The Felon's Track; Or, History of the Attempted Outbreak in Ireland: Embracing the Leading Events in the Irish Struggle From the Year 1843 to the Close of 1848Doheny, Michael
History
The Felon's Track; Or, History of the Attempted Outbreak in Ireland: Embracing the Leading Events in the Irish Struggle From the Year 1843 to the Close of 1848
Doheny, Michael
Ireland -- History -- Rising of 1848; Young Ireland Party -- History; Young Ireland movement
receive me--even here, encircled by these terrors, the hope
which has beckoned me to the perilous sea upon which I have
been wrecked, still consoles, animates, enraptures me. No I do
not despair of my poor old country, her peace her liberty, her
glory. For that country I can do no more than bid her hope. To
lift up this island--to make her a benefactor to humanity,
instead of being the meanest beggar in the world--to restore to
her her native Powers and her ancient constitution--this has
been my ambition, and this ambition has been my crime. Judged by
the law of England, I know this crime entails the Penalty of
death; but the history of Ireland explains this crime, and
justifies it. Judged by that history, I am no criminal--you
(addressing Mr. MacManus) are no criminal--you (addressing Mr
O'Donohoe) are no criminal--I deserve no punishment--we deserve
no punishment. Judged by that history the treason of which I
stand convicted loses all its guilt, is sanctified as a duty,
will be ennobled as a sacrifice. With these sentiments, my lord
I await the sentence of the court. Having done what I felt to be
my duty--having spoken what I felt to be the truth, as I have
done on every other occasion of my short career, I now bid
farewell to the country of my birth, my passion and my
death--the country whose misfortunes have invoked my
sympathies--whose factions I have sought to still--whose
intellect I have prompted to a lofty aim--whose freedom has been
my fatal dream. I offer to that country, as a proof of the love
I bear her, and the sincerity with which I thought, and spoke,
and struggled for her freedom--the life of a young heart, and
with that life, all the hopes, the honours, the endearments, of
a happy and an honourable home. Pronounce then, my lords, the
sentence which the law directs, and I will be prepared to hear
it. I trust I shall be prepared to meet its execution. I hope to
be able, with a pure heart and perfect composure, to appear
before a higher Tribunal--a tribunal where a Judge of infinite
goodness, as well as of justice will preside, and where, my
lords, many--many of the judgments of this world will be
reversed."
The sentence of the court was then pronounced, as it had been previously
on Mr. O'Brien. It was in the following words:--
"That sentence is, that you Terence Bellew MacManus, you Patrick
O'Donohoe, and you Thomas Francis Meagher, be taken hence to the
place from whence you came, and be thence drawn on a hurdle to
the place of execution; that each of you be there hanged by the
neck until you are dead, and that afterward the head of each of
you shall be severed from the body, and the body of each divided
into four quarters, to be disposed of as her Majesty may think
fit. And may Almighty God have mercy upon your souls."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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