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
cause of liberty--who has just died for his country, would inspire
me. I have descended into the vale of manhood. I have learned to
estimate the reality and delusions of this world; _he_ was surrounded
by everything which could endear this world to him--in the bloom of
youth, with fond attachments, and with all the fascinating charms of
health and innocence; to his death I look back even in this moment
with rapture. I have travelled much, and seen various parts of the
world, and I think the Irish are the most virtuous nation on the face
of the earth--they are a good and brave people, and had I a thousand
lives I would yield them in their service. If it be the will of God
that I suffer for that with which I stand charged, I am perfectly
resigned to His holy will and dispensation. I do not wish to trespass
much more on the time of those that hear me, and did I do so an
indisposition which has seized on me since I came into court would
prevent my purpose. Before I depart from this for a better world I
wish to address myself to the landed aristocracy of this country. The
word 'aristocracy' I do not mean to use as an insulting epithet, but
in the common sense of the expression.
"Perhaps, as my voice may now be considered as a voice crying from
the grave, what I now say may have some weight. I see around me many,
who during the last years of my life have disseminated principles for
which I am now to die. Those gentlemen, who have all the wealth and
the power of the country in their hands, I strongly advise, and
earnestly exhort, to pay attention to the poor--by the poor I mean
the labouring class of the community, their tenantry and dependents.
I advise them for their good to look into their grievances, to
sympathize in their distress, and to spread comfort and happiness
around their dwellings. It might be that they may not hold their
power long, but at all events to attend to the wants and distresses
of the poor is their truest interest. If they hold their power, they
will thus have friends around them; if they lose it, their fall will
be gentle, and I am sure unless they act thus they can never be
happy. I shall now appeal to the right honourable gentleman in whose
hands the lives of the other prisoners are, and entreat that he will
rest satisfied with my death, and let that atone for those errors
into which I may have been supposed to have deluded others. I trust
the gentleman will restore them to their families and friends. If he
shall do so, I can assure him that the breeze which conveys to him
the prayers and blessings of their wives and children will be more
grateful than that which may be tainted with the stench of putrid
corpses, or carrying with it the cries of the widow and the orphan.
Standing as I do in the presence of God and of man, I entreat him to
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account