It
is surely not a crime to obey God's law, or to assist our fellow-men
to acquire those God-given rights which no men--no nation--can justly
deprive them of. If love of freedom and a desire to extend its
unspeakable blessings to all God's creatures, irrespective of race,
creed, or colour, be a crime--if devotion to Ireland, and love of its
faithful, its honest, its kindly people be a crime, then I say I
proudly and gladly acknowledge my guilt. If it is a disgrace, all I
can say is I glory in such shame and dishonour; and, with all respect
for the court, I hold in thorough and utmost contempt the worst
punishment that can be inflicted upon me, so far as it is intended to
deprive me of this feeling, and degrade me in the eyes of my
fellow-men. Oh, no, it is impossible, my lord; the freeman's soul can
never be dismayed. England will most miserably fail if she expects by
force and oppression to crush out--to stamp out, as the _Times_
exclaimed--this glorious longing for national life and independence
which now fills the breasts of millions of Irishmen, and which only
requires a little patience and the opportunity to effect its purpose.
Much has been said on these trials, on the objects and intentions of
Fenianism.
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