ot an inaccurate view of the case, perhaps; the experience of the
Fenian trials, from first to last, certainly goes to support it.

The general set about his work of defending himself with infinite
coolness and self-possession. He was supplied with a chair, a small
table, and writing materials in the dock. When he had any notes to
make, he sat down, cleaned and adjusted his spectacles, and wrote out
what he wanted. When he wished to cross-examine a witness, he removed
his glasses, came to the front of the dock, and put his questions
steadily and quietly, without a trace of excitement in his manner,
but always with a close application to the subject in hand. One could
almost refuse to believe, while listening to him, that he had not been
educated and trained for the bar; and undoubtedly many of those who
wear wigs and gowns in her Majesty's courts, are far from exhibiting
the same degree of aptitude for the profession. But it was in his
address to the jury that the remarkable talents of the man were most
brilliantly revealed. It was an extraordinary piece of argument and
eloquence, seasoned occasionally with much quiet humour, and enriched
with many passages that showed a high and courageous spirit. His
scathing denunciations of the system of brutality practised towards
the political prisoners in Kilmainham gaol, and his picture of Mr.
Governor Price as "the old gorilla," will long be remembered. One
portion of his remarks ran as follows:--

The whole conduct of the Crown, since my arrest, has been such
as to warrant me in asserting that I have been treated
more like a beast of prey than a human being. If I had been
permitted to examine witnesses, I would have shown how the
case had been got up by the Crown. I would have shown them
how the Crown Solicitor, the gaolers, the head gaoler and the
deputy gaolers of Kilmainham, and the Protestant chaplain
of that institution, had gone in, day and night, to all\
the witnesses--to the cells of the prisoners--with a bribe
in one hand and a halter in the other. I would have shown
how political cases were got up by the Crown in Ireland. I
would have shown how there existed, under the authority of
the Castle, a triumvirate of the basest wretches that ever
conspired to take away the lives and liberties of men. One of
these represented the law, another the gibbet in front of
the gaol, and another was supposed to represe