attention.  And now, my lord, as I have already stated, I am ready for my sentence I feel rather out of place in this dock [the prisoner here smiled gently].  It is a place a man is very seldom placed in, and even if he is a good speaker he might be put out by the circumstance of having to utter his remarks from this place.  But speaking at all is not my forte; and there are such emotions filling my breast at this moment that I may be pardoned for not saying all I would wish.  My heart is filled with thoughts of kind friends—­near at hand and far away—­of father and mother, brothers and sisters, and my dear wife.  Thoughts of these fill my breast at this moment, and check my utterance.  But I will say to them that I am firmly convinced I will yet live to see, and that God will be graciously pleased in His own good time to order, the prosperity and freedom of this glorious country.  I would only repeat the powerful, touching, and simple words of Michael Larkin, the martyr of Manchester, who, in parting from his friends, said, ‘God be with you, Irishmen and Irishwomen,’ and the burning words of my old friend Edward O’Mara Condon, which are now known throughout Ireland and the world, ‘God save Ireland!’ And I, too, would say, ’God be with you, Irishmen and women; God save you; God bless Ireland; and God grant me strength to bear my task for Ireland as becomes a man.  Farewell!’ [A sound of some females sobbing was here heard in the gallery.  Several ladies in court, too, visibly yielded to emotion at this point.  Perceiving this the prisoner continued:—­] My lord, if I display any emotion at this moment, I trust it will not be construed into anything resembling a feeling of despair, for no such feeling animates me.  I feel, as I have already said, confidence in God.  I feel that I will not be long in imprisonment; therefore I am just as ready to meet my fate now as I was six weeks ago, or as I was six months ago.  I feel confident that there is a glorious future in store for Ireland, and that, with a little patience, a little organization, and a full trust in God on the part of the Irish people, they will be enabled to obtain it at no distant date.”

During the concluding passages of this address many persons sobbed and wept in various parts of the court.  At its close the learned judge in language that was really gentle, considerate, and even complimentary towards the prisoner, and in a voice shaken by sincere emotion, declared the sentence which he felt it to be his duty to impose.  It was penal servitude for a term of twelve years.