showing where he was; as thus: I breakfasted with him, I dined with him, I supped with him, he was with me, he was not at Pardon's; disprove that assertion by proving an affirmation inconsistent with it.

Mr. Curran. I beg leave to remind the court of what fell from it. "He may call," said the court, "any of those persons; he has not produced one of them;" upon this, I think, a most material point does hang. "He might have called them, for they were all of his own party.”

Lord Clonmell.-That is, if there were such persons there; or if there was no meeting at all, he might have proved that.

Mr. Curran.-There was no such idea put to the jury, as whether there was a meeting or not: it was said they were all of his party; he might have produced them, and the non-production of them, was a "volume of evidence" upon that point. No refinement can avoid this conclusion, that even as your lordship now states the charge, the fate of the man must depend upon proving the negative.

Until the credit of the witness was established, he could not be called upon to bring any contrary evidence. What does the duty of every counsel dictate to him, if the case is not made out by his adversary or prosecutor? Let it rest; the court is bound to tell the jury so, and the jury are bound to find him not guilty. It is a most unshaken maxim, that nemo tenetur prodere se ipsum. And it would be indeed a very inquisitorial exercise of power, to call upon a man to run the risk of confirming the charge, under the penalty of being convicted by nil dicit. Surely at the criminal side of this court, as yet, there has been no such judgment pronounced. It is only when the party stands mute of malice, that such extremes can be resorted to. I never before heard an intimation from any judge to a jury, that bad evidence, liable to any and every exception, ought to receive a sanction from the silence of the party. The substance of the charge was neither more nor less than this: that the falsehood of the evidence shall receive support and credit from the silence of the man accused. With anxiety for the honour and religion of the law, I demand it of you, must not the jury have understood that this silence was evidence, to go to them? is the meaning contained in the expression " a volume of evidence," only insinuation? I do not know where any man could be safe; I do not know what any man

could do to screen himself from prosecution; I know not how he could be sure, even when he was at his prayers before the throne of Heaven, that he was not passing that moment of his life, on which he was to be charged with the commission of some crime, to be expiated to society by the forfeiture of his liberty or of his life; I do not know what shall become of the subject, if a jury are to be told that the silence of the man charged, is a "volume of evidence" that he is guilty of the crime. Where is it written? I know there is a place where vulgar frenzy cries out, that the public instrument must be drenched in blood, where defence is gagged, and the devoted wretch must perish. But even there the victim of such tyranny is not made to fill, by voluntary silence, the defects of his accusation; for his tongue is tied, and therefore no advantage is taken of him by construction; it cannot be there said that his not speaking is a volume of evidence to prove his guilt.

But to avoid all misunderstanding, see what is the force of my objection: is it that the charge of the court cannot receive a practicable interpretation, that may not terrify men's minds with ideas such as I have presented? No-I am saying no such thing: I have lived too long, and observed too much, not to know, that every word in a phrase is one of the feet upon which it runs; and how the shortening or lengthening of one of those feet, will alter the progress or direction of its motion. I am not arguing that the charge of the court cannot, by any possibility, be reconciled to the principles of law; I am agitating a bigger question; I am putting it to the conscience of the court, whether a jury may not have probably collected the same meaning from it, which I have affixed to it; and whether there ought not to have been a volume of explanation, to do away the fatal consequences of such mistake.

On what sort of a case am I now speaking? on one of that kind, which it is known has been beating the public heart for many months; which from a single being in society has scarcely received a cool or tranquil examination. I am making that sort of application, which the expansion of liberal reason, and the decay of technical bigotry, have made a favoured applica

tion.

In earlier times it might have been thought sacrilege to have meddled with a verdict once pronounced; since that, the true

principles of justice have been better understood; so that now the whole wisdom of the whole court will have an opportunity of looking over that verdict, and setting right the mistake which has occasioned it.

Mr. Curran made other observations, either to corroborate his own, or to answer the opposite counsel, of which it is impossible to give an exact detail, and concluded: You are standing on the scanty isthmus that divides the great ocean of duration; on one side, of the past, on the other, of the future: a ground, that while you yet hear me, is washed from beneath our feet. Let me remind you, my lords, while your determination is yet in your power, dum versatur adhuc intra penetralia Vestæ, that on tha ocean of future you must set your judgment afloat. And future ages will assume the same authority, which you have assumed; posterity feel the same emotions which you have felt, when your little hearts have beaten, and your infant eyes have overflowed, at reading the sad history of the sufferings of a Russel, or a Sidney.

[The conclusion of Mr. Curran's speech was marked by another burst of applause, similar to those which accompanied his former exertions in this cause.]

The application to set aside the verdict was refused by the court; and Mr. Rowan was sentenced to pay a fine of 500l., to be imprisoned two years, and to find security for good behaviour, himself in 20001., and two sureties in 1000l. each.

SPEECH OF MR. CURRAN,

IN DEFENCE OF MR. PATRICK FINNEY,

JANUARY 16th, 1798.

ABSTRACT OF THE INDICTMENT.

FIRST Count. "That Patrick Finney, yeoman, on the thir teenth day of April, in the thirty-seventh year of the king, and divers other days, at the city of Dublin, being a false traitor, did compass and imagine the death of our said lord, the king, and did traitorously and feloniously intend our said lord, the king, to kill, murder, and put to death."

The overt acts laid, were as follow: "1. Adhering to the persons exercising the powers of government in France, in case they should invade, or cause to be invaded, this kingdom of Ireland, they being enemies to the king, and at war.-2. That the conspirators aforesaid did meet, &c., confer, consult, and deliberate, about adhering to the persons exercising the powers of government in France.-3. Adhering to the persons exercising the powers of government in France.-4. Conspiring that one or more persons should be sent into France, to excite an invasion of Ireland.-5. Conspiring that one or more persons should be sent into France, to excite an invasion of this kingdom, and to make war therein; and for that purpose did ask, levy, and receive, &c. from other traitors, money, to wit, from each 201. to defray the expenses of the persons to be sent.-6. That conspiring, &c. they did send into France four persons unknown, to excite the persons exercising the powers of government in France, to invade this kingdom, and make war therein.-7. Conspiring to send, and sending four persons into France to persuade invasion, and to aid them in invading, and raising, and making war; and Finney, then and there, demanding and receiving money, viz. 201., to defray the charges of said persons.-8. That said Patrick Finney became an

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United Irishman, for the purpose of assisting the persons exercising the powers of government in France, and, being met, to the number of forty-eight other traitors, did divide into four splits, which each contained twelve traitors, and each split did then choose one to be secretary, to consult on behalf thereof with other splits, under the denomination of baronial meetings, for the purpose of adhering and making war, in case of an invasion of Ireland from France, and then and there conspiring an attack upon the castle of Dublin, &c. and to deprive his majesty of the stores and ammunition therein; and said Finney, to facilitate such attack, did advise and commend other traitors to view White's court, &c. and give their opinion to their several splits, so that their secretaries might report the same to their baronial meetings.-9. Adhering to the persons exercising the powers of government in France, &c. and with forty-eight other conspirators, divided into four splits, each containing twelve, each split choosing a secretary, to confer for the purpose of adhering to the enemy in case of invasion, and confederating and agreeing that a violent attack should be made on the ordnance stores, &c.-10. Consulting, &c. to procure an invasion.-11. Consulting to raise insurrection, rebellion, and war, in case of invasion of Ireland or Great Britain from France.-12. Conspiring to assist the persons exercising the powers of government in France, in case of their invading this realm, with ships and arms."

There was a second count, for "adhering to the king's enemies within the realm," and in support of this count, the overt acts laid, were exactly the same as those above recited.

A jury being sworn, the attorney-general stated the case on the part of the crown; the evidence being gone through on both sides

MR. CURRAN.-My Lords and Gentlemen of the Jury, In the early part of this trial, I thought I would have had to address you on the most important occasion possible at this side of the grave, a man labouring for life, on the casual strength of an exhausted, and at best, a feeble advocate. But, gentlemen, do not imagine that I rise under any such impressions-do not imagine that I approach you, sinking under the hopeless difficulties of my cause.-I am not now soliciting your indulgence to the inadequancy of my powers, or artfully enlisting your passions at the side of my client.-No! gentlemen, but I rise with what