"The sentiments and hopes that animate me," he said, "are well known."
"Really we will not hear those observations," interposed Mr. Justice
Keogh. "It has been brought forward here," said the prisoner, "that I
held a commission in the 99th regiment--in Colonel O'Mahony's regiment.
Proud as I am of having held a commission in the United States service,
I am equally proud of holding command under a man--." Here his speech
was stopped by the judges, and Mr. Justice Keogh proceeded to pass
sentence. In the course of his address his lordship made the following
observations:--
"You, it appears, went to America; you entered yourself in the
American army, thus violating, to a certain extent, your allegiance
as a British subject. But that is not the offence you are charged
with here to-day. You say you swore allegiance to the American
Republic, but no man by so doing can relieve himself from his
allegiance to the British Crown. From the moment a man is born in
this country he owes allegiance, he is a subject."
Hearing these words, and remembering the great outcry that was being
made by the friends of the government against the Irish-American Fenians
on the ground that they were "foreigners," the prisoner interposed the
apt remark on his lordship's legal theory:--
"If that is so, why am I charged with bringing over foreigners--John
O'Mahony is no foreigner?"
To that remark Judge Keogh did not choose to make any reply.
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