My lords and gentlemen of the jury—­I am going to trouble this court with some reply to the charge made against me in this indictment.  But I am sorry that I must begin by protesting that I do not consider myself as being now put upon my country to be tried as the constitution directs—­as the spirit of the constitution requires—­and, therefore, I do not address you for my legal defence, but for my vindication before the tribunal of conscience—­a far more awful tribunal, to my mind, than this.  Gentlemen, I regard you as twelve of my fellow-countrymen, known or believed by my prosecutors to be my political opponents, and selected for that reason for the purpose of obtaining a conviction against me in form of law.  Gentlemen, I have not the smallest purpose of casting an imputation against your honesty or the honesty of my prosecutors who have selected you.  This is a political trial, and in this country political trials are always conducted in this way.  It is considered by the crown prosecutors to be their duty to exclude from the jury-box every juror known, or suspected, to hold or agree with the accused in political sentiment.  Now, gentlemen, I have not the least objection to see men of the most opposite political sentiments to mine placed in the jury-box to try me, provided they be placed there as the constitution commands—­provided they are twelve of my neighbours indifferently chosen.  As a loyal citizen I am willing and desirous to be put upon my county, and fairly tried before any twelve of my countrymen, no matter what may happen to be the political sentiments of any of them.  But I am sorry and indignant that this is not such a trial.  This system by which over and over again loyal subjects of the Queen in Ireland are condemned in form of law for seeking, by such means as the constitution warrants, to restore her Majesty’s kingdom of Ireland to the enjoyment of its national rights—­this system, of selecting anti-Repealers and excluding Repealers from the jury box, when a Repealer like me is to be tried, is calculated to bring the administration of justice into disesteem, disrepute, and hatred.  I here protest against it.  My lords and gentlemen of the jury, before I offer any reply to the charges in this indictment, and the further development of those charges made yesterday by the learned gentleman whose official duty it was to argue the government’s case against me, I wish to apologise to the court for declining to avail myself of the professional assistance of the bar upon this occasion.  It is not through any want of respect for the noble profession of the bar that I decline that assistance.  I regard the duties of a lawyer as among the most respectable that a citizen can undertake.  His education has taught him to investigate the origin, and to understand principles of law, and the true nature of loyalty.  He has had to consider how the interests of individual citizens may harmonise with the interests of the community, how justice