Speeches from the Dock; Or, Protests of Irish Patriotism. Part I: Speeches delivered after conviction by Theobald Wolfe Tone, William Orr, the brothers Sheares, Robert Emmet, John Martin, William Smith O'Brien, Thomas Francis Meagher, Terence Bellew McManus, John Mitchel, Thomas C. Luby, John O'Leary, Charles J. Kickham, Colonel Thomas F. Burke, and Captain Mackay
History
Speeches from the Dock; Or, Protests of Irish Patriotism. Part I: Speeches delivered after conviction by Theobald Wolfe Tone, William Orr, the brothers Sheares, Robert Emmet, John Martin, William Smith O'Brien, Thomas Francis Meagher, Terence Bellew McManus, John Mitchel, Thomas C. Luby, John O'Leary, Charles J. Kickham, Colonel Thomas F. Burke, and Captain Mackay
Ireland -- Biography; Ireland -- Politics and government -- 19th century; Ireland -- Politics and government -- 20th century
learned and eloquent counsel, Mr. Heron and Mr. Waters, and to my
solicitor, Mr. Collins, my sincere and heartfelt thanks for the able
manner in which they have conducted my defence. And now, my lords, I
trust I will meet in a becoming manner the penalty which it is now
the duty of your lordship to pronounce upon me. I have nothing more
to say."
* * * * *
EDWARD KELLY.
On the same occasion the prisoner Edward Kelly delivered the following
soul-stirring address:--
"My lords--The novelty of my situation will plead for any want of
fluency on my part; and I beg your lordships' indulgence if I am
unnecessarily tedious. I have to thank the gentlemen of the jury for
their recommendation, which I know was well meant; but knowing, as I
do, what that mercy will be, I heartily wish that recommendation will
not be received. Why should I feel regret? What is death? The act of
passing from this life into the next. I trust that God will pardon me
my sins, and that I will have no cause to fear entering into the
presence of the ever-living and Most Merciful Father. I don't
recollect in my life ever having done anything with a deliberately
bad intention. In my late conduct I do not see anything for regret.
Why then, I say, should I feel regret? I leave the dread of death to
such wretches as Corridon and Massey--Corridon, a name once so
suggestive of sweetness and peace, now the representative of a
loathsome monster. If there be anything that can sink that man,
Corridon, lower in the scales of degradation, it is--"
The Chief Justice--"We cannot listen to any imputation on persons who
were examined as witnesses. Strictly speaking, you are only to say
why sentence of death should not be passed upon you; at the same time
we are very unwilling to hold a very strict hand, but we cannot allow
imputations to be made on third persons, witnesses or others, who
have come forward in this trial."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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