Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1867-05-29
The Condemned Fenians in Ireland

ne SOuucuueu CniohS LII AiCiAho'
The English papers report the close of the tri
al of the Fenian leaders, Col. T. L. Burke and
Patrick Doran, in Dublin, the finding Of the
verdict of guilty of high treason, aad the SEN
tence of the Chief Justice, that they be hang
ed and their bodies decapitatcd and quarter
ed on the 29th of May. Col. 8urke's speech
to the Court, Just previous to the sentence, in
which he justified the Irish revolution Tor in
dependence, and offered his life for the cause,
commanded universal attention, and was con-
sidered quite as eloquent as the now historic
address Of Robert Emmett, delivered in the
same city under similar circumstances.
Amoug the witnesses brought forward by
the English laws officer against Colonel
Barke and Patrick Doran, was Col. Massey,
an Irish. American, who alleged that he had
served in the Confederate army. lie made .
full disclosure of the plans of the American
Fenians. Colonel Burke, (who represented
himself as & reporter OF the New York Irl.
bune) in his speech to the Court SAID:
1t is not my desire now, my lords, to give
utterance to one word against the verdict
which has been pronounced upon me, but
fully conscious that my honor as man never
was impugned, can go into my grave with my
name and character ursullied. l can only
say this, that these parties, actuated by de-
sire either for their own aggrandizement, or
to save their paltry, miserable lives, have
pandered to the appetite, if may so speak,
of justice, and my life shall be the forfeit. l
am fully convinced and satisfied Of the righ-
teousness of my every act in connection with
the late revolutionary movement in Ireland.
have done nothing that would bring the
blush of shame to mantle my brow. My
conduct and career here and in America, if
YOU like, as soldier, are before you, and
even in this, my hour of trial. feel the con-
sciousness of having lived an honest man,
and will die, believing that have given my
life to give freedom and liberty to the land
of my birth. have done only that which
every Irishman and every man whose soul
throbs with the feeling of liberty should do.
I seek not the death Of q martyr, but if it is
the will Of the Almighty and Omnipotent
God ttat my devotion for the land of ny
birth should be tested at the scafold, | am
willing there TO die in defence, ofthe. right of
men to be free; to give the right of an op-
pressed people to throw off the yoke OF
thraldom.
| feel should not mention the name Of
Massey. feel / should not pollute my lips
with the name of that traitor, whose illegiti-
macy has been proved here-the man whose
name is not known, and who, deny point
blank, ever wore the star of Colonel in the
Confederate army. I shall let him rest!
shall pass him, wishing him, in the words Of
the poet
{" May the grass wither from his feet The woods
Deny him helter earth T. home! the dust
A grave the sun his ligar and heaven her God3'
Let Massey remember from this day forth
he carries with him serpent that will gnaw
his conscience, carrying about with him in his
breast living hell, from which he can never
be separated.
am an Irishman by birth, an American
by adoptior, by nature lover of freedom,
and an enemy to hat power that holds my
native laad in the bonds of tyranny. 1t has
SO often been admitted that the oppressed
have right to throw off the yoke OF oppres-
sion, even by English statesmen, that deem
it unnecessary 10 advert 20 the fact in Brit
ish Court of Justice. 1reand's children are
uot-never were-and never will be-wiliug
or submissive slaves, and so long as Englands
flag covers one inch of Irish soil, just so long
will they believe it to be divine right to de-
wise means to hurl it from power, and erect
in its stead the Godlike structure of self-gov-
ernment.
know that am here without relative
without friend in fact-thrce thousand
miles away from my farnily. But know
that am not forgotten there. The great and
generous Irish heart Of America to-day fees
ior, to-day s5mpathises with, and does not
forget the man who is wiling to tread the
seafsla-age ds6sptly-pvOgaly oengci0ns