Speeches from the Dock, Part I by Various
page 112 of 276 (40%)
page 112 of 276 (40%)
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happiness and dignity--to abolish the political conditions which compel
the classes of our people to hate and to murder each other, and which compel the Irish people to hate the very name of the English--to end the reign of fraud, perjury, corruption, and 'government' butchery, and to make, law, order, and peace possible in Ireland, the _Irish Felon_ takes its place amongst the combatants in the holy war now waging in this island against foreign tyranny. In conducting it my weapons shall be--_the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help me God_!" Such "open and avowed treason" as this could not long continue to be published. Before the third number the _Felon_ saw the light, a warrant for Mr. Martin's arrest was in the hands of the detectives, and its fifth was its last. On Saturday, July 8th, Mr. Martin surrendered himself into custody, having kept out of the way for a few days to prevent his being tried, under the "gagging act," at the Commission sitting when the warrant was issued, and which adjourned until August--the time fixed for the insurrection--in the interim. On the same day, Duffy, Williams, and O'Doherty were arrested. Martin was imprisoned in Newgate, but he continued to write from within his cell for the _Felon_, and its last number, published on July 22nd, contains a spirited letter signed with his initials, which formed portion of the indictment against him on his trial. In this letter, Martin calls on his countrymen in impassioned words to "stand to their arms!" "Let them menace you," he writes from his dungeon, "with the hulks or the gibbet for daring to speak or write your love to Ireland. Let them threaten to mow you down with grape shot, as they massacred your kindred with famine and plague. Spurn their brutal 'Acts of Parliament'--trample upon their lying proclamations--fear them not!" On Tuesday, August 15th, John Martin's trial commenced in Green-street court-house, the indictment being for treason-felony. "Several of his |
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