In one of the preceding pages we have mentioned the fact that at the
Cork Summer Assizes of 1859, a conviction was recorded against Jeremiah
O'Donovan (Rossa) for his complicity in the Phoenix conspiracy, and he
was then released on the understanding that if he should be found
engaging in similar practices, the crown would bring him up for
judgment. It is characteristic of the man that with this conviction
hanging like a mill-stone about his neck, he did not hesitate to take an
active and an open part with the promoters of the Fenian movement. He
travelled through various parts of Ireland in furtherance of the objects
of the society; he visited America on the same mission, and when the
_Irish People_ was started he took the position of business manager in
that foredoomed establishment.
He was brought into the dock immediately after John O'Leary had been
taken from it; but on representing that certain documents which he had
not then at hand were necessary for his defence, he obtained a
postponement of his trial for a few days. When he was again brought up
for trial he intimated to the court that he meant to conduct his own
defence. And he entered upon it immediately. He cross-examined the
informers in fierce fashion, he badgered the detectives, he questioned
the police, he debated with the crown lawyers, he argued with the
judges, he fought with the crown side all round. But it was when the
last of the witnesses had gone off the table that he set to the work in
good earnest. He took up the various publications that had been put in
evidence against him, and claimed his legal right to read them all
through. One of them was the file of the _Irish People_ for the whole
term of its existence! Horror sat upon the faces of judges, jurymen,
sheriffs, lawyers, turnkeys, and all, when the prisoner gravely informed
them that as a compromise he would not insist upon reading the
advertisements! The bench were unable to deny that the prisoner was
entitled to read, if not the entire, at any rate a great portion of the
volume, and O'Donovan then applied himself to the task, selecting his
readings more especially from those articles in which the political
career of Mr. Justice Keogh was made the subject of animadversion. Right
on he read, his lordship striving to look as composed and indifferent as
possible, while every word of the bitter satire and fierce invective
written against him by Luby and O'Leary was being launched at his heart.
When articles of that class were exhausted, the prisoner turned to the
most treasonable and seditious documents he could find, and commenced
the reading of them, but the judges interposed; he claimed to be allowed
to read a certain article--Judge Keogh objected--he proposed to read
another--that was objected to also--he commenced to read another--he was
stopped--he tried another--again Judge Keogh was down on him--then
another--and he fared no better. So the fight went on throughout the
live-long day, till the usual hour of adjournment had come and gone, and
the prisoner himself was feeling parched, and weary, and exhausted.
Observing that the lights were being now renewed, and that their
lordships appeared satisfied to sit out the night, he anxiously inquired
if the proceedings were not to be adjourned till morning. "Proceed,
sir," was the stern reply of the judge, who knew that the physical
powers of the prisoner could not hold out much longer. "A regular
Norbury," gasped O'Donovan. "It's like a '98 trial." "You had better
proceed, sir, with propriety," exclaimed the judge. "When do you propose
stopping, my lord?" again inquired the prisoner. "Proceed, sir," was the
reiterated reply. O'Donovan could stand it no longer. He had been
reading and speaking for eight hours and a half. With one final protest
against the arrangement by which Judge Keogh was sent to try the cases
of men who had written and published such articles against him, he sat
down, exclaiming that, "English law might now take its course."
Next day the jury handed down their verdict of guilty. The
Attorney-General then addressed the court, and referred to the previous
conviction against the prisoner. O'Donovan was asked, what he had to say
in reference to that part of the case? and his reply was that "the
government might add as much as they pleased to the term of his sentence
on that account, if it was any satisfaction to them." And when the like
question was put to him regarding the present charge, he said:--
"With the fact that the government seized papers connected with my
defence and examined them--with the fact that they packed the
jury--with the fact that the government stated they would
convict--with the fact that they sent Judge Keogh, a second Morbury,
to try me--with these facts before me, it would be useless to say
anything."
Judge Keogh proceeded to pass sentence. "The prisoner," he said, "had
entertained those criminal designs since the year 1859;" whereupon
O'Donovan broke in with the remark that he was "an Irishman since he was
born." The judge said, "he would not waste words by trying to bring him
to a sense of his guilt;" O'Donovan's reply was--"It would be useless
for you to try it." The judge told him his sentence was, that he be kept
in penal servitude for the term of his natural life. "All right, my
lord," exclaimed the unconquerable rebel, and with a smile to the
sympathising group around him, he walked with a light step from the
dock.
The court was then adjourned to the 5th of January. 1866; and next day
the judges set off for Cork city, to dispose of the Fenian prisoners
there awaiting trial.
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