As to the position in which I am now placed by British law, I have to repeat that I am an American citizen, and owe allegiance to the government of the United States.  I am a soldier, and have belonged to the National Militia of America.  Now, if war had broken out between the two countries, and that I had been taken prisoner, the English government, according to English law, would hold me guilty of high treason.  I would not be treated as an ordinary prisoner of war, but would be liable to be strung up at the yard arm.  See then the position of England towards the United States.  The Crown should not be in such haste to act thus.  It was hardly a judicious policy.  Andrew Johnson was the grandson of an Irishman; Mr. Seward was the son of an Irishwoman; General Jackson was the son of an Irishman; General Washington and Benjamin Franklin lived and died British subjects, if this law be correct.  There is another point to which I wish to refer—­it is to the manner in which my government has acted in this matter—­

    THE CHIEF BARON—­We cannot allow you to enter into remarks on
    the conduct of any government.  We have simply to sit here to
    administer the law which we are called upon to discharge.

    THE PRISONER—­I wish simply to call your attention to one
    point.  On the 3rd of August I wrote to my government—­

    THE CHIEF BARON—­I cannot allow you to refer to that.

    THE PRISONER—­The President of the United States, on a report
    submitted to him—­

THE CHIEF BARON—­I cannot allow you to proceed with any reference to what has been done by any government.  We have nothing to do with the conduct of any government We are only here to administer the law which we are sworn to administer.

    THE PRISONER—­I was simply going to state that while the vile
    officials of your government—.

THE CHIEF BARON—­We have nothing to do with the conduct of any government.  We are here to dispense justice according to law, and whatever the officials of our government or of the American government have done cannot have the slightest influence upon our judgment.  It can neither affect us favourably or unfavourably to the prisoner or to the Crown.  We stand indifferently between both.

    THE PRISONER—­I beg simply to call your lordship’s attention
    to the correspondence—­

    THE CHIEF BARON—­We cannot allow you to do so.  We cannot allow
    you to refer to the correspondence between the officials of
    one government and the officials of another.

THE PRISONER—­If America does not resent England’s conduct towards me, and protect that allegiance to her government which I proudly own is the only allegiance I ever acknowledged, I shall call on thirteen millions of Irishmen—­

    THE CHIEF BARON—­I cannot allow you to use the position in
    which you stand there as the arena for those observations.