Representative British Orations Volume 4 (of 4): With Introductions and Explanatory Notes
History
Representative British Orations Volume 4 (of 4): With Introductions and Explanatory Notes
Speeches, addresses, etc., English
Yes; I am compelled to follow him into the discussion of his conduct
towards 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 misunderstood. 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 repetition of this charge full seventeen times on my brief, and
yet, afterwards, it turned out that he never intended to make 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 upon this
subject he knows not what he says; and that these phrases are the mere
flowers of his rhetoric, but quite innocent of any meaning!
Upon this account I pass him 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
Catholic 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 occasion. 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’Connell, can this have to do with the
question which the jury are to try?
Mr. O’Connell.--_You heard the Attorney-General traduce and calumniate
us--you heard him with patience and with temper--listen now to our
vindication!_
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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