On the same occasion the prisoner Edward Kelly delivered the following
soul-stirring address:--
"My lords--The novelty of my situation will plead for any want of
fluency on my part; and I beg your lordships' indulgence if I am
unnecessarily tedious. I have to thank the gentlemen of the jury for
their recommendation, which I know was well meant; but knowing, as I
do, what that mercy will be, I heartily wish that recommendation will
not be received. Why should I feel regret? What is death? The act of
passing from this life into the next. I trust that God will pardon me
my sins, and that I will have no cause to fear entering into the
presence of the ever-living and Most Merciful Father. I don't
recollect in my life ever having done anything with a deliberately
bad intention. In my late conduct I do not see anything for regret.
Why then, I say, should I feel regret? I leave the dread of death to
such wretches as Corridon and Massey--Corridon, a name once so
suggestive of sweetness and peace, now the representative of a
loathsome monster. If there be anything that can sink that man,
Corridon, lower in the scales of degradation, it is--"
The Chief Justice--"We cannot listen to any imputation on persons who
were examined as witnesses. Strictly speaking, you are only to say
why sentence of death should not be passed upon you; at the same time
we are very unwilling to hold a very strict hand, but we cannot allow
imputations to be made on third persons, witnesses or others, who
have come forward in this trial."
Prisoner--"Well, my lord, I will answer as well as I can the question
put to me. The Irish people through every generation ever since
England has obtained a footing in Ireland, have protested against the
occupation of our native soil by the English. Surely that is answer
enough why sentence of death should not be passed upon me. In the
part I have taken in the late insurrection, I feel conscious that I
was doing right. Next to serving his Creator, I believe it is a man's
solemn duty to serve his country. [Here the prisoner paused to
suppress his emotion, which rendered his utterance very feeble, and
continued]--my lords, I have nothing more to say, except to quote the
words of the sacred psalmist, in which you will understand that I
speak of my country as he speaks of his:--'If I forget thee, O
Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten, let my tongue cleave to my
jaws if I do not remember thee: if I make not Jerusalem the beginning
of my joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of
Jerusalem: who say, raze, raze it, even to the foundation thereof. O
daughter of Babylon, miserable: blessed be he who shall repay thee
thy payment which thou hast paid us.' In conclusion, my lords, I
wish to give my thanks to my attorney, Mr. Collins, for his untiring
exertions, and also to my counsel, Mr. Heron, for his able defence,
and to Mr. Waters."
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