re asked what they had to say
why sentence should not be passed on them, Cody denied with all possible
earnestness the charge of being president of an assassination committee,
which had been brought against him. Flood--a young man of remarkably
handsome exterior--declared that the evidence adduced against himself
was untrue in many particulars. He alluded to the Attorney-General's
having spoken of him as "that wretched man, Flood." "My lords," said he,
"if to love my country more than my life makes me a wretched man, then I
am a very wretched man indeed." Edward Duffy, it might be supposed by
anyone looking at his emaciated frame, wasted by consumption, and with
the seal of death plainly set on his brow, would not be able to offer
any remarks to the court; but he roused himself to the effort. The
noble-hearted young fellow had been previously in the clutches of the
government for the same offence. He was arrested with James Stephens and
others at Fairfield House, in November, 1865, but after a brief
imprisonment was released in consideration of the state of his health,
which seemed such as would not leave him many days to live. But, few or
many, Duffy could not do otherwise than devote them to the cause he had
at heart. He was re-arrested at Boyle on the 11th of March, and this
time the government took care they would not quit their hold of him. The
following is the speech which, by a great physical effort, he delivered
from the dock, his dark eyes brightening, and his pallid features
lighting up with the glow of an earnest and lofty enthusiasm while he
spoke:--

"The Attorney-General has made a wanton attack on me, but I leave my
countrymen to judge between us. There is no political act of mine
that I in the least regret. I have laboured earnestly and sincerely
in my country's cause, and I have been actuated throughout by a
strong sense of duty. I believe that a man's duty to his country is
part of his duty to God, for it is He who implants the feeling of
patriotism in the human breast. He, the great searcher of hearts,
knows that I have been actuated by no mean or paltry ambition--that I
have never worked for any selfish end. For the late outbreak I am not
responsible; I did all in my power to prevent it, for I knew that,
circumstanced as we then were, it would be a failure. It has been
stated in the course of those trials that Stephens was for peace.
This is a mistake. It may be