The Bon Homme County independent. [volume] (Tabor, S.D.) 1904-1913, 1909-06-10
SPEECH
OF VINDICATION
Irish Patriots Eloquent Ad-
dress Before Court Which
Decreed His Death.

sentence OF death should not be pro-
nounced on me, according TO avn i
have nothing to say that can alter
your predetermination, nor that 1t VIII
become me to say, with any view TO
the mitigation of that sentence which
you are here to pronounce, and I mus
abide by. But I have that to say, which
interests me more than life, and which
you have labored to destroy. i have
much to say, why my reputation should
be rescued from the load of false ac-
cusation and calumny which have been
heaped upon 1t.
Were I only to suffer death, after be-
ing adjudged guilty by your tribunal, I
should bow in silence, and meet n
fate that awaits me without q u
muir; but the sentence OF law which
delivers my body to the executioner
will, through the ministry of that law,
labor, in its own vindication, to con-
sign my character to obloauy; Tor
there must be guilt somewhere
whether in the sentence of the court,
or in the catastrophe, posterity aus
determine. The man dies, but his mem
Dry lives. That mine may not perish
that 1t ma live In the respect OF my
countrymen-I seize upon this oppor-
tunity to vindicate myself from some
of the charges alleged against me.
When my spirit shall be waited to q
AAASAO OAAN RoA "AS
shall have Joined the bands of those
martyred heroes who have shed their
blood, on the scaffold and in the field,
in defense of their country and virtue;
this Is my hope-I wish that my MEM
DRY and naEe may animate those VINO
survive me, while I look own with
complacency on the destruction OF that
%perfidious government which upholds
its domination by blasphemy Of the
Most High, which displays its power
over man as over the beasts of the for
est, which sets nan pon his brother,
and lifts his hand, in the name of God,
against the throat of his fellow. who
believes or doubts a little more or less
than the government Standards gov
eminent which is steeled to barbarity
by the cries of the orphans and the
tears of the widows which its cruelty
has made.
1 swear, by the throne of heaven, be-
fore which ! 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 all
my purposes, governed only by the
convictions which I have uttered, and
no other view than that Of the eman-
cipation of my country from the su-
perinhuman oppression under which
h q so long, n too patiently
travelled; and that I confidently n as
suredly hope wild n chimerical as
1t may appear), that there Is still union
and strength in Ireland to accomplish
this noble enterprise.
Let no man dare, when I am dead,
to charge me with d%ishonor; let no man
attaint my memory by believing that
/ could have engaged in any cause but
that Of my country's liberty and indie
the plant minion of power, In the OPP
preston of the miseries of my coun-
trymen. I would not have submitted
to a foreign oppressor, for the same
reason that / would resist the domes-
tic tyrant; In the dignity Of freedom,
! would have fought upon the
threshold Of my country, and her enc
my lifeless corpse. Am /, who lived but
for my country, n who have sub
jected myself to the vengeance Of the
jealous and wrathful oppressor, and to
the bondage Of the grave, only to give
my countrymen their rights-am I to be
loaded with calumny, and not to be
suffered to resent or repel 1t? No! God
forbid!
If the spirits of the illustrious dead
participate in the concerns and cares of
those who are lear to them in this
transitory life-O eve dear and ven
cradle shade Of my departed father,
look down with scrutiny on the conduct
or your suffering son; and see II l have
even for a moment deviated from those
principles of morality and patriotism
which It was % care to instil into
my youthful mind, and for an adher-
ence to which I am now to offer up
my life!
My lords, you are all impatient for
the sacrifice. The blood which you seek
is not CONCEALED by the artificial ter
rors which surround your victim; II
circulates warmly and unruffied,
through the channels which God Gre
ated for noble purposes, but which you
are bent to destroy, for purposes so
g~rievous hat they cry to heaven! Be
yet patient! I have but a few words
more to say. I am going to my silent
grave; my lamp of life is nearly ex-
tinguished; 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
1T is the charity OF its silence. Let
NJ man write my epitaph; for, as no
one 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 ~uninscribed, until
other times, and other men, can do
justice to my character. When my
country shall take her place among
the nations of the earth, then, and not
till then, let my epitaph be written!
I have done.
Ns-- H.