he is a good speaker he might be put out by the circumstance
of having to utter his remarks from this place. But speaking at all
is not my _forte_; and there are such emotions filling my breast at
this moment that I may be pardoned for not saying all I would wish.
My heart is filled with thoughts of kind friends--near at hand and
far away--of father and mother, brothers and sisters, and my dear
wife. Thoughts of these fill my breast at this moment, and check my
utterance. But I will say to them that I am firmly convinced I will
yet live to see, and that God will be graciously pleased in His own
good time to order, the prosperity and freedom of this glorious
country. I would only repeat the powerful, touching, and simple words
of Michael Larkin, the martyr of Manchester, who, in parting from his
friends, said, 'God be with you, Irishmen and Irishwomen,' and the
burning words of my old friend Edward O'Mara Condon, which are now
known throughout Ireland and the world, 'God save Ireland!' And I,
too, would say, 'God be with you, Irishmen and women; God save you;
God bless Ireland; and God grant me strength to bear my task for
Ireland as becomes a man. Farewell!' [A sound of some females sobbing
was here heard in the gallery. Several ladies in court, too, visibly
yielded to emotion at this point. Perceiving this the prisoner
continued:--] My lord, if I display any emotion at this moment, I
trust it will not be construed into anything resembling a feeling of
despair, for no such feeling animates me. I feel, as I have already
said, confidence in God. I feel that I will not be long in
imprisonment; therefore I am just as ready to meet my fate now as I
was six weeks ago, or as I was six months ago. I feel confident that
there is a glorious future in store for Ireland, and that, with a
little patience, a little organization, and a full trust in God on
the part of the Irish people, they will be enabled to obtain it at no
distant date."

During the concluding passages of this address many persons sobbed and
wept in various parts of the court. At its close the learned judge in
language that was really gentle, considerate, and even complimentary
towards the prisoner, and in a voice shaken by sincere emotion, declared
the sentence which he felt it to be his duty to impose. It was penal
servitude for a term of twelve years.

***END OF THE PROJE