ntlemen of the jury, is satisfied with
the facts which establish guilt or innocence, without requiring that
the motives of accused parties should be too closely scrutinized. Crime
consists, of course, of the spirit in which a guilty action is done;
but the law wisely infers that a guilty act is the evidence of a guilty
spirit; and therefore, although there may be circumstances to extenuate
the criminality of an act, the offence before the law is the same; and
the fact, the great fact, that a man has killed his fellow-man, is what
constitutes murder.

"I have said that this case has but one difficulty; and that is, the
possible motive which could have led to the fatal act Now, this would
present itself as a considerable obstacle if the relations between the
parties were such as we happily witness them in every county of this
island, where the proprietor and his agent are persons linked, by the
sacred obligation of duty, and the frequent intercourse of social life,
into the closest friendship.

"That blood should stain the bonds of such brotherhood would be scarcely
credible--and even when credible, inexplicable; it would be repugnant
to all our senses to conceive an act so unnatural. But was the present a
similar case? or rather, was it one exactly the opposite? You have heard
that repeated differences occurred between the parties, amounting even
to altercations. Mr. Hoare's evidence has shown you that Mr. Cashel's
extravagance had placed him in difficulties of no common kind; his
demands for money were incessant, and the utter disregard of the cost
of obtaining it is almost beyond belief. The exigence on one side,
the manly resistance on the other, must have led to constant
misunderstanding. But these were not the only circumstances that
contributed to a feeling of estrangement, soon to become something still
more perilous. And here I pause to ask myself how far I am warranted
in disclosing facts of a private nature, although in their bearing they
have an important relation to the case before us! It is a question of
great delicacy; and were it not that the eternal interests of truth and
justice transcend all others, I might shrink from the performance of
a task which, considered in a merely personal point of view, is deeply
distressing. But it is not of one so humble as myself of whom there is
a question here: the issue is, whether a man's blood should be spilled,
and no expiation be made for it?"

The counsel after