worthy gentleman, who may transmit to Paris a faithful account of what has this day passed. If so, I think some loyal absentee may possibly find an account of it in the Publiciste or the Moniteur-and perhaps somewhat in this way-"On the 23d of July last, a most splendid rebellion displayed her standard in the metropolis of Ireland, in a part of the city which in their language is called the Poddle. The band of heroes that came forth at the call of patriotism, capable of bearing arms, at the lowest calculation must have amounted to little less than two hundred persons. The rebellion advanced with most intrepid step till she came to the site of the old four courts, and tholsel. There she espied a decayed pillory, on which she mounted, in order to reconnoitre, but she found to her great mortification that the rebels had staid behind. She therefore judged it right to make her escape, which she effected in a masterly manner down Dirty lane. The rebels' at the same time retiring in some disorder from the Poddle, being hard pressed by the poles and lanterns of the watchmen, and being additionally galled by Mr. Justice Drury, who came to a most unerring aim upon their rere, on which he played without any intermission, with a spy-glass, from his dining-room windowRaro antecedentem celestum deserit Panapede claudo. It is clearly ascertained that she did not appear in her own clothes, for she threw away her regimental jacket before she fled, which has been picked up, and is now to be seen at Mr. Carleton's, at six pence a head for grown persons, and three pence for a nurse and child. It was thought at first to be the work of an Irish artist, who might have taken measure in the absence of the wearer, but by a bill and receipt found in one of the pockets, it appears to have been made by the actual body tailor of her august highness the consort of the first consul. At present it is but poorly ornamented; but it is said that the Irish volunteers have entered into a subscription to trim it, if it shall be ever worn again."Happy, most happy, it is for these islands, said Mr. Curran, that those rumours which are so maliciously invented and circulated to destroy our confidence in each other, to invite attack and dispirit resistance, turn out on inquiry to be so ludicrous and contemptible, that we cannot speak of them without laughter, or without wonder that they did not rather form the materials of a farce in a puppet show, than of a grave prosecution in a court of justice.

Mr. Curran said, there was still another topic material to remind the jury of: this was the first trial for treason that occurred since the union of these islands. He said no effectual union could be achieved by the mere letter of statute; don't imagine (said he) that bigotry could blend with liberality, or barbarism with civilization. If you wish to be really united with Great Britain, teach her to respect you, and do so by showing her that you are fit objects of wholesome laws; by showing that you are capable of rising to a proud equality with her in the exercise of social duties and civil virtues, as many parts of the globe have proved you to be in her fleets and her armies;-show her that you can try this cause as she would try it; that you have too much sense and humanity to be borne away in your verdict by despicable panic or brutal fury;-show her that in prosecutions by the state, you can even go a step beyond her, and that you can discover and act upon those eternal principles of justice, which it has been found necessary in that country to enforce by the coercion of law you cannot, said he, but feel that I allude to their statute that requires two witnesses in treason. Our statute does not contain that provision; but if it was wise to enact it there as a law, it cannot be other than wise to adopt it here as a principle: unless you think it discreet to hold it out as your opinion, that the life of a man is not as valuable here, and ought not to be as secure, as in the other part of the empire; unless you wish to prove your capability of equal rights and equal liberty with Britain, by consigning to the scaffold your miserable fellow subject, who, if tried in England on the same charge and the same evidence, would by law be entitled to a verdict of acquittal. I trust you will not so blemish yourselves; I trust you will not be satisfied even with a cold imitation of her justice; but that on this occasion you will give her an example of magnanimity by rising superior to the passion or the panic of the moment. If in any ordinary case, in any ordinary time, you have any reasonable doubt of guilt, you are bound by every principle of law and justice to acquit. But I would advise you, at a time like this. rather to be lavish than parsimonious in the application of that principle-even though you had the strongest suspicion of his culpability I would advise you to acquit-you would show your confidence in your own strength, that you felt your situation too high to be affected in the smallest degree by the fate of so insig

nificant an individual; turn to the miserable prisoner himselftainted and blemished, as he possibly may be-even him you may retrieve to his country and his duty by a salutary effort of seasonable magnanimity. You will inspire him with reverence for that institution, which knows when to spare, as well as when to inflict and which, instead of sacrificing him to a strong suspicion of his criminality, is determined, not by the belief, but by the possibility of his innocence, and dismisses him with indignation and contemptuous mercy.

MR. KIRWAN was found GUILTY.

SPEECH OF MR. CURRAN,

IN BEHALF OF

THE REV. CHARLES MASSY,

AGAINST THE MARQUIS OF HEADFORD, FOR CRIMINAL CONVERSATION WITH PLAINTIFF'S WIFE.

AT ENNIS ASSIZES, Co. CLARE, ON THE 27TH OF JULY, 1804.

Damages laid at 40,000l.-Verdict, 10,000l.

MR. CURRAN.-Never so clearly as in the present instance have I observed that safeguard of justice, which providence hath placed in the nature of man. Such is the imperious dominion with which truth and reason wave their sceptre over the human intellect, that no solicitations however artful, no talent however commanding, can reduce it from its allegiance. In proportion to the humility of our submission to its rule do we rise into some faint emulation of that ineffable and presiding divinity, whose characteristic attribute it is-to be coerced and bound by the inexorable laws of his own nature, so as to be all-wise and all-just from necessity, rather than election. You have seen it in the learned advocate who has preceded me most peculiarly and strikingly illustrated-you have seen even his great talents, perhaps the first in any country, languishing under a cause too weak to carry him, and too heavy to be carried by him. He was forced to dismiss his natural candour and sincerity, and having no merits in his case, to substitute the dignity of his own manner, the resources of his own ingenuity, over the overwhelming difficulties with which he was surrounded. Wretched client! unhappy advocate! what a combination do you form! But such is the condition of guilt-its commission mean and tremulous-its defence artificial and insincere-its prosecution candid and simple

its condemnation dignified and austere. Such has been the defendant's guilt-such his defence-such shall be my addressand such, I trust, your verdict. The learned counsel has told you, that this unfortunate woman is not to be estimated at forty thousand pounds-fatal and unquestionable is the truth of this assertion. Alas! gentlemen, she is no longer worth any thingfaded, fallen, degraded, and disgraced, she is worth less than nothing! But it is for the honour, the hope, the expectation, the tenderness, and the comforts that have been blasted by the defendant, and have fled for ever, that you are to remunerate the plaintiff, by the punishment of the defendant. It is not her present value which you are to weigh—but it is her value at that time, when she sat basking in a husband's love, with the blessing of heaven on her head, and its purity in her heart: when she sat amongst her family, and administered the morality of the parental board-estimate that past value-compare it with its present deplorable diminution—and it may lead you to form some judgment of the severity of the injury, and the extent of the compensation.

The learned counsel has told you, you ought to be cautious, because your verdict cannot be set aside for excess. The assertion is just, but has he treated you fairly by its application? His cause would not allow him to be fair-for, why is the rule adopted in this single action? Because, this being peculiarly an injury to the most susceptible of all human feelings-it leaves the injury of the husband to be ascertained by the sensibility of the jury, and does not presume to measure the justice of their determination by the cold and chilly exercise of his own discretion. In any other action it is easy to calculate. If a tradesman's arm is cut off, you can measure the loss which he has sustained-but the wound of feeling, and the agony of the heart, cannot be judged by any standard with which I am acquainted. And you are unfairly dealt with, when you are called on to appreciate the present suffering of the husband by the present guilt, delinquency, and degradation of his wife. As well might you, if called on to give compensation to a man for the murder of his dearest friend-find the measure of his injury, by weighing the ashes of the dead. But it is not, gentlemen of the jury, by weighing the ashes of the dead, that you would estimate the loss of the survivor.