " the Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." But let me condense the generality of the learned gentle- man's invective into questions that you can conceive. Does he mean that the air of this publication is rustic and uncourt- ly ? Does he mean, that when " Marcus" presumed to ascend the steps of the castle, and to address the Yiceroy, he did not turn on 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 ? If this be his complaint, my chent has but a poor advocate. I do not pretend to be a mighty grammarian, or a formid- able critic ; but I would beg leave to suggest to you, in serious humility, that a free press can be supported only by the ar- dor of men who feel the prompting sting of real or supposed capacity ; who write from the enthusiasm of virtue, or the am- bition of praise, and over whom, if you exercise the rigor 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 posts ; and if you do, rely upon it, you will reduce the spirit of publication, and with it the press oi this country, to what it for a long interval has been — the regis- 514 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHELPOT CURRAN. ter of births, and fairs, and funerals, and tlie general abuse of the people and their friends. Gentlemen, in order to bring this charge of insolence and vulgarity to the test, let me ask you, whether you know of any language which 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 writer 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 big- otry 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 be- trayer of his fellow-laborers in that enterprise : that you had seen him upon that charge removed from his industry, and confined in a jail; that through the slow and lingering pro- gress of twelve tedious months you had seen him confined in a dungeon, shut out from the common use of air and of his own hmbs ; that day after day you had marked the unhappy 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, and terrified jury, give in a verdict of death ; that you had seen the same jury, when their returning sobriety had brought back their conscience, prostrate themselves before the humanity of the bench, and pray that the mercy of the Crown might save their characters from the reproach of an involun- tary crime, their consciences from the torture of eternal self- condemnation, and their souls from the indelible stain oi inno- cent blood. Let me suppose that you had seen the respite given, and that contrite and honest recommendation transmitted to that seat where mercy was presumed to dwell — that new and be- fore unheard-of crimes are discovered against the informer— THE CASE OF PETER FINNERTY. 515 that the royal mercy seems to relent, and that a new respite is *^ent to the prisoner — that time is taken, as the learned coun- sel for the Crown has expressed it, to see whether mercy could be extended or not ! — that after that period of lingering delib- eration passed, a third respite is transmitted — that the un- happy captive himself feels the cheering hope of being re- stored to a family that he had 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, giv- ing those tears to gratitude, which their locked and frozen hearts could not give to anguish and despair, and imploring the blessings 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 nor cliildren more shall he behold. Nor friends, nor sacred home !" Xo seraph mercy unbars his dungeon, and leads him forth to light and life ; but the minister of death hurries him to the scene of suffering and of shame, where, unmoved by the hos- tile array of artillery and armed men collected together, to se- cure, 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 ear upon so foul and monstrous a subject, in what language would you have conveyed the feehngs of horror and indigna- tion ? Would you have stooped to the meanness of quahfied complaint ? — would you have checked your feehngs to search for courtly and gaudy language ? — would you have been mean enough — ^but I entreat your forgiveness — I do not think mean- ly of you. Had I thought so meanly of you, I could not suf- fer 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 510 SELEGT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUREAN. string no groan of suffering could vibrate, no voice of integrity or honor could speak, let me honestly tell you, I should hav# 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 opin- ion of you, I could use no language upon such a subject as this, that must not lag behind the 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 for the Crown seemed to address you with a confidence of a very different kind ; he seemed to expect from you a kind and respectful sympathy with the feelings of the Castle, and with the griefs of chided authority. Perhaps 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 rep- robation of this writer is weak, it is because his genius could not make it stronger ; he has been right in teUing 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 cor- rectness of millinery which became so exalted* a person. If you agree with him, gentlemen of the jury — if you think that the m0,n who ventures, at the hazard of his own hfe, to rescue from the deep the drowning honor of his country, you must not presume upon the guilty famiharity of plucking it up by the locks. I have 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. Betire to the bosom of your families and your children, and when you are presiding over the morahty of the parental board, tell those infants, who are to be the future men of Ireland, the history of this day. Form their young minds by your precepts, and confirm those precepts by your own example — teach them how discreetly al- legiance 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 THE CASE OF PETER FINNERTY. 517 of liis deatli ; and when you find your little hearers hanging from your lips — when you see their eyes overflow with sympa- thy and sorrow — and their young hearts bursting with the pangs of anticipated orphanage — tell them that you had the boldness and the justice to stigmatize the monster who had dared to publish the transaction ! Gentlemen, I believe I told you before, that the conduct of the Viceroy was a small part, indeed, of the subject of this trial. If the vindication of his mere personal character had been, as it ought to have been, the sole object of this prosecu- tion, I should have felt the most respectful regret at seeing a person of his high consideration come forward in a court of pubhc justice in one and the same breath to admit the truth, and to demand the punishment of a publication like the pre- sent, to prevent the chance he might have had of such an ac- cusation being disbelieved, and, by a prosecution like this, to give to the passing stricture of a newspaper that life and body, and action and reality, to prove it to all mankind, and make the record of it indelible. Even as it is, I do own I feel the utmost concern that his name should have been soiled, by being mixed in a question of which it is the mere pretext and scapegoat. Mr. Attorney-General was too wise to state to you the real question, or the object which he wished to be answered by your verdict. Do you remember that he was pleased to say that this publication was a base and foul misrepresentation of the virtue and wisdom of the government, and a false and au- dacious statement to the world, that the King's government in Ireland was base enough to pay informers for taking away the lives of the people ? When I heard this statement to-day I doubted whether you were aware of its tendency or not. It is now necessary that I should explain it to you more at large. You cannot be ignorant of the great conflict between pre- rogative and privilege which hath convulsed the country for the last fifteen years ; when I say privilege, you cannot sup- pose that I mean the privilege of the House of Commons, — I mean the privileges of the people. You are no strangers to the various modes by which the peo- ple labored to approach their object. Delegations, conventions. 518 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUERAN. remonstrances, resolutions, petitions to tlie parliament, petitions to the throne. It might not be decorous in this place to state to you, with any sharpness, the various modes of resistance that were em- ployed on the other side ; but you, all of you, seem old enough to remember the variety of 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 pubhc petition, the right of bail, the right of trial, the right of arms for self-defence ; until the last, even the rehcs of popular privilege became superseded by a military force ; the press extinguished ; and the state found its last intrench- ment in the grave of the constitution. As httle 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 propagated and entertained. The writer of this letter presumed to censure the recall of Lord Fitzwilliam, as well as the measures of the present Vice- roy, Into this subject I do not enter ; but you cannot your- selves 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. blind to. Every new act of co- ercion has been followed by some new symptom of discontent, and every new attack provoked some new paroxysm of resent- ment, or some new combination of resistance. In this deplorable state of affairs — convulsed and distracted within, and menaced b}^ a most formidable enemy from without — it was thought that public safety might be found in union and conciliation ; and repeated applications were made to the par- liament of this kingdom, for a calm inquiry into the complaints of the people. These applications were made in vain. Impressed by the same motives, Mr. Fox brought the same subject before the Commons of England, and ventured to as- THE CASE OE PETER FINNERTY. 519 cribe the perilous state of Ireland to the severity of its govern- ment. Even his stupendous abilities, excited bj the Hvehest sympathy with our sufferings, and animated by the most ardent zeal to restore the strength with the union of the empire, were repeatedly exerted without success. The fact of discontent was denied — the fact of coercion was denied — and the conse- quence was, the coercion became more implacable, and the discontent more threatening and irreconcilable. A similar apphcation was made in the beginning of this session in the Lords of Great Britain, by our illustrious coun- tryman, (Lord Moira,) of whom I do not wonder that my learned friend should have observed, how much virtue can fling pedigree into the shade ; or how much the transient honor 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, to the astonishment of every man in Ireland, the 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 pubhcation as a false statement of the con- duct of the government, and the condition of the people, no man could be at a loss to see tha,t the awful question, which had been dismissed from the Commons of Ireland, and from the Lords and Commons of Great Britain, is now brought for- ward to be tried by a side wind, and, in a collateral way, by a criminal prosecution. The learned counsel has asserted that the paper which he prosecutes is only part of a system formed to misrepresent the state of Ireland and the conduct of its government. Do you not, therefore, discover that his object is to procure a verdict to sanction the parliaments of both countries in refus- ing an inquiry into your grievances ? Let me ask you, then, are you prepared to say, upon your oath, that those measures of coercion, which are daily practiced, are absolutely necessary, and ought to be continued ? It is not upon Finnerty you are sitting in judgment ; but you are sitting in judgment upon the 520 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUREAN. lives and liberties of the inhabitants of more than half of Ire- land. You are to say that it is a foul proceeding to condemn the government of Ireland ; that it is a foul act, founded in foul motives, and origiuating in falsehood and sedition ; that it is an attack upon a government, 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 effusions of party or of discontent ; that all is mildness and tranquillity ; that there are no burnings — no transporta- tions ; that you never travel by the Hght of conflagrations ; that the jails are not crowded month after month, from which prisoners are taken out, not for trial, but for embarkation ! These are the questions upon which, I say, you must virtually decide. It is in vain that the counsel for the Crown may tell you that I am misrepresenting the case — that I am endeavor- ing to raise false fears, and to take advantage of your passions — that the question is, whether this paper be a libel or not — and that the ckcumstauces of the country have nothing to do with it. Such assertions must be vain. The statement of the counsel for the Crown has forced the introduction of those im- portant topics ; and I appeal to your own hearts whether the country is misrepresented, and whether the government 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 mihtary law ought to be continued ; that the con- stitution could not with safety be restored to Ireland ; and that the statements of a contrary import by your advocates, in 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 reconcile with such a verdict, the jaUs, the tenders, the gibbets, the conflagrations, the murders, the proclamations that we hear of every day in the streets, and see every day in the country ? What are the prosecutions of the learned counsel himself, circuit after circuit ? Merciful THE CASE OF PETER EINNERTY. 521 God ! what is the state of Ireland, and where shall you find the wretched inhabitant of this land! You may find him, perhaps, in a jail, the only place of security — I had almost said of ordinary habitation ! If you do not find him there, you may see him flying with his family from the flames of his own dwelling — ^lighted to his dungeon by the conflagration of his hovel ; or you may find his bones bleaching on the green fields of his country ; or you may find him tossing on the surface of the ocean, and mingling his groans with those tem- pests, less savage than his persecutors, that drift him to a re- turnless distance from his family and his home, without charge, or trial, or sentence. Is this a foul misrepresenta- tion ? 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 honor, to deny the sufterings under which you groan, and to flatter the persecutor that tramples you under foot. Gentlemen, I am not accustomed to speak of circumstances of this kind ; and though familiarized as I have been to them, when I come 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 hke the unfortunate state of the country — ^perhaps, hke you. This is the time in which I ought to speak, if I can, or be dumb forever • in which, if you do not speak as you ought, you ought to be dumb forever. But the learned gentleman is further pleased to say, that the traverser has charged the government with the encourage- ment of informers. This, gentlemen, is another smaU fact that you are to deny at the hazard of your souls, and upon the solemnity of your oaths. You are upon your oaths to say to the sister country, that the government of Ireland uses no such abominable instruments of destruction as informers. Let me ask you honestly, what do you feel, when in my hearing, when in the face of this audience, you are called upon to give a verdict that 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 pubhc proclamation for in- formers, with a promise of secrecy, and of extravagant reward ; 522 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUKRAN. I speak not of the fate of those horrid wretches who have been so often transferred from the table to the dock, and from the dock to the pillorj ; I speak of what your own eyes have seen, day after day, during the com-se of this commission, from the box where you are now sitting ; the number of horrid miscreants, who acknowledged, upon their oaths, that they had come from the seat of government — from the very cham- bers of the Castle — where they had been worked upon, by the fear of death and the hope of compensation, to give evidence against theh fellows ; that the mild, the wholesome, and mer- ciful councils of this government are holden over these cata- combs of Hving death, where the wretch that is buried a man, hes 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 ? Have you not seen him, after his resurrection from that region of death and corruption, make hi-s appearance upon the table, the living image of life and of death,, and the supreme arbiter of both; Have you not marked when he entered, how the storm}^ wave of the multitude retired at his approach ? Have you not seen how the human heart bowed to the supremacy 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 jm'or's oath ! — but even that adamantine chain, that bound the integ ity of man to the throne of eternal justice, is solved and molten in the breath that issues from the informer's mouth ; conscience swings from her moorings, and the appalled and affrighted juror consults his own safety in the surrender of the victim : " Et qu£e sibi quisqiie timebat, Unius in miseri exitium 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 country, is the informer an object of judicial idola- try — even so is he soothed by the music of human groans — THE CASE OE PETER FINNEETY. 523 even so is lie 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 been forced into this length by the prosecutor, who has thought fit to introduce those extraordinary topics, and to bring a question of mere pohtics 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 same in- ducements, and from the same motives, as if your verdict was a vote of approbation. I do not wonder that the government of Ireland should stand appalled at the state to which we are reduced. I wonder not that they should start at the public voice, and labor to stifle or contradict it. I wonder not that at this arduous crisis, when the very existence of the empire is at stake, and when its strongest and most precious limb is not girt with the sword for battle, but pressed by the tourniquet for am- putation ; when they find the coldness of death already begun in those extremities where it never ends ; that they are terri- fied at what they have done, and wish to say to the surviving parts of that empire, "they cannot say that we did it." I wonder not that they should consider their conduct as no im- material question for a court 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 might perish in it, but you could not close it ; trust me, if it is yet possible to close it, it can be done only by truth and honor ; trust me, that such an effect could no more be wrought by the sacriflce of a jury, than by the sacrifice of Orr. As a state measure, the one would be as unwise and unavail- ing as the other ; but while you are yet upon the brink, while you are yet visible, let me, before we part, remind you once more of your awful situation. You are upon a great forward ground, with the people at jowv back, and the government in your front. You have neither the disadvantages nor the excuses of jurors a century ago. No, thank God ! never was there a stronger characteristic 524 SELECT SPEECHES OP JOHN PHILPOT CURRAN. distinction between those times, upon whicli no man can reflect without horror, and the present. You have seen this trial con- ducted with mildness and patience by the court. We have now no Jefferies, with scurvy and vulgar conceits, to browbeat the prisoner and perplex his counsel. Such has been the im- provement of manners, and so calm the confidence of integrity, that during the defence of accused persons, the judges sit quietly, and show themselves worthy of their situation, by bearing, with a mild and merciful patience, the little extrava- gances of the bar, as you should bear with the little extrava- gances of the press. Let me then turn your eyes to that pat- tern of mildness in the bench. The press is your advocate ; bear with its excess — bear with everything but its bad inten- tion. If it come as a villainous slanderer, treat it as such ; but if it endeavor to raise the honor and glory of your country, re- member 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 ardor of patriotism. In vain will you deshe the bird to soar, if you meanly or madly steal from it its plumage. Beware lest, under the pretence of bearing down the Hcentiousness of the press, you extinguish it altogether. BeAvare how you rival the venal ferocity of those miscreants, who rob a printer of the means of bread, and claim from deluded royalty the reward of integrity and allegiance. Let me, therefore, remind you, that though the day may soon come when our ashes shall be scattered before the winds of heaven, the memory of what you do cannot die ; it will carry down to your posterity your honor or your shame. In the presence and in the name of that ever living God, I do there- fore conjure you to reflect, that you have your characters, your consciences, that you have also the character, perhaps the ultimate destiny of your 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 will hereafter be judged ; and I do now submit the fate of my cHent, and of that country which we have yet in common, to your disposal. TRIAL OF PATEICK FINNEY. 525 TRIAL OF PATEICK FINNEY, FOR HIGH TREASON. January 16, 1798. [On the 31st of May, 1797, Patrick Finney was arrested at Tuite's public house, in Thomas Street. He was indicted for High Trea- son, at the Commission held in Dabhn, in July, 1797, and on Tues^ day, the 16th of January, 1798, was brought to trial. The chief witness for the prosecution was Jenny O'Brien, a hired informer.] My lords, and gentlemen of the jury. In the early part of this trial, I thought I should have had to address you on the most important occasion possible, on this side of the grave, a man laboring for life, on the casual strength of an exhausted, and, at best, a feeble advocate. But, gentlemen, do not imag- ine that I riss tinder any such impressions ; do not imagine that I approach you sinking under the hopeless difficulties of my cause. I am not now soliciting your indulgence to the in- adequacy of my powers, or artfully enlisting your passions at the side of my client. No, gentlemen ; but I rise with what of law, of conscience, of justice, and of constitution, there exists within this realm, at my back, and, standing in front of that great and poAverful alliance, I demand a verdict of acquital for my client ! "What is the opposition of evidence ? It is a tis- sue which requires no strength to break through ; it vanishes at the touch, and is sundered into tatters. The right honorable gentleman who stated the case in the first stage of this trial, has been so kind as to express a reli- ance, that the counsel for the prisoner would address the jury with the same candor which he exenjphfied on the part of the Crown ; readily and confidently 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 humble powers of man are so awfully and so divinely excited, as in de- fence of a fellow-creature placed in the circumstances of my client ; and if any labors can peculiarly attract the gracious 526 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUREAN. and approving eye of heaven, it is when God looks down on a human being assailed bj human turpitude, and struggluag with practices against which the Deity has placed his special canon, when he said " Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor ; thou shalt do no murder." Gentlemen, let me desire you again and again to consider all the circumstances of this man's case, abstracted from the influence of prejudice and habit ; and if aught of passion as- sumes dominion over 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 un- warmed, I shall, I trust, proceed in my great duty. Wishing to state my cHent's case with all possible succinct- ness which the nature of the charge admits, I am glad my learned colleague has acquitted himself 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 him credit, uniting with a sound judgment and sympathetic heart, have given to his statement all the advantages it could have derived from these qualities. He'has truly said that " the declaratory act, the 25th of Ed- ward III., is that on which all charges of high treason are founded ;" and I trust the observation will be deeply engraven on your hearts. It is an act 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 shall incur conviction by his own conduct, or the sagacity of Crown con- struction : whether he shall sink beneath his own guilt; or the cruel and barbarous refinement of Crown prosecution. It has been most aptly called the blessed act ; and oh ! may the great God of justice and of mercy give repose and eternal blessing to the souls of those honest men by whom it was en- acted ! By this law, no man shall be convicted of high trea- son, but on provable evidence ; the overt acts of treason, as explained in this law, shall be stated clearly and distinctly in the charge ; and the proof of these acts shall be equally clear TBIAL OF PATKICK PINNEY. 527 and distinct, in order that no man's life may depend on a par- tial or wicked allegation. It does everything for the prisoner which he could do himself ; it does everything 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 appall the informer from our courts of jus- tice ; but law cannot do it, rehgion cannot do it ; the feelings of human nature frozen in the depraved heart of the wretched informer, cannot be thawed ! Law cannot prevent the envenomed arrow from being point- ed at the intended victim ; but it has given him a shield in the integrity of a jury ! Everything is so clear in this act, that all must understand ; the several acts of treason must be recited, and provable conviction must follow. What is provable conviction ? Are you at a loss to know ? Do you think if a man comes on the table, and says, " By virtue of my oath, I know of a conspiracy against the state, and such and such per- sons are engaged in it," do you think that his mere allegation shall justify you in a verdict of conviction ? A witness coming on this table, of whatsoever description, whether the noble lord who has been examined, or the honorable judges on the bench, or Mr. James O'Brien, who shall declare upon oath that a man bought powder, ball, and arms, intending to kill another, this is not provable conviction ; the unlawful intention must be shown by cogency of e^ddence, and the credit of the witness must stand strong and unimpeached. The law means not that infamous assertion or dirty ribaldry is to overthrow the char- acter 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 in 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 at- tention so long on these particular points, but that in the pres- ent disturbed state of the pubhc mind, and in the abandon- ment of principle, which it but too frequently produces, I think 528 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUERAN. I cannot too strongly imj)ress you with the purity of legal dis- tinction, 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 re- sign 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 imagining the King's death, and adhering to the King's enemies. To be accurate on this head is not less my intention than it is my interest ; for if I fall into errors, they will not escape th6 learned counsel who is to come after me, and whose defections will not fail to be made in the correct spirit of Crown prosecution. Gentlemen, there are no fewer than tlurteen overt acts, as described, necessary 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 species of treason charged in the indictment, it will be 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 particularly on the circumstances. Mr. Attorney-General has been pleased to make an observa- tion, which drew a remark from my colleague, with which I fully agree, that the atrocity of a charge should make no im- pression on you. It was th,e judgment of candor and Hberahty, and should be yours ; nor though you should more than an- swer the high opinion I entertain of you, and though your hearts betray not the consohng confidence which your looks inspire, yet do not disdain to increase your stock of candor and hberahty, from whatsoever source it flows; though the abundance of my chent's innocence may render him independ- ent of its exertions, yom' country wants it all. You are not to suffer impressions of loyalty, or an enthusiastic love for the sacred person of the King, to give your judgments the small- est bias. You are to decide from the evidence which you have heard ; and if the atrocity of the charge were to have TRIAL OF PATEIOK FINNEY. 629 any influence with you, it slioulcl be that of rendering you more incredulous 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 mon- archical, republican, or, I had almost said, despotic, than at- tempting to destroy the life of the person holding the execu- tive authority ; the counsel for the Crown cannot feel a greater abhorrence against it than I do ; and happy am I, at this mo- ment, that I can do justice to my principles, and the feelings of my heart, without endangering the defence of my client ; and that defence is, that your hearts would not feel more re- luctant to the perpetration of the crimes 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 Hfe and honor to his senses, shall rescue him from the dreadful fascina- tion of the informer's eye. The overt acts in the charge against the prisoner are many, and all a^^parently of the same nature, but they, notwithstand- ing, admit of a very material distinction. This want of candor I attribute to the base imposition of the prosecutor on those who brought him forward. You find at the bottom of the charge a foundation-stone at- tempted to be laid by O'Brien, — the deliberations of a society of United Irishmen, and on this are laid all the overt acts. I said the distinction was of moment, because it is endeavored to be held forth to the public, to all Europe, that, a-t a time hke this, of peril and of danger, there are, in one province alone, one hundred and eleven thousand of your countrymen combined for the purpose of destroying the King, and the tranquillity of the country, which so much depends on him, an assertion which you should consider of again and again, before you give it any other existence than it derives from the at- tainting breath of the informer. If nothing should induce that consideration but the name of Irishman, the honors of which joxL share, a name so fouUy, 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 Q-reat combination of mind and will exists on some •530 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUEEAN. public subject. What says tbe written evidence on tbat sub- ject ? What are the obligations imposed by the test-oath of the society of United Irishmen ? Is it unjust to get rid of rehgious 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 par- liament ? If it be, the text is full of its own comment, it needs no comment of mine. As to the last clause, obliging to 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 anything of treason in it ? However objectionable it may be, it certainly is not treasonable. I admit there may be a colorable combination of words to conceal a really bad design ; but to what evils would it not ex- pose society, if, in this case, to suppose were to decide. A high legal authority thus speaks on this subject : " Strong, in- deed, must the evidence be which goes to prove that any man can mean, by words, anything more than what is conveyed in their ordinary acceptation." If the test of any particular community were an open one — if, like the London Correspond- ing Society, it was to be openly published, then, indeed, there might be a reason for not using words in their common ap- plication ; 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 expressed in the phraseology of studied concealment ? If men meet in secret, to talk over how best the French can invade this coun- try, to what purpose is it that they take an engagement differ- ent in meaning? Common sense rejects the idea ! Gentlemen, having stated these distinctions, I am led to the remaining divisions of the subject you are to consider. I ad- mit, that because a man merely takes this obhgation of union, it cannot prevent his becoming a traitor if he pleases ; but the question for you to decide on would then be, whether every man who takes it must necessarily be a traitor ? Independent of that engagement, have any superadded facts been proved against the prisoner ? What is the evidence of TKIAL OF PATRICK FINNEY. 531 O'Brien? Wliat has he stated? Here, gentlemen, let mo claim the benefits of that great privilege, which distinguishes trial by jury in this country from all the world. Twelve men, not emerging from the must and cobwebs of a study, ab- stracted from human nature, or only acquainted with its extravagances; but twelve men, conversant with life, and practiced 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 commencement. He walks along Thomas Street, in the open day, . (a street 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 Irishman ! 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 Mr. 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 coaxing an invitation to felo- ny as this ? " Sweet Mr. James O'Brien ! come in and save your precious life— come in and take an oath, or you'll be murdered before you go half the street ! Do, sweetest, dear- est Mr. James O'Brien, come in, and do not risk your valua- ble existence." What a loss had he been to his King, whom he loves so marvellously ! Well, what does poor Mr. O'Brien do? Poor, dear man, he stands petrified with the magnitude of his danger, — all his members refuse their office, — ^lie can neither run from the danger, nor call out for assistance ; his tongue cleaves to his mouth, and his feet incorporate with the paving-stones; it is in vain 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 house, and being led into a room, a parcel of men make faces at him ; but mark the metamorphosis : well may it be said, that " miracles will never cease ;" he who feared to resist in open air, and in the face of the public, becomes a 532 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUREAN. bravo when pent up in a room, and environed by sixteen men, and one is obliged to bar the door, whUe another swears him, which after some resistance is 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 pill so bitter to the percipiency of his loyal palate, must be w^ashed down ; and, lest he should throw it off his stomach, he is filled up to the neck with beef and whiskey. What further 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 ; but to prevent him even this little solace, they made him drunk. The next evening they used him in the like barbarous manner ; so that he was not only sworn against his will, but, — poor man, — he was made drunk against his inclina- tion. Thus was he besieged with united beefsteaks and whis- key ; and against such potent assailants not even Mr. O'Brien could prevail. Whether all this whiskey that he had been forced to drink has produced the effect or not, Mr. O'Brien's loyalty is better than his memory. In the spirit of loyalty he became pro- phetic, and told Lord Portarlington the circumstances relative to the intended attack on the ordnance stores full three weeks before he had obtained the information through moral agency. Oh ! honest James O'Brien ! Let others vainly argue on logi- cal 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 j)roducing a verdict, although human nature were as vile and monstrous in you as she is in him ! He has made a mistake ! but surely no man's life is safe if such evidence were admissible : what argument can be founded on his testi- mony, when he swears he has jjerjured himself, and that any- thing he says must be false ? I must -not believe him at all, and by a paradoxical conclusion, supi^ose, against " the dam- nation" of his own testimony, that he is an honest man ! Strongly as I feel my interest keep pace with that of my cHent, I would 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 his mind ! May his reprobation, — TEIAL OP PATEICK PINNEY. 533 but I beg liis pardon, — let your verdict stamp that currency on his credit ; it will have more force than any casual remarks of mine. How this contradiction to Mr. O'Brien's evidence occurred, I am at no loss to understand. He started from the beginning with an intention of informing against some person, no matter against whom ; and whether he ever saw the pris- oner at the time he gave the information to Lord Portarling- ton, is a question ; but none, that he fabricated the story for the purpose of imposing on the honest zeal of the law officers of the Crown. Having now glanced at a part of this man's evidence, I do not mean to part v/ith him entirely ; I shall have occasion to visit him again ; but before I do, let me, gentlemen, once more im^oress upon your minds the observation which my col- league applied to the laws of high treason, that if they are not explained on the statute-book, they are explained on the hearts of all honest men ; and, as St. Paul says, " though they know not the law, they obey the statutes thereof." The essence of the charge submitted to your consideration tends to the dissolution of the connexion between Ireland 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 constitution. I feel, — I embrace its prin- ciples ; and when I look on you, the proudest benefit of that constitution, I am relieved from the fears of advocacy, since I place my client under the influence of its sacred shade. This is not the idle sycophancy of words. It is not crying " Lord ! Lord !" but doing " the will of my Father who is in heaven." If my cHent were to be tried by a jury of Ludgate Hill shop- keepers, he would, ere now, be in his lodging. The law of England would not suffer a man to be cruelly butchered in a court of justice. The law of England recognizes the possibil- ity of villains thirsting for the blood of their fellow-creatures ; and the people of Ireland have no cause to be incredulous of the fact. In that country, St. Paul's is not more public than the charge made against the poorest creatm^e that crawls upon the soil of England. There must be two witnesses to convict the prisoner 534: SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUERAN. of higli treason. The prisoner must have a copy of the jarors' names, bj whom he may eventually be tried ; he must have a list of the witnesses that are to be produced against him, that they may not, vampire-like, come crawhng out of the grave to drink his blood ; but that, by having a list of their names and places of abode, he may inquke 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 beheve the evidence, that the prisoner is guilty ; and if there be but one witness, the jury shall not be troubled with the idle folly of listening to the prisoner's defence. If there be but one witness, there is the less possibility of contradicting him ; he the less fears any de- tection of his murderous tale, having only infernal communica- tion between him and the author of all evil ; and when on the table, which he makes the altar of his sacrifice, however com- mon men may be affected at sight of the innocent victim, it cannot be supposed that the prompter of his perjury will insti- gate him to retribution : this is the law in England, and God forbid that Irishmen should so differ, in the estimation of the law, from Englishmen, that their blood is not equally worth preserving. I do not, gentlemen, apply any part of this ob- servation to you ; you are Irishmen yourselves, and I know you will act proudly and honestly. The law of England renders two witnesses necessary, and one witness insufficient, to take away the life of a man on a charge of high treason. This is founded on the principle of common sense, and common justice ; for, unless the subject were guarded by this wise prevention, every wretch who could so pervert the powers of invention, as to trump up a tale of treason and conspiracy, would have it in his power to defraud the Crown into the most abominable and afflicting acts of cruelty and oppression. Gentlemen of the jury, though from the evidence which has been adduced against the prisoner, they have lost their value, yet had they been necessary, I must tell you, that my chent came forward under a disadvantage of great magnitude, the absence of two witnesses very material to his defence ; I am TEIAL OF PATEICK FINNEY. 535 not now at liberty to say, what I am instructed would have been proved by May, and Mr. Eoberts. But, you will ask, Avhy is it not Mr. Eoberts here ? Recol- lect the admission of O'Brien, that he threatened to settle him, and you will cease to wonder at his absence, when, if he came, the dagger was in preparation to be plunged into his heart. I said Mr. Eoberts was absent ; I correct myseK ; no ! in effect he is here : I appeal to the heart of that obdurate man, (O'Brien,) what would have been his (Eoberts') testimony, if he had dared to venture a personal evidence on this trial ? Gra- cious God ! is a tyranny of this kind to be borne with, where law is said to exist ? Shall the horrors which surround the in- former, the ferocity of his countenance, and the terrors of his voice, cast such a wide and appalling influence, that none dare approach and save the victim, which he marks for ignominy and death ! Now, gentlemen, be pleased to look to the rest of O'Brien's testimony : he tells you there are one hundred and eleven thousand men in one province, added to ten thousand of the inhabitants of the metropolis, ready to assist the object of an invasion ! Gentlemen, are you prepared to say that the king- dom of Ireland has been so forsaken by aU principles of hu- manity and of loyalty, that there are now no less than 111,000 men sworn by the most solemn of all engagements, and con- nected in a deadly combination to destroy the constitution of the country, and to invite the common enemy, the French, to invade it — are you prepared to say this by your verdict ? When you know not the intentions or the means of that watchful and insatiable enemy, do you think it would be wise, by your verdict of guilty, to say, on the single testimony of a common informer, that you do beheve upon your oaths that there is a body con- sisting of no less a number than 111,000 men ready to assist the French, if they should make an attempt upon this country, and ready to fly to their standard whenever they think proper to invade it ? This is another point of view in which to ex- amine this case. You know the distress and convulsion of the public mind for a considerable length of time ; cautiously will I abstain from making observations that could refresh the pub- lic memory, situated as I am, in a court of justice. But, gen- 536 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUERAN. tlemen, tliis is the first, the only trial for high treason, in which an informer gives his notions of the propriety or impropriety of public measures ; I remember none — except the trial of that unfortunate wanderer, that unhappy fugitive, for so I may call him, Jackson, a native of this country ; guilty he was, but neither his guilt nor innocence had any affinity with any other system. But this is the first trial that has been brought for- ward for high treason, except that, where such matters have been disclosed ; and, gentlemen, are you prepared to think well of the burden of embarking your character, high and respect- able, on the evidence of an abandoned, and I will show you, a perjured and common informer, in declaring you are ready to offer up to death 111,000 men, one by one, by the sentence of a court of. justice? Are you ready to meet it? Do not suppose I am base or mean enough to say anything to intimi- date you, when I talk to you of such an event ; but if you were prepared for such a scene, what would be your private reflec- tions were you to do any such thing ? Therefore I put the question fauiy to you — have you made up your minds to tell the public, that as soon as James O'Brien shall choose to come forward again, to make the same charge against 111,000 other men, you are ready to see so many men, so many of your fel- low-subjects and fellow-citizens, drop one by one into the grave, dug for them by his testimony ? Do not think I am speaking disrespectfully of you when I say, that while an O'Brien may be found, it may be the lot of the proudest among you to be in the dock instead of the jury- box. If you were standing there, how would you feel if you found that the evidence of such a wretch would be admitted as sufficient to attaint your Ufe, and send you to an ignominious death ? Remember, I do beseech you, that great mandate of your rehgion — " Do thou unto all men as you would they should do unto you." Give me leave to put another point to you — what is the rea- son that you deliberate — that you condescend to listen to me with such attention ? Why are you so anxious, if, even from me, anything should fall tending to enhghten you on the pres- ent awful occasion ? it is because, bound by the sacred obhga- tions of an oath, your heart will not allow you to forfeit it. TEIAL OF PATKICK PINNEY. 537 Have you any doubt tliat it is tlie object of O'Brien to take down the prisoner for the reward that follows ? Have you not seen with what more than instinctive keenness this blood- hound has pursued his victim ? how he has kept him in view from place to place, until he hunts him through the avenues of the court to where the unhappy man stands now, hopeless of all succor but that which your verdict shall afford ? I have heard of assassination by sword, by pistol, and by dagger ; but here is a wretch who would dip the Evangelists in blood; if he thinks he has not sworn his victim to death, he is ready to swear, without mercy and without end ; but oh ! do not, I conjure you, suffer him to take an oath ; the hand of the mur- derer should not pollute the purity of the Gospel ; if he will swear, let it be on the knife, the proper symbol of his profes- sion ! Gentlemen, I am again reminded of that tissue of abomina- ble slander and calumny with which O'Brien has endeavored to load so great a portion of the adult part of your country. Is it possible you can believe the report of that wretch, that no less than 111,000 men are ready to destroy and overtm-n the gov- ernment ? I do not believe the abominable slander. I may have been too quick in condemning this man ; and I know the argument which will be used, and to a certain degree, it is not without sense — that you cannot always expect witnesses of the most unblemished character, and such things would never be brought to light if witnesses hke O'Brien were rejected altogether. The argument is of some force ; but does it hold here ? or are you to believe it as a truth, because the fact is sworn to by an abominable and perjured witness ? No ; the law of England, the so-often-mentioned principle upon which that important statute is framed, denies the admission. An EngHsh judge would be bound to teU you, and the learned judges present will tell you, that a single accomplice is not to be beheved without strong corroborative confirmation — I do not know where a contrary principle was entertained : if such has been the case, I never heard of it. O'Brien stated himseK to have been involved in the guilt of the prisoner, in taking the o bligation v>^hich was forced on him, and which he was after wards obliged to wash down; but may not- the whole descrip- 538 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUEKAN. tion given by liim be false ? May lie not have fabricated tliat , story, and come forward as an informer in a transaction tliat never happened, from the expectation of pay and profit? How does he stand ? He stands divested of a single witness to support his character or the truth of his assertions, when numbers were necessary for each. You would be most help- less and unfortunate men, if everything said by the witness laid you under a necessity of believing it. Therefore he must be supported either by collateral or confirmatory evidence. Has he been sujDported by any collateral evidence, confirming what was sworn this day ? No. Two witnesses have been exam- ined ; they are not additional witnesses to the overt acts, but if either of them should carry any conviction to your minds, you must be satisfied that the evidence given by O'Brien is false. I will not pollute the respectable and honorable char- acter of Lord Portarhngton, by mentioning it with the false and perjured O'Brien. Does his lordship teU you a single word but wdiat O'Brien said to him ? Because, if his lordshij) told all here that O'Brien told him, O'Brien has done the same too ; and though he has told Lord Portarhngton every word which he has sworn on the table, yet still the evidence given by his lordship cannot be corroborative, because the proba- bility is that he told a falsehood ; you must take that evi- dence by comparison. And what did he tell Lord Portarhng- ton? or, rather, what has Lord Portarhngton told you? That O'Brien did state to him the project of robbing the ordnance some time before he could possibly have known it himself. And it is material that he swore on the table, that he did not know of the plot till his thhd meeting with the societies ; and Lord Portarhngton swears that he told it to him on the first interview with him ; there the contradiction of O'Brien by Lord Portarhngton is material ; and the testimony of Lord Portar- hngton may be put out of the case, except so far as it contra- dicts that of O'Brien. Mr. Justice Chambeelain. — It is material, Mr. Curran, that Lord Portarhngton did not swear positively it was at the first interview, but that he was inchned to believe it was so. Mr. Cueean. — ^Your lordship will recollect that he said O'Brien did not say anything of consequence at any of the TEIAL OF PATEICK FINNEY. 539 ^tlier interviews ; but I put liis lordship out of tlie question, so far as he does not contradict O'Brien, and he does so. If I am stating anything through mistake, I would wish to be set right ; but Lord Portarlington said he did not recollect any- thing of importance at anj subsequent meeting ; and as far as he goes, he does, beyond contradiction, establish the false swearing of O'Brien. I am strictly right in stating the con- tradiction ; so far as it can be compared with the testimony of O'Brien, it does weaken it ; and, therefore, I wiU. leave it there, and put Lord Portarlington out of the question — that is, as if he had not been examined at all, but where he differs from the evidence given by O'Brien. As to the witness Clarke, after all he has sworn, you can- not but be satisfied he has not said a single word materially against the prisoner ; he has not given any confirmatory evi- dence in support of any one overt act laid in the indictment. You have them upon your minds — he has not said one word as to the various meetings — levying money, or sending per- sons to France ; and, therefore, I do warn you against giving it that attention for which it has been introduced. He does not make a second witness. Gentlemen, in alluding to the evidence of Lord Portarlington, which I have already men- tioned, I was bound to make some observations. On the ev- idence of Clarke I am also obliged to do the same, because he has endeavored to prejudice your minds, by an endeavor to give a sliding evidence of what does not by any means come within this case ; that is, a malignant endeavor to impute a horrid transaction — the murder of a man of the name of Thompson — to the prisoner at the bar ; but I do conjure you to consider what motives there can be for insinuations of tliis sort, and why such a transaction, so remote from the case be- fore you, should be endeavored to be impressed on your minds. Gentlemen, I am not blinking the question ; I come boldly up to it ; and I ask you, in the presence of the court and of your God, is there one word of evidence that bears the shadow of such a charge, as the murder of that unfortunate man, to the prisoner at the bar? Is there one w^ord to show how he died — whether by force, or by any other means ? Is there a 54:0 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHELPOT CUEKAN. word how lie came to his end ? Is there a word to bring a shadow of suspicion that can be attached to the prisoner?^ Gentlemen, my client has been deprived of the benefit of a witness, May, (you have heard of it,) who, had the trial been postponed, might have been able to attend ; we have not been able to examine him, but you may guess what he would have said — he would have discredited the informer O'Brien. The evidence of O'Brien ought to be supported by collateral circumstances. It is not ; and though Eoberts is not here, yet you may conjecture what he would have said. But, gen- tlemen, I have examined five witnesses, and it does seem as if there had been some providential interference carried on in bringing five witnesses to contradict O'Brien in his testimony, as to direct matters of fact, if his testimony could be put in competition with direct positive evidence. O'Brien said, he Imew nothing of ordering back any money to Margaret Moore ; he denied that fact. The woman was examined — what did she say on the table in the presence of O'Brien? That " an order was made, and the money refunded, after the magistrate had abused him for his conduct." What would you think of your servant, if you found him committing such perjury — would you believe him? What do you think of this fact? O'Brien denies he knew anything of the money being re- funded ! What does Mrs. Moore say ? That after the magis- trate had abused him for his conduct, the money was refunded, and that " she and O'Brien walked down stairs together ! ". Is this an accidental trip, a httle stumble of conscience, or, is it not downright, Avillful perjury ? 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, on your know- ledge of the human character, and of human life, what was the conduct of the man ? Was it what you would have acted, if you had been called on in a court 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 any- thing dishonest." Why did he answer thus? Because he did imagine he would have been opposed in his testimony, he not TRIAL OF PATEICK FINNEY. o41 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 one hundred and eleven thousand 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 payment among his other crimes, but I will offer it by itself ; I will offer it as an emblem of his conscience, coj^per-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 threat- ened to complain, and he was a httle frightened — and he gave me three and three-pence ! " I asked him, " Did his "wife give you anything? " " There was three and three-pence betvveen them." "Who gave jou the money?" "It was all I got from both of them !" Gentlemen, would you let him into your house as 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 he had threatened to become an informer against persons not having licenses, in order to extort money to compromise the actions, would you take him as a servant ? If jou would not take him as a ser- vant in exchange for his wages, Avould you take his perjuries in exchange for the hfe 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 estabhsh and send abroad his assignats of j^erjury 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 fall, on the head of a victim committed to 3-our sv/orn humanity, to be mas- sacred in your presence by the perjured and abominable evi- dence 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 ? 542 SELECT SPEECHES OF JOHN PHILPOT CUEEAN. " I keep a public-liouse. O'Brien came to me, and pretended, he was a revenue officer ; — I knew not but it might be so ; — lie told me he was so — he examined the httle beer I had, and my cask of porter." 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 nov/ ? Do you wonder hs is afraid of my eye ? that he has buried himseK in the crowd ? that he has shrunk into the whole of the multitude, when the witness endeavored to dis- entangle 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 heart bore testimony by its flight, and proved that he fled for the same. But does it rest there ? No. Wit- ness 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 " w^ould not believe him upon his oath, in the smallest matter." Do you know him, gentlemen of the jury ? Are you acquainted with James O'Brien ? If you do, let him come forward from that ci'owd where he has hid himself, and claim you by a look. Have you been fellow-companions ? If you have, I dare say you will recognize him. Have I done with him yet? No ; while there is a thread of his villainy together, I will tatter it, lest you should be caught with it. Did he dare to say to the sohcitor for the Crown, to the counsel that are prosecuting the prisoner, that " there is some one witness on the surface of the globe that will say, he beheves 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 being to that fact ? But why did they not venture to examine the prisoner's witnesses as to the reasons of 'their 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 ven- ture to ask that question ? No. I think the trial has been fahly and humanely carried on, Mrs. Moore was examined ; she underwent cross-examination — the object was to impeach her credit. I offered to examine to her character ; no — I TEIAL OF PATKICK PINNEY. 543 would not be suffered to do it ; tliey were riglit in the point of law. Gentlemen, let me aslc you another question : — Is the character of O'Brien such, that you think he did not know that any human creature was to attack it ? Did you not see him coiling himself in the scaly circles of his perjury, making- anticipated battle against the attack, that he knew would be made, and spitting his venom against the man that might have given such evidence of his infamous character, if he had dared to appear. Gentlemen, do you feel now that I was maliciously aspersing the character of O'Brien ? What language is strong enough to describe the mixture of swindling and imposition which, in the face of justice, this wretch has been guilty of ? Taking on himself the situation of one of the King's officers, to rob the King's subjects of the King's money ; but that is not enough for him — in the vileness and turpitude of his character he af- terwards wants to rob them of their lives by perjury. Do I speak truly to you, gentlemen, when I have shown you the wit- ness in his real colors — when I have shown you his habitual fellowship with baseness and fraud? He gave a recipe for forging money. " Why did you give it to him ?" " He was an inquisitive man, and I gave it as a matter of course." " But why did you do it ?" " It was a light, easy way of get- ting money — I gave it as a humbug." He gave a recipe for forging the coin of the country, because it was a light, easy way of getting money ! Has it, gentlemen, ever happened to you in the ordinary passages of life, to have met with such a constellation of atrocities and horrors, and that in a single man ? What do you say to Clarke ? Except his perjury, he has scarcely ground to turn on. What was his cross-examina- tion ? " Pray, sir, were you in court yesterday ?" " No, sir, I was not." "Why?" "Mr. Kemmis sent me word not to come." There happened to be sevei'al persons who saw him in court ; one of them swore it — the rest were ready. Call up " little Skirmish " again.* " Pray, Skirmish, why did you say you were not in court yesterday, when you were ?" " Why, it was a little bit of a mistake, not being a lawyer. It being a * "Little Skirmisli," a character in tlie Deserter. 544 SELECT SPEECHES OP JOHN PHILPOT CUERAN. matter of law, I was mistaken." " How did it happen you ■ were mistaken ?" " I was puzzled by the hard questious that Mr. M'Nally asked me." What was the hard question he was asked? "Were you in court yesterday?" "No; Mr. Kem- mis sent me word I need not come." Can you, gentlemen of the jury, suppose that any simple, well-meaning man would commit such a gross and abominable perjury ? I do not think he is a credible man ; that is, that he swore truer than Lord Portarlington did, because his lordship stands on a single tes- timony ; he may be true, because he has sworn on both sides ; he has sworn positively he was not in the court yesterday ; and he has sworn positively he was ! — so that, wherever the truth is, he is found in it ; let the ground be clean or dirty, he is in the midst of it. There is no person but deserves some little degree of credit ; if the soul was as black as night, it would burn to something in hell. But let me not appear to avoid the question by any seeming levity upon it. O'Brien stands blackened by the unimpeached proofs of five positive perjuries. If he was indicted on any one of them, he could not appear to give evidence in a court of justice ; and I do call upon you, gentlemen of the jury, to refuse him on his oath that credit which never ought to be squandered on the evidence of an abandoned and self-convicted perjurer. The charge is not merely against the prisoner at the bar ; it takes in the entire character of your country. It is the first question of the kind for ages brought forward in this nation to public Adew, after an expiration of years. It is the great ex- periment of the informers of Ireland, to see with what success they may make this traffic of human blood. Fifteen men are now in jail, depending on the fate of the unfortunate prisoner, a,nd on the same blasted and perjured evidence of O'Brien. I have stated at large the case, and the situation of my client : I make no apology for wasting your time ; I regret I have not been more able to do my duty ; it would insult you if I were to express any such feeling to you. I have only to apologize to my client for delaying his acquittal. I have blackened the character of O'Brien in every point of view ; and, though he anticipated the attack that would be made on it, yet he could TRIAL OF PATRICK FI^fNEY. 545 not procure one human being even base enough to depose that he was to be beheved on his oath. The character of the prisoner has been given. Am I war- ranted in saying, that I am now defending an innocent and unfortunate fellow subject, on the grounds of eternal justice and immutable law ? and by that eternal law I do call upon you to acquit my chent. I call upon you for your justice ; Great is the reward, and sweet is the recollection in the hour of trial, and in the day of dissolution, when, the casualties of hfe are pressing close upon your heart, and when in the ag- onies of death, you look back to the justifiable and honorable transactions of your hfe. At the awful foot of eternal justice I do, therefore, invite you to acquit my client ; and may God, of his infinite mercy, grant you that great compensation which is a reward more lasting than that perishable crown we read of, which the ancients gave to him who saved the hfe of a fellow citizen in battle. In the name of pubhc justice ! I do implore you to interpose between the perjurer and his intended victim ! and, if ever you are assailed by the villainy of an informer, may you find refuge in the recollection of that example, which, when jurors, you set to those that might be called to pass judgment upon your lives ; to repel at the human tribunal the intended effects of hireling perjury, and premeditated murder I If it should be the fate of any of you to count the tedious mo- ments of captivity, in sorrow and in pain, pining in the damps and gloom of a dungeon, recollect there is another more awful tribunal than any on earth, which we must all approach, and before which the best of us wiU have occasion to look back to what httle good he has done on this side the grave ; I do pray, that Eternal Justice may record the deed you have done, and give to you the full benefit of your claims to an eternal re- ward, a requital in mercy upon your souls ! HENRY GR ATT AN i SELECT SPEECHES OF HON. HENRY GRATTAN. MEMOIR OF HON. HENRY GRATTAN. In the eighteenth century, Grattan stands forth as the exalted patriot, the upright statesman, the foremost orator in the Irish senate or at the Irish bar. His name continues to enjoy the rev- erence with which his contemporaries environed it, and Time has left his laurels undimmed, his memory still fresh. Born in DubHn in 1750, he was carefully ti'ained for his future career in life by his father, himself a barrister, and for years fill- ing the judical position of Recorder, as well as representing his native city in the parliament which Ii*eland possessed at that day. Young Grattan entered Trinity College in 1763, and after grad- uating, four years later, proceeded to the Middle Temple, Lon- don, to pursue the course of legal study which was to fit him to succeed his father. But his mind was too great to be content with mediocrity. He hung in rapt admiration on the eloquent periods of the great Lord Chatham, and resolved to be an orator, devoting his study to excel in eloquence. He was admitted to the Irish bar in 1772, and three years later entered the parliament of Ireland as member for Charlemont. He at once, renouncing all hopes of government patronage, joined Flood and the leading patriots in their efforts to benefit Ireland. Free trade was one thing they claimed, and which England re- fused. In April, 1780, he introduced his famous Declaration of Rights, and by his eloquent advocacy of the best interests of his native land became the idol of the Irish people. When govern- ment appealed to the volunteers, Grattan fired the national spirit, and through his influence the number rose to eighty thousand. He was the master spirit of the convention at Dungannon, and drew the famous resolution, that " a claim of any body of men other than the King, Lords and Commons of Ireland to make laws to bind this kingdom, is unconstitutional, illegal and a grievance." England yielded then, to plot in treachery the Act of Union. 550 MEMOIR OF HON. HENRY GRATTAN. For a time Grattan lost some of his power for good by his quar- rel with Flood, and after representing Dublin in 1790, retired tem- poraily from parliament, but when the infamous Union was pro- posed, re-entered it as member for Wicklow. When that iniquitous suppression of Irish legislation was ac- comphshed, he entered the Imperial parhament, representing Mal- ton in 1805 and Dublin in 1806 ; but the voice of an Irish mem- ber was lost in halls where Irish interests and Irish welfare were but scoffed at. His impassioned eloquence, his learning, his patriotic fervor, were almost unheeded, but he labored to the last with unswerving fidelity to the great principles of his life, and died in London, May 14th, 1820. SPEECHES OF HON. HEMY GRATTAN SPEECH IN THE lEISH HOUSE OF COMMONS, ON MR. FORBES' BILL TO LIMIT PENSIONS. [In 1785, the pension list amounted to i£95,000, which exceeded the whole amount of the civil establishment. From 1757 to 1785, every establishment, civil and military, greatly increased — the pa- tronage of the Crown was extended, and the national debt amount- ed to more than two milUons. — The pension list of Ireland exceed- ed that of England. — The commerce — the revenue, and the resources of the former, bore no competition with those of the latter. — " It was idle, therefore," said Mr. Forbes, " to talk of the independence of the Irish parliament, whose members received wages from the Crown." On this debate, Mr. Grattan made the memorable decla- ration, which seemed to have given such pain to the delicate feel- ings of ministers : — " Should I affirm," said Mr. Grattan, " that the pension list is not a grievance, I should affirm, in the face of my country, an impudent, insolent, and a public lie !"] Mr. Grattan rose, and spoke as follows : Sir, the gentlemen who have urged the most plausible argu- ment against the bill, have not taken the trouble to read it. They say, that it gives up the control of parliament over such pensions as shall not exceed the limits of the bill. No such thing — ^your control cannot be given up without express words ; but here there are express words to save it : here, aware of such a pretence, and that no color should be given for such an objection, the preamble states the nature of the pensions which are to have any existence at all, " such as are allowed by parlia- ment." This objection being answered by the bill, I must ad- vert to another, which has nothing to say to the bill. 552 SELECT SPEECHES OF HENRY GRATTAN. A right honorable member has declared the bill to be the most exceptionable that ever came into parliament ; and his reason for this most extraordinary declaration is most singular indeed, " because it restrains the ministers of the Crown, and leaves the pension list open to both houses of parliament." From thence he infers that a practice of profusion will ensue, and from hence you would infer that the pension list was not now open to the addresses of both or either of the houses of parhament ; but the fact is, that the evil he deprecates, now exists : that the bill does not give, but finds and leaves a pow- er to both houses of parliament to address on such subjects. As the matter now stands, both or either of the houses of parliament may address for such charges, and the minister may also impose such charges with such addresses. You are thus exposed to the two causes of expense, the power of address in us, and the unlimited power of pensioning without address in the minister ; and the right honorable thinks you will increase profusion by removing one of its causes ; — the principal cause — the notorious cause — the unlimited power of the minister, the most constant, operative and plentiful source of prodigal- ity. In the same argument he adds, that the power of par- liament, in disposing of the public money, ruined this country, when there was a redundancy in the treasury, by serving the purposes of jobbing aristocracy. According to him, then, the greatest evils which can befall this country are a surplus in the treasury, and a restraint on the prodigaHty of the minister. A prosperity which produces redundancy, and a constitu- tional bill which restrains the unlimited grants of the Crown, is his recipe for the ruin of Ireland. In the course of this argument my right honorable friend has spoken of economy. Sir, a friend of mine the other night moved a resolution on the principle of economy, " that your expense should not exceed your income ;" his motion was founded on an obvious maxim, that in ordinary years a government should be restrained by its own estimate of expense and revenue ; his motion was rejected on two idle arguments : — That unforeseen emergencies might arise, was one argument; but neither the complexion nor situation of the times warranted the apprehension of dan- ger, and therefore the argument, if it had no corruption in BILL TO LIMIT PENSIONS. 553 coutemplation, was fictitious and idle. The other argument against my friend's motion was, that the maxims of economy- were adopted aheadj by the present administration. — On what foundation, fact, or authority, such an argument was ad- vanced, the catalogue of pensions can best determine. Those pensions are not words, but facts. I always conceived that the public treasure was, like the people's liberty, to be guard- ed rather by law than confidence ; and I thought the new taxes a good opportunity for establishing such a safeguard. I thought that such a confidence, without such a safeguard, would encourage administration at last into acts of profusion ; but I could not think the act of profusion would accompany the professions of economy and the grants of the people. I could not foresee that peculation would attend the birth of the tax. I will consider this peculation, or the new catalogue of pensions, and then the bill — first the grievance, then the remedy. See how this grievance will naturally affect the people : they will, perhaps, be inclined to think that they see in such a measure the old school revived — ^the old spirit of plunder renewed, when government in Ireland was nothing but the division of spoil. They will remember that they have given new taxes, and that they have not received the commerce which was, I say, promised, or the economy which was pro- fessed ; in short, they wiU see that you have gotten their mo- ney, and have given them, as compensation, a new Hst of pen- sions. See how this grievance may affect the British govern- ment : when the British minister sees that he has incurred the odium of the new taxes, and of their misapplication, he will naturally expect that his influence, at least, is augmented ; but when he finds that he has added nothing to his power, he will lament this attack on his credit. The British government will recollect, that to remove the causes of discontent and jealousy in Ireland, Great Britain surrendered her assumed suprema- cy. Perhaps that government will not think itself well used in the present attempt to revive Irish jealousy, by the unneces- sary peculation of their servants in Ireland. See again how this grievance affects the Irish ministry. 554 SELECT SPEECHES OF HENRY GRATTAN. "Why give Ireland a grievance, for no object on earth, but to lessen the credit of the Irish government ? Gentlemen speak of reflection — that catalogue is the reflection. You cannot conceal, nor justify, nor extenuate : your connivance would, be aggravation. The name of his Excellency has been introduced to sway debate ; his friends come in too late to serve him on this subject ; they should have dissuaded him from giving the offence ; they should have told his Excellency, that his list of pensioners would be prejudicial to his fame, and was unneces- sary to his support ; that the profit went to others, and the scandal to the government. While I protest against this measure, as a most disinterest- ed act of profusion on the part of government, and therefore as an act of the most superlative folly, yet will I say more of his grace, the Duke of Rutland ; more than his own servants have said of him ; they have said of him on this subject, what is ever said, that he is a lord heutenant in the right ; I say he is an honest man in the wrong, which is better. Having stated the grievance, as far as affects the three inter- ests concerned, I shall consider the defence ; and first, it is ad- vanced, that the pension hst of Ireland is comparatively small — small, if you compare it to the royal establishments of Eng- land, or other countries. I directly controvert that position ; it is comparatively great ; for it is this moment equal to the pension hst of Great Britain ; compare it to your hereditary revenue, and it is above one thh'd of the net produce of that revenue ; and in the course of thirty years it has increased more than double. Another ar- gument advanced in its defence tells you, that the new pension list or the last catalogue is small ; sir, it is greater than the produce of your new tax on hawkers and peddlers. Why con- tinue that tax ? Because government could not spare it. Why waste that tax ? When I see the state repose itself on beg- gars, I pity and submit. But when I see the state give away its taxes thus eviscerated from the poor ; when I see govern- ment come to the poor man's hovel for a part of his loaf to scatter it ; when I see government tax the peddler to pamper the pensioner, I blush for the extortion of the state, and repro- bate an offence, that may be well called prodigality of rapine. BILL TO LmiT PENSIONS. 555 Sir, when gentlemen say, that the new charge for pensions is small, let me assure them they need not be alarmed ; the charge will be much greater; for, unless your interposition should deter, what else is there to check it ? — will public poverty ? No. New taxes? No. — Gratitude for those taxes? No. — Principle? No. — Profession? No. — The love of fame, or sense of infamy ? No. — Confined to no one description of merit, or want of character, under the authority of that list, every man, woman, and child in Ireland, have pretensions to become a public incumbrance ; so that since government went so far, I marvel that they have stopped, unless the pen fell out of their hand from fatigue, for it could not be from principle. No, sir, this hst will go on ; it will go on till the merchant shall feel it ; until the manufacturer shall feel it ; until the pension hst shall take into its own hand the keys of taxation ; and instead of taxing hcense to sell, shall tax the article and manufacture itself ; until we shall lose our great commercial resource, a comparative exemption from taxes, the gift of our poverty, and get an accumulation of taxes to be the com- panion of our poverty ; until public indignation shall cry shame upon us, and the morality of a serious and offended community shall caU out for the interposition of law. As a further defence of this grievance, it is said that the House of Commons have, from time to time, addressed for pensions, and contributed to the incumbrance. If those ad- dresses were improper, government was guilty of covin, in not opposing the addresses in parhament ; and the argument then proposes an emulation of reciprocal expense, and the exhorta- tion to mutual rapine. If, on the other hand, these addresses were proper, the argument amounts to this — that there are many necessary charges on the pension list, therefore there should be more that are unnecessary; and the greater the public charge on. the revenues, the greater should be the mis- application. In the same spirit gentlemen have relied on bounties, and the scrambling committee. The fact, however, is, that the corn bounty is greatly diminished, and the scram- bHng committee is extinct ; but suppose the fact to be other- wise, what is the argument, but a proposal to parliament to 556 SELECT SPEECHES OF HENEY GRATTAN. have the nation a victim to jobs on the one hand, and to pen- sions on the other. In defence of this incumbrance it is further advanced, that old quahty should be supported. — Admitted. I have no per- sonal dislike to any individual of the new catalogue. I have for some great respect and love. The first name did honor to the chair, and is an honor to the parhament that provides for him. As to old quality, why not bring back the great Irish offices now in the hands of absentees, and give old quahty great places instead of httle pensions ! Again, why the one under that description considered so late, and the other so httle ? But is the merit of four or five of this catalogue the qualification of nineteen ; unless quahfication, like the plague, is caught by contagion. Sh', in so very numerous a list, it is almost impossible that some meritorious persons should not have been obtruded ; and yet in so numerous a Hst, it is astonishing there should be so few of that description. One pension of that description I well remember ; it suggests to me other considerations than those which such a Hst would naturally inspire — I mean the pension to the family of the late chief baron. I moved for that pension : I did it from a natural and instinctive feehng ; I came to this House from his hearse. "What concern first suggested, reason afterwards confirmed. Do I lament that pension ? Yes ; — because in it I lament the mortality of no- ble emulation — of delightful various endowments — and above all, because I feel the absence of him who, if now here, would have inspired this debate, would have asserted your privileges, exposed the false pretences of prerogative, and have added one angelic voice to the councils of the nation. Having considered the pension list as a grievance, I shall now trouble you with some observations on the remedy, namely, the bill which my friend proposes on the spur of the present expense, grounding himself on the example of England. In opposition to this bill, some gentlemen of this House have come forth in the rusty armor of old prerogative, and have stated this attempt to reform abuses by bill, as an invasion of the sa- cred rights of the Crown. Sir, I apprehend that parliament may, and ought to remedy abuses, even though they are not in BILL TO LIMIT PENSIONS. 557 tliemselves illegal. On this principle it was that the judges' bill was passed ; on this principle the habeas corpus bill in Ireland was passed ; and on this principle many of the best laws in England have passed. Abuses which obtain under color of law, a.re best rectified in parliament. When the Commons of England had returned to their House, from a decisive answer given by Charles I. to the petition of right, they began to consider the state of the nation in all the various management of the King s prerogative ; a message was dehvered through the speaker, from the King, to admonish them not to cast reflections on Ms government, or to enter into the affau's of the state. iSii Edward Coke observed, on that message : " It is the business of this House to moderate the King's prerogative. Nothing which reacheth to abuse, that may not be treated of here." This principle is particularly appHcable to cases of money, over which you, by special pri- vilege, preside ; and still more appKcable to cases of your own revenues, because they are appropriated. A right honorable member txis contradicted this ; he says, that however the new customs and excise may be appropriated, yet that the old cus- toms are under no appropriation whatsoever ; and he says fur- ther, that formerly the King had a right to them by common law ; and he states that they amount to =£200,000 per annum ; but the right honorable member is not warranted, either by the laws or constitution of his country, in the doctrine which he has ventured to advance. Charles I. thought, indeed, like the right honorable member, that the King was entitled to tonnage and poundage by common law ; but the parliament of England differed from both, and resolved such levies to be illegal, and the persons who, thinking hke the member, had been concerned therein, to be dehnquents. Nay, the old customs to the King makes an exception ; and the quaHfication of a grant in any degree, usually bespeaks the poverty of the grantor ; the mem- ber therefore seems not to have adverted sufficiently either to the statute law or the constitution of his country. The statute of Charles II. which grants the new customs, and which also the member does not appear entirely to under- stand, seems to consohdate the new and old customs, and ap- propriate both to one and the same purpose. After reciting 558 SELECT SPEECHES OP HENBY GKATTAN the old grant, and establishing a common book of rates, it says, — "And for the better guarding and defending of the seas," — and then it proceeds to grant the new customs : the words " better guarding and defending of the seas," bespeak the ap- propriation both to one and the same purpose, and is a term of connection between the old and new customs, making them a common fund for the defence of the seas. But I might yield all this — I might allow that the hereditary revenue is not appropriated — that the act of customs does not mean the guarding the seas, nor the act of excise the pay of the army. Yet is the hereditary revenue the estate of the na- tion, of which the first magistrate is but a trustee for pubhc purposes. It is not the private property of the King, but the public revenue, and any diversion thereof is a crime. The great Duke of Buckingham was impeached for such a crime ; one article of his impeachment was the grant of several pen- sions to himself and his friends out of the revenue, and one criminal pension in the schedule, was a charge on the old cus- toms of Ireland. At an earlier period the Duke of Suffolk was impeached, and one charge was the grant of pensions to himself and his friends. At an earlier period, in the reign of Richard II., an Earl of Oxford was impeached for grants to himself and his friends ; the crime is called interception of subsidy ; whereby the Realm was left undefended, and grants like yours for the defence thereof, wasted on individuals, while the people were doubly taxed, as you are, to make up the wan- ton deficiency. Thus does it appear, that in cases concerning pensions by prerogative, the Commons have interfered ; though prerogative in those cases might plead that the revenues out of which these grants arose, were wholly appropriated ; but a public grant ap- propriates itself to the public use ; and the parhament that proceeds either to punish or control the diversion thereof, does not invade the prerogative of the Crown, but exercises the pri- vilege of the Commons, in guarding the inheritance of the na- tion. In reforming such abuses, you may proceed in your in- quisitorial capacity, as the greatest inquest of the nation, by impeachment, or in your legislative capacity', by bill ; the lat- ter is the milder method — my friend adopts it ; and proceeds BILL TO LIMIT PENSIONS. 559 ratlier to reform than to punish. You tell him that we have submitted to tliis grievance for a long time. It is true ; but a course of toleration and impunity neither constitutes inno- cence, nor draws out the sting of a grievance ; it is true, you have submitted to this grievance for a long time. Hence the many erroneous arguments of this night. The pubHc inherit- ance has been so diverted to private purposes, by a series of ministers, that we have forgotten the proprietor in the misap- phcation of the property, and talk of the estate, as of the pri- vate patrimony of the King. Hence these prerogatives of ra- pine ! these rights of plunder ! the authority of the King to be robbed by his own servants of the common stock ! — Hence it is, that gentlemen have sot up the shadow of prerogative as a sentinel to pubhc robbery. When gentlemen call this bill an attack on the prerogative of the Crown, they are answered by the principles of the con- stitution ; but they are also answered by a precedent of the most decisive nature; and that precedent is this very bill, which is now the law of England. By the law of England, no pensioner for years, or during pleasure, can sit in parhament ; and by the law of England the amount of pensions is limited. The first law passed at the time of the Eevolution, and was improved in the reign of Queen Anne. The latter passed in 1782, with the entire concurrence of these very persons who now constitute this administration ; and yet the argument of prerogative would have been stronger in England, because there a civil list had been granted to the King, and the subse- quent hmitation of pensions on that list, seemed a revocation of the powers of the grant. On what authority then, or pre- tence, do gentlemen call a measure which they supported as necessary for England, an invasion of the rights of the Crown, when proposed for the benefit of Ireland? What pretence have they for such partial doctrine of unequal measure ? As if that was infringement in Ireland, which in England was con- stitution ; or, as if what was nioderation in the people of England, would be in those of Ireland, arrogance and pre- sumption. This leads me to another objection, on which gentlemen much rehed, that this bill is an innovation — a new constitution ; 560 SELECT SPEECHES OF HENRY GRATTAN. to admit the undue influence of the Crown in parliament, and to control the excess of expense — an innovation ! It is an en- croachment most certainly, an encroachment on corruption, an invasion on the ancient privileges of venality ; it is the old con- stitution encroaching and innovating on long establislied dis- honest practices and accumulating expenses. All these ex- penses and practices, it seems we have akeady sanctified ; we voted, the other night, that neither in their excess or applica- tion were they a grievance. Sir, I will not presume to censure a vote of this House, but I may be permitted to explain that vote ; we could not mean, by that vote, that the present pen- sion list was no grievance, for there was no man in debate hardy enough to make such an assertion ; no man considers what that pension list is ; it is the i^rodigahty, jobbing, misap- plication, and corruption of every Irish minister since 1772. To say that such a list was not, either in its excess or apphca- tion, a grievance, was to declare, that since that period (that is, above liaK a century,) all your ministers were immaculate, or rather, indeed, that God had governed you himself, and had never sent you a minister in his anger. I declare I could not affirm the innocence of the Hst, because I should be guilty of affirming what I conceive to be false. Do gentlemen think otherwise ? — Let them take thek catalogue in one hand, and place on their heart the other ; let them look this nation in the face, and in that posture declare, that the present Irish pension list is not, either in its excess or applica- tion, a grievance ! They could not do it ; they have voted what they would not say. I dissented from their vote, but I went along with their conviction. SPEECH IN THE DEBATE ON TITHES. In THE Irish Parliament, in 1787. Sm, in this session we have, on the subject of tumults, made some progress, though we have not made much. It has been admitted that such a thing does exist amonsj the lower order DEBATE ON TITHES. 561 of people as distress ; we have condemned tlieir violence, we have made provisions for its punishment, but we have admit- ted also that the peasantry are ground to the earth ; we have admitted the fact of distress. We have gone further ; we have acknowledged that this dis- tress should make part of our parliamentary inquiry — we have thought proper, indeed, to postpone the day, but we are agreed, notwithstanding, in two things — the existence of a present distress, and the necessity of a future remedy. A multitude of particulars would be tedious ; but there are some features so very strildng and prominent, we cannot avoid the sight of them. Our present system of supporting the clergy, is Jiable to radical objections : in the south, it goes against the first principle of human existence ; in the south, you tithe po- tatoes. Would any man believe it ? the peasant pays, I am in- formed, often seven pounds an acre for land, gets sixpence a day for his labor, and pays from eight to twelve shillings for his tithe ! If the whole case was comprised in this fact, this fact is sufficient to call for your interference : it attacks cultivation in its cradle, and tithes the lowest, the most general, and the most compassionate subsistence of human life : the more se- verely felt is this, because it is chiefly confined to the south, one of the great regions of poverty. In Connaught, potatoes do not pay tithe ; in the north, a moderate modus takes place when they do pay ; but in the south they do pay a great tithe ; and in the south you have perpetual disturbances ! That the tithe of potatoes is not the only distress, I am not now to be informed. Six or seven pounds an acre for land, and sixpence a day for labor, are also causes of misery ; but the addition of eight, ten, or twelve shillings tithe, to the two other causes, is, and must be, a very great aggravation of that misery ; and as you cannot well interfere in regulating the rent of land, or price of labor, I do not see that you, therefore, should not interfere where you can regulate and relieve ; I do not see why you should suffer a most heavy tithe to be added to the high price of rent, and the low price of labor ; neither am I sensible of the force of that supposition, which conceives a diminution of the tithe of potatoes would be only an au^,- mentation of the rent : for I do not find that rent is higher in 562 SELECT SPEECHES OF HENRY GRATTAN. counties where potatoes are not tithed ; nor can I see how an existing lease can be cancelled, and the rent increased, bj the diminishing or taking off the tithe ; neither do I see that simil- itude between tithe and rent, which should justify the compar- ison; rent is paymeut for land, tithe is payment for capital, and labor espendod on land ; the proportion of rent diminishes witli the proportion of the produce, that is, of the industry—- the proportion of tithe increases with the industry ; rent there- fore, even a high rent, may be a compulsion on labor, and tithe a penalty. The cottager does pay tithe, and the grazier does not ; the rich grazier, with a very beneficial lease, and without any sys- tem of husbandry, is exempted, and throws the parson on labor and poverty. As this is against the first principle of husbandry, so another regulation is against the first principle of manufacture. You tithe flax, rape, and hemp, the rudi- ments of manufacture. Hence, in the north, you have no flax farmers, though there are many who cultivate flax. You give a premium for the growth of flax, a premium for the land car- riage and export of corn, and you give the parson the tithe of the land, labor, and cultivation occupied therein, contrary to the prosperity of either ; as far as you have settled, you are wrong, and wrong where you have unsettled. What is the tithe is one question, what is tithable is an- other. Claims have been made to the tithe of turf, the tithe of roots ; moduses have been disputed, litigation has been add- ed to oppression ; the business has been ever shamefully neg- lected by parhament, and has been left to be regulated, more or less, by the dexterity of the tithe-proctor, and the violence of the parish ; so that distress has not been confined to the people, it has extended to the parson ; your system is not only against the first principle of human existence — against the first principle of good husbandrj^ — against the first principle of manufacture — against the first principle of public quiet — it goes also against the security and dignity of tiie clergy. Their case has been reduced to two propositions — that they are not supported by the real tithe or tenths, and that they are sup- ported by a degrading annual contract ; the real tithe or tenth is therefore unnecessary for their support, for they have done DEBATE ON TITHES. 563 without it ; and the annual contract is improper, by their own admission, and the interference of parhament proper therefore. Certainly the annual contract is below the dignity of a, clergy- man ; he is to make a bargain with the squire, the farmer, and the peasant, on a subject which they do, and he does not un- derstand ; the more his humanity and his erudition, the less his income ; it is a situation where the parson's property falls with his virtues, and rises with his bad qualities. Just so the parishioner — he loses by being ingenuous, and he saves by dis- honesty. The pastor of the people is made a spy on the hus- bandman ; he is reduced to become the annual teasing con- tractor and litigant, with a flock among whom he is to extend religion by his personal popularity ; an agent becomes neces- sary for him ; it relieves him in this situation, and this agent or proctor involves him in new odium and new disputes ; the squire not seldom defrauds him, and he is obliged to submit in repose and protection, and to reprise on the cottager ; so that it often happens that the clergyman shall not receive the thir- tieth, and the peasant shall pay more than the tenth ; the nat- ural result of this is a system which makes the parson depend- ent on the rich for Ms repose, and on the poor for his subsist- ence. I am sure the spirit of many clergymen, and the jus- tice of many country gentlemen, resist such an evil in many cases ; but the evil is laid in the law, which it is our duty and interest to regulate. From a situation So ungracious, from the disgrace and loss of making in his own person a little bargain with squires, farm- ers, and peasants, of each and every description, and from non-residence, the parson is obliged to take refuge in the as- sistance of a character, by name a tithe farmer, and by pro- fession an extortioner ; this extortioner becomes part of the establishment of the church ; by interest and situation, there are two descriptions of men he is sure to defraud, the one is the parson, the other the people. He collects sometimes at fifty per cent.; he gives the clergyman less than he ought to receive, and takes from the peasants more than they ought to pay ; he is not an agent who is to collect a certain rent ; he is an adventurer, who gives a certain rate for the privilege of making a bad use of an unsettled claim ; this claim over the 664 SELECT SPEECHES OF HENRY GEATTAN. powers of collection, and what is teasing or provoking in the law, is in his hand an instrument not of justice but of usury ; he sometimes sets the tithes to a second tithe farmer, so that the land becomes a prey to a subordination of vultures. In arbitrary countries the revenue is collected by men who farm it, and it is a mode of oppression the most severe in the most arbitrary country ; the farming of the revenue is given to the Jews. We introduce this practice in the collection of tithes, and the tithe farmer frequently calls, in aid of Christi- anity, the arts of the synagogue ; — obnoxious on account of all this, the unoffending clergyman, thrown off by the rich upon the poor, cheated most exceedingly by his tithe farmer, and afterwards involved in his odium, becomes an object of out- rage ; his property and person are both attacked, and in both the rehgion and laws of your country scandalized and dis- graced. The same cause which produces a violent attack on the clergyman among the lower order of the community, pro- duces among some of the higher orders a languor and neutral- ity in defending him. Thus outraged and forsaken he comes to parliament ; we abhor the barbarity, we punish the tumult, we acknowledge the injury, but we are afraid of administering any radical or effectual relief ; because we are afraid of the claims of the church ; they claim the tenth of whatever by capital, industry or premium is produced from land. One thousand men claim this, and they claim this without any stipulation, for what appears for the support of the poor, the repair of the church, or even the residence of the preacher. Alarmed at the extent of such a claim, we conceive that the difficulty of collection is our security, and fear to give powers which may be necessary for the collection of customary tithes, lest the clergy should use those powers for the enforcing of a long catalogue of dangerous pretensions. We have reason for this apprehension ; and the last clause in the riot act has prompted a clergyman in the south to demand the tithe of Agistment, and to attempt to renew a confusion which your act intended to compose. The present state of the clergyman is, that he cannot collect his customary tithe Avithout the inter- ference of parhament ; and parliament cannot interfere without making a general regulation, lest any assistance now given DEBATE ON TITHES. 565 should be applied to tlie enforcement of dormant claims — am- biguous and unlimited. Thus, I submit to this House, the situation of the clergy, as well as of the people, calls on you to take up at large the sub- ject of the tithe. You have two grounds for such an investi- gation — the distress of the clergy, and the distress of the people. Against your interference three arguments are objected, two of which are fictitious, and one only is sincere. The sincere but erroneous objection is, that we ought not to affect in any degree the rights of the church ; to which I answer briefly, that if, by the rights of the church, the customary tithes only are intended, we ought to interfere, to give and secure the full profit of them ; and if, by the rights of the church, are meant those dormant claims I allude to, we ought to interfere to pre- vent their operation. Of the two arguments, that one on petitions relies on the im- possibiHty of making any commutation ; but this argument rather fears the change than the difficulty. This argument is surely erroneous, in supposing that the whole wit of man, in parliament assembled, cannot, with all its ingenuity, find a method of providing for nme thousand persons. We, who pro- vide for so large a civil Hst, military list, pension Hst, revenue list, cannot provide for the church. What ! is the discovery of the present income of the church an impenetrable mystery ? Or is it an impossibility to give the same income, but arising from a different regulation ? fixing some standard in the price of grain ; or if commutation be out of the power of human ca- pacity, is this establishment of a modus impossible — different, perhaps, in the different counties, but practicable in aU ? or if not practicable, how comes it, that there should be a modus established in some parts of Ireland already for some tithable articles ? Is it impossible to have a moderate modus on corn, and some modus on pasture ? Or to lay on potatoes a very sma'l modus, or rather to exonerate them as well as flax? Would it not be practicable to get rid of the tithe-farmer, and give his plunder between the people and the parson ? If all this be a difficulty, it is a difficulty which is worthy of you ; and if you succeed in any part of it, you do service. 566 SELECT SPEECHES OF HENRY GRATTAN. The other argument relies on the times ; and I acknowledge they are an objection to the bill at present, but none against the laying the foundation now, of a measure to take place on the restoration of public jaeace ; it may be an inducement to that peace ; it cannot be an incentive to the contrary ; it is giv- ing government the full force of reward and punishment ; and I apprehend, if no step whatsoever was taken, and no debate introduced at present, nothing would be done in future. I shall therefore trouble you with a motion now, and next session, with a bill on that subject. He then moved the following resolution : "That, if it shall appear, at the commencement of the next session of parliament, that public tranquillity has been restored in those parts of the kingdom that have been lately disturbed, and due obedience paid to the laws, this House will take into consideration the subject of tithes, and endeavor to form some plan for the honorable support of the clergy, and the ease of the people." ON THE DOWNFALL OF BONAPAETE. In THE House of Commons, May, 1815. Sir : I sincerely sympathize with the honorable gentlemen who spoke last in his anxiety on this important question ; and my solicitude is increased by a knowledge that I differ in opinion from my oldest political friends. I have further to contend against the additional weight given to the arguments of the noble lord who moved the amendment, by the purity of his mind, the soundness of his judgment, and the elevation of his rank. I agree with my honorable friends in thinking that we ought not to impose a government upon France. I agree with them in deprecating the evil of war ; but I deprecate still more the double evil of a peace without securities, and a war without allies. Sir, I wish it was a question between peace ON THE DOWNFALL OF BONAPAETE. 567 and war ; but, unfortunately for the country, very painfully to us, and most injuriously to all ranks of men, peace is not in our option ; and the real question is, whether we shall go to war when our allies are assembled, or fight the battle when those allies shall be dissipated? Sir, the French government is war ; it is a statocracy, elect- ive, aggressive, and predatory ; her armies hve to fight, and fight to live ; their constitution is essentially war, and the ob- ject of that war the conquest of Europe. What such a person as Bonaparte, at the head of such a constitution, will do, you may judge by what he has done ; and, first, he took possession of the greater part of Europe ; he made his son King of Eome ; he made his son-in-law Viceroy of Italy ; he made his brother King of Holland ; he made his brother-in-law King of Naples ; he imprisoned the King of Spain ; he banished the Regent of Portugal, and formed his plan to take possession of the Crown of England. England had checked his designs ; her trident had stirred up his empire from its foundation ; he complained of her tyranny at sea ; but it was her power at sea which ar- rested his tyranny on land — the navy of England saved Europe. Knowing this, he knew the conquest of England became ne- cessary for the accomplishment of the conquest of Europe, and the destruction of her marine necessary for the conquest of England. Accordingly, besides raising an army of sixty thousand men for the invasion of England, he apphed himself to the destruction of her commerce, the foundation of her naval power. In pursuit of this object, and on his plan of a western empire, he conceived, and in part executed, the design of consigning to phmder and destruction the vast regions of Eussia ; he quits the genial clime of the temperate zone ; he bursts through the narrow limits of an immense empire ; he abandons comfort and security, and he hurries to the pole, to hazard them all, and with them the companions of his victories, and the fame and fruits of his crimes and his talents, on specu- lation of leaving in Europe, throughout the whole of its extent, no one free or independent nation. To oppose this huge con- ception of mischief and despotism, the great potentate of the north, from his gloomy recesses, advances to defend himself against the voracity of ambition amid the sterihty of his em- 668 SELECT SPEECHES OF HENRY GEATTAN. pii-e. Ambition is omnivorous — it feasts on famine and sheds tons of blood, that it may starve in ice, in order to commit a robbery on desolation. The power of the North, I say, joins another prince, whom Bonaparte had deprived of almost the whole of his authority, the King of Prussia, and then another potentate, whom Bonaparte had deprived of the principal part of his dominions, the Emperor of Austria. These three pow- ers, physical causes, final justice, the influence of your victo- ries in Spain and Portugal, and the spuit given to Europe by the achievements and renown of your great commander, (the Duke of Wellington,) together with the precipitation of his own ambition, combine to accomphsh his destruction. Bona- parte is conquered. He who said : " I will be like the Most High ; " he who smote the nations with a continual stroke — this short-lived son of the morning, Lucifer, falls, and the Earth is at rest ; the phantom of royalty passes on to nothing, and the three kings to the gates of Paris ; there they stand, the late victims of his ambition, and now the disposers of his destiny and the masters of his empire ; without provo- cation he had gone to their countries with fire and sword ; with the greatest provocation they come to his country with life and liberty ; they do an act unparalleled in the an- nals of history, such as nor envy, nor time, nor mahce, nor prejudice, nor ingratitude can efface ; they give to his subjects liberty, and to himself hfe and royalty. This is greater than conquest ! The present race must confess their virtues, and ages to come must crown their monuments, and place them above heroes and kings in glory everlasting. When Bonaparte states the conditions of the treaty of Fon- tainebleau are not performed, he forgets one of them, namely, the condition by which he lives. It is very true there was a mixture of policy and prudence in this measure ; but it was a great act of magnanimity notwithstanding, and it is not in Providence to turn such an act to your disadvantage. With respect to the other act, the mercy shown to his people, I have underrated it ; the alhes did not give liberty to France, they enabled her to give a constitution to herself, a better constitu- tion than that which, with much laboriousness, and circum- spection, and deliberation, and procrastination, the philoso- SELECT SPEECHES OF HENEY GEATTAN. 569 pliers fabricated, when the Jacobins trampled down the flimsy work, murdered the Yain philosophers, drove out the craz}'^ re- formers, and remained masters of the field in the triumph of superior anarchy and confusion ; better than that, I say, which the Jacobin destroyed, better than that which he after- wards formed, with some method in his madness, and more madness in his method ; with such a horror of power, that in his plan of a constitution he left out a government, and with so many wheels that everything was in movement and nothing in concert, so that the machine took fire from its own velocity in the midst of death and mkth, with images emblematic of the pubhc disorder, goddesses of reason turned fool, and of liberty turned fury. At length the French found their advan- tage in adopting the sober and unaffected security of King, Lords, and Commons, on the idea of that form of government which your ancestors procured by their firmness, and main- tained by their discretion. The people had attempted to give the French liberty, and had failed ; the wise men (so her philosophers called themselves) had attempted to give fiberty to France, and had failed ; it remained for the extraordinary destiay of the French to receive then' free constitution from kings. This constitution Bonaparte has destroyed, together with the treaty of Fontainebleau, and having broken both, desires your confidence ; Russia confided, and was deceived ; Austria confided, and was deceived. Have we forgotten the treaty of Luneville, and his abominable conduct to the Swiss ? Spain and other nations of Europe confided, and all were de- ceived. During the whole of this time he was charging on England the continuation of the war, while he was, with uni- form and universal perfidy, breaking his own treaties of peace for the purpose of renewing the war, to end it in what was worse than war itseK — his conquest of Europe. But now he repents and will be faithful ! he says so, but he says the contrary also : "I protest against the vaKdity of the treaty of Fontainebleau ; it was not done with the consent of the people ; I protest against everything done in my absence ; see my speech to the army and people ; see the speech of my council to me." The treaty of Paris was done in his absence ; by that treaty were returned the French colonies and prisoners ; 570 ON THE DOWNFALL OF BONAPARTE. thus he takes life and empire from the treaty of Fontainebleau, with an original design to set it aside ; and he takes prisoners and colonies from the treaty of Paris, which he afterwards sets aside also ; and he musters an army, by a singular fatahty, in a great measure composed of troops who owe thek enlarge- ment, and of a chief who owes his hfe, to the poAvers he fights, by the resources of France, who owes to those powers her sal- vation. He gives a reason for this : " Nothing is good which was done witliout the consent of the people" (having been de- posed by that people, and elected by the army in their defiance.) With such sentiments, which go not so much against this or that particular treaty as against the principles of affiance, the question is, whether, with a view to the security of Europe, you will take the faith of Napoleon, or the army of your aUies ? Gentlemen maintain, that we are not equal to the contest ; that is to say, confederated Europe cannot fight France single- handed. If that be your opinion, you are conquered this mo- ment ; you are conquered in spirit : but that is not your opinion, nor was it the opinion of your ancestors. They thought, and I hope transmitted the sentiment as your birthright, that the armies of these islands could always fight, and fight with success their own numbers. See now the numbers you are to command : by this treaty you are to have in the field what may be reckoned not less than six hundred thousand men ; besides that stipulated army you have at command, what may be reckoned as much more, — I say you and the alhes. The Emperor of Austria alone has an army of five hundred thousand men, of which one hundred and twenty thousand were sent to Italy to oppose Murat, who is now beaten ; Austria is not, then, occupied by Murat ; Prussia is not occupied by the Saxon, nor Russia by the Pole, — at least, not so occupied that they have not ample and redundant forces for this war ; you have a gen- eral never surpassed, and allies in heart and confidence. See now Bonaparte's muster : he has lost his external dominions, and is reduced from a population of one hundred millions, to a population of twenty-five mOUons ; besides, he has lost the power of fascination, for though he may be called the subverter of Kings, he has not proved to be the redresser of grievances. Switzerland has not forgotten, all Europe remembers the nature SELECT SPEECHES OF HENRY G RATTAN. 571 of his reformation, and that the best reform he introduced was worse than the worst government he subverted. As little can Spain or Prussia forget what was worse even than his reform- ations, the march of his armies : it was not an army ; it was a military government in march, hke the Roman legions in Rome's worst time, Italica or Rapax, responsible to nothing, nor God, nor man. Thus he has administered a cure to his partisans for any enthusiasm that might have been annexed to his name, and is now reduced to his resources at home ; it is at home that he must feed his arrnies and find his strength, and at home he wants artillery, he wants cavalry ; he has no money, he has no credit, he has no title. With respect to his actual numbers, they are not ascertained, but it may be collected that they bear no proportion to those of the allies. But gentlemen presume that the French nation will rise in his favor as soon as we enter their country. We entered their country before, but they did not rise in his favor ; on the con- trary, they deposed him ; the article of deposition is given at length. It is said we endeavor to impose a government on France. The French armies elect a conqueror for Europe, and our resistance to this conqueror is called imposing a govern- ment on France ; if we put down this chief, we relieve France as well as Europe from a foreign yoke, and this dehverance is called the imposition of a government on France. He — he imposed a government on France ; he imposed a foreign yoke on France ; he took from the French their property by contri- bution ; he took their children by conscription ; he lost her empire, and, a thing almost unimaginable, he brought the enemy to the gates of Paris. We, on the contrary, formed a project, as appears from a paper of 1805, which preserved the integrity of the French empire ; the allies, in 1814, not only preserved the integrity of the empire as it stood in 1792, but gave her her hberty, and they now afford her the only chance of redemp- tion. Against these allies will France now combine, and hav- ing received from them her empire as it stood before the war, with additions in consequence of their deposition of Bona- parte, and having gotten back her capital, her colonies, and her prisoners, will she break the treaty to which she owes them ; rise up against the allies who gave them ; break her 572 SELECT SPEECHES OF HENRY GRATTAN. oatli of allegiance ; destroy the constitution slie has formed ; depose the King she has chosen ; rise up against her own de- liverance, in support of contribution and conscription, to per- petuate her jjolitical danmktion under the yoke of a stranger ? Gentlemen say France has elected him. They have no grounds for so saying ; he had been repulsed at Antibes, and he lost thirty men ; he landed near Cannes the first of March, with one thousand one hundred. With this force he pro- ceeded to Grasse, Digne, Gap, and on the seventh he entered Grenoble ; he there got from the desertion of regiments above three thousand men and a park of artillery ; with this additional force he proceeded to Lyons ; he left Lyons with about seven thousand strong, and entered Paris on the twentieth, with all the troops of the line that had been sent to oppose him ; the following day he reviewed his troops, and nothing could equal the shouts of the army except the silence of the people. This was, in the strictest sense of the word, a military election : it was an act where the army deposed the civil government ; it was the march of a military chief over a conquered people. The nation did not rise to resist Bonaparte or to defend Louis, be- cause the nation could not rise upon the army ; her mind as well as her constitution was conquered ; in fact, there was no nation ; everytliing was army, and everything was conquest. France had passed through all the degrees of political probation, revo- lution, counter-revolution, wild democracy'', intense despotism, outrageous anarchy, philosophy, vanity, and madness ; and now she lay exhausted, for horse, foot, and dragoons to exercise her power, to appoint her a master — captain or cornet who should put the brand of his name upon her government, calhng it his dynasty, and under this stamp of dishonor pass her on to futurity. Bonaparte, it seems, is to reconcile everything by the gift of a free constitution. He took possession of Holland, he did not give her a free constitution ; he took possession of Spain, he did not give her a free constitution ; he took possession of Switzerland, whose independence he had guaranteed, he did not give her a free constitution ; he took possession of Italy he did not give her a free constitution ; he took possession of France, he did not give her a free constitution ; on the con- ON THE DOWNFALL OP BONAPARTE. 573 trary, lie destroyed the directorial constitution, lie destroyed tlie consular constitution, and lie destroyed the late constitu- tion formed on the plan of England ! But now he is, with the assistance of the Jacobins, to give her hberty ; that is, the man who can bear no freedom, unites to form a constitution with a body who can bear no government ! In the mean time, while he professes liberty, he exercises despotic power, he annihilates the nobles, he banishes the deputies of the people, and he se- questers the property of the emigrants. " Now he is to give hberty !" I have seen his constitution, as exhibited in the newspaper ; there are faults innumerable in the frame of it, and more in the manner of accepting it : it is to be passed by sub- scription without discussion, the troops are to send deputies, and the army is to preside. There is some cunning, however, in making the subscribers to the constitution renounce the House of Bourbon ; they are to give their word for the depo- sition of the King, and take Napoleon's word for their own liberty ; the offer imports nothing which can be relied on, ex- cept that he is afraid of the aUies. Disperse the alliance, and farewell to the liberty of Franco and the safety of Europe. Under this head of ability to combat Bonaparte, I think we should not despair. With respect to the justice of the cause, we must observe Bonaparte has broken the treaty of Fontainebleau ; he con- fesses it ; he declares'he never considered himself as bound by it. If, then, that treaty is out of the way, he is as he was be- fore it — at war. As Emperor of the French, he has broken the treaty of Paris ; that treaty was founded on his abdication ; Avhen he proposes to observe the treaty of Paris, he proposes what he cannot do unless he abdicates. The proposition that we should not interfere with the gov- ernment of other nations is true, but true with qualifications. If the government of any other country contains an insurrec- tionary principle, as France did when she offered to aid the in- surrections of her neighbors, your interference is warranted ; if the government of another country contains the principle of universal empire, as France did, and promulgated, your inter- ference is justifiable. Gentlemen may call this internal gov- ernment, but I call this conspiracy ; if the government of 574 SELECT SPEECHES OF HENRY GRATTAN. another country maintains a predatory army, such as Bona- parte's, "W'ith a view to hostihty and conquest, your interference is just. He may call this internal government, but I call this a preparation for war. No doubt he will accompany this with oifers of peace; but such offers of peace are nothing more than one of the arts of war, attended, most assuredly, by charging on you the odium of a long and protracted contest, and with much common-place, and many good saws and say- ings of the miseries of bloodshed, and the savings and good husbandry of peace, and the comforts of a quiet life ; but if you hsten to this, you will be much deceived ; not only deceived, but you will be beaten. Again, if the government of another country covers more ground in Europe, and destroys the bal- lance of power, so as to threaten the independence of other nations, this is a cause of your interference. Such was the principle upon which we acted in the best times ; such was the principle of the grand alliance ; such the triple alhauce ; and such the quadruple ; and by such principles has Europe not only been regulated, but protected. If a foreign government does any of those acts I have mentioned, we have a cause of war ; but if a foreign power does all of them, forms a conspi- racy for universal empire, keeps up an army for that purpose, employs that army to overturn the balance of power, and at- tempts the conquest of Europe — attempts, do I say? in a great degree achieves it (for what else was Bonaparte's domin- ion before the battle of Leipsic ?) and then receives an over- throw, owes its deliverance to treaties which give that power its hfe, and these countries their security (for what did you get from France but security ?) if this power, I say, avails itself of the conditions in the treaties which give it colonies, prisoners, and deliverance, and breaks those conditions which give you security, and resumes the same situation which renders this power capable of repeating the same atrocity, has England, or has she not, a right of war ? Having considered the two questions, — that of abihty, and that of right, — and having shown that you are justified on either consideration to go to war, let me now suppose that you treat for peace. First, you will have a peace upon a war es- tablishment, and then a war without your present allies. It is ON THE DOWNFALL OF BONAPABTE. 575 not certain tliat you will liave any of them, but it is certain that you wiU not have the same combination while Bonaparte increases his power by confirmation of his title and by further preparation ; so that you will have a bad peace and a bad war. "Were I disposed to treat for peace, I would not agree to the amendment, because it disperses your allies and strengthens your enemy, and says to both, we will quit our alliance to con- firm Napoleon on the throne of France, that he may hereafter more advantageously fight us, as he did before, for the throne of England. Gentlemen set forth the pretensions of Bonaparte ; gentle- men say that he has given hberty to the press. He has given liberty to publication, to be afterwards tried and punished ac- cording to the present constitution of France — as a military chief pleases ; that is to say, he has given hberty to the French to hang themselves. Gentlemen say, he has in his dominions abohshed the slave trade, I am unwilling to deny him praise for such an act ; but if we praise him for giving hberty to the African, let us not assist him in imposing slavery on the Euro- pean. Gentlemen say, Will you make war upon character ? But the question is, will you trust a government without one ? What will you do if you are conquered? say gentlemen. I answer, the very thing you must do if you treat, — abandon the Low Countries. But the question is, in which case are you most likely to be conquered — with allies or without them? Either you must abandon the Low Countries, or you must pre- serve them by arms ; for Bonaparte wiU not be withheld by treaty. If you abandon them, you will lose your situation on the globe ; and instead of being a medium of communication and commerce between the new world and the old, you will be- come an anxious station between two fires — the continent of America, rendered hostile by the intrigues of France ; and the continent of Europe, possessed by her arms. It then remains for you to determine, if you do not abandon the Low Countries, in what way you mean to defend them, alone or with allies. Gentlemen complain of the allies, and say, they have par- titioned such a country, and transferred such a country, and seized on such a country. What ! will they quarrel with their ally, who has possessed himself of a part of Saxony, and 676 SELECT SPEECHES OP HENEY GRATTAN. shake hands with Bonaparte, who proposed to take possession of England ? If a Prince takes Yonice, we are indignant ; but if he seizes on a great part of Europe, stands covered with the blood of millions, and the spoils of half mankind, our in- dignation ceases ; vice becomes gigantic, conquers the under- standing, and mankind begin by wonder, and conclude by wor- ship. The character of Bonaparte is admirably calculated for this effect ; he invests himself with much theatrical grandeur ; he is a great actor in the tragedy of his own government ; the fire of his genius precipitates on universal empire, certain to destroy his neighbors or himself ; better formed to acquire em- pire than to keep it, he is a hero and a calamity, formed to punish France and to perplex Europe. The authority of Mr. Fox has been alluded to, — a great au- thority and a great man : his name excites tenderness and wonder ; to do justice to that immortal person you must not limit your view to this country ; his genius was not confined to England, it acted three hundred miles off in breaking the chains of -Ireland ; it was seen three thousand miles off in com- municating freedom to the Americans ; it was visible, I know not how far off, in amelioratiag the condition of the Indian ; it was discernible on the coast of Africa in accomplishing the abohtion of the slave trade. You are to measure the magni- tude of his mind by parallels of latitude. His heart was as soft as that of a woman ; his intellect was adamant ; his weak- nesses were virtues ; they protected him against the hard habit of a politician, and assisted nature to make him amiable and interesting. The question discussed by Mr. Fox in 1792, was, whether you would treat with a revolutionary government ? The present is, whether you will confirm a military and a hos- tile one ? You will observe that when Mr. Fox was willing to treat, the French, it was understood, were ready to evacuate the Low Countries. If you confirm the present government, you must expect to lose them. Mr. Fox objected to the idea of driving France upon her resources, lest you should make her a military government. The question now is, whether you will make that military government perpetual. I there- fore do not think the theory of Mr. Fox can be quoted against us ; and the practice of Mr. Fox tends to establish our ON THE DOWNFALL OF BONAPARTE. 577 proposition, for lie treated witli Bonaparte and failed, Mr. Fox was tenacious of England, and would never yield an iota of her superiority ; but tlie failure of tlie attempt to treat was to be found, not in Mr. Fox, but in Bonaparte. On the Frencli subject, speaking of authority, we cannot for- get Mr. Burke — Mr. Burke, the prodigy of nature and acquisi- tion. He read everything, he saw everything, he foresaw everything. His knowledge of history amounted to a power of foretelling ; and when he perceived the wild work that was doing in France, that great political physician, intelHgent of symptoms, distinguished between the access of fever and the force of health ; and what other men conceived to be the vigor of her constitution, he knew to be no more than the paroxj^sm of her madness, and then, prophet-like, he pronounced the destinies of France, and, in his prophetic fury, admonished nations. Gentlemen speak of the Bourbon family. I have already said, we should not force the Bourbon upon France ; but w^e owe it to departed (I would rather say to interrupted) great- ness, to observe, that the House of Bourbon was not tyran- nical ; under her, everything, except the administration of the country, was open to animadversion ; every subject was open to discussion — philosophical, ecclesiastical, and political, so that learning, and arts, and sciences, made progress. Even England consented to borrow not a httle from the temperate meridian of that government. Her court stood controlled by opinion, hmited by principles of honor, and softened by the influence of manners : and, on the whole, there was an amenity in the condition of France, which rendered the French an ami- able, an enlightened, a gallant, and an accomplished race. Over this gallant race you see imposed an Oriental despotism. Their present court (Bonaparte's court) has gotten the idiom of the East as well as her constitution ; a fantastic and bar- baric expression : an unreality, which leaves in the shade the modesty of truth, and states nothing as it is, and everything as it is not. The attitude is affected, the taste is corrupted, and the intellect perverted. Do you wish to confirm this military tyranny in the heart of Europe? A tyranny founded on the triumph of the army 578 SELECT SPEECHES OF HENRY GRATTAN. over the principles of civil government, tending to universalize throughout Europe the domination of the sword, and to reduce to paper and parchment, Magna Charta and all our civil institutions. An experiment such as no country ever made, and no good country would ever permit ; to relax the moral and religious influences ; to set Heaven and Earth adrift from one another, and make God Almighty a tolerated alien in His own creation ; an insurrectionary hope to every bad man in the community, and a frightful lesson to profit and power, vested in those who have pandered their allegiance from King to Emperor, and now found their pretensions to domina- tion on the merit of breaking their oaths and deposing their sovereign. Should you do anything so monstrous as to leave your allies in order to confirm such a system ; should you for- get your name, forget your ancestors, and the inheritance they have left you of morality and renown; should you astonish Europe, by quitting your allies to render immortal such a com- position, would not the nations exclaim, " You have very pro- vidently watched over our interests, and very generously have you contributed to our service, and do you falter now? In vain have you stopped in your own person the flying fortunes of Europe ; in vain have you taken the eagle of Napoleon, and snatched invincibility from his standard, if now, when con- federated Europe is ready to march, you take the lead in the desertion, and preach the penitence of Bonaparte and the poverty of England ? As to her poverty, you inust not consider the money you ■spend in your defence, but the fortune you would lose if you were not defended ; and further, you must recollect you will pay less to an immediate war than to a peace with a war establishment, and a war to follow it. EecoUect further, that whatever be your resources, they must outlast those of all your enemies ; and further, that your empire cannot be saved by a calculation. Besides, your wealth is only a part of your situa- tion. The name you have estabhshed, the deeds you have achieved, and the part you have sustained, preclude you from- a second place among nations ; and when you cease to be the first, you are nothing. CHAELES PHILLIPS, ESQ. SPEECH AT AN AGaKEGATE MEETING OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF CORK. It is with no small degree of self-congratulation that I at length find myself in a province which every glance of the eye, and every throb of the heart, tells me is truly Irish ; and that congratulation is not a little enhanced by finding that you receive me not quite as a stranger. Indeed, if to respect the Christian without regard to his creed, if to love the country but the more for its calamities, if to hate oppression though it be robed in power, if to venerate integrity though it pine un- der persecution, gives a man any claim to your recognition, then, indeed, I am not a stranger amongst you. There is a bond of union between brethren, however dis- tant ; there is a sympathy between the virtuous, however separated ; there is a heaven-born instinct by which the as- sociates of the heart become at once acquainted, and kindred natures, as it were by magic, see in the face of a stranger, the features of a friend. Thus it is, that, though we never met, you.hail in me the sweet association, and I feel myself amongst you even as if I were in the home of my nativity. But this my knowledge of you was not left to chance ; nor was it left to the records of your charity, the memorials of your patriotism, your municipal magnificence, or your com- mercial splendor ; it came to me hallowed by the accents of that tongue on which Ireland has so often hung with ecstasy, heightened by the eloquence and endeared by the sincerity of, I hope, our mutual friend. Let me congratulate him on 580 CHARLES PHILLIPS, ESQ. having become in some degree naturalized in a province, where the spirit of the elder day seems to have lingered ; and let me congratulate you on the acquisition of a man who is at once the zealous advocate of your cause, and a practical in- stance of the injustice of your oppressions. Surely, surely if merit had fair play, if splendid talents, if indefatigable in- dustry, if great research, if unsullied principle, if a heart full of the finest affections, if a mind matured in every manly ac- complishment, in short, if every noble, public quality, mel- lowed and reflected in the pure mirror of domestic virtue^ could entitle a subject to distinction in a state, Mr. O'Connell should be distinguished ; but, it is his crime to be a Catholic, and his curse to be an Irishman. Simpleton ! he prefers his conscience to a place, and the love of his country to a partici- pation in her plunder ! Indeed he v/ill never rise. If he joined the bigots of my sect, he might be a sergeant ; if he joined the infidels of 'your sect, he might enjoy a pension, and there is no knowing whether some Orange corporator, at an Orange anniversary, might not modestly yield him the precedence of giving "the glorious and immortal memory" Oh, yes; he might be privileged to get drunk in gratitude to the man who colonized ignorance in his native land, aud left to his creed the legacy of legalized persecution. Nor would he stand alone, no matter what might be the measure of his disgrace, or the degree of his dereliction. You well know there are many of your own community who woviid leave him at the distance-post. In contemplating their recreancy, I should be almost tempted to smile at the exhibi- tion of their pretensions, if there was not a kind of moral melancholy intermingled, that changed satire into pity, and ridicule into contempt. For my part I behold them in the apathy of their servitude, as I would some miserable maniac in the contentment of his captivity. Poor creature ! when all that raised him from the brute is levelled, and his glorious intellect is mouldering in ruins, you may see him with his song of triumph, and his crown of straw, a fancied freeman amid the clanking of his chains, and an imaginary monarch beneath the inflictions of his keeper ! Merciful God ! is it not almost an argument for the skeptic and the disbeliever, when we see TO THE EOMAN CATHOLICS OP COEK. 581 the human shape almost without an aspiration of the human soul, separated by no boundary from the beasts that perish — beholding with indifference the captivity of their country, the persecution of their creed, and the helpless, hopeless destiny of their children ? But they have nor creed, nor consciences, nor country ; their god is gold, their gospel is a contract, their church a counting-house, their characters a commodity ; they never pray bvit for the opportunities of corruption, and hold their consciences, as they do their government deben- tures, at a price proportioned to the misfortunes of their coun- try. But let us turn from these mendicants of disgrace ; though Ireland is doomed to the stain of their birth, her mind need not be sullied by their contemplation. I turn from them with pleasure to the contemplation of your cause, which, as far as argument can affect it, stands on a sublime and splendid elevation. Every obstacle has vanished into air ; every favor- able ckcumstance has hardened into adamant. The Pope, whom childhood was taught to lisp as the enemy of religion, and age shuddered at as a prescriptive calamity, has by his example put the princes of Christendom to shame. This day of miracles, in which the human heart has been strung to its extremest point of energy ; this day, to which posterity will look for instances of every crime and every vir- tue, holds not in its page of wonders a more sublime phenome- non, than that calumniated pontiff. Placed at the very pin- nacle of human elevation, surrounded by the pomp of the Vatican and the splendors of the court, pouring the mandates of Christ from the throne of the CsBsars, nations were his sub- jects, kings were his companions, religion was his handmaid ; he went forth gorgeous with the accumulated dignity of ages, every knee bending, and every eye blessing the prince of one world, and the prophet of another. Have we not seen him in one moment, his crown crumbled, his sceptre a reed, his throne a shadow, his home a dungeon ! But if we have. Catholics, it was only to show how inestimable is human virtue compared with human grandeur ; it was only to show those whose faith was failing, and whose fears were strengthening, that the simplicity of the patriarchs, the piety of the saints, and the patience of the martyrs, had not wholly vanished. 582 CHARLES PHILLIPS, ESQ. Perhaps it was also ordained to show the bigot at home, as well as the tyrant abroad, that though the person might be chained, and the motive calumniated, religion was still strong enough to support her sons, and to confound, if she could not reclaim, her enemies. No threats could awe, no promises could tempt, no sufferings could appall him ; amid the damps of his dungeon he dashed away the cup in which the pearl of his liberty was to be dissolved. Only reflect on the state of the world at that moment ? All around him was convulsed, the very foundations of the earth seemed giving way, the comet was let loose, " from its fiery hair shook pestilence and death," the- twilight was gathering, the tempest was roaring, the darkness was at hand ; but he towered sublime, hke the last mountain in the deluge — majestic, not less in his elevation than in his solitude, immutable amid change, magnificent amid ruin, the last remnant of earth's beauty, the last resting-place of heaven's fight ! Thus have the terrors of the Vatican retreated ; thus has that cloud which hovered o'er your cause, brightened at once into a sign of your faith, and an assurance of yoiu' victory. Another obstacle, the omnipotence of France ; I know it was a pretence, but it was made an obstacle. What has become of it ? The spell of her invincibility destroyed, the spirit of her armies broken, her immense boundary dismembered, and the lord of her empire become the exile of a rock. She allows fancy no fear, and bigotry no speciousness ; and as if in the very operation of the change to point the purpose of your re- demption, the hand that replanted the rejected hly was that of an Irish Catholic. Perhaps it is not also unworthy of remark, that the last day of her triumph, and the first of her decline, was that on which her insatiable chieftain smote the holy head of your religion. You will hardly suspect I am imbued with the follies of superstition ; but when the man now unborn shall trace the story of that eventful day, he will see the adopted child of fortune, borne on the wings of victory from clime to clime, marking every movement with a triumph, and every pause with a crown, till time, space, and seasons, nay, even na- ture herself, seeming to vanish from before him — in the blas- phemy of his ambition he smote the apostle of his God, and TO THE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF COEK. 583 dared to raise tlie everlasting Cross amid his perishable tro- phies ! I am no fanatic : but is it not remarkable ? May it not be one of those signs which the Deity has sometimes given, in compassion to our infirmity ? — signs which, in the punish- ment of one nation, not unfrequently denote the warning to another : " Signs sent by God to mark tlie -will of Heaven : Signs, -which bid nations weep and be forgiven." The argument, however, is taken from the bigot ; and those whose consciousness taught them to expect what your loyalty should have taught them to repel, can no longer oppose you from the terrors of invasion. Thus, then, the papal phantom and the French threat have vanished into nothing. Ano her obstacle, the tenets of your creed. Has England still to leam them? I will tell her where. Let her ask Canada, the last plank of her American shipwreck. Let her ask Portugal the first omen of her European splendor. Let her ask Spain, the most Catholic country in the universe, her Catholic friends, her Catholic aUies, her rivals in the triumph, her reliance in the re- treat, her last stay when the world had deserted her. They must have told her on the field of blood, whether it was true that they " kept no faith in heretics." Alas, alas ! how miserable a thing is bigotry, when every friend puts it to the blush, and every triumph but rebukes its weakness. If England continued still to accredit this calumny, I would direct her for conviction to the hero, for whose gift alone she owes us an eternity of gratitude ; whom we have seen leading the van of universal emancipation, decking his wreath with the flowers of every soil, and filling h:s army with the soldiers of every sect ; before whose splendid dawn, every tear exhaling, and every vapor vanishing, the colors of the Eu- ropean world have revived, and the spirit of European liberty (may no crime avert the omen !) seems to have arisen ! Sup- pose he was a Catholic, could this have been ? Suppose Catho- Hcs did not follow him, could this have been ? Did the Catho- lic Cortes inquire his faith when they gave him the supreme command? Did the Eegent of Portugal withhold from his creed the reward of his valor ? Did the Cathohc soldier pause at Salamanca to dispute upon polemics ? Did the Catholic 684 CHARLES PHILLIPS, ESQ. cliieftain prove upon Barrossa that he kept no faith with here- tics ? or did the creed of Spain, the same with that of France, the opposite of that of England, prevent their association in the field of liberty ? Oh, no, no, no ! the citizen of every chme, the friend of every color, and the child of every creed, Liberty walks abroad in the ubiquity of her benevolence : alike to her the varieties of faitli and the vicissitudes of country ; she has no object but the happiness of man, no bounds but the extre- mities of creation. Yes, yes, it was reserved for Wellington to redeem his own country when he was regenerating every other. It was reserved for him to show how vile were the aspersions on your creed, how generous were the glowings of your grati- tude. He was a Protestant, yet Catholics trusted him ; he was a Protestant, yet Catholics advanced him ? He is a Protest- ant Knight in CathoUc Portugal; he is a Protestant Duke in Catholic Spain ; he is a Protestant commander of Catholic armies : he is more ; he is the living proof of the Catholics' liberahty, and the undeniable refutation of the Protestants' injustice. Gentlemen, as a Protestant, though I may blush for the big- otry of many of my creed who continue obstinate, in the teeth of this conviction, still, were I a Cathohc, I should feel httle triumph in the victory. I should only hang my head at the distresses which this warfare occasioned to my country. I should only think how long she had writhed in the agony of her disunion ; how long she had bent, fettered by slaves, ca- joled by blockheads, and plundered by adventurers ; the pro- verb of the fool, the prey of the politician, the dupe of the de- signing, the experiment of the desperate ; struggling as it were between her own fanatical and infatuated parties, those hell- engendered serpents which enfold her, like the Trojan seer, even at the worship of her altars, and crush her to death in the very embraces of her children ! It is time (is it not ?) that she should be extricated. The act would be proud, the means would be Christian ; mutual forbearance, mutual indulgence, mutual concession : I would say to the Protestant, " Concede ;" I would say to the Catholic, " Forgive ;" I would say to both, " Though you bend not at the same shrine, you have a common (Srod, and a common country ; the one has commanded love, TO THE KOMAN CATHOLICS OF COKK. 585 the other kneels to you for peace." This hostihty of her sects has been the disgrace, the pecuHar disgrace of Christianity. The Gentoo loves his caste ; so does the Mahometan ; so does the Hindoo, whom England, out of the abundance of her charity, is about to teach her creed ; — I hope she may not teach her practice. But Christianity — Christianity alone, ex- hibits her thousand sects, each denouncing his neighbor here, in the name of God ; and damning hereafter, out of pure de- votion ! " You're a heretic," says the Catholic : " You're a Pa- pist," says the Protestant. " I appeal to Saint Peter," exclaims the Catholic : " I appeal to Saint Athanasius," cries the Pro- testant : " and if it goes to damning, he's as good at it as any saint in the calendar." "You'll all be damned eternally," m(»ans out the Methodist ; " I'm the elect !" Thus it is, you see, each has his anathema, his accusation, and his retort ; and in the end Beligion is the victim ! The victory of each is the overthrow of all ; and Infidelity, laugh- ing at the contest, writes the refutation of their creed in the blood of the combatants ! I wonder if this reflection has ever struck any of those reverend dignitaries who rear their mitres against Catholic emancipation. Has it ever glanced across their Christian zeal, if the story of our country should have casually reached the valleys of Hindostan, with what an argu- ment they are furnishing the heathen world against their sacred missionary ? In what terms could the Christian ecclesiastic answer the Eastern Brahmin, when he replied to his exhorta- tions in language such as this ? "Father, we have heard your doctrine; it is splendid in theory, spe- cious in promise, subhme in prospect ; like the world to which it leads, it is rich in the miracles of light. But, Father, we have heard that there are times when its rays vanish and leave your sphere in darkness, or when your only lustre arises from meteors of lire, and moons of blood; we have heard of the verdant island which the Great Spirit has raised in the bo- som of the waters with such a bloom of beauty, that the very wave she has usurped, worships the loveliness of her intrusion. The sovereign of our forests is not more generous in his anger than her sons; the snow- flake, ere it falls on the mountain, is not purer than her daughters; little inland seas reflect the splendors of her landscape, and her valleys smile at the story of the serpent ! Father, is it true, that this isle of the sun, this people of the morning, find the fury of the ocean in your creed, and 580 CHAELES PHILLIPS, ESQ. more than the venom of the viper in your poHcy! Is it true, that for bIk hundred years her peasant has not tasted peace, nor her piety rested from persecution? Oh, Brahma! defend us from the God of the Christian ! Father, father, return to your brethren, retrace the waters; we may hve in ignorance, but we hve in love; and we will not taste the tree that gives us evil when it gives us wisdom. The heart is our guide, nature is our gospel; in the imitation of our fathers we found our hope; and, if we err, on the virtue of our motives we rely for our redemption." How would tlie missionaries of the mitre answer Mm ? How will they answer that insulted Being of whose creed their con- duct carries the refutation ? But to what end do I argue with the Bigot?- — a wretch, whom no philosophy can humanize, no charity soften, no re- ligion reclaim, no miracle convert : a monster, who, red with the fires of hell, and bending under the crimes of earth, erects his murderous divinity upon a throne of skulls, and would glad- ly feed, even with a brother's blood, the cannibal appetite of his rejected altar ! His very interest cannot soften him into humanity. Surely, if it could, no man would be found mad enough to advocate a system which cankers the very heart of society, and undermines the natural resources of government ; which takes away the strongest excitement to industry, by closing up every avenue to laudable ambition ; which adminis- ters to the vanity or the vice of a party when it should only study the advantage of a people ; and holds out the perquisites of state as an impious bounty on the persecution of religion. I have already shown that the power of the Pope, that the power of France, and that the tenets of your creed, were but imaginary auxiharies to this system. Another pretended ob- stacle has, however, been opposed to your emancipation. I allude to the danger arising from a foreign influence. What a triumphant answer can you give to that! Methiuks, as lately, I see the assemblage of your hallowed hierarchy, sm'- rounded by the priesthood, and followed by the people, wav- ing aloft the crucifix of Christ alike against the seductions of the court, and the commands of the conclave ! Was it not a delightful, a heart-cheering spectacle, to see that holy band of brothers preferring the chance of martyrdom to the certainty of promotion, and postponing all the gratifications of worldly i TO THE EOMAN CATHOLICS OP COEK. 587 pride, to the severe but lieaven-gaining glories of tlieir poverty ? Tliey acted honestly, and they acted wisely also ; for I say here, before the largest assembly I ever saw in any country — and I beUeve you are almost all Catholics — I say here, that if the See of Eome presumed to impose any temporal mandate directly or indirectly on the Irish people, the Irish bishops should at once abandon it ; or the flocks, one and all, would abjure and banish them both together. History affords us too fatal an example of the perfidious, arrogant, and venal interference of a papal usurper of former days, in the temporal jurisdiction of this country ; an inter- ference assumed without right, exercised without principle, and followed by calamities apparently without end. Thus, then, has every obstacle vanished ; but it has done more — every ob- stacle has, as it were, by miracle, produced a powerful argu- ment in your favor. How do I prove it ? Follow me in my proofs, and you will see by what links the chain is united. The power of Napoleon was the grand and leading obstacle to your emancipation. That power led him to the menace of an Irish invasion. What did that prove ? Only the sincerity of Irish allegiance. On the very threat, we poured forth our volunteers, our yeomen, and our militia ; and the country be- came encircled with an armed and a loyal population. Thus then the calumny of your disaffection vanished. That power next led him to the invasion of Portugal. What did it prove ? Only the good faith of Catholic allegiance. Every field in the Peninsula saw the Catholic Portuguese hail the English Pro- testant as a brother and a friend, joined in the same pride and the same peril. Thus, then, vanished the slander, that you could not keep faith with heretics. That power next led him to the imprisonment of the Pontiff, so long suspected of being quite ready to sacrifice everything to his interest and his dominion. What did that prove ? The strength of his prin- ciples, the purity of his faith, the disinterestedness of his practice. It proved a life spent in the study of the saints, and ready to be closed by an imitation of the martyrs. Thus, also, was the head of your religion vindicated to Europe. There remained behind but ono impediment — ^your habihty to a foreign influence. Now mark ! 588 CHAELES PHILLIPS, ESQ. The Pontiff's captivity led to the transmission of Quaran- totti's rescript ; and, on its arrival, from the priest to the peas- ant, there was not a Catholic in the land, who did not spurn the document of Italian audacity ! Thus, then, vanished also the phantom of a foreign influence ! Is this conviction ? Is not the hand of God in it ? Oh yes ! for observe what fol- lowed. The very moment that power, which was the first and last leading argument against you, had, by its special opera- tion, banished every obstacle ; that power itself, as it were by enchantment, evaporated at once ; and peace with Europe took away the last pretence for exclusion. Peace with Euroj)e ! alas, alas, there is no peace for Ireland ; the universal pacifica- tion was but the signal for renewed hostility to us ; and the mockery of its preliminaries was tolled through our provinces by the knell of the curfew. I ask, is it not time that this hos- tiUty should cease ? If ever there was a day when it was necessary, that day undoubtedly exists no longer. The conti- nent is triumphant, the Peninsula is free, France is our ally. The hapless house which gave birth to Jacobinism is extinct forever. The Pope has been found not only not hostile, but complying. Indeed, if England would recollect the share you had in these sublime events, the very recollection should sub- sidize her into gratitude. But should she not — should she, with a baseness monstrous and unparalleled, forget our ser- vices, she has still to study a tremendous lesson. The ancient order of Europe, it is true, is restored, but what restored it ? Coalition after coalition had crumbled away be- fore the might of the conqueror ; crowns were but ephemeral ; monarchs only the tenants of an hour; the descendant of Frederick dwindled into a vassal ; the heir of Peter shrunk into the recesses of his frozen desert ; the successor of Charles roamed a vagabond, not only throneless but houseless ; every evening sun set upon a change ; every morning dawned upon some new convulsion ; in short, the whole political globe quivered as with an earthquake ; and who could teU what venerable monument was next to shiver beneath the splendid, frightful, and reposeless heavings of the French volcano ? What gave Europe peace, and England safety, amid this palsy of her princes ? Was it not the Landwehr and the Landsturm TO THE EOMAN CATHOLICS OF COEK. 589 and the Levy en Masse ? "Was it not the People ? — that first and last, and best and noblest, as well as safest security of a virtuous government. It is a glorious lesson ; she ought to study it in this hour of safety : but should she not : " Oh, wo be to the prince who rules by fears, "When danger comes upon him ! " She will adopt it. I hope it from her wisdom ; I expect it from her policy ; I claim it from her justice ; I demand it from her gratitude. She must at length see that there is a gross mistake in the management of Ireland. No wise man ever yet imagined injustice to be his interest ; and the minister who thinks he serves a state by upholding the most irritating and the most impious of all monopolies, will one day or other find himself miserably mistaken. This system of persecution is not the way to govern this country ; at least to govern it with any happiness to itself, or advantage to its rulers. Centuries have proved its total inefiiciency ; and if it be continued for centu- ries, the proofs will be but multiplied. Why, however, should I blame the English people, when I see our own representa- tives so shamefully negligent of our interest ? The other day, for instance, when Mr. Peele introduced, aye, and passed too, his three newly invented penal bills, to the necessity of which every assizes in Ireland, and as honest a judge as ever digni- fied or redeemed the ermine, has given the refutation ; why was it that no Irish member rose in his place to vindicate his country ? Where were the nominal representatives of Ireland ? Where were the renegade revilers of the demagogue ? Where were the noisy proclaimers of the Board ? What, was there not one voice to own the country '? Was the patriot of 1782 an assenting auditor ? Were cur hundred itinerants mute and motionless — ■" quite chop-fallen ?" or is it only when Ireland is slandered, and her motives misrepresented, and her oppres- sions are basely and falsely denied, that their venal throats are ready to echo the chorus of ministerial calumny ? Oh, I should not have to ask those questions, if in the late contest for this city you had prevailed, and sent Hutchinson into parhament ; he would have risen, though alone, as I have oftsn seen him — richer not less in hereditary fame, than in 690 CHAELES PHILIPS ESQ. personal accomplishments ; tlie ornament of Ireland as she is the solitary remnant of what she was. If slander dare asperse her, it would not have done so with impunity. He would have encouraged the timid ; he would have shamed the recre- ant ; and though he could not save us from chains, he would at least have shielded us from calumny. Let me hope that his absence shall be but of short duration, and that this city will earn an additional claim to the gratitude of the country, by electing him her representative. I scarcely know him but as a public man ; and considering the state to which we are reduced by the apostasy of some, and the ingratitude of others, and venality of more, — I say you should inscribe the conduct of such a man in the manuals of your devotion, and in the prim- ers of your children ; but above all, you should act on it your- selves. Let me entreat of you, above all things, to sacrifice any per- sonal differences among yourselves, for the great cause in which you are embarked. Remember the contest is for your children, your country, and your God ; and remember, also, that the day of Irish union will be the natal day of Bish liber- ty. When your own Parliament (which I trust in heaven we may yet see again) voted you the right of franchise, and the right of purchase, it gave you, if you are not false to your- selves, a certainty of your emancipation. My friends, farewell ! This has been a most unexpected meeting to me ; it has been our first — it may be our last. I can never forget the enthusi- asm of this reception. I am too much affected by it to make professions ; but, believe me, no matter where I may be driven by the whim of my destiny, you shall find me one in whom change of place shall create no change of principle ; one whose memory must perish ere he forgets his country ; whose heart must be cold when it beats not for her happiness. SPEECH OF CHAELES PHILLIPS, ESQ, AT A MEETING OF THE ROMAN CATHOLICS OF THE COUNTY AND CITY OF DUBLIN. Having taken, in the discussions on jour question, such humble share as was allotted to my station and capacity, I may be permitted to offer my ardent congratulations at the proud pinnacle on which it this day reposes. After having ' combated calumnies the most atrocious, sophistries the most plausible, and perils the most appalling, that slander could invent, or ingenuity devise, or power array against you, I at length behold the assembled rank and wealth and talent of the Catholic body offering to the legislature that appeal which cannot be rejected, if there be a Power in heaven to redress in- jury, or a spirit on earth to administer justice. No matter what may be the depreciations of faction or of bigotry ; this earth never presented a more ennobling spectacle than that ot a Christian country suffering for her religion, with the patience of a martyr, and suing for her liberties with the expostula- tions of a philosopher ; reclaiming the bad by her piety ; re- futing the bigoted by her practice ; wielding the Apostle's weapons in the patriot's cause, and at length, laden with chains and with laurels, seeking from the country she had saved, the constitution she had shielded ! Little did I imagine, that in such a state of your cause, we should be called to- gether to counteract the impediments to its success, created not by its enemies, but by those supposed to be its friends. It is a melancholy occasion ; but, melancholy as it is, it must be met, and met with the fortitude of men struggling in the sacred cause of liberty. I do not allude to the proclamation of your Board ; of that Board I never was a member, so I can speak impartially. It contained much talent, some learning, many virtues. It was valuable on that account; but it was doubly valuable as being a vehicle for the individual senti- 592 CHAELES PHILLIPS, ESQ. ments of any Catholic, and for the aggregate sentiments of every Cathohc. Those who seceded from it, do not remem- ber that, individually, they are nothing ; that as a body, they are everything. It is not this wealthy slave, or that titled sycoj)hant, v\^hom the bigots dread, or the parliament respects. No, it is the body, the numbers, the rank, the property, the genius, the perseverance, the education, but, above all, the Union of the Catholics. I am far from defending every mea- sure of the Board — perhaps I condemn some of its measures even more than those who have seceded from it ; but is it a reason, if a general makes one mistake, that his followers are to desert him, especially when the contest is for all that is dear or valuable ? No doubt the Board had its errors. Show me the human institution wliich has not. Let the man, then, who denounces it, 'prove himself superior to humanity, before he triumphs in his accusation. I am sorry for its suppres- sion. When I consider the animals who are in office around us, the act does not surprise me ; . but I confess,, even from them, the manner did, and the time chosen did, most sensibly. I did not expect it, on the very hour when the news- of univer- sal peace was first promulgated, and on the anniversary of the only British monarch's birth, who ever gave a boon to this distracted country. You will excuse this digression, rendered in some degree ne- cessary. I shall now confine myself exclusively to your reso- lution, which determines on the immediate presentation of your petition, and censures the neglect of any discussion on it by your advocates during the last session of parliament. You have a right to demand most fully the reasons of any man who dissents from Mr. Grattan. I will give you mine explicitly. But I shall first state the reasons which he has given for the postponement of your question. I shall do so out of respect to him, if indeed it can be called respect to quote those senti- ments, which on their very mention must excite your ridicule. Mr. Grattan presented yom" petition, and, on moving that it should lie Avhere so many preceding ones have lain, namely, on the table, he declared it to be his intention to move for no dis- cussion. Here, in the first place, I think Mr. Grattan wrong ; he got that petition, if not on the express, at least on SPEECH AT DUBLIN. 593 tile implied condition of having it immediately discussed. There was not a man at the aggregate meeting at which it was adopted, who did not expect a discussion on the very first op- portunity. Mr. Grattan, however, was angry at " sugges- tions." I do not think Mr. Grattan, of all men, had any right to be so angry at receiving that which every English member was willing to receive, and was actually receiving from any Enghsh corn-factor. Mr. Grattan was also angry at our " vio- lence." Neither do I think he had any occasion to be so squeamish at what he calls our violence. There was a day, when Mr. Grattan would not have spurned our suggestions, and there was also a day when he was fifty- fold more intemperate than any of his oppressed countrymen, whom he now holds up to the English people as so unconstitu- tionally violent. A pretty way, forsooth, for your advocate to commence conciliating a foreign auditory in favor of your pe- tition. Mr. Grattan, however, has fulfilled his own prophecy, that "an oak of the forest is too old to be transplanted at fifty," and our fears that an Irish native would soon lose its raciness in an Enghsh atmosphere. " It is not my intention," says he, "to move for a discussion at present." Why? " Great obstacles have been removed." That's his first rea- son. " I am, however," says he, " still ardent." Ardent ! Why it strikes me to be a very novel kind of ardor, which toils till it has removed every impediment, and then pauses at the prospect of its victory! "And I am of opinion," he contin- ues, " that any immediate discussion would be the height of precipitation :" that is, after having removed the impediments, he pauses in his path, declaring he is " ardent :" and after centuries of suffering, when you press for a discussion, he pro- tests that he considers you monstrously precipitate ! Now is not that a fair translation ? Why, really, if we did not know Mr. Grattan, we should be almost tempted to think that he was quoting from th^ ministry. With the exception of one or two plain, downright, sturdy, unblushing bigots, who opposed you because you were Christians, and declared they did so, this was the cant of every man who affected hberahty. "Oh, I declare," they say, "they may not be cannibals, though they are Cathohcs ; and I would be very glad to vote 594: CHAKLES PHILLIPS, ESQ. for tliem, but this is no time." " Oh no," says Braggo Ba- thurst, " it's no time. What ! in time of war ! Why it looks hke bullying us !" Very well : next comes the peace, and what say our friends the opposition ? " Oh ! I declare peace is no time, it looks so like persuading us." For my part, serious as the subject is, it affects me with the very same ridi- cule with which I see I have so unconsciously affected you. I will tell you a story of which it reminds me. It is told of the celebrated Charles Fox. Far be it from me, however, to mention that name with levity. As he was a great man, I revere him ; as he was a good man, I love him. He had as wise a head as ever paused to deliberate ; he had as sweet a tongue as ever gave the words of ' wisdom utterance ; and he had a heart so stamped with the immediate impress of the Di- vinity, that its very errors might be traced to the excess of its benevolence. I had almost forgot the story. Fox was a man of genius — of course he was poor. Poverty is a reproach to no man ; to such a man as Fox, I think it was a pride : for if he chose to traffic with his principles; if he chose to gamole with his conscience, how easily might he have been rich ? I guessed your answer. It would be hard, indeed, if you did not believe that in Eng- land talents might find a purchaser, who have seen in Ireland how easily a blockhead may swindle himself into preferment. Juvenal says the greatest misfortune attendant on poverty is ridicule. Fox found out a greater — debt. The Jews called on him for payment. "Ah, my dear friends," says Fox, "I ad- mit the principle ; I owe you money, but what time is this, when I am going upon business." Just so our friends admit the principle ; they owe you emancipation, but war's no time. Well, the Jews departed just as you did. They returned to the charge ; " What ! (cries Fox,) is this a time, when I am en- gaged on an appointment ? " What ! say our friends, is this a time when all the world's at peace ? The Jews departed ; but the end of it was. Fox, with his secretary, Mr. Hare, who was as much in debt as he was, shut themselves up in garrison. The Jews used to surround his habitation at dayHght, and poor Fox regularly put his head out of the window, with this question, " Gentlemen, are you i^ox-hunting or ZZare-hunting SPEECH AT DUBLIN. 595 tliis morning?" His pleasantry mitigated the very Jews. " Well, well, Fox, now you have always admitted the principle, but protested against the time — we will give you your own time, only just fix some final day for our re-paymcnt." — "Ah, my dear Moses," replies Fox, "now this is friendly. I wiU take you at your word ; I will fix a day, and as it's to be a Jinal day, what would you think of the day of judgment ? " — " That will be too busy a day with us." — " Well, well, in order to accommodate all parties, let us settle the day after." Thus it is, between the war inexpediency of Bragge Bathurst, and the peace inexpediency of Mr. Grattan, you may expect your Emancipation Bill pretty much about the time that Fox settled for the payment of his creditors. Mr. Grattan, how- ever, though he scorned to take your suggestions, took the sug- gestions of your friends. " I have consulted," says he, " my right honorable friends ! " Oh, all friends, all right honorable ! Now this it is to trust the interest of a people into the hands of a party. You must know, in parliamentary parlance, these right honorable friends mean a party. There are few men so contemptible, as not to have a party. The minister has his party. The opposition have their party. The saints, for there are saints in the House of Commons, lucics a non lucendo, the saints have their party. Every one has his party. I had for- gotten — 'Ireland has no party. Such are the reasons, if rea- sons they can be called, which Mr. Grattan has given for the postponement of your question ; and I sincerely say, if they had come from any other man, I would not have condescended to have given them an answer. He is indeed reported to have said that he has others in reserve, which he did not think it necessary to detail. If those which he reserved were like those he delivered, I do not dispute the prudence of keeping them to himself ; but as we have not the gift of prophecy, it is not easy for us to answer them, until he shall deign to give them to his constituents. Having dealt thus freely with the alleged reasons for the postponement, it is quite natural that you should require what my reasons are for urging the discussion. I shall give them candidly. They are at once so simple and explicit, it is quite impossible that the meanest capacity amongst you should not 596 CHAELES PHILLIPS, ESQ. comprehend them. I would urge tlie instant discussion, be- cause discussion has always been of use to you ; because, upon every discussion you have gained converts out of doors ; and because, upon every discussion within the doors of parliament, your enemies have diminished, and your friends have increased. Now, is not that a strong reason for continuing your discus- sions ? This may be assertion. Aye, but I will prove it. In order to convince you of the argument as referring to the country, I need but point to the state of the public mind now upon the subject, and that which existed in the memory of the youngest. I myself remember the blackest and the basest universal denunciations against your creed, and the vilest anathemas against any man who would grant you an iota. Now, every man affects to be Hberal, and the only question with some, is the time of the concession ; with others, the ex- tent of the concessions ; with many, the nature of the securities you should afford; whilst a great multitude, in which I am proud to class myself, think that your Emancipation should be immediate, universal, and unrestricted. Such has been the progress of the human mind out of doors, in consequence of the powerful eloquence, argument, and policy elicited by those discussions which your friends now have, for the first time, found out to be precipitate. Now let us see what has been the effect produced within the doors of parhament. For twenty years you were silent, and of course you were neglected. The consequence was most nat- ural. Why should j)arliament grant privileges to men who did not think those privileges wOrth the solicitation ? Then rose your agitators, as they are called by those bigots who are trembling at the effect of their arguments on the community, and who, as a matter of course, take every opportunity of ca- lumniating them. Ever since that period your cause has been advancing. Take the numerical proportions in the House of Commons on each subsequent discussion. In 1805, the first time it was brought forward in the Imperial legislature, and it was then aided by the powerful eloquence of Fox, there was a majority against even taking your claims into consideration, of no less a number than 212. It was an appalling omen. In 1808, however, on the next discussion, that majority was di- SPEECH AT DUBLIN. 597 minislied to 163. Li 1810 it decreased to 104. lu 1811 it dwindled to 64, and at length, in 1812, on the motion of Mr. Canning — and it is not a little remarkable that the first suc- cessful exertion in your favor was made by an English mem- ber — yoiu' enemies fled the field, and you had the triumphant majority to support you, of 129 ! Now, is this not demonstra- tion? "What becomes now of those who say discussion has not been of use to you : but I need not have resorted to arithme- tical calculation. Men become ashamed of combating with axioms. Truth is omnipotent, and must prevail ; it forces its way with the fire and the precision of the morning sunbeam. Vapors may impede the infancy of its progress ; but the very resistance that would check only condenses and concentrates it, until at length it goes forth in the fullness of its meridian, all life and light and lustre, the nainutest objects visible in its refulgence. You lived for centuries on the vegetable diet and eloquent silence of this Pythagorean policy ; and the conse- quence was, when you thought yourselves mightily dignified, and mightily interesting, the whole world was laughing at your philosophy and sending its ahens to take possession of your birthright. I have given you a good reason for urging your discussion, by having shown you that discussion has always gained you proselytes. But is it the time? says Mr. Grattan. Yes, sir, it is the time, pecuharly the time, unless indeed the great question of Irish liberty is to be reserved as a weapon in the hands of a party to wield against the weakness of the British minister. But why should I delude you, talking about time ! Oh ! there will never be a time with Bigotey! She has no head, and cannot think ; she has no heart, and cannot feel ; when she moves, it is in wrath ; when she pauses, it is amid ruin ; her prayers are curses, her communion is death, her vengeance is eternity, her decalogue is written in the blood of her victims ; and if she stoops for a moment from her infernal flight, it is upon some kindred rock to whet her vulture fang for keener rapine, and replume her wing for a more sanguinary desola- tion ! I appeal from this infernal, grave-stalled fury. I appeal to the good sense, to the pohc'y, to the gratitude of England ; 598 CHAELES PHILLIPS, ESQ. and make my appeal peculiarly at this moment, when all the illustrious potentates of Europe are assembled together in the British capital, to hold the great festival of universal peace and universal emancipation. Perhaps when France, flushed with success, fired by ambi- tion, and infuriated by enmity ; her avowed aim an univer- sal conquest, her means the confederated resources of the Con- tinent, her guide the greatest military genius a nation fertile in prodigies has produced — a man who seemed born to invert what had been regular, to defile what had been venerable, to crush what had been established, and to create, as if by a magic impulse, a fairy world, peopled by the paupers he had commanded into kings, and based by the thrones he had crumbled in his caprices — ^perhaps when such a power, so led, so organized, and so incited, was in its noon of triumph, the timid might tremble even at the charge that would save, or the concession that would strengthen — But now, — ^her allies faithless, her conquests despoiled, her territory dismembered, her legions defeated, her leader dethroned, and her reigning prince our ally by treaty, our debtor by gratitude, and our inalienable friend by every solemn obligation of civilized soci- ety, — ^the objection is our strength, and the obstacle our bat- tlement. Perhaps when the Pope was in the power of our enemy, however slender the pretext, bigotry might have rest- ed on it. The inference was false as to Ireland, and it was ungenerous as to Kome. The Irish Catholic, firm in his faith, bows to the Pontiff's spiritual supremacy, bu.t he would spurn the Pontiff's tem- poral interference. If, with the spirit of an earthly domina- tion, he were to issue to-morrow his despotic mandate. Catholic Ireland with one voice would answer him : " Sire, we bow with reverence to your spiritual mission ; the descendant of Saint Peter, we freely acknowledge you the head of our Church, and the organ of our creed ; but. Sire, if we have a Church, we cannot forget that we also have a country ; and when you at- tempt to convert your mitre into a crown, and your crozier into a sceptre, you degrade the majesty of your high delega- tion, and grossly miscalculate upon our acquiescence. No foreign power shall regulate the allegiance which we owe to SPEECH AT DUBLIN. 599 our sovereign ; it was the fault of our fathers that one Pope forged our fetters ; it will be our own, if we allow them to be riveted by another." Such would be the answer of universal Ireland ; such was her answer to the audacious menial, who dared to dictate her unconditional submission to an act of parliament which emancipated by penalties, and redressed by insult. But, sir, it never would have entered into the contem- plation of the Pope, to have assumed such an authority. His character was a sui3S,cient shield against the imputation, and his policy must have taught him, that, in grasping at the shadow of a temporal power, he would but risk the reality of of his ecclesiastical supremacy. Thus was parliament doubly guarded against a foreign usurpation. The people upon whom it was to act deprecate its authority, and the power to which it was imputed abhors its ambition ; the Pope would not exert it if he could, and the people would not obey it if he did. Just precisely upon the same foundation rested the aspersions which were cast upon your creed. How did experience justify them ? Did Lord Welhngton find that religious faith made any difference amid the thunder of the battle ? Did the Spanish soldier desert his colors because his General believed not in the real presence ? Did the brave Portuguese neglect his orders to negotiate about mysteries ? Or what comparison did the hero draw be- tween the policy of England and the piety of Spain, when at one moment he led the heterodox legions to victory, and the very next was obliged to fly from his own native flag, waving defiance on the walls of Burgos, where the Irish exile planted and sustained it ? What must he have felt when in a foreign land he was obliged to command brother against brother, to raise the sword of blood, and drown the cries of nature Avith the artillery of death ? What were the sensations of our hap- less exiles, when they recognized the features of their long-lost country? when they heard the accents of the tongue they loved, or caught the cadence of the simple melody which once lulled them to sleep within a mother's arms, and cheered the darling circle they must behold no more ? Alas, how the poor banished heart delights in the memory that song associates ! He heard it in happier days, when the 600 CHAKLES PHILLIPS, ESQ. parents lie adored, tlie maid lie loved, the friends of his soul, and the green fields of his infancy were round him ; when his labors were illumined with the sunshine of the heart, and his humble hut was a palace — for it was home. His soul is full, his eye suffused, he bends from the battlements to catch the cadence, when his death-shot, sped by a brother's hand, lays him in his grave — the victim of a code calling itself Christian ! Who shall say, heart-rending as it is, this picture is from fancy ? Has it not occurred in Spain ? May it not, at this instant, be acting in America ? Is there any country in the universe in which these brave exiles of a barbarous bigotry are not to be found refuting the calumnies that banished and rewarding the hospitahty that received them ? Yet England, enlightened England, who sees them in every field of the old world and the new, defending the various flags of every faith, supports the injustice of her exclusive constitution, by branding upon them the ungenerous accusation of an exclusive creed ! England, the ally of Catholic Portugal, the ally of Cathohc Spain, the ally of Catholic France, the friend of the Pope ! England, who seated a Cathohc bigot in Madrid! who convoyed a Cathohc Braganza to the Brazils I who enthroned a Catholic Bourbon in Paris ! who guaranteed a Catholic estabhshment in Canada ! who gave a constitution to Catholic Hanover ! England, who searches the globe for Cathohc gTievances to redress, and Catholic Princes to restore, will not trust the Catholic at home, who spends his blood and treasure in her service ! Is this generous ? Is this consistent ? Is it just ? Is it even politic ? Is it the act of a wise country to fetter the energies of an entire population ? Is it the act of a Christian country to do it in the name of God ? Is it pohtic in a gov- ernment to degrade part of the body by which it is supported, or pious to make Providence a party to their degradation ? There are societies in England for discountenancing vice ; there are Christian associations for distributing the Bible ; there are voluntary missions for converting the heathen ; but Ireland, the seat of their government, the stay of their empire, their associate by all the ties of nature and of interest, how has she benefited by the gospel of which they boast ? Has the sweet SPEECH AT DUBLIN. 601 spirit of Christianity appeared on our plains in the character of her precepts, breathing the air and robed in the beauties of the world to which she would lead us ; with no argument but love, no look but peace, no wealth but piety ; her creed com- prehensive as the arch of heaven, and her charities bounded but by the circle of creation? Or, has she been let loose amongst us, in form of fury, and in act of demon, her heart festered with the fires of hell, her hands clotted with the gore of earth, withering alike in her repose and in her progress, her path apparent by the print of blood, and her pause denoted by the expanse of desolation ? Gospel of Heaven ! is this thy heraldry ? God of the universe ! is this thy handmaid ? Christian of the ascendency! how would you answer the dis- believing infidel, if he asked you, should he estimate the Christian doctrine by the Christian practice ; if he dwelt upon those periods when the human victim writhed upon the altar of the peaceful Jesus, and the cross, crimsoned with his blood, became little better than a stake to the sacrifice of his vota- ries ; if he pointed to Ireland, where the word of peace was the war-whoop of destruction ; where the son was bribed against the father, and the plunder of the parent's property was made a bounty on the recantation of the parent's creed ; where the march of the human mind was stayed in his name who had inspired it with reason, and any effort to hberate a feUow-creature from his intellectual bondage was sure to be recompensed by the dungeon or the scaffold ; where ignorance was so long a legislative command, and piety legislative crime ; where religion was placed as a barrier between the sexes, and the intercourse of nature was pronounced felony by law ; where God's worship was an act of stealth, and his min- isters sought amongst the savages of the woods that sanctuary which a nominal civilization had denied them ; where at this instant conscience is made to blast every hope of genius, and every energy of ambition ; and the Catholic who would rise to any station of trust, must, in the face of his country, deny the faith of his fathers ; where the preferments of earth are only to be obtained by the forfeiture of Heaven ? " Unprized are lier sons till they learn to betray, Undistinguisli'd they live if they shame not their sires ; 602 CHARLES PHILLIPS. And the torcli that would light them to dignity's way, Must be caught from the pile where their country expires ! " How, let me ask, liow would tlie Christian zealot droop be- neath this catalogue of Christian qualifications ? But, thus it is, when sectarians differ on account of mysteries : in the heat and acrimony of the causeless contest, religion, the glory of one world, and the guide of another, drifts from the splendid circle in which she shone, in the comet-maze of uncertainty and er- ror. The code, against which you petition, is a vile compound of impiety and imjDolicy : impiety, because it debases in the name of God : impolicy, because it disquahfies under pretence of government. If we are to argue from the services of Protes- tant Ireland, to the losses sustained by the bondage of Catholic Ireland, and I do not see why we should not, the state which continues such a system is guilty of little less than a political suicide. It matters little where the Protestant Irishman has been em- ployed ; whether with Burke, wielding the senate with his elo- quence ; with Castlereagh, guiding the cabinet with his coun- sels ; with Barry, enriching the arts by his pencil ; with Swift, adorning literature by his genius ; with Goldsmith or with Moore, softening the heart by their melody ; or with Welling- ton, chaining victory at his car, he may boldy challenge the competition of the world. Oppressed and impoverished as our country is, every muse has cheered, every art adorned, and every conquest crowned her. Plundered, she was not poor, for her character enriched; attainted, she was not titleless, for her services ennobled; literally outlawed into eminence, and fettered into fame, the fields of her exile were immortalized by her deeds, and the links of her chain became decorated by her laurels. Is this fancy, or is it fact ? Is there a department in the state in which Irish genius does not possess a predomi- nance? Is there a conquest which it does not achieve, or a dignity which it does not adorn? At this instant, is there a country in the world to which England has not deputed an Irishman as her representative? She has sent Lord Moira to India, Sir Gore Ousely to Ispahan, Lord Stuart to Yienna, Lord Castlereagh to Congress, Sir Henry Wellesly to Mad- rid, Mr. Canning to Lisbon, Lord Strangford to the Brazils, SPEECH AT DUBLIN. G03 Lord Clancarty to Holland, Lord Wellington to Paris — all Irishmen! Whether it results from accident or from merit, can there be a more cutting sarcasm on the policy of Eng- land! Is it not directly saying to her, "here is a country from one fifth of whose people you depute the agents of your most august delegations, the remaining four fifths of which, by your odious bigotry, you incapacitate from any station of office or of trust!" It is adding all that is weak in impolicy to all that is wicked in ingratitude. What is her apology? Will she pretend that the Deity imitates her injustice, and incapaci- tates the intellect as she has done the creed? After making Providence a pretence for her code, will she also make it a party to her crime, and arraign the universal spirit of partial- ity in his dispensations? Is she not content with. Him as a Protestant God, unless He also consents to become a Catho- lic demon? But, if the charge were true; if the Irish Catho- lic were imbruted and debased, Ireland's conviction would be England's crime, and your answer to the bigot's charge should be the bigot's conduct. What, then! is this the result of sis centuries of your government? Is this the connection which you called a benefit to Ireland? Have your protecting laws so debased them, that the very privilege of reason is worthless in their possession? Shame! oh, shame! to the government where the people are barbarous? The day is not distant when they made the education of a Catholic a crime ; and yet they arraign the CathoHc for ignorance! The day is not distant when they proclaimed the celebration of the Catholic worsliip a felony, and yet they complain that the Catholic is not moral ! What folly ! Is it to be expected that the people are to emerge in a moment from the stupor of a protracted degra- dation? There is not perhaps to be traced upon the map of national misfortune, a spot so truly and so tediously deplorable as Ire- land. Other lands, no doubt, have had their calamities. To the horrors of revolution, the miseries of despotism, the scourges of anarchy, they have in their turns been subject. But it has been only in their turns ; the visitations of woe, though severe, have not been eternal ; the hour of probation, or of punishment, has passed away; and the tempest, after 604: CHAELES PHILLIPS. liaving emptied the vial of its wrath, has given place to the serenity of the calm and of the sunshine. Has this been the case mth respect to our miserable country ? Is there, save in the visionary world of tradition — is there in the progress, either of record or recollection, one verdant spot in the desert of our annals, where patriotism can find repose, or philan- thropy refreshment ? Oh, indeed, posterity wiU pause with wonder on the melancholy page which shall portray the story of the people amongst whom the policy of man has waged an eternal warfare with the providence of God, blighting into de- formity aU that was beauteous, and into famine all that was abundant. I repeat, however, the charge to be false. The Catholic mind in Ireland has made advances scarcely to be hoped in the short interval of its partial emancipation. But what encouragement has the Catholic parent to educate his off- spring ? Suppose he sends his son, the hope of his pride, and the wealth of his heart, into the army ; the child justilies liis parental anticipation ; he is moral in his habits, he is strict in his discipline, he is daring in the field, and temperate at the board, and patient in the camp ; the first in the charge, and the last in the retreat ; with a hand to achieve, and a head to guide, and temper to conciliate ; he combines the skill of Wellington with the clemency of Csesar and the courage of Turenne — ^yet he can never rise — ^he is a Catholic ! Take another instance. Suppose him at the bar He has spent his nights at the lamp, and his days in the forum ; the rose has withered from his cheek mid the drudgery of form ; the spirit has fainted in his heart mid the analysis of crime ; he has fore- gone tlie pleasures of his youth and the associates of his heart, and all the fairy enchantments in which fancy may have wrapped him. Alas ! for what ? Though genius flashed from his eye, and eloquence rolled from his lips ; though he spoke with the tongue of TuUy, and argued with the learning of Coke, and thought with the purity of Fletcher, he can never rise — he is a Catholic ! Merciful God ! what a state of society is this, in which thy worship is interposed as a disqualification upon thy Providence ! Behold, in a word, the effects of the code against which you petition ; it disheartens exertion, it disqualifies merit, it debilitates the state, it degrades the Godhead, it disobey SPEECH AT DUBLIN. 605 Christianity, it makes religion an article of traffic, and its founder a monopoly ; and for ages it has reduced a country, blessed with every beauty of nature, and every bounty of Pro- vidence, to a state unparalleled under any constitution profess- ing to be free, or any government pretending to be civilized. To justify this enormity, there is now no argument. Now is the time to concede with dignity that which was never denied without injustice. Who can tell how soon we may require all the zeal of our united population to secure our very existence ? Who can argue upon the continuance of this calm ? Have we not seen the labor of ages overthrown, and the whim of a day erected on its ruins ; estabhshments the most solid, withering at a word, and visions the most whimsical reahzed at a wish ? Crowns crumbled, discords confederated. Kings become vag- abonds, and vagabonds made Kings at the capricious frenzy of a village adventurer ? Have we not seen the whole political and moral world shaking as with an earthquake, and shapes the most fantastic and formidable and frightful, heaved into life by the quiverings of the convulsion? The storm has passed over us ; England has survived it ; if she is wise, her pre- sent prosperity will be but the handmaid to her justice ; if she is pious, the peril she has escaped will be but the herald of her expiation. Thus much have I said in the way of argument to the enemies of your question. Let me offer an humble opin- ion to its friends. The first and almost the sole request which an advocate would make to you is, to remain united ; rely onjt, a divided assault can never overcome a consolidated resistance. I allow that an educated aristocracy are as a head to the peo- ple, without wliich they cannot think : but then the people are as hands to the aristocracy, without which it cannot act. Con- cede, then, a little to even each other's prejudices ; recollect that individual sacrifice is universal strength ; and can there be a nobler altar than the altar of your country ? This same spirit of conciliation should be extended even to your enemies. If England will not consider that a brow of suspicion is but a bad accompaniment to an act of grace ; if she will not allow that kindness may make those friends whom even oppression could not make foes ; if she will not confess that the best se- curity she can have from Ireland is by giving Ireland an inter- 606 CHAKLES PHILLIPS. est in her constitution ; still, since her power is the shield of her prejudices, you should concede-where you cannot conquer : it is wisdom to yield, when it has become hopeless to combat. There is but one concession which I would never advise, and which, were I a Catholic, I would never make. You will per- ceive that I allude to any interference with your clergy. That was the crime of Mr. Grattan's security bill. It made the patronage of your religion the ransom for your liberties, and bought the favor of the Crown by the surrender of the church. It is a vicious principle ; it is the cause of all your sorrows. If there had not been a state establishment, there would not have been a Catholic bondage. By that incestuous conspu'acy be- tween the altar and the throne, infidelity has achieved a more extended dominion than by all the sophisms of her philosophy or all the terrors of her persecution. It makes God's apostle a court appendage, and God himself a court purveyor ; it carves the cross into a chair of state, where, with grace on his brow, and gold in his hand, the little perishable puppet of this world's vanity makes Omnipotence a menial to its power, and Eternity a pander to its profits. Be not a party to it. As you have spurned the temporal interference of the Pope, resist the spir- itual jurisdiction of the crown. As I do not think that you, on the one hand, could surrender the patronage of your religion to the King without the most unconscientious compromise, so, on the other hand, I do not think the King could ever consci- entiously receive it. Suppose he receives it ; if he exercises it for the advantage of your church, he directly violates the cor- onation oath, which binds him to the exclusive interest of the Church of England ; and if he does not intend to exercise it for your advantage, to what purpose does he require from you its surrender ? But what pretence has England for this inter- ference with your religion ? It was the religion of her most glorious era ; it was the religion of her most ennobled patriots ; it was the religion of the wisdom that framed her constitution ; it was the religion of the valor that achieved it ; it would have been to this day the rehgion of her empire, had it not been for the lawless lust of a murderous adulterer. What right has she to suspect your church? When her thousand sects were brandishing the fragments of their faith against each other, SPEECH AT DUBLIN. 6(J7 aud Christ saw liis garment without a seam, a piece of patch- work for every mountebank who figured in the pantomime ; when her Babel temple rocked at every breath of her Priest- leys and her Paynes, Ireland, proof against the menace of her power, was proof also against the perilous impiety of her ex- ample. But if as Catholics you should guard it, the palladium of your creed, not less as Irishmen should you prize it, the relic of your country. Deluge after deluge has desolated her provinces. The monuments of art which escaped the barbar- ism of one invader, fell beneath the still more savage civiliza- tion of another. Alone, amid the solitude, your temple stood like some majestic monument amid the desert of antiquity, jusfc in its proportions, sublime in its associations, rich in the virtue of its saints, cemented by the blood of its martyrs, pouring forth for ages the unbroken series of its venerable hierarchy, and only the more magnificent from the ruins by which it was surrounded. Oh ! do not for any temporal boon betray the great principles which are to purchase you an eternity ! Here, from your very sanctuary, — here, with my hand on the endan- gered altars of your faith, in the name of that God, for the freedom of whose worship we are so nobly struggling — I con- jure you, let no unholy hand profane the sacred ark of your religion ; preserve it inviolate ; its light is " light from heaven ;" follow it through all the perils of your journey ; and, like the fiery pillar of the captive Israel, it will cheer the desert of your bondage, and guide to the land of your liberation ! SELECT SPEECHES OF EDMUND BURKE. ELECTION SPEECH AT BRISTOL, October 13, 1774. Gentlemen, — I am come hither to solicit in person that favor which my friends have hitherto endeavored to procure for me, by the most obHging, and to me the most honorable exertions. I have so high an opinion of the great trust which you have to confer on this occasion ; and, by long experience, so just a diffidence in my abilities to fill it in a manner adequate even to my own ideas, that I should never have ventured of myself to intrude into that awful situation. But since I am called upon by the desire of several respectable fellow-subjects, as I have done at other times, I give up my fears to their wishes. "Whatever my other deficiencies may be, I do not know what it is to be wanting to my friends. I am not fond of attempting to raise public expectations by great promises. At this time, there is much cause to consider, and very little to presume. We seem to be approaching to a great crisis in our affairs, which calls for the whole wisdom of the wisest among us, without being able to assure ourselves, that any wisdom can preserve us from many and great incon- veniences. You know I speak of our imhappy contest with America. I confess, it is a matter on which I look down as from a precipice. It is difficult in itself, and it is rendered more intricate by a great variety of plans of conduct. I do not mean to enter into them. I will not suspect a want of good intention in framing them. But however pure the inten- tions of their authors may have been, we all know that the event has been unfortunate. The means of recovering our EDxMUND BURKE. ELECTION SPEECH AT BRISTOL. 609 affairs are not obvious. So many great questions of com- merce, of finance, of constitution, and of policy, are involved in this American deliberation, that I dare engage for nothing but that I shall give it, without any predilection to former opinions, or any sinister bias whatsoever, the most honest and impartial consideration of which I am capable. The pubhc has a full right to it; and this great city, a main piUar in the commercial interest, of Great Britain, must totter on its base by the sUghtest mistake with regard to our American meas- ures. Thus much, however, I think it not amiss to lay before you ; that I am not, I hope, apt to take up or lay down my opin- ions lightly. I have held, and ever shall maintain, to the best of my power, unimpaired and undiminished, the just, wise, and necessary constitutional superiority of Great Britain. This is necessary for America as well as for us. I never mean to de- part from it. Whatever may be lost by it, I avow it. The forfeiture even of your favor, if by such a declaration I could forfeit it, though the first object of my ambition, never will make me disguise my sentiments on this subject. But — I have ever had a clear opinion, and have ever held a constant correspondent conduct, that this superiority is con- sistent with all the liberties a sober and spirited American ought to desire. I never mean to put any colonist, or any hu- man creature, in a situation not becoming a free man. To reconcile British superiority with American hberty shall be my great object, as far as my little faculties extend. I am far from thinking that both, even yet, may not be preserved. When I first devoted myself to the public service, I con- sidered how I should render myself fit for it; and this I did by endeavoring to discover what it was that gave this country the rank it holds in the world. I found that our prosperity and dignity arose principally, if not solely, from two sources — our constitution and commerce. Both these I have spared no study to understand, and no endeavor to support. The distinguishing part of our constitution is its hberty. To preserve that hberty inviolate, seems the particular duty and proper trust of a member of the House of Commons. But the liberty, the only liberty I mean, is a hberty connected 610 EDMUND BUKKE. with order; tliat not only exists along with order and yirtue, but which cannot exist at all without them. It inheres in good and steady government, as in its substance and vital principle. The other source of our power is commerce, of which you are so large a part, and which cannot exist, no more than your liberty, without a connexion with many virtues. It has ever been a very particular and a very favorite object of my study, in its principles, and in its details. I think many here are ac- quainted with the truth of what I say. This I know, that I have ever had my house open, and my poor services ready, for traders and manufacturers of every denomination. My favor- ite ambition is to have those services acknowledged. I now appear before you to make trial, whether my earnest endeav- ors have been so wholly oppressed by the weakness of my abihties, as to be rendered insignificant in the eyes of a great trading city ; or whether you choose to give a weight to hum- ble abihties, for the sake of the honest exertions with which they are accompanied. This is my trial to-day. My industry is not on trial. Of my industry I am sure, as far as my con- stitution of mind and body admitted. "When I was invited by many respectable merchants, free- holders, and freemen of this city, to offer them my services, I had just received the honor of an election at another place, at a very great distance from this. I immediately opened the matter to those of my worthy constituents who were with me, and they unanimously advised me not to decline it. They told me, that they had elected me with a view to the pubhc service ; and as great questions relative to our commerce and colonies were imminent, that in such matters I might derive authority and support from the representation of this great commercial city ; they desired me therefore to set off without delay, very well persuaded that I never could forget my obhgations to them, or to my friends, for the choice they had made of me. From that time to tliis instant I have not slept; and if I should have the honor of being freely chosen by you, I hope I shall be as far from slumbering or sleeping when your ser- vice requires me to be awake, as I have been in coming to offer myself a candidate for your favor. SPEECH OF EDMUND BUEKE. 611 CONCILIATION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. I HOPE, sir, tliat, notwithstanding tlie austerity of the Chair, your good-nature will incline you to some degree of indulgence towards human frailty. You will not think it unnatural, that those who have an object depending, which strongly engages their hopes and fears, should be somewhat inclined to super- stition. As I came into the House full of anxiety about the event of my motion, I- found, to my infinite surprise, that the grand penal bill, by which we had passed sentence on the trade and sustenance of America, is to be returned to us from the other House."^ I do confess, I could not help looking on this event as a fortunate omen. I look upon it as a sort of provi- dential favor ; by which we are put once more in possession of our deliberative capacity, upon a business so very questionable in its nature, so very uncertain in its issue. By the return of this bill, which seemed to have taken its flight forever, we are at this yery instant nearly as fi'ee to choose a plan for our American government as we were on the first day of the ses- sion. If, sir, w^e incline to the side of conciliation, we are not at all embarrassed (unless we please to make ourselves so) by any incongruous mixture of coercion and restraint. We are therefore called upon, as it were by a superior warning voice, again to attend to America ; to attend to the whole of it to- gether ; and to review the subject with an unusual degree of care and calmness. Surely it is an awful subject ; or there is none so on this side of the grave. When I first had the honor of a seat in this House, the affairs of that continent pressed themselves upon us, as the most important and most delicate object of * The Act to restrain the trade and commerce of the provinces of Massachu- setts Bay and New Hampshire, and colonies of Connecticut and Ehode Island, and Providence Plantation, in North America, to Great Britain, Ij-eland, and the British Islands in the West Indies ; and to prohibit such provinces and colonies from carrying on any fishery on the banks of Newfoundland, and other places therein mentioned, under certain conditions and limitations. 612 EDMUND BURKE. parliamentary attention. My little share in this great deliber- ation oppressed me. I found myseM a partaker in a very high trust ; and having no sort of reason to rely on the strength of my natural abilities for the proper execution of that trust, I was obhged to take more than common pains to instruct myself in everything which relates to our colonies. I was not less under the necessity of forming some fixed ideas concerning the general policy of the British empire. Something of this sort seemed to be indispensable ; in order, amidst so vast a fluctuation of passions and opinions, to concentre my thoughts ; to ballast my conduct ; to preserve me from being blown about by every wind of fashionable doctrine. I really did not think it safe, or manly, to have fresh principles to seek upon every fresh mail which should arrive from America. At that period I had the fortune to find myself in perfect concurrence with a large majority in this House, Bowing un- der that high a,uthority, and penetrated with the sharpness and strength of that early impression, I have continued ever since, without the least deviation, in my original sentiments. Whether this be owing to an obstinate perseverance in error, or to a reHgious adherence to what appears to me truth and reason, it is in your equity to judge. Sir, parHament having an enlarged view of objects, made, during this interval, more frequent changes in their sentiments and their conduct, than could be justified in a particular per- son upon the contracted scale of private information. But though I do not hazard anything approaching to a censure on the motives of former parhaments to all tho^e alterations, one fact is ijndoubted, — that under them the state of America has been kept in continual agitation. Everything administered as remedy to the pubhc complaint, if it did not produce, was at least followed by, a heightening of the distemper ; until, by a variety of experiments, that important country has been brought into her present situation ; a situation which I will not miscall ; which I dare not name ; which I scarcely know how to comprehend in the terms of any description. The capital leading questions on which you must this day decide are these two : First, whether you ought to concede ; CONCILIATION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. 613 and secondly, what your concession ought to be. On the first of these questions we have gained some ground. But I am sensible that a good deal more is stUl to be done. Indeed, sir, to enable us to determine both on the one and the other of these great questions with a firm and precise judgment, I think it may be necessary to consider distinctly the true nature and the peculiar circumstances of the object which we have before us. Because, after all our struggle, whether we wUl or not, we must govern America according to that nature, and to those circumstances, and not according to our own imagination ; not according to abstract ideas of right ; by no means according to mere general theories of government, the resort to which appears to me, in our present situation, no better than arrant trifling. I shall therefore endeavor, with your leave, to lay before you some of the most material of these circumstances, in as full and as clear a manner as I am able to state them. The first thing that we have to consider with regard to the nature of the object is — the number of people in the colonies, I have taken for some years a good deal of pains on that point. I can by no calculation justify myself in placing the number below two millions of inhabitants of our own European blood and color ; besides at least 500,000 others, who form no incon- siderable part of the strength and opulence of the whole. This, sir, is, I believe, about the true number. There is no occasion to exaggerate, where plain truth is of so much weight and im- portance. But whether I put the present numbers too high or too low, is a matter of little moment. Such is the strength with which population shoots in that part of the world, that state the numbers as high as we wiU, whilst the dispute contin- ues, the exaggeration ends. Whilst we are discussing any given magnitude, they are grown to it. Whilst we spend our time in dehberating on the mode of governing two millions, we shall find we have millions more to manage. Your children do not grow faster from infancy to manhood, than they spread from families to communities, and from villages to nations. I put this consideration of the present and the growing numbers in the front of our deliberation, because, sir, this con- sideration will make it evident to a blunter discernment than 614 EDMUND BUKKE, yours, that no partial, narrow, contracted, pinclied, occasional system will be at all suitable to such an object. It will show you, that it is not to be considered as one of those minima which are out of the eye and consideration of the law ; not a paltry excrescence of the state ; not a mean dependent, who may be neglected with little damage, and provoked with little danger. It will prove that some degree of care and caution is required in the handling such an object ; it will show that you ought not, in reason, to trifle with so large a mass of the in- terests and feelings of the human race. You could at no time do so without guilt ; and be assured you will not be able to do it long Avith impunity. But the population of this country, the great and growing population, though a very important consideration, will lose much of its weight, if not combined with other circumstances. The commerce of your colonies is out of all proportion beyond the numbers of the people. This ground of their commerce, indeed, has been trod some days ago, and with great ability, by a distinguished person,* at your bar. This gentleman, after thirty-five years — it is so long since he first appeared at the same place to plead for the commerce of Great Britain, — has come again before you to plead the same cause, without any other effect of tune, than, that to the fire of imagination and extent of erudition, which even then marked him as one of the first literary characters of his age, he has added a consum- mate knowledge in the commercial interest of his country, formed by a long course of enlightened and discriminating experience. [Then, after reviewing our commercial relations with America, Mr. Burke proceeded :] The trade with America alone is now within less than X500,- 000 of being equal to what this great commercial nation, En- gland, carried on at the beginning of this century with the whole world! If I had taken the largest year of those on your table, it would rather have exceeded. But it will be said, is not this American trade an unnatural protuberance, that has drawn the juices from the rest of the body? The reverse. CONCILIATION WITH THE AMERICAN COLONIES. G15 It; is tlie very food that lias nourished every other part into its present magnitude. Our general trade has been greatly augmented, and cxugmented more or less in almost every part to which it ever extended ; but with this material difference, — that of the six millions Avhich in the beginning of the century constituted the whole mass of our export commerce, the colony trade was but one twelfth part ; it is now (as a part of sixteen millions) considerably more than a third of the whole. This is the relative proportion of the importance of the colonies at these two periods ; and all reasonmg concerning our mode of treating them must have this proportion as its basis, or it is a reasoning, weak, rotten, and sophistical. Mr. Speaker, I cannot prevail on myself to hurry over this great consideration. It is good for us to be here. We stand where we have an immense view of what is, and what is past. Clouds, indeed, and darkness, rest upon the future. Let us, however, before we descend from this noble eminence, reflect that this growth of our national prosperity has happened with- m the short period of the life of man. It has happened with- in sixty-eight years. There are those alive whose memory might touch the two extremities. For instance, my Lord Bathurst might remember all the stages of the progress. He was in 1704 of an age at least to be made to comprehend such things. He was then old enough, acta parenUim jam legere, et quce sit j^oterit cognoscere virtus — suppose, sir, that the angel of this auspicious youth, foreseeing the many virtues which made him one of the most amiable, as he is one of most for- tunate men of his age, had opened to him in vision, that when, in the fourth generation, the third prince of the house of Brunswick had sat twelve years on the throne of that nation, which (by the happy issue of moderate and healing councils) was to be made Great Britain, he should see his son. Lord Chancellor of England, turn back the current of hereditary dignity to its fountain, and raise him to a higher rank of peer- age, whilst he enriched the family with a new one — if amidst these bright and happy scenes of domestic honor and prosper- ity, that angel should have dravv^n up the curtain, and unfold- ed the rising glories of his country, and whilst he was gazing with admhation on the then commercial grandeur of England, 616 EDMUND BUKKE. tlie genius should point out to him a little speck, scarce visi- ble in the mass of the national interest, a small seminal prin- ciple rather than a formed body, and should teU him — " Young man, there is America — which at this day serves for httle more than to amuse you with stories of savage men, and uncouth manners ; yet shall, before you taste of death, show itself equal to the whole of that commerce which now attracts the envy of the world. "Whatever England has been growing to by a pro- gressive increase of improvement, brought in by varieties of people, by a succession of civilizing conquests and civilizing set- tlements in a series of seventeen hundred years, you shall see as much added to her by America in the course of a single Hfe !" If this state of his country had been foretold to him, would it not require all the sanguine creduHty of youth, and all the fervid glow of enthusiasm, to make him beheve it ? Fortunate man, he has lived to see it ! Fortunate indeed, if he lives to see nothing that shall vary the prospect, and cloud the setting of his day ! 1 RICHARD BRINSLEY SHERIDAN EICHARD B. SHERIDA:^[. SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, IN OPPO- SITION TO PITT'S FIRST INCOME TAX. A. WISE man, sir, it is said, should doubt of everything. It was this maxim, probably, that dictated the amiable diffidence of the learned gentleman,* who addressed himself to the chair in these remarkable words ; " I rise, Mr. Speaker, if I have risen." Now, to remove all doubts, I can assure the learned gentleman t that he actually did rise ; and not only rose, but pronounced an able, long, and elaborate discourse, a consider- able portion of which was employed in an erudite dissertation on the histories of Eome and Carthage. He further informed the House, upon the authority of Scipio, that we could never conquer the enemy until we were first conquered ourselves. It -was when Hannibal was at the gates of Rome, that Scipio had thought the proper moment for the invasion of Carthage, — what a pity it is that the learned gentleman does not go with this consolation and the authority of Scipio to the lord mayor and aldermen of the city of London ! Let him say, " Rejoice, my friends ! Bonaparte is encamped at Blackheath ! What happy tidings ! " For here Sci'f)io tells us, you may every moment expect to hear of Lord Hawkesbury making his triumphal entry into Paris.:}: It would be whimsical to ob- serve how they would receive such joyful news. I should like to see such faces as they would make on that occasion. Though I doubt not of the erudition of the learned gentleman, * Dr. Lawrence. + Mr. Perceval, afterwards Chancellor of the Exchequer, and, in 1809, Prime Minister. He was assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons, May 11, 1812, by a man named Bellingham. X Alludes to a boast of his lordship, at an early period of the war against France. 618 RICHARD B. SHERIDAN. lie seems to me to liave somehow confounded the stories of Hanno and Hannibal, of Scipio and the Konians. He told us that Carthage was lost by the parsimony or envy of Hanno, in preventing the necessary su][3phes for the war being sent to Hannibal ; but he neglected to go a little further, and to relate that Hanno accused the latter oi' having been ambitious — "Juvenem furentem cupidiue regni ; " and assured the senate that Hannibal, though at the gates of Eome, was no less dangerous to Hanno. Be this, however, as it may, is there any Hanno in the British senate ? If there is, notliing can be more certain than that all the efforts and remonstrances of the British Hanno could not prevent a single man, or a single guinea, being sent for the supply of any H-an- nibal our mifiisters might choose. The learned gentleman added, after the defeat* of Hannibal, Hanno laughed at the senate ; but he did not tell us what . he laughed at. The ad- vice of Hannibal has all the appearance oi- being a good one : " Carfcliaginis raoenia Eomae munerata." If they did not follow his advice, they had themselves to blame for it. From the strain of declamation in which the learned gentle- man launched out, it seems as if he came to this House as executor to a man whose genius was scarcely equalled by the eccentricities he sometimes indulged. He appears to come as executor, and in the House of Commons, to administer to Mr. Burke's fury without any of his fire. It is, however, in vain for him to attempt any imitation of those declamatory harangues and writings of the transcendent author, which, towards the latter part of his life, were, as I think, unfortu- nately too much applauded. When not embellished with those ornaments which Mr. Burke was so capable of adding to all he either spoke or wrote, the subject of such declamations could only claim the admhation of a school-boy. The circumstance of a great, extensive and victorious republic, breathing nothing but war in the long exercise of its most successful operations, surrounded with triumphs, and j)anting for fresh laurels, to be "IN OPPOSITION TO Pitt's income tax. G19 compared, mucli less represented as inferior, to tlie militarv power of England, is cliildisli and ridiculous. What similitude is there between us and the great Koman republic in the height of its fame and glory ? Did you, sir, ever hear it stated, that the Roman bulwark was a naval force? And if not, what comparison can there be drawn between their efforts and power ? This kind of rhodomontade declamation is finely de- scribed in the language of one of the Roman poets — "I, demeus, curre per Alpes, TJt pueris placeas, et declabiatio fias." JuvENAii, Sat. X., 166. Go, figlit, to please scliool-boy statesmen, and furnish a declamation for a Doctor, learned in tlie law. The proper ground, su^, upon which this bill should be op- posed, I conceive to be neither the uncertainty of the crite- rion, nor the injustice of the retrospect, though they would be sufficient. The tax itself will be found to defeat its own pur- poses. The amount which an individual paid to the assessed taxes last year can be no rule for what he shall pay in future. All the articles by which the gradations rose must be laid aside, and never resumed again. Circumstanced as the coun- try is, there can be no hope, no chance whatever, that, if the tax succeeds, it ever will be repealed. Each individual, there- fore, instead of putting down this article or that, will make a final and general retrenchment ; so that the minister cannot get at him in the same way again, by any outward sign which might be used as a criterion of his wealth. These retrench- ments cannot fail of depriving thousands of their bread ; and it is vain to hold out the delusion of modification or indem- nity to the lower orders. Every burthen imposed upon the rich in the articles Avhich give the poor employment, affects them not the less for affecting them circuitously. A coach- maker, for instance, w^ould willingly compromise with the min- ister, to give him a hundred guineas not to lay the tax upon coaches ; for though the hundred guineas would be much more than his proportion of the new tax, yet it would be much better for him to pay the larger contribution, than, by the lay- 620 BICHAKD B. SHERIDAN. ing down of coaches, be deprived of those orders by which he got his bread. The same is the case with watchmakers, which I had lately an opportunity of witnessing, who, by the tax im- posed last year, are reduced to a state of ruin, starvation, and misery ; yet, in proposing that tax, the minister alleged, that the poor journeymen could not be affected, as the tax would only operate on the gentlemen by whom the watches were worn. It is as much cant, therefore, to say, that by bearing heavily on the rich, we are saving the lower orders, as it is folly to suppose we can come at real income by arbitrary assessment, or by symptoms of opulence. There are three ways of raising large sums of money in a State : First, by voluntary contributions ; secondly, by a great addition of new taxes ; and tliirdly, by forced contributions, which is the worst of all, and which I aver the present plan to be. I am at present so partial to the first mode, that I recommend the fur- ther consideration of this measure to be postponed for a month, in order to make an experiment of what might be effected by it. For this purpose let a bill be brought in, au- thorizing the proper persons to receive voluntary contribu- tions ; and I should not care if it were read a third time to- night. I confess, however, that there are many powerful reasons which forbid us to be too sanguine in the success even of this measure. To awaken a spirit in the nation, the exam- ple should come from the first authority, and the higher departments of the State. It is, indeed, seriously to be la- mented, that whatever may be the burdens or distresses of the people, the government has hitherto never shown a disposition to contribute anything ; and this conduct must hold out a poor encouragement to others. Heretofore all the pubhc contribu- tions were made for the benefit and profit of the contributors, in a manner inconceivable to more simple nations. If a native inhabitant of Bengal or China were to be informed, that in the west of Europe there was a small island, which in the course of one hundred years contributed four hundred and fifty millions to the exigencies of the State, and that every individual, on the making of a demand, vied with his neighbor in alacrity to subscribe, he would immediately exclaim, " Mag- nanimous nation! you must surely be invincible." But far IN OPPOSITION TO PITTS INCOME TAX. 621 different would be his sentiments, if informed of tke tricks and jobs attending these transactions, where even loyalty was seen cringmg for its bonus ! If the first example were given from the highest authority, there would at least be some hopes of its being followed by other great men, who received large revenues from the government. I would instance particularly the teller of the exchequer, and another person of high rank, who receive from their oflfices X13,000 a year more in war than they do in peace. The last noble lord (Lord GrenvUle) had openly declared for perpetual war, and could not bring his mind to think of anything like a peace with the French. Without meaning any personal disrespect, it was the nature of the human mmd to receive a bias from such circumstances. So much was this acknowledged in the rules of this House, that any person receiving a pension or high employment from his Majesty, thereby vacated his seat. It was not, therefore, unreasonable to expect that the noble lord would contribute his proportion, and that a considerable one, to carry on the war, in order to show the world his freedom from such a bias. In respect to a near relative of that noble lord, I mean the noble marquis, (Marquis of Buckingham,) there could be no doubt of his coming forward hberally. I remember, when I was secretary to the Treasury, the noble marquis sent a letter there, requesting that his office might, iu point of fees and emoluments, be put under the same economical regulations as the others. "The reason he assigned for it was, " the emoluments were so much greater in time of war than peace, that his conscience would be hurt by feeling that he received them from the distresses of his country." No retrenchment, however, took place in that office. If, therefore, the marquis thought proper to bring the arrears since that time also from his conscience, the public would be at least X40,000 the better for it. By a calculation I have made, which I be- lieve cannot be controverted, it appears, from the vast increase of our burdens during the war, that if peace were to be con- cluded to-morrow, we should have to provide taxes annually to the amount of X28,000,000. To this is further to be added, the expense of that system, by which Ireland is not governed, but ground, insulted, and oppressed. To find a remedy for all 622 EICHAED B. SHERIDAN. these incumbrances, the first thing to be clone is, to restore the credit of the Bank, which has failed, as weU in credit as in honor. Let it no longer, in the minister's hands, remain the slave of political circumstances. It must continue insolvent till the connection is broken off. I remember, in consequence of expressions made use of in this House, upon former discus- sions, when it was thought the minister would relinquish that unnatural and ruinous alhance, the newspapers sported a good deal with the idea that the House of Commons had forbid the bans between him and the old lady.* Her friends had inter- fered, it was said, to prevent the union, as it was well known that it was her dower he sought, and not her person nor the charms of her society. The old lady herself, however, when wooed, was quickly won, and nothing could be more indelicate than to observe her soon afterwards ogling her swain, and wan- tonly courting that violence she at first complained of. In the first instance it might be no more than a case of seduction ; but from her subsequent conduct, it became arrant prostitution. " I swear I could not see the dear betrayer Kneel at my feet, and sigli to be forgiven; But my relenting heart vv^ould pardon all, And quite forget 'twas he that had undone me. " It is, sir, highly offensive to the decency and sense of a com- mercial people, to observe the juggle between the minister and the Bank. The latter vauntingly boasted itself ready and able to pay ; but that the minister kindly prevented, and put a lock and key upon it. There is a liberality in the British nation which always makes allowance for inability of payment. Com- merce requires enterprise, and enterprise is subject to losses. But I believe no indulgence was ever shown to a creditor, say- ing, " I can, but will not pay you." Such was the real condi- tion of the Bank, together with its accounts, when they were laid before the House of Commons ; and the chairmanf re- ported from the committee, stating its prosperity, and the great * " Old lady of Threadneedle Street," is in England a common expression to mean the Bank of England. + Mr. Bragge was chairman of the Committee, and this gave Sheridan the hint for his punning allusion. IN OPPOSITION TO PITTS INCOME TAX. 623 increase of its cash and bullion. The minister, however, took care to very the old saying, " Brag is a good dog, but Hold- fast is better." — " Ah !" said he, " my worthy chairman, this is excellent news, but I will take care to secure it." He kept his word, took the money, gave exchequer bills for it, which were no security, and there was then an end to all our public credit. It is singular enough, sir, that the report upon this bill stated that it -svas meant to secure our public credit from the avowed intentions of the French to make war upon it. This was done most effectually. Let the French come when they please, they cannot touch our public credit at least. The minister has wisely provided against it, for he has previously destroyed it. The only consolation besides that remains to us, is his assur- ance that all will return again to its former state at the con- clusion of the war. Thus we are to hope, that though the Bank now presents a meagre spectre, as soon as peace is re- stored the golden bust will make its reappearance. This, how- ever, is far from being the way to inspirit the nation or intimi- date the enemy. Ministers have long taught the people of the inferior order, that they can expect nothing from them but by coercion, and nothing from the great but by corruption. The highest encouragement to the French will be to observe the pubhc supineness. Can they have any apprehension of national energy or spirit in a people whose minister is eternally oppress- ing them ? Though, sir, I have opposed the present tax, I am still con- scious that our existing situation requires great sacrifices to be made, and that a foreign enemy must at all events be resisted. I behold in the measures of the minister nothing except the most glaring incapacity, and the most determined hostility to our Uberties ; but we must be content, if necessary for preserv- ing our independence from foreign attack, to strip to the skin. " It is an estabhshed maxim,"owe are told, that men must give up a part for the preservation of the remainder. I do not dis- pute the justice of the maxim. But this is the constant lan- guage of the gentleman opposite to me. We have already given up part after part, nearly till the whole is swallowed up. If I had a pound, and a person asked me for a shilling, to preserve the rest I should wOlingly comply, and think myself 624 EICHAED B. SHEKIDAN. obliged to him. But if lie repeated that demand till he came to my. twentieth shilling, I should ask him, — " Where is the re- mainder ? Where is my pound now ? Why, my friend, that is no joke at all." Upon the whole, su', I see no salvation for the country but in the conclusion of a peace, and the removal of the present ministers. SPEECH OF EGBERT EMMET, BEFOEE EECEIVING SENTENCE OF DEATH. My Loeds, — what have I to say that sentence of death should not be passed on me according to law ? I have nothing to say that can alter your predetermination, nor that will become me to say, with any view to the mitigation of that sentence which you are here to pronounce, and I must abide by. But I have that to say, which interests me more than life, and which you have labored (as was necessarily your office in the present circumstances of this oppressed country) to destroy. I have much to say, why my reputation should be rescued from the load of false accusation and calumny which has been heaped upon it. I do not imagine that, seated where you are, your minds can be so free from impurity as to receive the least impression from what I am going to utter. ; I have no hopes that I can anchor my character in the breast of a Court constituted and trammelled as this is. I only wish, and it is the utmost I expect, that your lordships may suffer it to float down your memories untainted by the foul breath of preju- dice, until it finds some more hospitable harbor to -shelter it from the storm by which it is at present buffeted. ) "Were I only to suffer death, after being adjudged guilty by your tribunal, I should bow in silence, and meet the fate that awaits me without a murmur ; but the sentence of the law which delivers my body to the executioner, wiU, through the ministry of that law, labor in its own vindication to consign my character to obloquy ; for there must be guilt somewhere, whether in the sentence of the Court or in the catastrophe, posterity must determine. A man in my situation, my lords, has not only to encounter the difficulties of fortune, and the force of power over minds which it has corrupted or subjugated, but the difficulties of established prejudice ; the man dies, but 686 SPEECH OF EGBERT E3IME1 liis memory lives. That mine may not perish — that it may live in the respect of my countrymen, I seize upon this opportunity to vindicate myself from some of the charges alleged against me. When my spirit shall be wafted to a more friendly port — when my shade shall have joined the bands of those mar- tyred heroes who have shed their blood on the scaffold and in the field, in defence of their country and of virtue, this is my hope — I wish that my memory and name may animate those who survive me, while I look down with complacency on the destruction of that perfidious government which upholds its domination by the blasphemy of the Most High ; which displays its power over man as over the beasts of the forest ; which sets man upon his brother, and lifts his hand in the name of God, against the throat of his fellow who believes or doubts a little more than the government standard — a govern- ment steeled to barbarity by the cries of the orphans and the tears of the widows which it has made. [Here Lord Norbury interrupted Mr. Emmet ; saying, that the mean and vsdeked enthusiasts who felt as he did were not equal to the accomplishment of their wild designs.] I appeal to the Immaculate God. I swear by the throne of Heaven — before which I must shortly appear — by the blood of the murdered patriots who have gone before me, that my conduct has been, through all this peril and through all my purposes, governed only by the convictions which I have uttered, and by no other view than that of their cure, and the emancipation of my country from the superinhuman oppres- sion under which she has so long and too patiently travailed ; and I confidently and assuredly hope that wild and chimerical as it may appear, there is still union and strength in Ireland to accomplish this most noble enterprise. . - h ],,.-U^_( ^ \ Of this I speak with the confidence of immense knowledge, and with the consolation that appertains to that confidence. Think not, my lords, I say this for the petty gratification of giving you a transitory uneasiness ; a man who never yet raised his voice to assert a lie will not hazard his character with posterity by asserting a falsehood on a subject so im- portant to his country, and on an occasion like this. Yes, my BEFORE RECEIYING SENTENCE OF DEATH. 627 lords, a man wlio does not v/ish to have his epitaph written until his co.untry is Hberated, will not leaA^e a weapon in the power of envy, nor a pretence to impeach the probity which he means to preserve even in the grave to which tyranny con- signs him. [Here he was again interrupted by the Court.] Again, I say, what I have spoken was not intended for your lordships, whose situation I commiserate rather than envy — my expressions were for my countrymen ; if there is an Irishman present, let my last words cheer him in the hour of affliction. [Here he was again interrupted. Lord Norbury said he did not sit there to hear treason.] I have always understood it to be the duty of a judge, when a prisoner has been convicted, to pronounce the sentence of the law ; I have also understood the judges sometimes think it their duty to hear with patience, and to speak with humanity, to exhort the victims of the laws, and to offer with tender benignity their opinions of the motives by which he was ac- tuated in the crime of which he was adjudged guilty. That a judge has thought it his duty so to have done, I have no doubt ; but where is the boasted freedom of your institutions ? Where is the vaunted impartiality, clemency, and mildness of your courts of justice, if an unfortunate prisoner, whom your poKcy, and not your justice, is about to dehver into the hands of the executioner, is not suffered to explain his motives sin- cerely and truly, and to vindicate the principles by which he was actuated ? My lords, it may be a part of the system of angry justice to bow a man's mind by humiliation to the proposed ignominy of the scaffold — ^but worse to me than the proposed shame, or the scaffold's terrors, would be the shame of such foul and unfounded imputations as have been laid against me in this Court. You, my lord, are a judge ; I am the supposed culprit ; I am a man, you are a man also ; by a revolution of power we might change places, though we never could characters. If I stand at the bar of this Court, and dare not vindicate my 628 SPEECH OF KOBEET EMMET character, what a farce is yonr justice! If I stand at this bar and dare not vindicate my character, how dare you calum- niate it ? Does the sentence of death, which your imhallowed pohcy inflicts on my body, also condemn my tongue to silence and my reputation to reproach? Your executioner may abridge the period of my existence, but whilst I exist I shall not forbear to vindicate my character and motives from your aspersions ; and as a man, to whom fame is dearer than life, I will make the last use of that hfe in doing justice to that reputation which is to live after me, and which is the only legacy I can leave to those I honor and love, and for whom I am proud to perish. As men, my lords, we must appear on the great day at one common tribunal, and it will then remain for the Searcher of all hearts to show a collective universe, who was engaged in the most virtuous actions or attached by the purest motives — by the country's oppressors, or — [Here he was agaia interrupted, and told to listen to the sen- tence of the law.] My lords, will a dying man be denied the legal privilege of exculpating himself in the eyes of the community of an unde- served reproach thrown upon him during his trial, by charging him with ambition, and attempting to cast away, for a paltry consideration, the liberties of his country? Why did your lordships insult me ? or rather, why insult justice in demand- ing of me why sentence of jieath should not be pronounced ? I know, my lord, that form prescribes that you should ask the question— the form also prescribes the right of answering. This, no doubt, may be dispensed with, and so might the whole ceremony of the trial, since sentence was already pro- nounced at the Castle before the jury was empanelled. Your lordships are but the priests of the oracle, and I submit ; but I insist on the whole of the forms. [Here the Court desired him to proceed. ] I am charged with being an emissary of France. An emis- sary of France ! and for what end ? It is alleged I wish to sell the independence of my country ! and for what end ? Was BEFOKE EECEIVING SENTENCE OF DEATH. 629 this the object of my ambition? — and is this the mode by which a tribunal of justice reconciles contradictions ? No, I am no emissary ; and my ambition was to hold a place among the dehverers of my country — not in power, not in profit, but in the glory of the achievement. Sell my country's independ- ence ! and for what ? Was it for a change of masters ? No, but for ambition ! Oh, my country ! was it personal ambition that could influence me ? Had it been the soul of my actions, could I not, by my education and fortune — ^by the rank and consideration of my family — have placed myself among the proudest of my oppressors ? My country was my idol ; to it I sacrificed every selfish, every endearing sentiment, and for it I now offer up my life. O God ! No, my lord ; I acted as an Irishman, determined on delivering his country from the yoke of a domestic faction, which is its joint partner and perpetrator in the parricide, for the ignominy of existing with an exterior of splendor and a conscious depravity : it was the wish of my heart to extricate my country from the doubly-riveted despot- ism. I wished to place her independence beyond the reach of any power on earth — I wished to exalt her to that proud sta- tion in the world. Connections with France were indeed intended — ^but only as far as mutual interest would sanction or require. Were they to assume any authority inconsistent witli the purest independ- ence, it would be the signal for its destruction ; we sought aid, and we sought it as we had assurance we should obtain it — as auxiliaries in war, and allies in peace. Were the French to come as invaders or enemies, univited by the wishes of the people, I should oppose them to the ut- most of my strength. Yes, my countrymen, I should advise you to meet them on the beach with a sword in one hand and a torch in the other ; I would meet them with all the destruc- tive fury of war, and I would animate my countrymen to immo- late them in their boats, before they had contaminated the soil of my country. If they succeeded in landing, and if forced to retire before superior discipline, I would dispute every inch of ground, burn every blade of grass, and the last entrench- ment of liberty should be my grave. What I could not do myself, if I should faU, I should leave as a last charge to my 630 SPEECH OF BOBEKT EMMET. countrymen to accomplish, because I should feel conscious that life any more than death is unprofitable when a foreign nation holds my country in subjection. But it was not an enemy that the succors of France were to land. I looked indeed for the succors of France ; but I wished to prove to France and to the world, that Irishmen de- served to be assisted ; that they were indignant at slavery, and ready to assert the right and independence of their country. I wished to procure for my country the guarantee which Washington procured for America. To procure an aid which by its example would be as important as its valor — disciplined, gallant, pregnant with science and experience ; who woul(?i perceive the good, and polish the rough points of our charac- ter ; they would come to us as strangers and leave us as friends, after sharing our perils and elevating our destiny. These were my objects — not to receive new taskmasters, but to expel old tyrants. These were my views, and these only became Irishmen. It was for these ends I sought aid from France, because France, even as an enemy, could not be more implacable than the enemy already in the bosom of my coun- try. [Here he was interrupted by the court.] I have been charged with that importance in the efforts to emancipate my country as to be considered the keystone of the combination of Irishmen, or, as your lordship expressed it, " the life and blood of the conspiracy.;^' you do me honor over much ; you have given to the'sohitlaii aU the credit of a supe- rior. There are men engaged in the conspiracy who are not only superior to me, but even to your own estimation of your- self, my lord ; before the splendor of whose genius and virtues I should bow with respoctful deference, and who would think themselves dishonored to be called your friends ; who would not disgrace themselves by shaking your blood-stained hand. [Here he was interrupted.] "What, my lord ! shall you tell me on the passage to that scaffold, with the tyranny of which you are only the interme- diary executioner has erected for my murder, that I am ac- countable for all the blood that has and will be shed in this BEFORE EECEIYING SENTENCE OF DEATH. 631 struggle of the oppressed against the oppressor ? Shall you tell me this, and shall I be so very a slave as not to repel it ? I do not fear to approach the Omnipotent Judge, to ansAver for the conduct of my whole life, and am I to be appalled and falsified by a mere remnant of mortality here ? By you, too, who, if it were possible to collect all the innocent blood that you have shed in your unhallowed ministry, in one great reser- voir, your lordship might swim in it. [Here the Judge interfered.] Let no man dare, when I am dead, to charge me with dis- honor ; let no man attaint my memory, by believing that I could have engaged in any cause but of my country's hberty and independence, or that I became the pliant minion of pow- er in the oppression of the miseries of my countrymen. The proclamation of the Provisional Government sj)eaks for our views; no inference can be tortured from i.t to countenance barbarity or debasement at home, or subjection, humiliation, or treachery from abroad. I would not have submitted to a foreign oppressor for the same reason that I would resist the present domestic oppressor. In the dignity of freedom, I would have fought on the threshold of my country, and its enemy should only enter by passing over my lifeless corpse. And am I, who lived but for my country, and who have sub- jected myself to the dangers of a jealous and watchful oppres- sor and the bondage of the grave, only to give my country- men their rights, and my country her independence — am I to be loaded "with calumny, and not suffered to resent or repel it? No, God forbid ! If the spirits of the illustrious dead participate in the con- cerns and cares of those who are dear to them in this transito- ry life, O ever dear and venerable shade of my departed fa- ther, look down with scrutiny upon the conduct of your suffer- ing son, and see if I have ever for a moment deviated from those principles of moraUty and patriotism which it was your care to instill into my youthful mind, and for which I am now to offer up my hfe. My lords, you are impatient for the sacrifice — the blood which you seek is not congealed by the artificial terrors that 632 SPEECH OF EGBERT EMMET. surround your victim ; it circulates warmly and unruffled tlirougli tlie channels which God created for nobler purposes, but which you are bent to destroy for purposes so grievous that they cry to Heaven. Be ye patient ! I have but a few words to say. I am going to my cold and silent grave ; my lamp of life is nearly extinguished ; my race is run ; the grave opens to receive me, and I sink into its bosom ! I have but one request to ask at my departure from this world ; it is the charity of its silence ! Let no man write my epitaph ; for as no man who knows my motives dare now vindicate them, let not prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let them and me repose in obscurity and peace, and my tomb remain unin- scribed, until other times and other men can do justice to my character. When my country takes her place among the na- tions of the earth — then, and not till then — let my epitaph be written. I have done. JAMES WHITESIDE WHITESIDE'S SPEECH AT THE lEISH STATE TEIALS, IN DEFENCE OF CHAELES GAVAN DUFFY. May it please your lordships, gentlemen of the jury, in this case I appear before you as the counsel of Charles Gavan Duffy, proprietor of the newspaper called the Nation. The solemnity of this state prosecution would be enough to bespeak your considerate attention. The principle involved in the issue — the all-pervading anxiety of the public — the true nature of the accusation itseK — combine to mark out this as a question of no ordinary expectation. My anxiety is so to place before you the justice of my client's case, that truth may prevail, and the cause of pubUc freedom triumph. I wiU not, at the outset, dis- guise from you that the result of this case is regarded by me with trembling apprehension, not from a vulgar terror of pop- ular indignation, or the force of popular fury, because the arm of government is powerful enough to crush and -punish such excesses. My apprehension arises from a better motive. I feel the importance of your decision. I am anxious for the charac- ter of our common country, for the purity of its justice, and that your decision may be consistent with the principles of a free constitution, and may rest on the immovable gTound of truth. Be assured, gentlemen, this day's proceedings will be scanned by the opinions of enlightened England, and whatever other country possesses freedom. As far as you can do, and as hu- man infirmity will permit, discharge your duty imflinchingly, between the Crown and your fellow-subject. Be tender of that subject's freedom, and your judgment will be applauded by 634: Whiteside's speech your own consciences and by that of all just men throughout the world. Gentlemen, you are not empannelled to try the traversers for theh j)olitical opmions The soundness or un- soundness of theu^ views — the policy or impolicy of their pro- ceedings — the wisdom or the folly of their accusations — the possibility or impossibility of their projects being carried into execution, form no part whatever of your inquiry. Crime is alleged against defendants, and crime of a peculiarly defined character ; and if that peculiar crime, as it is described and explained on the face of this indictment, be not clearly and distinctly proved, no matter of what supposed offence the tra- versers, or any one of them, might, by possibihty, be suggested to be guilty, still you would be bound to acquit them on the present indictment.. The crime of which they are accused is that of conspiracy. In the proper acceptation of the word, there is nothing criminal involved in it. It means having one spirit ; and the prevailing idea conveyed by it is, that of a com- mon sentiment among men for the accomplishment of a com- mon object. Now, a community of sentiment on political subjects is not criminal. Associations exist composed of all parties. There are hterary, scientific, religious, and political societies. But as you have seen, there is in this crime of conspiracy a latitude of proof permitted which your own experience as jurors tell you would not be suffered in any other proceedings. One man is sought to be affected here, not by what he has himself done, spoken, and committed, but by what other men have done, spoken, and committed. The indictment here is solely for a conspiracy, and I cannot praise it much as a work of legal in- genuity or art. You might imagine the legal artist possessed of much bodily strength, and armed with a huge scissors, placing before him several piles of newspapers — the Freeman, the Nation, the Pilot, the Post, the Mail — and plying his task with no charitable spirit, but with considerable zeal, speeches are stripped by him of all inoffensive matter, and the other parts cut out, biting passages of leading articles are cut out, reports of speeches at public meetings given more severely than the speakers of the speeches intended are selected, letters of angry correspondents written at long intervals of time are care- IN DEFENCE OF CHAKLES GAVAN DUFFY. 635 fully selected, the x^rose of the indictment is embellislied by an extract from a transatlantic speech made by the son of President Tyler, and the whole is wound up with a song. The proceedings of a meeting were then given, then the speeches at a dinner ; next came the editors of the Freeman and the Pilot, each charged with having pubhshed the extracts in these newspapers, respectively, for the purposes of this wicked con- spiracy, and then comes the editor of the Nation, for having transcribed them into his weekly pubhcation. Well, indeed, may I say that the guilt of any nian must be difficult of proof which requires a document of such extraordinary prolixity to have it explained to the jury, and that the innocence of that person must be clear indeed which needs such a mass of parch- ment to have it endangered or obscured. The Attorney-General, w^ho, I think, has stated the case on behalf of the Crown with great moderation and good temper, began by stating what were the principles and the authorities on which he relied as necessary to explain the doctrine of conspiracy. To show the jury in passing what was the evidence necessary to support a charge of conspiracy, I may remind you of the case of the King against Brownlow and others. There was a common purpose to dine together at Daly's Club- house, and I beheve they did execute their agreement merrily together ; there was a further agreement to sup together, which I suppose was executed with equal mirth ; and thirdly, they agreed to go together to the theatre. One had a rattle which he chose to throw, another was pleased to whistle, and a third to throw a bottle on the stage. They were finally indicted for a conspkacy, but the grand jury having ignored the bills, the Attorney-General availed himseK of his privilege to file an ex-offido information. The case came before a petit jury ; one of the accused was acquitted, but respecting the others they could not agree, and the matter remamed so smce, except that many of those engaged in the trial have since passed away, and are not now in existence to enliven us by then- wit, or ex- cite us by their eloquence. The learned counsel continued to refer, at considerable length to the opinions of Mr. Justice Hoboyd, as they were reported in the case of Bedford v. Birley and others, 3d vol. of Starkie s 636 Whiteside's speech Eeports. That learned judge, in page 102, expresses his senti- ments as to what constituted, in his opinion, an unlawful assembly. He said — "But, however, gentlemen, for the purpose of showing this was an il- legal meeting, I will state some things which constitute an unlawful as- sembly — a riot is when three or four unlawfully collected together to do an unlawful act, as if they were creating a nuisance or in a violent manner beat a man ; that may constitute a riot. Persons may be riotously assem- bled together, yet, unless they do some act of violence, it would not go so far as to constitute actually a riot ; but, if they come armed, or meet in such a way as to overawe or terrify other persons, that of itself may, perhaps, under such circumstances, be an unlawful assembly . " Such are Justice Holroyd's opinion upon this topic. In I3age 106 he then goes on to explain his views in the following language : "If, from the general appearance, and all its accompanying circum- stances, it is calculated to excite terror, alarm, and consternation — it is generally criminal and unlawful, that is in all those persons who go for purposes of that kind, disregarding the probable effect, and the probable alarm and consternation, and whoever gives countenance thereto is amen- able as a criminal jaarty. With a view to that the evidence of actual alarm, or absence, or want of alarm, is material. " But, my lords, what evidence have we had of alarm in the present prosecution? None, whatever. The learned judge then proceeded to aUude at much length to the memorable case of Lord George Gordon in 1780. Kennett, he said— "Was the Lord Mayor of London at that time, and Lord George Gordon called an immense number of persons in St. George's Field. They were called for an ostensibly lawful purpose, and there was of itself nothing further meant nor intended than to petition the house of parlia- ment to repeal acts which were passed in favor of the Roman Catholics. They met on that occasion in immense numbers, but not so many as on the occasion upon which we are now unfortunately sitting. Lord G. Gordoii went up Avith their petition to the House of Commons, and they accompanied him there. So far there was nothing amiss, except that being tumultuous it was indiscreet, because it was going with a great number of persons, which was tumultuous, or had the appearance of being so, and if they were not satisfied with the result, some among them might break out into acts of violence." Such were Mr. Justice Holroyd's views of illegal meetings. Much reliance has been placed by the counsel for the Crown IN DEFENCE OF CHAELES GAVAN DUFFY. 637 in the present case on the opinions alleged to have been ex- pressed in this same case of Bedford's by Lord Tenterden in reference to the right of subjects to exercise in military manoeuvres ; but, my lords, on reference to Startle's report, I find that Lord Tenterden did not express any positive opinion on the subject at all. In page 128 Lord Tenterden observes " It is by no means to be taken for granted that it is lawful for the subjects of this country to practice military manoeuvres under leaders of their own, without authority. It is not to be taken for granted that that is law. 1 believe, on investigation of the subject, it will be found not to be law. I pronounce no opinion upon it," — and that is what is called the positive opinion of Lord Tenterden ! The Attorney-General did not cite the recent case of the Queen v. Vincent and others, out of 9 Carrington and Payne, p. 95. He did not quote that case for Chief Justice. — I believe he did. Me. Whiteside.— No, my lord, it w^as another case he cited, and I wish to call your particular attention to the charge pre- ferred against the partj^ here. The first count charged them with being evil disposed persons, who did disturb the public peace, and excite discontent and hatred, etc., in the minds of her Majesty's subjects. The. twelfth count was fora tumultuous asseixibly, and the thirteenth count was for a riot. Here is the evidence given in the case. Mr. PhUlips, the mayor of Newj)ort, swore that he went to the meeting at eight o'clock on the even- ing of the 19th of March, and that he heard Yincent address the assemblage relative to the government. He described it as a cannibal and atrocious system. He then referred to the people's charter, and said the snow-ball of Chartism should be hurled from the hiU on their oppressors. Yery hke this case, is it not ? He told them if any policeman interfered with them to break his head. Yery hke what the traversers told the peo- ple, is it not? Mr. Johnson, a commercial traveller from Liverpool, was examined, and stated that he had a conversation with Townsend, who wanted him to supply three hundred muskets, six hundred cutlasses, and pistols in proportion ; biit he refused to furnish arms for such an abominable purpose. He then went and informed the magistrates, and gave evidence 638 Whiteside's speech in the case. Baron Alclerson, in summing up, said, "you will have to say, looking at all these circumstances, whether the defendants attended an unlawful assembly. You must take the hour of the day at which the parties met, and the language used. You will consider how far these meetings par- took of that character, and whether firm and rational men, having their families and their property, would have reasonable ground to fear a breach of the peace. It must not be merely such as would frighten any foolish or timid person, but such as to alarm persons of reasonable firmness and courage." The jury found the defendants guilty of attending an unlawful meeting, but acquitted them of conspiracy. Hear what Mr. Baron Alderson, in his charge to the grand jury, says on the same case — ' ' There is no doubt that the people of this countiy have a perfect right to meet for the purpose of stating what are or wliat are not their grievances. That right they always have had, and that right I trust they will always have. Let them meet if they will in open day, peaceably and quietly, and they would do wisely, when they meet, to do so under the sanction of those who are the constituted authorities of the country. To meet under irresponsible presidency is a dangerous thing, but neverthe- less if when they do meet under irresponsible presidency, and conduct themselves with peace, tranquillity, and order, they will perhaps lose their time and nothing else. The constitution of this country does not punish persons who, meaning to do that which is right in a peaceable and orderly manner, are only in error in the views they have taken ou some subject of political interest." The nest book I shall quote from is a report of the late trials of the Chartists in England, and it is remarkable for the clear law laid down in that case by Baron Eolfe. In the case I shall cite the people went about destroying mills, injuring property, and preventing people from attending to their work. Feargus O'Connor was one of the persons charged. He was the pro- prietor of the Star newspaper, and he was charged on a separate count framed to meet his case. The first charge against Mr. Feargus O'Connor was that he attempted by force of arms to dismiss men from their work. The next count was that he attempted by violence to change the laws of the realm ; and further, that the said Feargus O'Connor endeavored to create disaffection among the subjects of the realm. You IN DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY. G39 see that tlie charge of spreading disaffection, standin^^ alone, is not sufficient — it is nothing. The learned jncl"e further stated that if several persons were each ignorant of the acts of the others, those so ignorant of the acts could not be considered guilty of them. No doubt it might be in- ferred from the acts of the parties, whether they acted in unison or not. Again, he observed, that as no evidence had been given as to a great number of the defendants, that they had taken any part in compelling the turnout, they would not be considered as participators in it. He further said that the jury, to convict them of conspiracy, should believe that all were guilty of one and the same act. Those who took a part in the combination to compel a rise in wages, but took no part in the movements that occurred, which was no part of the conspiracy, could not be convicted under the count for the conspiracy. Gentlemen, if you find them guilty upon any one count — if you find them all guilty, you must find them guilty of having done all in that count, with the illegal effect specified in that count. Mr. Justice Perein. — I suppose you do not mean to say they are to find that the traversers committed every overt act? Mr. "Whiteside. — Certainly not, my lord ; but I say they must find them guilty on any count of one and the same con- spiracy. The overt acts are quite distinct from the con- spiracy. Me. Justice Burton. — I wish to know, Mr. Whiteside, in what way the book you handed up to us is authenticated ? Me. Whiteside. — The publication of that book was by a man who was candid enough to state the circumstances of his own conviction — Mr. Feargiis O'Connor. Me. Justice Bueton. — Then, this is an account of the trial by him. Me. Whiteside. — Yes, my lord, and he states that he was satisfied that he was tried according to law, and that he was punished accordingly. The whole was taken in shorthand by hun. The first thing I direct your attention to is the vast meetings that have been held throughout the country. I have considered the general character of those meetings in mass. A few words as to the numbers who attended those 640 Whiteside's speech meetings. I have quoted to you already tlie words of an eminent judge, wlio said, " God be tlianked, it never has been questioned that the right of the people of England to petition is their ancient, undoubted, unquestionable privilege." They may meet to petition, and will any man tell me that the meet- ing over which Lord Eoden presided was legal, and that to meet and petition for Eepeal it is unlawful ? Gentlemen, I may say with truth, that these meetings of the people are dis- liked both by kings and their ministers. I will now, gentlemen of the jury, call your attention to a few of the meetings held in England which were not con- sidered illegal, because they were held under the eye of the Enghsh Attorney-General and Solicitor General, both eminent lawyers, and under the eye of the government too. The first meeting I advert to is that which Mr. Koss, the Crown witness, proved he was present at — the meetmg held in London upon which two hundred thousand persons of the lower classes were present. They met together to discuss their grievance, which consisted of the sentence passed upon the Dorsetshire laborers. Two hundred thousand marched to Downing Street to visit the minister of the day. Lord Melbourne, with a petition which it took twenty men to lift. They were headed by the Rev. Dr. Wade, a gentleman of the established church, in his full robes, and, be it remembered, it was imputed to Mr. O'Connell as a leading fault that he went to those meetings in his red robes of office. It is not very likely that a man going to incite men to the commission of crime and violence would proceed to effect that object in his robes. I will now read to you the account of the great meeting in London, as I find it in the News Letter of the 27th of April, 1834. [The learned gentleman then read the description, by which it appeared that those two hundred thousand men marched almost in military array — five men deep, with banners and insignia, etc.] Now, gentlemen, what is the result of those two hundred thousand people marching through the streets of London, with flags and banners, uninterrupted by any person, and what is stated by the prime minister of England sensibly is "this : two hundred thousand persons coming to the seat of govern- IN DEFENCE OP CHAELES GAYAN DUFFY. 641 ment to present a petition is a thing that cannot be sanctioned by the government. He says your meeting is justifiable— your petition is justifiable — jouv conduct is justifiable ; I shall have no objection to lay your remonstrance before the King, but I cannot receive a petition from a deputation of two hundred thousand persons. I admit that you had a right to meet and come to that conclusion — send it to me to-morrow and I shall lay it before the King. Where is it suggested those men are guilty of conspkacy for meeting for those objects with flags and banners, and marching through the streets of London ? An account of that meeting is given in the Morning Post of the day. It commends the conduct of the government in not interfering with the meeting, and, speaking with regard to the London Times that had censured the meeting, observed they thought such conduct strange when they recollected the loud praise formerly given by that journal to the brickbat and the bludgeon. I shall next have to refer to a meeting of the Birmingham Political Union, held October 8th, 1831. " The spot fixed upon for the scene of this amazing spectacle was New Hall Hill, a large vacant spot of ground situated in the northern suburbs of the town, and pecuharly well formed for such a purpose. It consists of about twelve acres of rising land, in the form of an amphitheatre. In the valley a number of wagons were ranged in half circle, the centre one being appropriated to the chairman and the various speakers who addressed the meeting. About half-past eleven o'clock, the Birmingham Union, headed by Messrs. Attwood, Scholefield, Mutz, Jones, etc., and pre- ceded by the band, began to arrive on the ground, but such were the numbers that a considerable time elapsed before all had taken their stations on the ground. The scene at this moment was peculiarly animated and picturesque ; at different points of the procession various splendid banners were carried, on which were as varied devices and mottoes. It is utterly im- possible adequately to describe the appearance of this most magnificent assembly. When the council had taken their sta- tions on the platform, upon the lowest compiatation not less than eighty thousand were within the range of vision, and in about half an hour afterwards, when the Staffordshire Unions 642 Whiteside's speech arrived upon the ground, the number present was calculated hj some at considerably above one hundred thousand. On the ridge of the hill which crowned the amphitheatre the ban- ners, in number about twenty, were placed at equal dis- tances, and gave a beautiful finish to the perspective. Among other distinguished persons present on the occasion, drawn to the spot by motives of curiosity, but who took no part in the proceedings, were Prince Hohenlohe, (the brother of the celebrated prophet of that name,) and the Chamberlain to the King of Prussia." They intimated their intention to pass a resolution not to pay taxes, and to send up one hundred thousand persons to London to quicken the deliberations of the House of Lords. That would be unlawful. Did any minister of the day say that meeting was illegal ? No Attorney-Gene- ral that ever stood on English ground would have dared to say so, and I don't say that insolently or presumptuously. I recollect that Lord John Russell said he did not see why the people should not speak out, and that the whisper of a faction should not put down the voice of the nation. There was then none of the mawkish, sentimental twaddle about meri express- ing their conscientious convictions that such a law should be the law of England as would provide for their freedom. There were other resolutions, which I shall not read to you, which were very bold and startling. I will now bring the Attorney- General to the part of England he is connected with — his own happy Yorkshire. That is the place where he is a representa- tive, and I am sure no more honorable or better representative could be found. I will bring him back, gentlemen, to York- shire, and teU him when next he goes there to inquire about King Richard — that is Mr. Oastler-— and to see his placards. I shall now quote from the York Herald and General Adverti- ser of the 28th of April, 1832 ; and I will show how they met : " Geeat Yoekshike Meeting in Support of the Ten Houbs' Fac- TOKY Bill. — This great meeting in support of justice and humanity, was held in the Castle Yard, on Tuesday last. Early on Monday morning, the bustle began in Leeds ; the streets were crowded with people wait- ing to witness the arrival of the different divisions, the bells of the parish church rung merry peals ; and as the weather was then favorable, the scene was altogether lively and cheering. According to the programme, the various divisions of operatives entered Leeds from Halifax, Hudders- IN DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY. 643 field, Bradford, Dewsbury, Heckmondwicke, Holmfirth, Keighly, etc., •with their flags and music. They repaired to White Cloth Hall Yard, where refreshment was served to those who, from want of employment, could not afford to supply their own wants. The first Leeds Division left that town at eleven o'clock at night, and the second an hour after ; but it is needless for .us to dwell upon the minutise of a dark and dreary march through rain and mire, and it is sufficient to observe that a strong sense of duty, and the consciousness of being engaged in a righteous cause, kept up the spirit, and gave nerve to the exertions of those thou- sands of pedestrians. " [The learned gentleman then read a description of the proces- sion , banners, etc., and an extract from the speech of Mr. Oastler, and proceeded.] Mr. Oastler did not mince the matter. Notliing could be more distinct or emphatic than his language. He began by saying that they had come together to give a vote against the unendurable white slavery. The result of that meeting was a petition to parliament. They met for the purpose of obtaining that ten hours' bill which was not then, but which is now the law of the land. They met in thousands and tens of thousands — they assembled, they declaimed. They were met for one combined object ; they came together with banners and music, and some of their language was a thousand times stronger than any that had been used in this agitation. They de- nounced the aristocracy, and declared that the wealth they possessed was the proceeds of their sweat and labor. Did our Attorney-General ever say that because those men combined for a common object, the means they took were ille- gal ? Gentlemen of the jury, I will now draw your attention to the meeting which was held at Hillsborough, and which I think Mr. Shell spoke of to you, and I will take the report of it from the Dublin Evening Mail of the 31st of October. The men of the North are described as having done their duty well, and I am happy to hear it. I admire them and I hke them for it. They marched to Hillsborough, " in border fashion." to express what ? — that the men of the North were determined that the Union should be maintained, and that they would stand by the government in maintaining it with their lives and fortunes. They marched there to express that determination 64:4: Whiteside's speech — by what means? by what is called, in the language of the in- dictment, " the demonstration of physical force." They resisted the agitation for the Repeal of the Union. Had they a right to do so? "What ! seventy-five thousand men meet and march " in border fashion" to Hillsborough to maintain the Union, and do you, gentlemen of the jury, think if they met to-morrow for a like purpose again to express their determination to maintain the Union, and to declare their confidence in Mr. Attorney-Gene- ral and Mr. Solicitor-General to say how grateful and how much indebted they were to them for it, and passed a vote to that effect for the spirited zeal and ability, and, I will add, moderation with which they conducted these prosecutions — I ask would not Mr. Smith return them thanks in his most flow- ing and graceful style ? How deeply grateful he would express himseK, and how would he not say : " Gentlemen, to the latest period of my hfe I shaU cherish this expression of the confi- dence and approbation of so many of my fellow-countrymen, and I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude for the too flattering manner in which you have declared your approba- tion of my conduct, and that of the government of which I am an unworthy member. Gentlemen, I am happy to find that you are determined to sustain the Union, which is now the law, the church, and the state, and aU the estabhshed institu- tions of the country." Yes, gentlemen, of the jury, seventy- five thousand men met at Hillsborough for a common object, and having .a common purpose, and they did what , they met for in capital fashion. Scarcely one who met there — and there were no women or children among them — but could handle a gun and polish a musket ; and, gentlemen, I believe the Attorney-General re- joices, from the bottom of his heart, that they can do so. Suppose those men came to a resolution, such as the follow- ing: "Eesolved — That we are of opinion that the Union is unconstitutional, illegal, and a grievance, and should be re- pealed." I would ask had they not equally a right to meet and express that opinion ? Had they a right to say that they would resist the Eepeal of the Union ? I say they had. The Solicitor-General says they had not, by this prosecution. There is no law that I know of for one class of men any more than m DEFENCE OF CHAELES GAVAN DUFFY. 645 for auotlier ; there is no law for tlie nobleman that is not for the peasant ; and I have no doubt on my mind that you will not make any distinction whatever between the assemblao-e of seventy- five thousand men at Hillsborough and seventy-five thousand men at Tara. I have no more doubt than that I am now a living man, that with twelve men on their oaths, no such consideration of a paltry or pitiful nature will be allowed to enter their box, as to induce them to hold that meetings of a peaceful character, to petition the legislature and the Crown, are not as legal and consistent with the rights of the subject as that the Crown of these kingdoms belongs of right to our most gracious sover- eign. And now, gentlemen, I will take the hberty of directing your attention to the general character of the meetings, as it is demonstrated by the general tenor of the evidence, for I will take the evidence en masse in this respect. During the few weeks of respite which your lordships were kind enough to permit us, we appointed agents throughout every district of the country, to whom we assigned the duty of discovering what acts of violence, if any, had been committed at those meetings — whether the person of any man had been assaulted, and whether the property of any man had been injured — whether men who differed on pohtical points from the traversers felt terror or alarm at the meetings ; and we will prove by evidence the most incontestable, that no one of these things was ever known to have occmTed. No alarm was felt by any rational man in the community, for rue injury was any- where offered to life, character, or property. No living man had been adduced as a witness to prove anything of the kind, and for this obvious reason, that such a statement was utterly incapable of proof. The police were scattered everywhere through the country. "What was the sum and substance of their testimony ? This, that whether they were disguised or not disguised they were never subjected to unworthy treatment at the hands of the people — that no injury was ever inflicted upon them — that the people conducted themselves invariably with peacefulness, good order, and tranquilhty — and that, although this disadvantage is naturally connected with the assembling together of multitudes in vast masses, that the ill 64:6 Whiteside's speech beliavior of a solitary individual may be imputed to the charge of the whole meeting, and may bring danger on all, yet on no one occasion was there an instance of even an individual im- propriety of conduct. If the contrary was susceptible of proof, why was it not proved ? Our meetings were peaceable, orderly, and legal. But I forgot that, in saying this, I am ut- tering my own condemnation, for the monstrous proposition for which the Attorney-General is contending is, that the more peaceable, the more orderly, the more decorous were the meetings, the more deserving are they of reprehension ; and the more eloquently is it attested that their object and purpose are wicked and treasonable. The fact is, our peaceable demeanor is nothing more or less than an evidence of the atrocity of our fell intent. If we had acted Hke the old Irish — if we had demeaned ourselves like drunken, besotted, ill-conditioned men, knocking down and beating all we met, that w^ould have been all natural, and nobody's suspicions would have been aroused. That would have been quite consistent with the Irish character — the law would then have been broken, as it ought to have been broken, and as it had been broken in Ireland from time immemorial. But no ; we demeaned ourselves with courteousness toward every one, with the strictest good order ; and for that reason the suspicions of the Attorney-General are aroused — ^for that reason he walks into court with Hawkins and Hale in his hand, to prove that we have been guilty of treason, conspiracy, and everything that is horrible. I defy any man to keep the step to such music as is played by the temperance bands ; and because the people did not do so, oh, says the Attorney-Gen- eral, that's rank sedition ! He hears some attempt made by a parcel of hojs in the country to play some tune, and up he starts and says, that's rank treason. They don't play party tunes, however, these temperance bands ; no, they are not like the music — the good and loyal music — played by the bands in the North of Ireland. Oh, dear ! not at aU ; I'll tell you the music they played there — " The Protestant Boys will Carry the Day," " The Boyne Water," and " Oh, the Croppies Lie Down," of course, down, down, croppies he down. These are the loyal tunes in the North ; they despise all others in the m DEFENCE OF CHAKLES GAVAN DUFFY. 647 world, and many a broken head, and black eye, and sore arm was the result of not joining with the loyal bands who play those loyal tunes. They don't play " God Save the Queen," there at all, and because the temperance bands play it, oh ! says the Attorney-General, that's rank treason. Well, I think the charge was not far wide of the mark, for I never heard of a fouler or a darker conspiracy — to do what, though? — to murder harmony. Oh, yes, these temperance bands did con- spire, confederate, combine, and agree, to murder har- mony. We have heard of mottoes, too, and a good deal about the treasonable designs of them. Mind, they don't bear the in- scription of church and state, for one of the first of them was, " Liberty and Old Ireland." Compare that with church and state, and if you do not conclude that it is rank treason, why I ask you, is it not rank treason and foul con- spiracy, to put "Liberty and Old Ireland" on a flag? Another has " Eepeal of the Union," and another, " We will not be Slaves," — there's treason for you — no getting out of that. Come we to the next, and its awful, "We will not be Slaves !" There's treason for you. The people say, we will trust in O'Connell and his advice, who tells us to come quietly to a meeting, and go home peaceably. There's treason for you. He tells us not to commit a crime, and we obey him ; that's rank treason. We go to meetings quietly, return peaceably, don't drink, commit no crime, violate no law, and up starts the Attorney-General and tells us, it is all rank treason and foul conspiracy. Talking about mottoes, it's very odd what I can teU you of the late Duke of Sussex — I will go even to royalty for it. The Duke of Sussex made a speech some time after the Manchester massacre. That speech was delivered at the Fox Ciub dinner, in Norwich, in the je&v 1820, and when the King's health was given it was drunk in silence — mind that, in silence— the King was the brother of the Duke of Sussex, and yet his health was given in silence. That's not the way we do the thing in Ireland. When the Queen's name is mentioned, we kick up our heels, and fling our hats into the air, and shout for joy— that's the way we do things here. At the dinner 648 Whiteside's speech where the Duke of Sussex made the speech there was a mot- to, " Liberty or Death !" and the Duke said he would prefer losing his life to his liberty. That was the language of one that might have filled the throne of England; but the moment a poor Irishman puts Liberty on a banner, the officers of the Crown start up and say, it's all treason. In the course of this trial, a speech of Mr. O'Conneh's, in which he speaks of the battle of the Boyne, and the defeat of the Irish people, was read. It was singular enough, that Scott, in alluding, on one occasion, to the battles of his country- men in flood and field, admonished the Scots not to faU into the mistake of their ancestors, but to be steady, firm, and united in their moral agitation, and not to be divided and wavering as their ancestors were in their physical conflicts. This was precisely the meaning of Mr. O'Connell's allusion to the battle of the Boyne. He encouraged the people to firm- ness in the political struggle in which they were engaged, by a reference to historical facts. His language plainly meant nothing more nor less than this — " By their want of persever- ance your ancestors lost the memorable battle of the Boyne ; in the constitutional struggle in which you are engaged, be sure that you preserve perseverance and unity, and you will certainly succeed." But let me ask you, gentlemen, is my chent responsible for the speeches of Mr. O'Connell? Mr. Duffy was not at any of the monster meetings. [The learned gentleman here referred at some length and with considerable ability and great ingeniousness, to the speeches relied on by the Crown. He strongly censured Lord Beaumont's attack on Mr. O'Connell, and justified his calling the English foreigners on decisions of the English law courts. He also ridiculed the idea that any speech of a minister could make meetings for any legal purpose, peaceably conducted, illegal. In looking to what had oc- curred at the meeting at MuUaghmast, there might have been some- thing said which was violent and improper; but looking to the cor- rect report of what Mr. O'Connell had said, so far from expressing any wish to make any religious distinctions by a reference to the massacre supposed to have taken place, he said it was a massacre committed, not by Protestants on Catholics, but by Irish Catholics IN DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAYAN DUFFY. 649 upon members of the same faith. His object evidently was not to create any rehgious distinctions, or to create ill will between Pro- testant and Catholic. Mr. Whiteside then adverted to the Proces- sions Act, which he showed had reference to Orange processions only; and after stating the parliamentary history of the measure, thus continued:] There was one other gentleman who supported the amend- ment, and he is, I believe, the second gentleman you are called upon to convict, another son of Mr. O'Connell, and on the same manly and constitutional grounds, that if men were wrong in their opinion, that the power of the law w^as sufficient- ly stringent to put them down ; but they should be allowed irankly to state their opinions. He spoke the opinions of a respectable portion of the population of Ireland — of millions of the Irish people. Will the learned gentleman stand up to tell you that marching — I put it that they marched regularly in procession — I want to know : Will it here be laid down by the bench or asserted by the law officer of the Crown, that that is illegal? That, as against the Orangemen, required an inter- position of a statute to put it down, and you, gentlemen, are called upon without any statute, to declare by your verdict, that such processions are illegal and unconstitutional. There- fore, gentlemen of the jury, to sum up matters in relation to those meetings, whether with regard to processions as they are called, I submit they were lawful and legal, and that you know of your own knowledge, as part of the history of the country, that processions a hundred times more formidable occurred for a hundred years, without objection, and that it required an act of the legislature to put them down, and that you will say to those legislators. As you thought fit to put down the Pro- testants of the North, we will now leave you to deal with those processions that you would not also put down, though called upon to do so. It is insinuated that those large meetings were calculated to excite discontent, but the kind of discontent is not stated. Many men are discontented who are not conspirators. A hun- gry man is discontented, and Cicero, with all his eloquence, could not make him a contented subject, though not a con- spirator. The advocates for the abolition of slavery were dis- 650 Whiteside's speech contented. The very legislature has felt the wisdom of dis- content, and made laws which never would have been made but for the discontent. Therefore, it is not a crime to be dis- content with any law, and that does not make my client out to be a conspirator, except something is done illegal or subversive of the principles of the constitution. I take it that the word discontent may be better understood by coupling it with the word disaffection. It is not said to be disaffection against her Majesty or the forms of the constitution. No such thing. It is not stated that the discontent relates to the sovereign or her authority. I quite admit, that to excite discontent against the form of the constitution would be illegal ; to excite discontent against the House of Commons would be seditious ; to excite discontent against the just prerogatives of the House of Peers would be seditious ; to excite discontent against "royalty, to curtail the prerogatives of the Crown, to say the Crown was an unnecessary part of the constitution, would be seditious ; but, to admit the Queen, Peers, and Commons is the best and most beneficial form of government that the wit of man can contrive for the protection and prosperity of the people, and to wish to extend the beneficent principles of that constitution to every part of the empire, never can be held to be discontent against the constitution which you applaud, and which you de- sire to have extended to the land of your birth. Therefore, gentlemen, all that has been said in that indictment about dis- affection and disloyalty only applies to an effort not to do away with the House of Commojis, but to restore it ; not to abohsh the House of Peers, but to bring it back to where its presence is so desirable. Not to limit the prerogative of the Crown, but, perhaps improperly, to extend its privileges. How then can that be demonstrated to be an illegahty. Now, gentlemen, consider for a moment the zeal of my client, and some of the other traversers, to effect their object, and put yourselves in their position. Suppose you were of opinion that the Union had been carried by unfair and dishonest men, and that you conscientiously believed it to be an evil to your country, what mode would you naturally resort to to obtain the repeal of that measure ? Having reflected on the past history of Ireland, what course would naturally suggest itself to you IN DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY. 651 to get from the parliament of England the measure you de- manded ? ■ An unreflecting man might say, why not ask it of the Crown ? Why not rely quietly on the justice of the cause? But an Irishman, one of the traversers, might say, we did ap- peal to justice, and we found it a broken reed. We did rely on the truth and justice of our cause, but we gained nothing by it. It is a very questionable doctrine, indeed, whether po- Htical rights and privileges are only to be granted when it is necessary to concede them for the purpose of checking discon- tent, and to teach that great but painful secret, to rely on pop- ular organization, and everything wiU be granted, but that without it, everything would be denied. [Mr. Whiteside continued briefly to advert to the agitations which have been organized in Ireland since 1760, when the first association of Catholics was formed; and having come down to the Catholic Association, he showed that in everything, save the object, the Kepeal Association was its fac simile.] They circulated, in 1828, eight hundred copies of the Weekly Kegister. The Brunswick clubs have done the same by the Evening Mail. The government of the day passed an act to put down the Catholic Association. What, then, was the ob- vious duty of the government with respect to the Eepeal As- sociation ? If they Avanted to put it down, why not adopt the course pointed out by Lord Jocelyn in the month of May last ? and when they, in effect, admitted all associations of a similar kind before to have been legal, it is impossible for the most discriminating eyes to discover a difference between them. I am sure it will be admitted on all hands that, as a lawyer, there is no man whose words are more deserving attention than Lord Plunket ; and now let me draw your attention to the opinion which he has expressed relative to the legality of the Cathohc Association. He was too good a lawyer not to know that the association was not at variance with the common law of these countries, and that in order to its suppression it was necessary that the government should be armed with additional powers beyond those which they then possessed. Accordingly, after Mr. Goulbourn had given a description of the association, Lord Plunket rose and expressed himself in the following language : 652 Whiteside's speech [Here the learned counsel read an extract from Lord Plunket's speech on the occasion in question, in which he stated, inter alia, that he would not take upon him to say that the society, the Catho- lic Association, was illegal.] Common sense and common law were on the side of Lord Plunket, and that the principles which he propounded were founded on truth is clearly evidenced by subsequent events, for the government, finding it utterly impossible to crush the as- sociation by common law proceedings, were obliged to have recourse to parliament for new and more extensive powers. Lord Brougham's speech on that memorable debate is one which for brilliancy of thought and energy of expression, must ever stand pre-eminent. He, too, demonstrated the absurdity of alleging that the association was at variance with the com- mon law ; and hear the language in which he propounds his opinions. [The learned counsel read from the Mirror of ParUament, Lord Brougham's eloquent defence of the Catholic Association, in which the noble lord, after ridiculing the conduct of those who pretended that the peaceful conduct of the people during the emancipation movement constituted the most appalling feature of the movement, concluded by observing that such language brought to his mind the quotation :] " My wound is great because it is so small." And surely the inference was plain that was conveyed in the next line — " Til en 'twould be greater were it none at all." And upon the same principle it is contended that the danger of the present movement bears an exact proportion to the tranquillity and good conduct of the people. "Well, then came two acts of parliament. The first, ^vhich was the 6th of George IV., chap. — , was for the suppression of the association ; and next came an act which I think the Attorney-General might as well have refrained from alluding to. It is an act which ex- pired in two years from its passing. It was called the Coer- cion Act. A more tyrannical act of parliament was never passed by any government ; and it is to be regretted that it IN DEFENCE OF CHAELES GAYAN DUFFY. 653 sliould have been introduced bj a ministry from wliom we sliould rather have expected measures favorable to the hber- ties of the people. How, I ask, can you be called upon to de- clare that the Kepeal Association, which is less comprehensive and more mild in its constitution than any of the others, is, unlike them, at variance from the common law? The first thing on which the Attorney-General relied, in order to prove the constitution of the association, and the full intent of the conspiracy, was the associates' card ; but I, for the life of me, cannot understand what evidence of conspiracy there is on the face of that document, unless, indeed, a sketch of the bank of Ireland (a very bad one, by the way) can be regarded in that hght. On one corner of it is the word Catholic, on another, the word Protestant, on the third, the word Presbyterian, and in the middle, the motto — Quis separahit. That did not look like a conspiracy ; did it not rather look like a charitable and generous attempt to unite all classes of religionists in the same bond of union, and to merge in oblivion all sectarian differ- ences ? My learned friend did not allude to this motto, and yet I think it is of no insignificant importance — ^for it proves the true character of the movement, and shows that instead of having been instituted, as alleged by the Attorney-General, for the purpose of spreading dissension among the different classes of her Majesty's subjects, it was instituted expressly for the purpose of promoting good will and good fellowship among all classes of the community. The Attorney-General next re- ferred to the members' card, and appeared to be of opinion that it was pregnant with evidence most damning and conclu- sive of the seditious objects of the Eepealers ; but I confess I am quite at a loss to imagine how he managed to arrive at such a conclusion. One corner of the card is occupied by a statis- tical calculation of the yearly amount of the revenue of our country ; there is, surely, no mark or token of conspiracy in that. In another corner we find an accurate statement of the population of the country, in another corner we find a correct statement of the geographical extent of the country ; as com- pared with other countries ; there is then a statement of how much Ireland supphed toward the maintenance of the wars, and the whole concludes by the assertion of a fact which I am sure 654 Whiteside's speech no man here will dispute — namely, that we have no parliament ; and yet this card is given in evidence to prove a conspiracy. Undoubtedly there are some historical allusions in the card, but will it be pretended for a moment that it is criminal to allude to historical events ? If so, the Scotch people ought to be put on trial for conspiracy, and Burns, who wrote some beautiful lines on Bannockburn, must henceforward be handed down to pos- terity as a conspirator. But now I come to the volunteers' card, and were it not for the valuable assistance which I have no doubt I wiU receive from your lordships in the task, I would approach the interpretation of this card with fear and trem- bhng. In one corner of it I find a likeness, faithful I am to presume, of a celebrated Irish legislator, who rejoiced in the appellation of OUam Fodlha. I confess, with shame, my utter incompetency to treat of the merits of this gentleman — but my Lord Chief Justice, who is deeply read in Irish lore, is conver- sant, no doubt, with his writings, and will understand the prin- ciples of law which have been propounded by this illustrious Solon. He, gentlemen, will fully explain to you the principles which this illustrious legislator inculcated, and is the best judge of what was seditious, unlawful, and rebellious in putting the head of 011am Fodlha on the card. In that case I have to tell you, gentlemen, that the judges on the bench are a party to the conspiracy, for, if you look into the hall of the courts, a place where you come to seek for justice, and where it was most likely to be had inside, I say, the founders of this institu- tion have had the hardihood to place the head of OUam Fodlha in a niche there. You will give all the value of purity of inten- tion to the people who thought OUam Fodlha ought to be a model of uprightness and purity, while you must brand as con- spirator any man who puts that name on a card. Here is a name that I confess puzzles me a little, and one in reference to which I must certainly apply to Judge Burton for assistance. It is the next name on the card, and is called Dathy. Did you ever hear of such a name as Dathy ? Why, the very sound of it is conspiracy. Dathy ! but who he was, what his opinion and thoughts, how he conducted himself, whether in accordance with the law or against it, I can't teU. But if there was anything particularly wicked in his conduct, to show you IN DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAYAN DUFFY. G55 that because his name was put on this card, the people who did so were conspirators in Ireland, I leave it for the learned judge to explain it to you, gentlemen of the jury. All I know about the gentleman is, that I am assured by Mr. Moore here he was a Pagan, and died at the foot of the Alps, from a flash of lightning. The learned Attorney-General forgot to prove to you what he said, or that such persons as Dathy or 011am Fodlha ever existed at all. I leave it to you, gentlemen, to judge what the names of those old gentlemen had to do with the conspiracy charged against the defendants here, and you are also to determine that the defendants are guilty of a foul conspiracy, because the names were on the cards. The learned judge, who is so well versed in the antiquities of Ireland, will examine into all these matters, and no doubt he will enlighten you very much on the subject. But the defendants go forth and put two other names on their cards, and what names are those ? The names of Grattan and Flood. Yes, they had the hardihood to put such names on their cards. Men whose names would go down to posterity — whose memory would be handed down from generation to generation as long as Ireland lasted ; but how would those names be handed down ? Was it as men who struck down the monarchy and abohshed the con- stitution of the realm — who, by their fierce spirits and force of arms, carried all before them ? Would they be handed down as such ? No, they would not ; but as true men, to one of whom even the Irish Protestant parliament had voted no less a sum of money than £100,000 for his exertions in the cause of his country ; the two peaceable men, who had, by their per- suasive and eloquent tongues, accomplished more than ever was accompHshed by man — the two men to whom the world looked back with admiration, respect and esteem, and is it come to this in Ireland, that an Irish jury are called upon to pronounce men a band of conspirators, because they put the names — the immortal names — of Flood and Grattan on their cards ? Are the defendants to be found guilty of a conspiracy for inserting the names of such men on their cards, whose hves and actions they endeavored, if not to emulate, at least to fol- low? If such be the case, I say it here, and I say it emphatic- ally, that the answer will be found enshrined in the hearts of 656 WHITESIDE'S SPEECH an Irisli jury. What is there treasonable in the names of Grattan and Flood being put on a card ? The next card is rather singular, and if treason existed in the names of OUam Fodlha, and of Grattan and Flood, I deny the ingenuity of man to discover anything in this portion of the card bordering on conspiracy. Holbrooke was employed by the board of Works, in connexion with the Castle, and this was the man who was employed in open day to print the card for the ap- pointment of Eepeal Wardens — nothing dark, secret, or hid- den about it ; ah. done openly in the face of day, and that by a man employed by government. The first thing I see on that card is a picture of the Queen on the throne, with the sceptre in her hand, and the crown on her head, and underneath, the words, " God save the Queen." If that was not the expression of loyalt}^ I don't know what is ; and unless you can come to the conclusion that there is something very malignant and wicked in that, you must and wall say, not guilty. We next pass on to the beauties of nature, and I find here on the left of the picture the Giant's Causeway ; that is a rare and curious production of nature. Were any of you ever at the Giant's Causeway ? If not, go there, and endeavor to dis- cover the analogy between the conspiracy which the Attorney- ■ General insinuated existed between it and the present defend- ants. Where do we get in next ? To Glendalough, in the county of Wicklow. I find that on the right hand of the card. Look what a serious matter this is. The Giant's Causeway on one hand, and Glendalough on the other. Who can deny that is not rank conspiracy. It was not with the Jacobins of France they were dealing, but with the beauties of Glendalough and the Giant's Causeway. The next place painted on the card was " Achill," in the West, and, lest Mr. O'Connell should be forgotten, here is a very nice picture of Derrynane Abbey ; then there are the words " Erin go Bragh " — a little dog, and one of the old Irish harps. I hope the day will never come when a jury will consider such allusions to the ancient glory and music of Ireland, which, it must be acknowledged, is the most touch- ing, the most pathetic and beautiful in Europe — I hope and say the day will never come when such allusions will be con- sidered by a jury as a conspiracy. m DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY. G57 There was an explanation written to tlie card by Mr. O'Cal- laghan, and it was contended, as one reason for a repeal of the Union, that Ireland was the only nation in Europe that had not a parhament of its own. It was not true " that the Irish people never fought well except out of their own country ; they ought to remember Benburb, where the unfortunate Charles the First was backed by the Irish against his rebellious Eng- lish subjects, who ultimately brought his head to the block." Was it wrong to speak of the brave defence made by the Irish ? The treaty exists to this moment which proves what they did. And is it a crime to respect the memory of the brave ? I now come to the rules for the Repeal Wardens, upon which the Attorney-General commented so gravely. — They are taken from the rules of the old Catholic Associ- ation. [The learned gentleman read this document, and then con- tinued.] These rules are copied from those of the old association, and contain instructions to the Repeal Wardens to guard against illegal societies and all combinations against the law. [Mr. Whiteside then read the rules of the National Associationj from which the rules of the Loyal Repeal Association were formed, when Mr. Justice Burton requested of him to read again rule 2dj containing the denunciation of physical force. Mr. Whiteside then read the resolutions proposed by the libera- tor, and which were adopted in July, 1843, and to allow him some rest. Mr. Henn read the address to the people of Ireland. Mr. Whiteside, in continuation, adverted to the letter of Mr. S. Crawford, upholding our right to a federal parliament, which, he said, differed but very httle from the plan of the liberator for an independent legislature, and asked was it not an important fact that a gentleman of his property and station in the country should have made such a declaration. He then referred to Mr. O'Brien, and asked could they believe that such a man would have joined himself to any body whose purposes was illegal. The learned gentleman spoke of Mr. O'Connell's opposition to the Union from C58 Whiteside's speech 1800 to the present time ; lie spoke of his denunciations of Louis Philippe and of the American slave-owners, and he asked could such a man have any design of appealing to France or America for assistance in the forcible attainment of his ends, and con- tinued.] I submit, on the whole of this part of the case, that is it impossible, looking to the publicity of their proceedings, the time their opinions were first taken up, the motives that led those people to adopt those opinions, the consistency with which they adhered to them — it is impossible to come to the conclusion from any one thing that has been adopted, and as Lord Erskine says, printed and given to the world for the last twelve months — ^it is impossible to come to the conclusion that those persons were banded together in a wicked and abomin- able conspiracy to accomplish their nefarious designs — their preconceived plot, by the wicked means specified in that in- dictment. Gentlemen of the jury, Mr. Attorney-General has deprecated, and deprecated strongly, the agitation of this question for a Repeal of the Union. He has told you that there is a fixed set- tlement forever of the constitutional relations between the two kingdoms. Gentlemen of the jury, the Irish people, or a large mass of them, are of opinion that they do labor under grievances — that there are causes and reasons why they should seek for a Repeal of this Union, and that you are not to condemn them on that ground. The universal people of Ireland look to the composition of the government — they see in it what I would call honorable and excellent men — but they see among that, government no one man connected with Ireland, to represent their wants, their wishes, or their grievances. Of self-legisla- tion they are deprived ; of self-government it would seem they are incompetent ; and it is a matter no less of surprise than of concern, that the country which gave birth to a Burke — the teacher of statesmen, the savior of states — cannot now furnish a single individual quaUfied to share in the administra- tion of the affairs of his native land. You may say, gentle- men, and with truth, that it is a matter of small moment who the individuals may be that compose the ministry of the day, IN DEFENCE OF CHAKLES GAVAN DUFFY. 659 provided the people are prosperous, contented, and happy. But are the people of Ireland prosperous, contented, and hap- py ? Alas ! a large portion of our countrymen are unhappy, discontented, and destitute. They look around for the cause of their misfortunes ; they behold a country blessed by Provi- dence with means of wealth, but the strong man pines for a pittance ; for a daily sixpence, he strives with gaunt famine in the midst of fertility and plenty. Is he seditious if he ex- claims, in the language of indignant remonstrance, that he thinks a native parliament would give him the means of liveli- hood ? Is he criminal to wish for the means of life — is he seditious if he — knowing that his single voice would be un- heeded as the idle wind — should join with other men for the declaration of their common wants, their common grievances, and their common sufferings ? Is he, or are they conspirators because they think a local parliament might perhaps confer on them those blessings which they now sigh for ? They think, perhaps erroneously, that a resident aristocracy and a resident gentry would prove the source of industry and the means of wealth. They see their aristocracy absentees — ^they see mis- chief daily and hourly increasing; they think, perchance, a native parliament might induce them to reform, and are they conspirators because they say so ? They know, and true it is, the beauties of Ireland — if now, indeed, she has any— are not sufficient to induce her gentry or nobility to return. What are her beauties compared with the fascination of the impe- rial senate, and the glittering splendor of a court ? They see, and they believe that wealth is daily and hourly diminishing in this country. Before them they think there is a gloomy prospect and little hope. They transfer their eyes to this metropolis in which we stand — they see what a quick and sensitive people cannot shut then- eyes to. The dwellings of your nobility are converted into boarding houses and barracks — ^your stamp office is extinguished — your Linen Hall is waste — your Exchange deserted, your University forsaken, your Custom-house almost a poor-house. And, not long since, you may have read a debate with reference to the removal from an asylum, not far from where you sit, of the poor old Irish pensioners, who bravely served their country, to trans- 660 Whiteside's speech plant them in their old age to another countrj, to save a miserable pittance. They see daily and hourly that the ex- penditure of money is withdrawn from the poorer country to the richer, on the ground of the appHcation of the hard rules of political economy, or the unbending principles of imperial centralization. They look to their parhament house — and the Union has improved it into a bank. In their eyes it stands a monument of past glory and present degradation. The glo- rious labors of our gifted countrymen within those walls are not yet forgotten. The works of the understanding do not quickly perish. The verses of Homer have lived two thousand five hundred years without the loss of a syllable or a letter, whUe cities, and tem- ples, and palaces have fallen into decay. The eloquence of Greece tells us of the genius of her sons, and the freedom which produced it. We forget her ruin in the recollection of her greatness ; nor can we read even now, without emotion, the exalted sentiments of her inspired children, poured forth in their exquisite language, to save the expiring liberties of their country. Perhaps their genius had a resurrectionary power, and in later days quickened their degenerate posterity and roused them from the lethargy of slavery to the activity of freedom. We, too, have had among us, in better times, men who approached the greatness of antiquity. The imper- ishable record of that eloquence will ever keep alive in our hearts a zeal for freedom and a love for country. The com- prehensive genius of Flood, the more than mortal energy of Grattan, the splendor of Bushe, the learning of Ball, the noble simplicity of Burgh, the Demosthenic fire of Plunket, and the eloquence of Curran rushing from the heart, wUl sound in the ears of their countrymen forever. They toiled to save the an- cient constitution of Ireland, but wit, learning, eloquence, and genius, lost their power over the souls of men. With one great exception, these, our distinguished countrymen, have passed away, but their memories cannot perish with them. Their eloquence and their names will be remembered by the grateful patriot while genius is honored or patriotism revered. Lastly, on this subject of the Union, the Irish people say the imperial parliament have not attended to their pecuHar IN DEFENCE OF CHAELES GAVAN DUFFY. 661 wants. They say our character has been misunderstood, and sometimes slandered: our yices have been magnified into crimes, and the crimes of a few have been visited upon the nation. The Irish, " the mere Irish," have been derided as creatures of impulse, without a settled understanding, a reason- ing power, a moral sense. They have their faults, God knows they have — I grieve to say it — but their faults are redeemed by the splendor of their virtues. They have rushed into this agitation with ardor, because it is their nature when they feel strongly to act boldly and speak passionately, ascribe their excesses to their enthusiasm, and forgive. RecoUect tiiat same enthusiasm has borne them triumphant over fields of peril and glory — impelled them to shed their dearest blood and offer their gaUant lives in defence of the liberties of England. The broken chivalry of France attests the value of that fiery en- thusiasm and marks its power ; nor is their high spirit useful only in the storm of battle ; it cheers their almost broken hearts, hghtens their load of misery, when it is almost insup- portable, sweetens that bitter cup of poverty which thousands of your countrymen are doomed to drink. "What, that is truly great, without enthusiasm has been won for man? The glorious works of art, the immortal produc- tions of the understanding, the incredible ardor of heroes and patriots for the salvation of mankind, have been prompted by enthusiasm, and nothing else. Cold and duU were our exist- ence here below unless the deep passions of the soul, stirred by enthusiasm, were summoned into action for gTeat and noble purposes — the overwhelming of vice, wickedness, tyranny — the securing and supporting of the world's virtue — the world's hope — the world's freedom. The hand of Omnipotence, by whose touch this island started into existence from amid the waters that surround it, stamped upon its people noble quali- ties of the intellect and the heart. Directed to the wise pur- poses for which heaven designed them, they wiU yet redeem — exalt — regenerate Ireland. [A loud burst of applause followed the concluding sentence, which was responded to by the people in the haU, continued for several minutes. 662 Whiteside's speech Mr. Moore said that his friend Mr. Whiteside being very much exhausted, begged their lordships would permit him to postpone the remainder of his address (as he had not yet concluded all he had to say) to the following morning. Their lordships at once acceded to this application, and the court adjourned.] At the next sitting of the court, February 2, Mr. Whiteside rose to resume his address to the jury, but was interrupted by the Chief Justice, who begged he would wait for a moment, and then pro- ceeded to observe : I am not now addressing myself to you, Mr. Whiteside, but I would wish the people in the gallery would attend to what the Court feel right to say with regard to the im- propi'iety which took place yesterday evening. A great deal of cheering and improper noise took place — a just tribute due to the distinguished talents of Mr. Whiteside, but a great indecorum, and improperly committed before the Court. Such a thing cannot be allowed again ; and those who are disposed so to signify their ap- probation, or disapprobation, of what takes place in this court, must be informed that the court is not the place to show any signs of such feeling ; and they must hold their tongues, and keep quiet. Mr. Whiteside then resumed his address. He said — I shall draw your attention now, gentlemen, to the charge in this indictment on the subject of the arbitration courts. This single accusation is spread over a great portion of the indictment, and much dwelt upon by my friend, the Attorney- General, in his address to you. I apprehend it would astonish you very much if any of you were prevented on the ground that you recommended one of your brother jurors not to go law. You must recollect the thing to be done, and advised to be done, and how it is to be done^to see if the act itself be legal, and if the means adopted for carrying out of the act be legal also. I submit that it is both a religious and moral duty, if possible, to compromise the subject matter of litigation be- tween two parties, and you will find it in that book, which I am sure is a high authority in your estimation. Next it is a moral duty. In Paley's Moral Philosophy, entitled " Litiga- tion," you will find these words : IN DEFENCE OF CHAELES GAYAN DUFFY. 6G3 "But since it is supposed to be undertaken simply with a view to the ends of justice and society, the prosecutor of the action is bound to con- fine himself to the cheapest process which will accomplish these ends, as well as to consent to any peaceable expedient for the same purpose ; as to a reference in which the arbitrators can do what the law cannot, divide the damage when the fault is mutual, or to a compounding of the dispute by accepting a compensation in the gross without entering into articles and items, which it is often very difficult to adjust separately." Therefore, the thing recommended to be done is both a re- hgious and moral duty. The law itself respects arbitration and encourages it by every means, and it has occurred fre- quently in our experience, that while a suit was pending, and after great expense was brought before a judge and jury, it has been suggested by counsel or the court that the subject matter of that dispute. shall be referred by consent to discreet men to adjudicate upon it. The statute law of the land re- cognizes arbitration. By the sixteenth WiUiam III., it is pro- vided that it shall be lawful to refer matters to arbitration. By two later statutes, one that is called by the name of the learned gentleman that passed it — Bigot's Act, 3 and 4 Yic, there are provisions introduced to facilitate arbitration and compel the attendance of witnesses. By the fifth and sixth William IV., it is also recognized, and by the fifth and sixth Victoria, where the matter in dispute is under twenty pounds, the arbitration awards are reheved from stamp duty. Tlie statute law recommends arbitration to be adopted where it makes no positive enactment on the subject. [The learned gentleman referred to the Friendly Societies Act, and several authorities to show that arbitration was recognized, and proceeded.] Thus, gentlemen, you perceive that religion and morahty sup- port and sanction, and that the statutes assist in enforcing arbi- tration—that arbitration to rest exclusively on the consent of the parties. [Having referred to Blackstone's Commentaries, in support of this proposition, he proceeded.] Now gentlemen, to apply this matter to the parole evidence be- fore us. This evidence consisted of the testimony of Hoyen- don, a policeman. He stated that he was an inspector of poilce ; 664 Whiteside's speech that he went into a reading room at the Black Eock ; he was received with kindness ; there were no professional men there in wig or gown ; no oath was administered ; the parties pro- ceeded solely, and singly, by consent of the parties, and they disclaimed all other jurisdiction. On consent, and consent alone, they acted ; two parties appeared before them, and that vital suit was referred to Kingstown, but whether it was settled or not I know not. Referring to the doctrines I have stated, it is plain that on consent, and consent only, did the parties presume to act. To advise men not to go to law is no crime, but a moral duty, and that several should agree in the recommendation, in the per- formance of a moral duty, is not a crime. The -thing to be done is not illegal, and the question is whether the mode in which it is done is illegal, to carry out the common plot or conspiracy laid in the indictment. Four or five documents were read by the Attorney-General, but they proved nothing — one being the form of summons served by one party on the other. I tell you that if a matter was referred to you by two brother jurors in the box, you must give, and it is the usual practice for gentlemen when a matter is referred, to give and sign the same form of notice apprising the parties they are to come before them on a particular day, and refer the matter in dispute to them, so that allegation is good for nothing. As to the other document, the form of award, it shows nothing but how a proper award may be made. The statute law prescribes that if the subject matter of arbitration be twenty pounds and upwards, the award must be stamped, that the revenues of the country may be protected. The form of carrying out the award shows only this — that where there is a consent to refer a dispute to A B., here is the form of award in which the consent can be carried into execution ; and the directions read state, you are to take notice, that the arbitra- tors have no power, authority, or jurisdiction, except by con- sent of such parties as came before them. That was the last rule adopted by the Association ; and the proposition of Dr. Gray, that any person that would not abide by the decision of IN DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY. 665 « the arbitrators should be expelled the Association, was not adopted. There is nothing more in this part of the case but this a recommendation to the parties to consent to arbitration. That consent is the root of all references to arbitration, and the thing being a moral thing to do, and the means being legal, I submit that this novel, this unprecedented, extraordinary ground of accusation cannot be rehed upon in the present case. It is said you did more — you not only induced parties to refer suits to arbitration, but those justices that had been dis- missed were to be selected as arbitrators. That has been most strongly pressed by the Attorney- General, and has been over and over again urged. I admit frankly that it was said by Mr. O'Connell and others that they hoped that those persons, being dismissed justices residing in some parts of the coun- try, should be selected or appointed to act on behalf of the people ; and they hoped the time would come when the people would be at liberty to elect their magistrates. It arose from a matter merely accidental, and never was intended or con- templated by those who became Repealers. It was long afterward that the act was done which led to the appointment of these ex-justices as arbitrators, and it was not the result of a common design. It arose from the act of the government. They saw that a number of gentlemen of high respectability attended these Repeal meetings, and it is quite plain, from reading the correspondence of the Lord Chancellor, that he did not consider they had thereby done an illegal act. In his letter of the 28th of May, 1843, he says that it had been his earnest determination not to interfere with expression of opinion by any magistrate in respect to the Repeal of the Union, although, from his arrival in this country, he felt it to be inconsistent with his duty to appoint to the commission of the peace, any one who was pledged to the support of that measure ; but he afterward assigns as his reason for dismiss- ing them, that after the discussions in the House of Lords, and the declarations made in parliament by Sir R. Peel, in answer to the plain and distinct question of Lord Jocelyn, he felt it his duty to ask whether they intended to attend any more of these meetings, and if so, to dismiss them. That letter plainly 666 Whiteside's speech showed tliat attending these meetings originally was not an illegal act, and his letter was then merely a warning. [The learned counsel quoted several high legal authorities to support his argument, and continued :] Gentlemen, I think the question of arbitration is so far set at rest. I have but one remark more to make, and that is, that before you hold anything to be criminal, merely because it is novel, you will ask and require from the Crown to show you some plain, clear expression in a book of law constituting the criminality of that act. [Mr. Whiteside referred to the parliamentary debates upon the question of the Union, and read extracts from the speeches of Grattan, Plunket, Bushe, Saurin, etc., to prove the fact that the day would come when the Union would be re- discussed and re- agitated. The learned counsel proceeded:] Gentlemen of the jury, it has been observed by the Attor- ney-General, — but very wrongly— that the condition of Ire- land at the time the Volunteers were established, warranted them in the resolutions which they adopted, but that the state of the law now does not justify a similar line of conduct. His argument was, that Ireland then had a parliament perfectly in- dependent, and that England obtained, by the enactment of sixth George I., the power to treat her as a dependent country ; and, therefore, the Volunteers were justified. But the argu- ment fails. Lord Coke, in Fourth Institutes, said that it was in the power of the English parliament to bind the people of Ireland, but not unless Ireland was expressly included by name in the act. This was, then, the state of the law in the time of the Volunteers. That Ireland was bound by an Enghsli act, when named in it, therefore the Volunteers acted against the letter of the law, though they did not against its spirit. "When we had a parHament here— which was deprived of its authority — if it were just to adopt resolutions condemnatory of the Eng- lish act which deprived that parliament of its power, how much more reasonable is it to adopt resolutions in the spirit of those of the Volunteers, when we have lost that parliament, and aU IN DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY. 667 the benefits of a resident legislature. I find, in lookinf^ af^ain at the resolutions, that an ancestor of my friend Mr. Tombs attested, by his own signature, that it was illegal and against the spirit of the law to attempt to bind the people of Ireland by an English act of parliament. The Attorney-General has said that the act of Union was a great and final settlement ; but that assertion destroys the very principle upon which the Union rests. If he says that an act of parliament contains a provision for its finahty, then the Yolunteers of '82 made no mistake. They found that by the sixth of George I. the parliament of England had pre- sumed to bind the people of Ireland, and they said we must have that act abandoned — repealed — and they succeeded. The parliaments of both countries passed the Declaration of Rights, and the Irish Lord Lieutenant assented to it — adopted it — and called it, in the language of the Attorney-General here, a great and final settlement ; yet afterward, the twenty- third of George III. was passed for the purpose of removing all doubts as to the right of the parliament of England being sufficient to bind the people of Ireland. Yet this eternal foundation — this so often asserted finality, was destroyed in 1800. It isicurious,too, that the act of Union contains no pro- vision that its finahty should not be discussed ; and, therefore, the Attorney's argument against the right of the traversers to do so, fails. [He then read an extract from Molyneux's book on the state of Ireland. The learned gentleman then quoted the passage in which the writer questioned the right of the English government to de- prive the Irish people of their ancient privileges, which they had possessed for five hundred years, and proceeded to say:] The English were so unable to get over the arguments con- tained in that book, that they ordered it to be burned by the common hangman — a circumstance which increases very much my estimation of the work. I will next call your attention to the consideration of what Mr. O'Connell has asserted about the revival of the Irish parliament, and I will first, however, dispose of his proposition for the "Eenewed action of the Irish parhament." Mr. 668 WHITESIDE S SPEECH O'Connell in that extraordinary document sets forth the whole of the Ii-ish population, and states his opinion, that household suffrage is the best. Why, gentlemen, that is the suffrage we have, at present, in Dublin. Every man who has a house worth ten pounds possesses a vote, and there are very few houses in Dublin that are not worth ten pounds. The Duke of Kichmond, who was examined by Mr. Erskine on the trial of Hardy, was of opinion that the whole system of the franchise was corrupt, and that every man who had not committed a crime ought to have a vote ; and that there ought to be annual parliaments, vote by ballot, etc., all of which was very well for a duke. And in his letter to Colonel Sharman he (the Duke of Bichmond) states that he is of opinion that the two nations should have but one parhament, provided the sovereign of England should reside a reasonable time in this country, and hold her imperial parhament in it, which he said her Majesty could do with a scrape of her pen — and, gentle- men, I hope she may. It is a positive insult to the under- standing of any man to say that such a state of things would not be a positive benefit to the country, improve her trade, her manufactures, and her resources. Even our own profession would be benefited by it ; for the residence of her most gra- cious Majesty in this country would be no bar to her loyal sub- jects to go to law. The Attorney-General adopted the Socratic doctrine in his argument with us : he put questions to us. Now, I am not to be held accountable for the doctrines propounded by others who have spoken before me. But can it be said, as was al- leged, that it is revolutionary to state that every town possess- ing ten thousand inhabitants should have a representative ? Why, that is but the principle of the Eeform Bill. Mr. O'Con- nell also says that every man who marries shall have a vote. I think there can be no objection on that score — and that the conspiracy on that ground may be abandoned ; and certainly such a question could not be submitted to a more favorable jury, for you are all married. Has Mr. O'Connell said that her Majesty was to be pulled from her throne — the House of Peers to be aboHshed — and the House of Commons extinguished ? No. What then has he done? He has been guilty of the IN DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAYAN DUFFY. 669 monstrous proceeding of extending the royal prerogative ! The Attorney-General — the legal champion of the Crown — charges it as a crime against Mr. O' Connell that he said the Queen has a larger, wider, and more extended prerogative than her Ma- jesty possesses. Where is the authority in which it is laid down that the man who propounded such a proposition is to be charged as a conspirator ? What authority is there for say- ing that Mr. Duffy, Mr. Steele, or any one else, is to be charged with conspiracy, because when they heard such a proposition they did not say to the person propounding it, cite us some authority ; cite us your case. Suppose Mr. O'Connell, instead of saying that parliament should be re- formed — that a parliament should be given to Ireland — said, sir, I am of opinion that parliament is a humbug — a nuisance ; that her Majesty has a perfect right to rule, independent of either House of parliament. Why, what would be the conse- quence? I cite a case in point. A celebrated writer in England wrote a book, in which he said that the House of Commons might be dispensed with. That was voted to be a scandalous and seditious libel by the House, and the Attorney-General of the day w-as directed to prosecute the writer. He was accordingly prosecuted, and the case is to be found in Peak's cases in the King's Bench. It is called the King v. Beeves. Lord Kenyon there laid it down that the power of free discussion was the right of every sub- ject of this country — a right to the free exercise of which we were indebted, more than to any other claimed by EngHshmen, for the enjoyment of all the blessings we possess — for the Be- formation — the revolution — and our emancipation from the tyranny of the Stuarts, etc., etc., — and that in a free country like this the productions of a political writer should not be hardly dealt with. He directed the jury to read through the whole book, and then form their judgment on the entire Avork. That was his charge, and do you wonder that the people of England should be so much attached to the judicial system under which they hve, when you hear laid down by the Lord Chief Justice of England a doctrine so constitutional — so favorable to freedom and the right of the subject as that doctrine. The jury in that case retired ; they had the book 670 Whiteside's speech before tliem, and thoiigli they decided that the book was im- proper, yet, nevertheless, they thought that he was not actuated by any bad intention ; and Lord Kenyon said he ap- proved of their verdict. That was the doctrine propounded from the bench, and the jury having looked with the eye of men of sense, qualified their verdict by saying they deprecated what was said by the defendant, the mode in which he con- ducted his argument; but they found their verdict of not guilty, and the Lord Chief Justice said he approved of their decision. Therefore, if Mr. O'Connell said her Majesty may dispense with the House of Lords, he would be safe according to the authority of that case. If he said the Queen might dispense with the House of Commons, he would be safe ac- cording to the authority of that case. But what has he said ? That the Lish peerage might be restored to the position in which it once stood — that the House of Lords would be Protestant, and that the House of Commons ought to be restored. In England the right of free discussion is the right of Eng- hshmen, and I put it to your good sense to say whether the arguments of the writer of that book, or Mr. O'Connell's ar- gument is more consistent with the principles of the constitution under which we hve ? Gentlemen, the power and prerogative of the Crown to issue writs seems to have been a very extensive power — at least, as it was formerly exercised. In the reign of Ehzabeth, she, wishing to have a majority, sent the writs to only fifty boroughs and left out ten. There arie very remarkable instances where the Crown have withheld writs from places entitled to send representatives to parhament as to numbers. Looking to the parliamentary history, we find the most elaborate discourse ever spoken. It was by Sir John Davies, the Attorney-Gen- eral to King James the First, and was to be found in " Leland's History of Ireland." In that discourse you will see the right King James the First had for what he did do, to create forty boroughs in the north of Ireland in one day. It was ques- tioned in that parliament whether he had a right to do so — the question was discussed — carried over to England, and it was decided in favor of his right, and those persons so elected m DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY. 671 under his writs sat in parliament to the period of the Union. The last instance of the kind was the issuing of a writ for the borough of Newark, and it was decided in the House of Com- mons by a very large majority that the sovereign had a right to create the borough. Mr. O'Connell's argument was this, that the sovereign has still the power to create boroughs in England. Chitty, in his work on the prerogatives of the Crown, enters into that ques- tion, and says there was nothing to take away the prerogative of the Crown in that respect. Then, if it does exist, the Union is in the power of the sovereign, and that learned writer says it is in the power of the Crown to create boroughs as they did before. The learned counsel said, thei'e are two general con- sider.iuons that I shall advert to on the subject matter of this case : that is, whether the general conduct pursued by the de- fendants showed they were governed by motives that actuate men engaged in a conspiracy, and whether the general con- duct pursued by the government showed that the government beheved they were engaged in a conspiracy. How did the de- fendants act? Everything they did, everything they wrote, everything they spoke was before the public ; every morning their speeches appeared in the frigid Saunders, and at night in the fiery Pilot, and they sent n-p to the government proof of their guilt, and evidence for their conviction. They are spoken openly and in daylight, those dark projects, those treasonable designs, these hidden contrivances ; their rules are given to the public — they employed the printer of the Crown to print them ; and they declared their object to be the peaceable organization of the people — to concentrate popular opinion, and carry out the objects they had in view, and that was a legitimate and proper object. What was the conduct of the government? Did that government show they beheved that there existed in this country a conspiracy, beginning in March, and continu- ing up to October ? If those pubhcations were seditious, and proof of a conspiracy ; if they were incentives to rebellion, and calculated to poison the pubhc mind, and infect popular feel- ing in this country, for two whole years the court sat in which the Attorney-General had the right from his high station, to do what he thought proper in the defence of the law and consti- 672 Whiteside's speech tution, on any of those publications that are now asserted to be extraordinary seditions, and why have they not been prose- cuted by him ? And I retort on him the argument he used, that if it were mischievous in those defendants, or any of them, to spread poison through the land, it is more mischievous in the champion of the government, the sentinel of the state, not at once to come forward and stop the mischief when it might be stopped. Parliament sat until the month of August, and I call your attention to the discussion to which the Attorney-General re- ferred — the question put by Lord Jocelyn to the minister, and the evasive answer given by that minister. I call upon you to recollect that up to the' latter end of August that parhament sat, and nothing was more easy, than for this ministry, com- manding a majority of that House, to say — " We put down the Catholic Association by the statute law — we put down unlaw- ful combination — we put down the Protestants of the North ; and give us now only a short act of parliament to put down those who disturbed the public peace. They were not called upon to do it, and they did not do it. They remain quiet until parliament breaks up — his Excellency, for whom I have the highest respect — retires from Ireland for the cultivation of those elegant tastes with which we know he is so familiar— the Chancellor is on the banks of the Thames, musing on law, and reading of Pope — the noble Secretary for Ireland has got into some quiet and lonely dell — the Attorney-General has escaped from the dehghts of St. Stephen's Green to enjoy the tranquillity of home — the Solicitor-General is indulging in the most agreeable anticipations of the future. The Prime Minis- ter is gone to Drayton, her Majesty to sea — Ireland is left to go head-forward to destruction. The conspiracy is raging through the land — all the ministers leave the country just before the explosion is to take place. The meeting at Clontarf is announced, and how shall I describe it ? — as a black cloud hung on the declivity of the mountain — a dangerous activity on the part of the government succeeds a dangerous silence, couriers fly here and there to summon our English function- aries. They say, here is sedition ; where is his Excellency ; where is the Lord Chancellor ? Here is a matter of political IN DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAYAN DUFFY. G73 expediency. Where is the noble Secretary? True, wlien pressed, the Attorney-General grew ardent, the Solicitor-Gen- eral apprehensive : they were, I beUeve, seen together on the sea-shore, straining their eyes toward the coast of England, and they were heard to exclaim : *' Ye gods, assimilate both time and space, And make two lawyers happy." They come, they come, the Privy Council is assembled. I cannot tell you, gentlemen, what passed, or what was said, at the first meeting of the august body ; the Eobertson or Gibbon of future times may tell. I'll tell you what they do : they do nothing, the do-nothing policy prevailed ; and on Friday they separated, haviag done nothing, with the happy consciousness that they had done their duty. Refreshed by sleep, they reas- sembled on Saturday. They pondered, they composed, they publish, and the proclamation is issued at three o'clock forbid- ding the meeting, for which meeting there were thousands on the march almost at that very moment, to attend next morn- ing. The commander-in-chief receives his order, and pre- pares for battle ; the cannon is loaded, the bayonet is fixed, the cavalry mount, and forth marches our victorious army in all " the pride, pomp, and circumstance " of glorious war. It was a glorious sight to see. The advance guard by a brisk movement pushed on and seized Aldborough House. The light infantry, protected by cavalry, rush forward, the army are placed in position, the pigeon-house bristled with cannon and looked awful, and the police skirmished, and the commander- in-chief — what did he do? It is stated that Sir Edward Blakeney at one o'clock rode down to inspect the troops, ap- proved of what was done, rode home and dined ! and if he does not get a peerage for the happy deeds he did that day, justice will not be done to Ireland. Such a triumph was never achieved since the renowned days of Irish history, when Brian Boroihme buckled on his mighty sword and smote the Danes. To be serious, was that a wise, consistent, judicious course of policy to make the law understood, respected, and obeyed ? "Was it not the last pohcy that should be resorted to for the 674 WHITESIDE'S SPEECH purpose of governing so peculiar a people as the Irish ? The meeting at Donnybrook was not forbidden ; the Clontarf meet- ing was to be put down by the bayonet. WUl constitutional knowledge be much edified by the body of that most interest- ing document, that learned and great performance, the procla- mation, which it fulminated at the very last moment, when the meeting is on the point of being held, although other meetings of the same character and nature have been endured by that same government ? Do the Irish laws vary with season, and is that law in June that is not law in October ? For the Attor- ney-General said the meeting at Donnybrook was the type of all the other meetings that were held ; and I put it to your own unbiased nature if it were ; if the government saw the men that went to that meeting, passing by the Castle Gate, and knew it was held, and were aware of it ; they read the speeches, they had their reporters there, and knew everything that passed, — why not then put down those meetings ? Heated, inflamed, they see an enthusiastic people in pursuit of a dar- ling object. Which are the most blamable, the people for holding those meetings that they did not see denounced or put down by the law, or the ministry that stood by and witnessed the folly, and knew of the madness that allowed the mischief to prevail and spread over the country until it was to burst forth Mke a fiery volcano, and sweep the country iu a torrent of devastation? and then they call upon you to convict my cHent. If you convict my chent, you convict the government. If you desire to acquit the government, you will acquit my client. These men are chosen by her Majesty to govern this great empire, the peace of the country is intrusted to their hands. Your lives and property, it is asserted, are in jeopardy ; that a black conspiracy has existed in this country since the month of March, that they knew it, and were aware of every act done in pursuance of that conspiracy ; they did no act to put it down ; they allowed the seditious speeches to proceed, and men.to harangue the people ; they read them, they noted them, but they took no proceedings, they asked no aid from parlia- ment to stop them, and now they want to get themselves clear of all possible blame, not meaning to say that the prosecution m DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY. 675 is not a bona fide prosecution, but at tlie last moment they try these men as guilty of an illegal act. In the ordinary course of human affairs, the most powerful and conclusive admissions will be drawn from the conduct of parties, but in cases of poli- tical conspiracy between the Crown and the subject, it is for you to take care, and great care, that it should not be in the power of the government to-day to say a certain thing by their conduct, as significant as their acts and declarations is lawful, and not to be censured ; and then to allow them to draw to- gether all the incautious language, all the violence that several public men have fallen into for a period of ten months, and put them all in an indictment, to overload the memory, and confuse the understanding by the mass of paper that has been put upon the table ; and to tell twelve honest men, who are governed by no other desire than to do justice, to speU out of the whole a black conspiracy, to subvert the monarchy, to up- root the constitution that you have sworn to protect, and to take away the prerogative of the Crown. I take the liberty to say this, that it is impossible for you to beheve, nor do I beheve, that the learned gentlemen I see before me ever thought there was a conspiracy. I don't believe they thought it amounted to a conspiracy. They did not during all that time prosecute for a conspiracy. It is unworthy of the great and very distinguished government which prosecutes in the present instance, to direct the thunders of their indignation against the enthusiastic young author of the " Memory of the Dead." Let the Solicitor-General tell how the government of England punished Mr. Moore for poems not a whit more m- dicative of conspiracy (if conspiracy indeed there be) than the stanzas which have been read to you. Let him tell you how Moore was punished for writing such lines as these in the " Lamentation of Aughrim :" Could the chain for an instant be riven Which tyranny flung round us then. Oh ! 'tis not in man nor in heaven To let tyranny bind it again. But 'tis past ; and though blazoned in story The name of our victor may be, Accursed is the march of the glory Which treads o'er the hearts of the free. 676 Whiteside's speech He will tell you hovr the bard was punished for perming the song of " Kourke, Prince of Breffiiy," and inserting in it such hues as these : Already the curse is upon her, And strangers her valleys profane : They come to divide — to dishonor ; And tyrants they long will remain. But onward ! — the green banner rearing, Go flash every sword to the hilt : On our side is Virtue and Erin ; On theirs is the Saxon and Guilt. Yes, gentlemen, the author of the " Adventures of an Irish Gentleman in search of a KeKgion," and of the " Memoirs of Lord Edward Fitzgerald," was punished. But how was he punished ? He was punished by a pension from the English government — yes, Moore was punished with a pension for his sedition ; and you, gentlemen of the jury, are now solicited to bring a verdict of " guilty " against the writer of this song, and to declare your conviction that the emanation of a mind, young, ardent, poetical, and imaginative, though mistaken, was written in furtherance of a common plan and design of the most infamous nature ! However ardent the youth of Ire- land may be, it should never be forgotten of them that they never forgot their loyalty to their sovereign, even when in 1715 and 1745 the best blood of England and of Scotland be- dewed the scaffold, in consequence of the mad and well-nigh successful, attempt to dislodge the present royal family from the throne of these countries, the Irish were faithful even to the death. Are not the free subjects of a free state to be per- mitted to raise their voices in constitutional protestation and remonstrance, when they think that their interests are endan- gered or injured? Scott, the most cautious of writers, was once called upon to decide between his attachment to liis party and his love of Scotland. The British ministry declared their intention to introduce, regardless of the feehngs of the Scot- tish people, who considered that their interests were vitally concerned, a bUl in reference to the joint-stock banks of Scot- land. The Scotch thought that they would be injured by the contemplated bill ; and Sir "Walter Scott, fired with indigna- m DEFENCE OF CHARLES GAVAN DUFFY. 677 tion at the idea that the act should be introduced without con- sulting the wishes and feelings of his countrymen, wrote un- der the signature of " Malachi Malgagrouther," a series of let- ters, which excited such a flame of indignation in the country from north to south, from east to west, that the minister of the Crown was obliged to fly away, with his obnoxious bill under his arm, just as the Attorney-General should be forced to fly off with his monster indictment on his shoulder, for it would not fit under any man's arm. But hear how Sir Walter Scott expressed his indignation. [The learned counsel read an extract from page 320 of " Mala- chi Malgagrouther's Letters.] The British minister failed, for the Scotch said, " we must get our joint-stock banks," aye, and they did succeed in getting them ; and are we not a country as good as Scot- land, that succeeded in wringing from the British minister their rights in what they considered a mercantile point of view? Was that to be done in a cold and servile man- ner? Do you think Scott did it in that cold and mawk- ish manner, and said, as we lawyers say, " Oh ! I respectfully submit." Not he ; he too well knew that he might as weU be whistling jigs to a milestone, and therefore he went boldly about the task, and Sir Walter Scott succeeded in making his country, which contained about one quarter of the number of inhabitants that Ireland did — he succeeded, I say, in making her happy, respectable, and great, while we remain a poor pitiful^ pelting province. I am not ashamed to say this. I hope the people of Ireland wiU combine in the one cause, and that is the cause of their common country, for the common good of that country, for the good of this ancient kingdom, that she may once again flourish in the world's his- tory. Gentlemen, I now come to the shuffling of the indict- ment, and what do you think the Attorney-General rehes on a part of it for? Why, a letter signed " Delcassian" in the Na- tion newspaper. Delcassian treason of course. This letter has reference to one of the lakes in Ireland called " Lake Bel- videre ;" it says " we don't want lakes at all ; let us have loughs, and then it wiU look like Irish ; we want no Italian or German names at all ; let us have Irish names :" and it farther stated 678 Whiteside's speech that " Eoderick, one of the last Kings of Ireland, died on an island in that lake." That's conspiracy. But I cannot see any- thing very wrong in that ; and I venture to assert that if every reader of the Nation in existence was put on the table, and asked by virtue of your oath, Do you remember the letter of Delcassian ? he would boldly say, On my oath, I do not remem- ber a word about it. And that is a part of the conspiracy charged in the indictment, and sought to be palmed on you as treason, along with 011am Fodlham, and the other old gentle- men, who lived in his days. That is one part of the charge ; and now I come to that which they rely on for a conviction ! The subject is from the same paper, the Nation, of the 25th of April. This is headed, " Something is Coming, aye, for good or ill, something is coming." [He proceeded to read the article, commenting generally on it as he proceeded, and said the article was calculated to conciliate all parties, for it should be remembered that there were poHtical storms as well as physical hurricanes.] It said that coolness was the only thing. Is there any- thing, I ask, inflammatory in advising the people to be cool and steady ? I can't see there is, although the Attorney- General wishes you to beheve there is. The people are sober now ; and I respectfully submit there is nothing of conspiracy in that. Let them be kind and concili- ating to the Protestants; neither can I see anything in that ; but every person don't view things in the same light as the Attorney -General does. I don't think it is wrong in a writer to endeavor to conciliate Protestants, because he well knew there were 800,000 good Presbyterians in the north of Ireland who were strong-minded men, who reasoned well ; and who, once they took up a subject, and were convinced of the u.tLlity of it, would not cease luitil their object was accom- plished. The writer knew the difficulty of getting these men out, and therefore he wanted to conciliate them. And I don't see anything wrong in that, for their assistance would be val- uable to the Eepeal cause ; and, let me ask, what other mode could be adopted ? It was recommended by Mr. O'Connell ; it was recommended by Sir Walter Scott, and with effect ; and this was the ground the Crown went on for a conviction, be- IN DEFENCE OF CHABLES GAVAN DUFFY. 679 cause the writer in the Nation endeavored to conciliate his Protestant brethren. They (the Nation) say they differ from Mr. O'Connell, and, I ask you, is that a sign of conspiracy ? I say the newspapers do not speak the conclusions of the asso- ciation, and, therefore, there is no conspiracy between them, and you had that from Jackson, who proved it on this table, and yet the Attorney-General wants to put that ostensible meaning on it, but you are not to give it a meaning not war- ranted by the facts. The next article they rely on is the arti- cle headed " Our Nationality," a thing that will be always ob- jected to by our brethren at the other side of the water, or, at least, by the ministry, and the only thing they set out in that is the word " clutched." It is rather curious that Mr. Barrett used that word also in a speech made by him. " Oh," says Mr. Barrett, " he will think like the old woman's cow ;" and mind, gentlemen, Mr. Attorney-General puts the old wo- man's cow into the indictment, "We will think, says he, like that, until we clutch what ! Our nationaUty. It was not the Queen, or the Chief Justice or the Prime Minister, or the Attorney-General they were about clutching, but their nation- ality, their independence. I ask you, is this to be brought up in judgment against the defendant ? I ask any one man of you here, if he were on his oath, has he not read worse articles in the English papers, calculated to irritate the people of En- gland, and inflame their minds, none of which were prosecuted but passed by and forgotten. The advertisement about the Clontarf meeting was not what it should be, but was it not when observed by Mr. O'Connell at once withdrawn ? I have shown you that the true object of that document in the Nation was that there should be a grand procession to Clon- tarf. At the request of some Protestant clergymen it was giv- en up, as it was the Sabbath day, and the time of divine ser- vice, and even the streets were avoided in which places of worship were. I rely on this to show that no offence was in- tended ; but as they had proceeded in a procession to Donny- brook, they considered that they might do so to Clontarf. There is one article more I shall trouble you with ; but I must remark that I cannot approve of the unjust and intemperate observations which were sometimes made upon the English 680 Whiteside's speech nation ; for them, a great, free, and magnanimous peole, I ob- ject to reviving the recollections of past struggles and conten- tions, Thej can only be usefully recalled for one purpose, and I hope and believe it was for that purpose, to show the people the errors of their forefathers, and by the warning teach how to shun them. Let silence forever cover, let dark- ness hide them, let no hand withdraw the veil that con- ceals them, or if it touches them, let it be for a holy and useful purpose, to imbibe morality and peace from the lessons of the past. Gentlemen of the jury, I have no more to say upon that part of the case. I admit that strong language has been used, and I regret it. The term " Saxon " has been ap- plied to Enghshmen. Mr. O'Connell has entirely renounced it at the request of an English gentleman ; I believe he bor- rowed it from Moore. Moore was wrong to have used it. Yet, probably, when the trials are over, if I called upon the learned gentleman (pointing to the Solicitor-General) I would find " Moore's Melodies," and " The Irish Gentleman in search of a ReKgion," upon his table ; yet, perhaps, if he knew who knocked at the door he would, like the lady in the play, thrust one into a drawer, and put the other under the table. The last document which I shall refer to is, " The Mo- rahty of War," which the Attorney-General has dwelt upon so eloquently, and translated with not a little freedom mto "The Morality of Rebellion." It seems that from the first moment it met his eye it startled his legal mind. But if it was the dreadful article he appears to have beheved it to be, it astonishes me that he did not at once run off with it to the government, and exclaim, " I will forthwith file an infor- mation in the Queen's Bench against the author." Gentle- men, I wish to address you on a particular question arising out of the great and momentous case before you. I have told you what constitutes the great crime of conspiracy ; it is one of combination, and is fearfully set forth in books, so often quoted in the history of the state trials of England, where there are terrible examples given of wrong verdicts, by which men were deprived of then- liberty, their lives, and by which innocence was struck down. But, on the other hand, there were in those state trials great and glorious examples of tri- IN DEFENCE OF CHAKLES GAYAN DUFFY. 681 umplis over power, over the Crown, and over kings, as in the case of Hardy on parliamentary reform, and in the case of Home Tooke, who saved pubhc opinion so far from being ex- tinguished in England, and which would have been the case had not the jury interfered. In later days, in the days of the second James, the seven bishops were charged with a conspi- racy for asserting the opinion of freedom ; but then a jury also interfered, and those bishops were acquitted, and acquitted amid those shouts which proclaimed universal freedom. In darker periods of history, in the times of CromweU, who usurped the monarchy, and all under the sacred name of religion, yet dared not to abohsh the forms of public justice, they so pre- vailed and subsisted, that when, in the plenitude of his power, he prosecuted for a libel, there were twelve honest men who had the courage not to pronounce the defendant guilty, thus proving that the unconquerable love of liberty stiU survived in the hearts of Englishmen. I will say that the true object of this unprecedented prosecution is to stifle the discussion of a great pubhc question. Eeviewed in this hght, all other consid- erations sink into insignificance ; its importance becomes vast, indeed. A nation's rights are involved in the issue, a nation's hberties are at stake. These won, what preserves the pre- cious privileges you possess ? The exercise of the right of po- Utical discussion — free, untrammelled, bold. The laws which wisdom framed, the institutions struck out by patriotism, learn- ing, or genius, can they preserve the springs of freedom fresh and pure ? No ; destroy the right of free discussion, and you dry up the sources of freedom. By the same means by which your liberties were won can they be increased or defended. Do not quarrel with the partial evils free discussion cre- ates, nor seek to contract the enjoyment of the greatest pri- vilege within the narrow hmits timid men prescribe. With the passing mischiefs of its extravagance, contrast the prodi- gious blessings it has heaped on man. Free discussion aroused the human mind from the torpor of ages, taught it to think, and shook the thrones of ignorance and darkness. Free discus- sion gave to Europe the reformation which I have been taught to believe the mightiest event in the history of the human race, which illuminated the world with the radiant light of spiritual 682 Whiteside's speech truth. May it shine with steady and increasing splendor ! Free discussion gave to Engand the rerolution, aboHshed tyr- anny, swept away the monstrous abuses it rears, and estab- lislied the hberties under which we live. Tree discussion, since that glorious epoch, has not only preserved but purified our constitution, reformed our laws, reduced our punishments, and extended its wholesome influence to every portion of our politi- cal system. The spirit of inquiry it creates has revealed the secrets of nature, explained the wonders of creation, teaching the knowledge of the stupendous works of God. Arts, sci- ence, civilization, freedom, pure rehgion, are its noble realities. Would you undo the labors of science, extinguish Hterature, stop the efforts of genius, restore ignorance, bigotry, barbar- ism, then put down free discussion, and you have accompHshed all. Savage conquerors, in the blindness of their ignorance, have scattered and destroyed the intellecual treasures of a great antiquity. Those who make war on the sacred rights of free discussion, without their ignorance imitate their fury. They may check the expression of some thought, which might, if uttered, redeem the hberties or increase the happiness* of man. The insidious assailants of this great prerogative of in- tellectual beings, by the cover under which they advance, con- ceal the character of their assault upon the hberties of the hu- man race. They seem to admit the liberty to discuss — blame only its extravagance, pronounce hollow praises on the value of freedom of speech, and straightway begin a prosecution to cripple or destroy it. The open despot avows his object is to oppress or to enslave ; resistance is certain to en- counter his tyranny, and perhaps subvert it. Not so the artful assailant of a nation's rights ; he declares friendship while he wages war, and professes affection for the thing he hates. State prosecutions, if you beheve them, are ever the fastest friends of freedom. They tell you peace is disturbed, order broken, by the excesses of turbulent and seditious dem- agogues. No doubt there might be a seeming peace, a death- like stillness, by repressing the feehngs and passions of men. So in the fairest portions of Europe this day, there is peace, and order, and submission, under paternal despotism, ecclesi- astical and civil. That peace springs from terror, that submis- IN DEFENCE OF CHABLES GAYAN DUFFY. 683 sion from ignorance, that silence from despair. Who dares discuss, when with discussion and by discussion tyranny must perish ? Compare the stillness of despotism with the healthful animation, the natural warmth, the bold language, the proud bearing, which spring from freedom and the consciousness of its possession. Which will you prefer ? Insult not the dignity of manhood by supposing that contentment of the heart can exist under despotism. There may be degrees in its severity, and so degrees in the sufferings of its victims. Terrible the dangers which lurk beneath the calm surface of despotic power. The movements of the oppressed will, at times, disturb their tyrant's tranquilHty, and warn him their day of vengeance or of triumph may be nigh. But in these happy countries the very safety of the state consists in freedom of discussion. Partial evils in all systems of political governments there must be ; but their worst effects are obviated when their cause is sought' for, discovered, considered, discussed. Milton has taught a great political truth, in language as instructive as his sublimest verse : " For this is not the liberty which we can hope, that no grievances ever should arise in the common- wealth — that let no man in this world expect, but when com- plaints are freely heard, deeply considered, and speedily re- formed ; then is the utmost bound of civil liberty obtained that wise men look for." Suffer the complaints of the Irish people to be freely heard. You want the power to have them speedily, reformed. Their case to-day may be yours to-mor- row. Preserve the right of free discussion as you would chng to life. Combat error with argument, misrepresentation by fact, falsehood with truth. " For who knows not," saith the same great writer, " that Truth is strong, next to the Almighty. One needs no policies nor stratagems to make her victorious — these are the shifts Error uses against her power." If this de- mand for a native parliament rests on a delusion, dispel that delusion by the omnipotence of truth. Why do you love — why do other nations honor England? Are you — are they dazzled by her naval or military glories, the splendor of her Hterature, her sublime discoveries in science, her boundless wealth, her almost incredible labors in every work of art and skill? No; you love her— you cling to England because she 684: whitesede's speech has been for ages past tlie seat of free discussion, and, there- fore, the home of rational freedom, and the hope of oppressed men throughout the world. Under the laws of England it is our happiness to live. It breathes the spirit of liberty and reason. Emulate this day the great virtues of Enghshmen — their love of fairness — their immovable independence, and the sense of justice rooted in their nature — these are the virtues which quahfy jurors to decide the rights of their fellow men. Deserted by these, of what avail is the tribunal of a jury ? It is worthless as the human body when the Uving soul has fled. Prove to the accused, from whom, perchance, you widely differ in opinion, whose liberties and fortunes are in your hands, that you are there not to prosecute but to save. Believe me, you wiU not secure the true interests of England by leaning too severely on your countrymen. They say to their English brethren, and with truth — we have been at your side when- ever danger was to be faced or honor won — the scorching sun of the east and the pestilence of the west. We have endured to spread your commerce — to extend your empire — to uphold your glory. The bones of our countrymen whitened the fields of Portugal, of Spain, of France. Fighting your battles they fell — in a nobler cause they could not. . We have helped to gather your imperishable laurels. We have helped to win you immortal triumphs. Now, in time of peace, we ask you to restore that parliament you planted here with your laws and language, uprooted in a dismal period of our history, in the moment of our terror, our divisions, our weakness, it may be — our crime. Ee-estabhsh the Commons on the broad foundation of the people's choice ; replace the Peerage, the Corinthian pillars of the capitol secured and adorned with the strength and splendor of the Crown, and let the monarch of England, as in ages past, rule a brilliant and united empire in sohdity, magnificence, and power. When the privileges of the Enghsh parliament were invaded, that people took the field, struck down the ministry, and dragged their sovereign to the block. We shall not imitate English precedent. While we struggle for a parhament, its surest bulwark, that institution you prize so highly, which fosters your wealth, adds to your prosperity, and guards your freedom, was ours for six hundred IN DEFENCE OF CHAKLES GAVAN DUFFY. 685 years. Kestore the blessing, and we shall be content. This prosecution is not essential for the maintenance of the au- thority and prerogative of the Crown. Our gracious sovereign needs not state prosecutions to secure her prerogatives or preserve her power. She has the unbought loyalty of a chivalrous and gallant people. The arm of authority she re- quires not to raise. The glory of her gentle reign will be — she will have ruled, not by the sword, but by the affections ; that the true source of her power has been, not in terrors of the law, but in the hearts of hei* people. Your patience is exhausted. If I have spoken suitably to the subject, I have spoken as I could have wished ; but if, as you may think, deficiently, I have spoken as I could. Do you, from what has been said, and from the better arguments omitted, which may be well suggested by your manly understandings and your honest hearts, give a verdict consistent with justice, yet lean- ing to liberty — dictated by truth, yet inclining to the side of accused men, strugghng against the weight, and power, and influence of the Crown, and prejudice more overwhelming still — a verdict undesired by a party, but to be applauded by the impartial monitor within your breasts, becoming the high spirit of Irish gentlemen, and the intrepid guardians of the rights and hberties of a free people. THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER. SPEECH AT CONCILIATION HALL, DUBLIN, July 28, 1846. My Lord Mayor : I will commence as Mr. Mitchell con- cluded, with an allusion to the Whigs. I fullj concur with my friend, that the most comprehensive measures which the Whig minister may propose, will fail to lift this country up to that position which she has the right to occupy, and the power to maintain. A Whig minister, I ad- mit, may improve the province — he will not restore the nation. Franchises, tenant compensation bills, hberal appointments may amehorate, they will not exalt ; they may meet the necessi- ties, they will not call forth the abilities of the country. The errors of the past may be repaired — the hopes of the future wiU not be fulfilled. With a vote in one pocket, a lease in the other, and " full justice " before him at the petty sessions, in the shape of a " restored magistrate," the humblest peasant may be told that he is free ; trust me, my lord, he wiU not have the character of a freeman; his spirit to dare, his energy to act. From the stateliest mansion down to the poorest cot- tage in the land, the inactivity, the meanness, the debasement, which provinciahsm engenders, will be perceptible. These are not the crude sentiments of youth, though the mere commercial pohtician, who has deduced his ideas of self-government from the table of imports and exports, may satirize them as such. Age has uttered them, my lord, and the experience of eight years has preached them to the people. A few weeks since, and there stood up in the court of Queen's Bench an old and venerable man to teach the coun- try the lessons he had learned in his youth, beneath the por- tico of the Irish Senate House, and which during a long life WILLIAM SMITH O'BRIEN. SPEECH AT CONCILIATION HALL. 687 he had treasured in his heart, as the costHest legacy a true citizen could bequeath to the land that gave him birth. What said this aged orator ? "National independence does not necessarily lead to national virtue and happiness ; but reason and experience demonstrate that public spirit and general happiness are looked for in vain under the withering influ- ence of provincial subjection. The very consciousness of being depen- dent on another power for advancement in the scale of national being, weighs down the spirit of a people, manacles the efforts of genius, de- presses the energies of virtue, blunts the sense of common glory and common good, and produces an insulated selfishness of character, the surest mark of debasement in the individual, and mortality in the state." My lord, it was once said by an eminent citizen of Eome, the elder Pliny, that " we owe our youth and manhood to our country, but our 'declining age to ourselves." This may have been the maxim of the Roman — it is not the maxim of the Irish patriot. One might have thought that the anxie- ties, the labors, the vicissitudes of a long career, had dimmed the fire which burned in the heart of the illustrious Eoman whose words I have cited ; but now, almost from the shadow of death, he comes forth with the vigor of youth, and the au- thority of age, to serve the country in the defence of which he once bore arms, by an example, my lord, that must shame the coward, rouse the sluggard, and stimulate the bold. These sentiments have sunk deep into the public mind ; they are recited as the national creed. WhUst these senti- ments inspire the people, I have no fear for the national cause. I do not dread the venal influence of the Whigs. Inspired by such sentiments, the people of this country will look beyond the mere redress of existing wrong, and strive for the attainment of future power. A good government may, indeed, redress the grievances of an injured people, but a strong people alone can build up a great nation. To be strong, a people must be self-rehant, self-ruled, seK sustained. The dependence of one people up- on another, even for the benefits of legislation, is the deepest source of national weakness. By an unnatural law it exempts a people from their j'ust duties — their just responsibhties. When you exempt a people from these duties, from these re- 688 THOMAS FBANCIS MEAGHER. sponsibilities, you generate in them a distrust in their own powers. Thus you enervate, if you do not utterly destroy that spirit whicii a sense of these responsibilities is sure to to inspire, and which the fulfiUment of these duties never fails to invigorate. Where this spirit does not actuate, the country may be tranquil — it will not be prosperous. It may exist, it will not thrive. It may hold together, it will not advance. Peace it may enjoy — for peace and freedom are compatible. But, my lord, it will neither accumulate wealth nor win a character ; it wiU neither benefit mankind by the enterprise of its merchants nor instruct mankind by the example of its statesmen. I make these observations, for it is the custom of some moderate pohticians to say, that when the Whigs have accom- phshed the " pacification" of the country, there wiU be little or no necessity for Kepeal. My lord, there is something else, there is everything else to be done when the work of " pacifi- cation " has been accomplished — and here it is hardly neces- sary to observe that the prosperity of a country is perhaps the sole guarantee for its tranquillity, and that the more universal the prosperity, the more permanent will be the repose. But the Whigs will enrich as well as pacify. Grant it, my lord. Then do I conceive that the necessity for Eepeal will augment. Great interests demand great safeguards. The prosperity of a nation requires due protection of a senate. Hereafter a national senate may require the protection of a national army. So much for the extraordinary affluence with which we are threatened, and which, it is said by gentlemen on the opposite shore of the Irish Sea, will crush this association, and bury the enthusiasts, who clamor for Irish nationahty, in a sepulchre of gold. This prediction, however, is feebly sustained by the ministerial programme that has lately appeared. On the evening of the 16th the Whig premier, in answer to a question that was put to him by the member for Finsbury, Mr. Duncombe, is reported to have made this consolatory announcement : "We consider that the social grievances of Ireland are those which are most prominent, and to which it is most likely to be in our power to afford, not a complete and immediate remedy, but some remedy, some SPEECH AT CONCILIATION HALL. 689 kind of improvement, so tliat some kind of hope may be entertained that, some ten or twelve years hence, the country will, by the measures we undertake, be in a far better state with respect to the frightful desti- tution and misery which now prevail in that country. We have that practical object in view." After that most consolatory announcement, my lord, let those who have the patience of Job and the poverty of Laza- rus, continue, in good faith, " to wait on Providence and the Whigs," continue to entertain " some kind of hope," that if not "a complete and immediate remedy," at least "some remedy," " some improvement," will place this country " in a far better state " than it is at present, "some ten or twelve years hence." After that let those who prefer the periodical boons of a Whig government, to that which would be the abiding blessing of an Irish parliament — let those who deny to Ireland what they assert for Poland — let those who would inflict, as Henry Grattan said, " an eternal disability upon this country," to which Providence has assigned the largest facili- ties for power ; let those who would ratify the "base swap," as Mr. Shell once stigmatized the Act of Union, and who would stamp perfection upon that deed of perfidy — ^let such " Plot, led on in sluggish misery, Botten from sire to son, from age to age, Proud of their trampled nature." But we, my lord, who are assembled in this hall, and in whose hearts the Union has not bred the slave's disease — we who have not been imperiahzed — we are here with the hope to undo that work, which forty-six years ago dishonored the an- cient peerage and subjugated the people of our country. My lord, to assist the people of Ireland to undo that work, I came to this hall. I came here to repeal the Act of Union — I came here for nothing else. Upon every other question I feel myself at perfect Uberty to differ from each and every one of you. Upon questions of finance — questions of a religious character — questions of an educational character — questions of municipal policy — questions that may arise from the pro- ceedings of the legislature — upon all these questions I feel 690 THOMAS FEANCIS MEAGHEK. myself at perfect liberty to differ from each and every one of you. Yet more, my lord ; I maintain that it is my right to express my opinion upon each of these questions, if necessary. The right of free discussion I have here upheld. In the exer- cise of that right I have differed sometimes from the leader of this Association, and would do so again. That right I will not abandon — I shall maintain it to the last. In doing so, let me not be told that I seek to undermine the influence of the leader of the Association, and am insensible to his services. My lord, I am grateful for his services, and will uphold his just influence. This is the first time I have spoken in these terms of that illustrious Irishman in this hall. I did not do so before — I felt it was unnecessary. I hate unnecessary praise — ^I scorn to receive it — I scorn ever to bestow it. No, my lord, I am not ungrateful to the man who struck the fetters off my arms, whilst I was yet a child, and by whose influence my father — the first Catholic who did so for two hundred years — sat for the last tAvo years in the civic chair of an ancient city. But, my lord, the same God who gave to that great man the power to strike down an odious ascendency in this country, and enabled him to institute in this land the glorious law of religious equality — the same God gave to me a mind that is my own — a mind that has not been mortgaged to the opinions of any man or any set of men — a mind that I was to use, and not surrender. My lord, in the exercise of that right, which I have here endeavored to uphold — a right which this Association should preserve inviolate, if it desires not to become a despot- ism — in the exercise of that right, I have differed from Mr. O'Connell on previous occasions, and differ from him now. I do not agree with him in the opinion he entertains of my friend, Charles Gavan Duffy — that man whom I am proud indeed to call my friend — though he is a " convicted conspirator," and suffered for you in Richmond prison. I do not think he is a " maligner." I do not think he has lost, or deserves to lose, the pubUc favor. ;I have no more connection with the Nation than I have with the Times. I therefore feel no dehcacy on appearing here SPEECH AT CONCILIATION HALL. 691 this day in defence of its principles, witli which I avow my- self identified. My lord, it is to me a source of true dehght and honest pride to speak this day in defence of that great journal. I do not fear to assume the position ; exalted though it be, it is easy to maintain it. The character of that journal is above reproach. The ability that sustains it has won an European fame. The genius of which it is the offspring, the truth of which it is the oracle, have been recognized, my lord, by friends and foes. I care not how it maybe assailed — I care not howsoever great may be the talent, howsoever high may be the position of those who now consider it their duty to im- peach its writings — I do think that it has won too splendid a reputation to lose the influence it has acquired. The people, whose enthusiasm has been kindled by the impetuous fire of its verse, and whose sentiments have been ennobled by the earnest purity of its teachings, will not ratify the censure that has been pronounced upon it in this hall. Truth will have its day of triumph as well as its day of trial ; and I foresee that the fearless patriotism, which, in those pages, has braved the prejudices of the day, to enunciate grand truths, will triumph in the end. My lord, such do I beheve to be the character, such do I anticipate will be the fate of the principles that are now im- peached. This brings me to what may be called the " question of the day." Before I enter upon that question, however, I will allude to one observation which fell from the honorable member for Kilkenny, and which may be said to refer to those who ex- pressed an opinion that has been construed into a declaration of war. The honorable gentleman said — in reference, I presume, to those who dissented from the resolutions of Monday — that those who were loudest in their declarations of war, were usually the most backward in acting up to those declarations. My lord, I do not find fault with the honorable gentleman for giving expression to a very ordinary saying, but this I will state, that I did not volunteer the opinion he condemns — to 692 THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHEE. the declaration of that opinion I was forced. You left me no alternative — I should compromise my opinion, or avow it. To be honest, I avowed it. I did not do so to brag, as they say ; we have had too much of that " bragging " in Ireland. I would be the last man to emulate the custom. Well, I dissented from those peace resolutions, as they are called. Why, so ? In the first place, my lord, I conceive that there was not the least necessity for them. No member of this association suggested an appeal to arms. No member of this association advised it. No member of the association would be so infatuated as to do so. In the exist- ing circumstances of the country, an excitement to arms would be senseless and wicked, because irrational. To talk, in our days, of repeahng the Act of Union by force of arms, would be to rhapsodize. If the attempt were made, it would be a de- cided failure. There might be riot in the street ; there would be no revolution in the country. The Secretary will far more effectually promote the cause of Eepeal by registering votes in Greene Street, than registering firearms in the head poHce office. Conciliation Hall, on Burgh Quay, is more impregnable than a rebel camp on Vinegar Hill. The hustings at Dundalk will be more successfully stormed, than the magazine in the Park. The registry club, the read- ing room, the polling booths, these are the only positions in the country we can occupy. Yoters' certificates, books, pamphlets, newspapers, these are the only weapons we can employ. Therefore, my lord, I cast my vote in favor of the peaceful policy of this Association. It is the only policy we can adopt. If that pohcy be pursued with truth, with courage, with fixed determination of purpose, I firmly believe it wiU succeed. But, my lord, I dissented from the resolutions before us for other reasons. I stated the first ; I wiU now come to the second : I dissented from them, for I felt that, by assenting to them, I should have pledged myself to the unqualified repudiation of physical force, in all countries, at all times, and under every circumstance. This I could not do ; for, my lord, I do not abhor the use of arms in the vindication of national rights. SPEECH AT CONCILIATION HALL. 693 There are times when arms will alone sufl&ce, and when po- litical amehorations call for a drop of blood, and many thou- sand di'ops of blood. Opinion, I admit, will operate against opinion ; but, as the honorable member for Kilkenny has observed, force must be used against force. The soldier is proof against an argument, but he is not proof against a bullet. The man that will listen to reason, let him be reasoned with. But it is the weaponed arm of the patriot that can alone prevail against battahoned despotism. Then, my lord, I do not condemn the use of arms as im- moral ; nor do I conceive it profane to say that the King of Heaven — the Lord of Hosts — the God of Battles — ^bestows His benediction upon those who unsheathe the sword in the hour of a nation's peril. From that evening on which, in the valley of Bethulia, He nerved the arm of the Jewish girl to smite the drunken tyrant in his tent, down to this, our day, on which He has blessed the in surgent chivalry of the Belgian priest. His Almighty hand hath ever been stretched forth from His Throne of Light to consecrate the flag of freedom — to bless the patriot's sword. Be it in the defence, or be it in the assertion of a people's liberty, I hail the sword as a sacred weapon ; and if, my lord, it has sometimes taken the shape of the serpent, and reddened the shroud of the oppressor with too deep a dye, hke the an- ointed rod of the High Priest, it has at other times, and as often, blossomed into celestial flowers to deck the freeman's brow. Abhor the sword — stigmatize the sword ! No, my lord, for in the passes of the Tyrol it cut to pieces the banner of the Bavarians, and through those cragged passes struck a path to fame for the peasant insurrectionists of Innspruck. Abhor the sword — stigmatize the sword ! No, my lord, for at its blow, a grand nation started from the waters of the At- lantic ; and by its redeeming magic, and in the quivering of its crimson light, the crippled Colony sprang into the attitude of a proud Eepublic, — prosperous, limitless, and invincible. Abhor the sword — stigmatize the sword ! No, my lord, for it swept the Dutch marauders out of the fine old towns of Bel- 694 THOMAS FBANCIS MEAGHEK. gium — scourged them back to their own phlegmatic swamps — and knocked their flag and sceptre, their laws and bayonets, into the sluggish waters of the Scheldt. My lord, I learned that it was the right of a nation to gov- ern herself, not in this HaU, but upon the ramparts of Ant- werp. This, the first article of a nation's creed, I learned upon those ramparts, where freedom was justly estimated, and the possession of the precious gift was purchased by the effusion of generous blood. My lord, I honor the Belgians, I admire the Belgians, I love the Belgians for their enthusiasm, their courage, their success ; and I, for one, will not stigmatize,, for I do not abhor the means by which they obtained a Citizen King, a Chamber of Deputies. HOX. THOMAS D'ARCY iTGEE. SPEECH BEFOEE THE lEISH PROTESTANT BENE- VOLENT SOCIETY, QUEBEC, MAY, 1862. I RECEIVED some time ago a warm invitation from my friend. Captain Anderson, the secretary of this society, asking me to be present and take part in the proceedings of this evening. It was an invitation given with great cordiahty, for an Irish society's benefit, and the object was to enable the society to assist the friendless emigrant and the unfortunate resident. It seems to one to be incident to our state of society, where we have no legal provision for the poor, no organized system of reHef of any public general kind, that there should be a divi- sion of charitable labor among our different voluntary socie- ties ; and as I look upon them all, whether under the auspices of Saint Patrick or any other patron saint, as being themselves but members of one vast society — the society of Canada — I did not feel that I could, either on Irish or on Canadian grounds, decline the invitation. It is very true, Mr. President, that you and I will not be found to-morrow worshipping under the same roof ; but is that any reason why we should not be united here to-night in a common work of charity ? With me it is no reason ; such differences exist m the first elements of our population ; and it is the duty of every man, especially of every man undergoing the education of a statesman, to en- deavor to mitigate instead of inflaming rehgious animosities. No prejudices lie nearer the surface than those which plead the sanction of reUgion ; any idiot may arouse them, to the 696 THOMAS d'arcy mc gee. wise man's consternation, and tlie peaceful man's deep regret. If, in times past, tliey have been too often and too easily aroused, we must all deeply deplore it ; but for the future — m these new and eventful days, when it is so essential that there- shall be complete harmony within our ranks, — ^let us all agree to brand the propagandist of bigotry as the most dan- gerous of our enemies, because his work is to divide us among ourselves, and thereby render us incapable of common de- fence. It is upon this subject of the public spirit to be cultivated among us — of the spirit which can alone make Canada safe and secure, rich and renowned — which can alone attract pop- ulation and augment capital, that I desire to say a few words with which I must endeavor to fulfill your expectations. I feel that it is a serious subject for a popular festival — but these are serious times, and they bring upon their wings most serious reflections. That shot fired at Fort Sumter on the 12th of April, 1861, had a message for the North as well as for the South ; and here, in Quebec, if anywhere, by the light which history lends us, we should find those who can correctly read that eventful message. Here, from this rock, for which the immortals have contended ; here, from this rock, over which EicheHeu's wisdom and Chatham's genius, and the memory of heroic men, the glory of three great nations has hung its halo, we should look forth upon a continent convulsed, and ask of a ruler : " Watchman, what of the night?" That shot fired at Fort Sumter was the signal-gun of a new epoch for North America, which told the people of Canada, more plainly than human speech can ever express it, to sleep no more except on their arms ; unless in their sleep they de- sire to be overtaken and subjugated. For one, Mr. President, I can safely say, that, if I know myself, I have not a particle of prejudice against the United States ; on the contrary, I am bound to declare that many things in the constitution and the people, I sincerely esteem and admire. What I contend for with myself, and what I would impress upon others, is, that the lesson of the last few months, furnished by America to the world, should not be thrown away upon the inhabitants of Canada. SPEECH AT QUEBEC. 697 I do not believe that it is our destiny to be engulfed into a Eepublican union, renovated and inflamed with the wine of victory, of which she now drmks so freely ; it seems to me we have theatre enough under our feet to act another and a wor- thier part ; we can hardly win the Americans on our own terms, and we never ought to join them on theirs. A Cana- dian nationality — not French Canadian, nor British Canadian, nor Irish Canadian — patriotism rejects the prefix, — is, in my opinion, what we should look forward to, — that is what we ought to labor for, that is what we ought to be prepared to defend to the death. Heirs of one seventh of the continent, inheritors of a long ancestral story, and no part of it dearer to us than the glorious tale of this last century— warned not by cold chronicles only, but by hving scenes passing before our eyes, of the dangers of an unmixed democracy — we are here to vindicate our capacity by the test of a new politi- cal creation. What we most immediately want, Mr. President, to carry on that work, is men ; more men, and still more men ! The la- dies, I dare say, will not object to that doctrine. We may not want more lawyers and doctors, but we want more men in the town and country. We want the signs of youth and growth in our young and growing country. One of our maxims should be, " Early marriages, and death to old bachelors." I have long entertained a project of a special tax upon that most un- desirable class of the population, and our friend, the Finance Minister, may perhaps have something of the kind among the agreeable surprises of his next Budget. Seriously, Mr. Presi- dent, what I chiefly wanted to say on coming here, is this, that if we would make Canada safe and secure, rich and renowned, we must all Hberalize — locally, sectionally, religiously, nation- ally. There is room enough in this country for one great free people ; but there is not room enough under the same flag and the same laws, for two or three angry, suspicious, obstructive " nationahties." Dear, most justly dear to every land beneath the sun, are the children born in her bosom, and nursed upon her breast, but when the man of another country, wherever born, speaking 698 THOMAS d'abcy mc gee. whatever speech, holding whatever creed, seeks out a conntiy to serve, and honor, and cleave to, in weal or in woe, — when he heaves up the anchor of his heart from its old moorings, and lays at the feet of the mistress of his choice, his new coun- try, all the hopes of his ripe manhood, he establishes, by such devotion, a claim to consideration, not second even to that of the children of the soil. He is their brother, delivered by a new birth from the dark-wombed Atlantic ship that ushers him into existence in the new world — ^he stands by his own elec- tion among the children of the household, and narrow and most unwise is that species of public spirit, which, in the per- verted name of patriotism, would refuse him all he asks, " a fair field and no favor." I am not about to talk politics, Mr. President, though these are grand pohtics. I reserve all else for what is usually called "another place," — and I may add, for another time. But I am so thoroughly convinced and assured that we are gliding along the currents of a new epoch, that if I break silence at all in the presence of my fellow subjects, I cannot choose but speak of the immense issues which devolve upon us, at this moment, in this country. I may be pardoned, perhaps, if I refer to another matter that comes home to you, Mr. President, and to myself. Though we are alike opposed to aU invidious national distinc- tions on this soil, we are not opposed, I hope, to giving fuU credit to all the elements which at the present day compose our population. In this respect, it is a source of gratification to learn that among your invited guests to-night there are twelve or thirteen members of the House to which I have the honor to belong— gentlemen from both sides of the House — who drew their native breath in our own dearly beloved ancestral island. It takes three quarters of the world in these days to hold an Irish family, and it is pleasant to know that some of the elder sons of the family are considered, by their discrimin- ating fellow citizens, worthy to be entrusted with the liberties and fortunes of their adopted country. "We have here men of Irish birth who have led, and who still lead the ParHament of Canada, and who are determined to lead it in a spirit of gen- uine hberahty. SPEECH AT QUEBEC. 699 We, Irishmen, Protestant and Catholic, born and bred in a land of religious controversy, should never forget that we now live and act in a land of the fullest religious and civil liberty. All we have to do, is, each for himself, to keep down dissen- sions, which can only weaken, impoverish and retard the country each for himself, do all he can to increase its wealth, its strength and its reputation ; each for himself, you and you, gentlemen, and all of us — to welcome every talent, to hail every invention, to cherish every gem of art, to foster every gleam of authorship, to honor every acquirement and every natural gift, to lift ourselves to the level of our destinies, to rise above all low limitations and narrow circumscriptions, to cultivate that true catholicity of spirit, which embraces all creeds, all classes, and aU. races, in order to make of our boundless province, so rich in known and unknown resources, a great new Northern nation. BIOaEAPHICAL NOTES. Edmund Bukke, the purest of English statesmen ; the first great English orator, refined, learned, eloquent ; was born in Dublin, Jan. 1, 1730, and after a careful training in good schools, entered Trinity College. There he became deeply interested in metaphy- sical studies, and on graduating, sought a professorship in a Scotch coUege ; but even in this he was unsuccessful. Proceeding to London, he began his studies for the bar at the Middle Temple, in 1750, and even thought of emigrating to America ; but his love of literature inspired several works which met a cordial reception, and his pen was frequently employed by Dodsley. In 1761 he became private secretary to Lord Hahfax, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, and at a subsequent date held the same position under the Marquis of Kockingham. He entered parliament in January, 1766, and on the first day attracted the attention of Pitt. He soon became a leading spirit, his upright soul, his great talents being always on the side of right, whether the oppressed were in America, in Ire- land, or in India. For nearly thirty years he was in every impor- tant movement, and his speeches and writings form one of the most valuable parts of EngKsh literature, as studies for all who enter on pubhc Hfe, He died at Beaconsfield, July 9, 1797. Richard Beinslev Shekidan, M. P., dramatist, orator and states- man, erratic, yet able, was born in Dublin, in 1751, of parents, both of whom had made their mark in literature. He was how- ever regarded in boyhood as a most impenetrable dunce. While still young he married, and following the bent of his genius and a hereditary taste, he began to write for the stage and at once at- tained success. On entering parliament, in 1780, he made so poor a figure that friends advised him to renounce all hope of success, as he evidently 702 BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES. had no talent for oratory. Hence his magnificent speech in the case of the Princesses of Oude came like a thunder-clap upon all, and Burke declared it " the most astonishing effort of eloquence, argument and wit united, of which there was any record or tradi- tion. " He continued his brilliant poUtical and dramatic Hfe till 1812, when his irregular career caused him to break down entirely, and he died deserted by all but a few faithful friends in London, July 7,1816. Charles Phillips, the most flowery, ornate, and polished of Irish orators, was born in Sligo in 1789. Admitted to the bar in 1812, his native talent and close study made him a perfect master of forensic eloquence, and his speeches attracted the attention of the great reviewers in the neighboring isle. Though not entering into pohtical life, he gave his eloquence to the great popular move- ments ; but never forsook the bar and the triumphs of the crimi- nal courts. His merits secured the only promotion he coveted, that in the line of his profession; and his ability in commercial law led to his appointment as a judge in bankruptcy at Liverpool, whence he passed to London to fill the more important office of Commissioner of the Insolvent Debtor Court. He died in Lon- don in 1859, esteemed as a poet, an orator, a writer and a judge. Robert Emmet, whose noble speech from the dock transformed that place into one of the great rostrums of eloquence, was born in Dublin in 1780, and after a distinguished career at Trinity College, came forth to join the movement in 1798. He escaped to France ; but returned in 1802 to organize a revolution. He failed, and died Sept. 20, 1803, by the hands of the English law, which has seldom found aught in Ireland worthy of a higher re- ward, except what in other lands would meet with execration. Emmet's epitaph is still unwritten. Hon. James Whiteside, an eminent forensic orator, was born in 1806, the son of a clergyman. After studying at the Temple, he was admitted to the bar, where his ability was soon recognized. He was retained by one of the traversers in the great State Trials, and his defence of Charles Gavan Dufty is full of the finest orator- ical power. This effort made his popularity as an advocate un- bounded, and his defence of WilHam Smith O'Brien, and his man- BIOGKAPHICAL NOTBS. 703 agement of the case of Mrs. Yelverton, now Lady Avonmore, justi- fied the popular opinion. He has since, strangely enough, been Solicitor-General and Attorney-General in Ireland. Eminent as a legislator, he is known also in the field of literature. Thomas Francis Meagher was one of the most brilliant orators amidst the men of talent and patriotism, who, on the failure of O'Connell's Repeal movement, formed the Young Ireland party, convinced that England, insensible to every feeling of honesty, would yield only to force, the equal rights, the home legislation, and local improvement which the Irish people claimed as due to them by the immutable principles of natural law. He was born in 1823, in Waterford, where his father rose in time to be the first Cathohc mayor since the Reformation, Educated at Clongowes aad Stonyhurst, his patriotic ardor had been stimulated by wit- nessing the successful effort of Catholic Belgium, in throwing off the oppressive yoke of a tyrannical Protestant sister state. He entered warmly into the Repeal movement, but when all hojDC seemed lost, joined the Confederation, and taking part in the at- tempted insurrection in 1848, was arrested, tried and condemned to death. He was however transported to Van Dieman's Land, whence he escaped to the United States. There devoting himself to the law, he had acquired by his talents a decided position, when the civil war broke out in 1861. After marching to the scene of war with the 69th N. Y. Militia, he organized and led through a series of campaigns the Irish Brigade, whose valor and fame will rival in history that which bore the name in the French service. When it was almost utterly annihilated, and the government which so lavishly squandered their blood, refused to allow him to recruit its shattered ranks, he resigned, no promotion rewarding his services. Returning to his profession, he accepted the toil- some and inferior office of Secretary of Montana Territory, and while Acting Governor was accidentally drowned in the Missouri, at Fort Benton, July 1, 1867. Hon. Thomas D'Aecy McGee, poet, orator, journalist, and statesman, was born at Carlingford, Ireland, April 13th, 1825, and after going through the coiirse of a day-school in Wexford, came, when seventeen, to the United States, and attracting attention by a public speech that showed his ability, became attached to a popu- lar newspaper, of which he was soon editor. His writings and 704 BIOGEAPHICAL NOTES. speeches attracting the notice of O'Connell, he returned to Ireland^ and, on the staff of the Freeman and Nation, rendered essential service. He too joined the Confederation, but on the failure of the attempt in 1848, was temporarily in Scotland, whence he es- caped in disguise, through Ireland to the United States. As edi- tor of the New York Nation and the American Celt, he stiU bat- tled in the cause of Ireland, and full of designs for the welfare of his countrymen, conceived a scheme of western colonization, which led to a convention at Buffalo in 1857. The project failed ; but his countrymen in Canada invited him to that province. A short residence convinced him that, in many respects, Canada was reaUy superior to the United States, as a home for his exiled countrymen. His own rise is a proof. He was soon elected to the Provincial parliament as a member from Montreal, and taking his sea.t devoted himself in all the breadth and vigor of his statesman- like mind to the best interests of the province. In 1862, the Irish rebel of 1848 became President of the Executive Council of Canada, and for a time also discharged the duties 'of Provincial Secretary; he was subsequently Minister of Agriculture and Emigration, always discharging the duties of his high offices with abihty and integrity. His clear mind conceived the plan of a Union of the various Biitish colonies in America into one government, with uniform laws, as the best means for its speedy development, and to this end he labored with his eloquent tongue and pen both in Canada and in England. When the great object was effected, and the Dominion of Canada was established, Mr. McGee declined a proffered seat in the Min- istry, content as a member of the Dominion parliament, to which his fellow-subjects raised him, to give his labors for Canada. Still in the prime of his manhood, still full of projects for the good of the province and of his countrymen, he fell by the hand of an as- sassin in April, 1868. " Great in his eloquence ; his reputation grew with the growth of the country, which his energies helped to increasing force." THE END. 3!4.77-7 Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent; Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date; August 2009 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 (724)779-2111 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 017 037 443 5 ^ . ' 1.'- , ■■< ■ •'•S , 'J' • 4-Nk ;^ Wij"i*^^ rjAV-::,.' -■■S.;:..§^^ :-^