Democratic banner., 1848-11-27
SPEECH or MrAoHER.-The following

wiz 1SS
nounced upon him. 1t is equal, if not su-
~perior to the celebrated reply of Emmett:
sit IS nv intention to say a few words
II desire that the last act of a proceeding
which has occupied so much of the public
time should be Of short duration, nor have
II the indicate wish to close the dIeary
ceremony of a state prosecution with a vain
display Of words. Did fear that hereaf-
tier, when I shall be no more, the country |
lhaye tried to serve would think i'll of me, y
might indeed avail myself of this solemn
moment to vindicate my sentiments and my
Iconduct. But | have no such fear. The
country will Judge Of these sentiments, and
that conductiu a light, l think, far different
from that in which the jury by which u
have been convicted have viewed Them;
and perhaps the sentence you, my Lords,
are about to pronounce, will be remember
ed only as the severe and solemn at!estation
of my rectitude and truth. Whatever may
be the language in which that sentence will
be spoken, / know that my fate will meet
with sympathy, and that my memory will
be honored. In speaking thus, accuse me
not, my Lords, of an indecorous presump-
ton. To the efforts I have made for what
1 conceive to be a just and noble cause, ! as
cribe no vain Importance, nor do | claim
for them any high reward. But it SO hep-I
pens, and It will ever so happen, that IL eyI
who have tried to serve their country, no
matter how weak their efforts may have
been, are sure to receive the thanks and
blessings of its people. With the country,
then, l leave my memory, my sentiments,
my acts, proudly feeling that they require
no vindication from me this day. A jury Of
my countrymen, it is true, have found me
guilty of crime of which was indicted
For this / entertain not the slightest feeling
Iof resentment against them; Influenced as
they must have been by the charge Of the
Lord Chief Justice, they perhaps, could
have returned no other verdict. What of
that charge? Any strong observations upon
it | sincerely feel would i'll beft the solem-
nifty Of this scene; but l would earnestly
beseech of you my Lord-you who presided
upon that bench-when the prejudices and
the passions of this hour have passed al
way, to appeal to your own conscience, and
ask Of twas your charge as it ought to
have been, impartial and Indifferent be-
tween the subject and the Grown? BY
Lords, you moy deem this language unbe-
coming in me, and perchance il may SEAL
my fate; but I am here to speak the truth,
whatever it may cost. am here to regret
nothing that / have ever done-to r~etracil
nothing that I have ever said. I am mott
here to crave, with lying lip, the lie | con-
~secrate to the liberty Of my country. Far
from it. Even here-here where the thief,
the libertine the murderer, have left their
foot prints in the dust-here in this spoil
where the shadow of death surrounds me-,
and from which see an early grave in un-
anointed soil open to receive me-even
here, encircled by these ~terrors, that hope
which beckoned me to the periIous sea on
which / have been wrecked, still consoles,
animates and enraptures me. No! l do mott
despair of my poor old country-ber peace,
her liberty, her glory. For that country II
can now do no more than bid her hope
To lift this IslaRd uP-to mako her a bene.
factor to humanity, instead of what she isl
the meanest beggar in the world-to re-
store TO her her native powers and her an
Gent constitution-this has been nv ambi.
ton. and this ambition has been nv crime.
Judged by the law Of England, I know the
crime entails the penalty of death. Butt
the history Of Ireland explains my crime
and justifes it. Judged by that history, l
am no criminal-[and turning round to-
ward his fellow prisoner, McManus,I-you
are no criminal--Cand to O'Donohue you
are no criminal, and we deserve no punish
nent. Judged by that history, the treason
of which | have been convicted, loses all
its quilts sanctifed as a duty-will bel
ennobled as a sacrifice. With these senti-
ments, my Lords, l await the sentence of,
the court. Having done what l feel to be
my duty-having spoken low, as / did onlt
every occasion during my short life, what
| felt to be the truth, l now bid farewell toll
the country Of my birth, my passion and mylt
death-the country whose misfortunes have :
my sympathies-whose factions Ilp
to still-whose intellect l prompted C
to a lofty aim--whose freedom has been myIt
dream, offer to that country, as a s
pledge of the love l bear her, and the sim q
,erety with which I thought and spoke,
and struggled for her freedom, the life of ale
young heart; and with that life all the hopes, d