Kilmainham.
But the treatment that I have received at Kilmainham--I will
not particularize any man, or the conduct of any man--has
been most severe, most harsh, not fit for a beast, much less
a human being. I was brought to Kilmainham, so far as I know,
without any warrant from the Lord Lieutenant. I was brought on
a charge the most visionary and airy. No man knew what I was.
No one could tell me or specify to me the charge on which I
was detained. I asked the magistrates at Dungarvan to advise
me of these charges. They would not tell me. At last I drove
them into such a corner as I might call it, that one of them
rose up and said, with much force, "You are a Fenian." Now, my
lords, that is a very accommodating word. If a man only breaks
a window now he is a Fenian. If I could bring, or if I had
only the means of bringing, witnesses from America, I would
have established my innocence here without a probability of
doubt. I would have brought a host of witnesses to prove that
Costello was not the centre of a circle in 1866. I would
have brought a host of witnesses to prove that he was not
the secretary of a circle--never in all his life. My lords, I
speak calmly, and weigh well, and understand every word that
I say. If I speak wrong, time will bring the truth to the
surface, and I would sooner have fifteen years added to my
sentence than that any man might say I spoke from this dock,
which I regard as a holy place, where stood those whom I
revere as much as I do any of our saints--

The LORD CHIEF BARON--I cannot suffer you to proceed thus.

COSTELLO--I would not speak one word from this dock which I
knew to be other than truth. I admit there is a great deal of
suspicion, but beyond that there are no facts proved to bring
home the charge against me. What I have stated are facts,
every one of them. Now, my lords, is it any wonder that I
should speak at random and appear a little bit excited. I am
not excited in the least. I would be excited in a degree were
I expressing myself on any ordinary topic to any ordinary
audience. It is my manner, your lordships will admit, and
you have instructed the jury not to find me guilty, but to
discharge me from the dock, if they were not positive that
I was a Fenian on the 5th March. I believe these are the
instructions that his l