sides of the Atlantic, and I never knew one of them to have exhibited a desire other than to have the proud satisfaction of freeing Ireland, which was the only reward they ever yearned for—­the only object that ever animated them.  As to myself, I can truly say that I entered into this movement without any idea of personal aggrandisement.  When, in 1865, I bade my loving friends and parents good-bye in America, and came to Ireland, I was fully satisfied with the thought that I was coming to assist in the liberation of an enslaved nation; and I knew that the greatest sacrifices must be endured on our parts before the country could be raised to that proud position which is so beautifully described by the national poet as—­

           “’Great, glorious, and free,
   First flower of the earth, first gem of the sea.’

“Well, it was with that only wish, and that only desire I came to Ireland, feeling that to realize it were to an honest man a greater reward than all the honours and riches and power this world could bestow.  I cannot boast of learning, my lord; I have not had much opportunity of cultivating those talents with which Providence may have blessed me.  Still I have read sufficient of the world’s history to know that no people ever acquired their liberty without enormous sacrifices—­without losing, always, I may say, some of the purest, bravest, and best of their children.  Liberty, if worth possessing, is surely worth struggling and fighting for, and in this struggle—­of which, although the crown-lawyers and the government of England think they have seen the end, but of which I tell them they have not yet seen the commencement—­I feel that enormous sacrifices must be made.  Therefore, my lord, looking straight before me now, I say I was determined and was quite ready to sacrifice my life if necessary to acquire that liberty; and I am not now going to be so mean-spirited, so cowardly, or so contemptible as to shrink from my portion of the general suffering.  I am ready, then, for the sentence of the court, satisfied that I have acted right, confident that I have committed no wrong, outrage, or crime whatever, and that I have cast no disgrace upon my parents, my friends, upon my devoted wife, or upon myself.  I am, with God’s assistance, ready to meet my fate.  I rest in the calm resignation of a man whose only ambition through life has been to benefit and free, not to injure, his fellow-men; and whose only desire this moment is to obtain their prayers and blessings.  With the approval of my own conscience, above all hoping for the forgiveness of God for anything I may have done to displease Him, and relying upon His self-sustaining grace to enable me to bear any punishment, no matter how severe, so long as it is for glorious old Ireland.  I had intended, my lord, to refer to my notes which I took at the trial; but I feel that was so ably done by my counsel, it would be a mere waste of time for me to do so, but I just wish to make an explanation.