A OYER AND TERMINER. Ta Court held by special commission for the county and city of Dublin before the Hon. Mr. Justice Crookshank, the Hon. Baron George, and the Hon. Mr. Justice Day, on the 20th of July 1798, William M. Byrne was arraigned and tried on an indictment for High Treason, of which the following is an abstract :— FIRST COUNT That Wm. M. Byrne on the 20th May 1798, being a false traitor, did compass and imagine the death of the King, and did traitorously and feloniously intend the said King to kill, murder, and put to death. Overt Acts-That he the faid Byrne did confult and confpire with divers other traitors, to raise rebellion and make war in Ireland, in order to overturn the government and depose the King-2. That he did procure a great number of armed men to make war in order to overturn the government, &c.-3. That he did affociate with a fociety or brotherhood, called United Irishmen, and did procure a number of guns, &c. to be used in levying war, &c.-4. That he did meet with other traitors at the house of Oliver Bond in Dublin, and take accounts of the number of men and quantity of arms, raised for the purpose of carrying on faid rebellion, &c. SECONDCOUNT-That the said Wm. M.Byrne, not regarding his allegiance, but intending and contriving to disturb the common tranquillity, did falsely, maliciously, and traitorously adhere to, and give aid and comfort to the persons exercising the powers of government in France, and the men of France, under the government of the said persons, then being the ene mies of the King, and carrying on war against him. The fame overt acts were fet forth in fupport of the fecond count as of The first Mr. Attorney General opened the case to the Court and Jury; he called their attention to the indictment, and the overt acts therein set forth in support of each count, and then stated what he had been instructed to say, would be the proof to sustain the whole charge as specified in the indictment. EVIDENCE for the CROWN. Billingham Swan being sworn, said, That he was a magis. trate confidentially employed under government; that on the 20th March last, he was directed to go to the house of Oliver Bond, to apprehend a number of persons; that when he went there, he made use of the pass-word of which he had received information some days before," where is M'Cann or Mr. Ivers from Carlow?"-that they gained admittance into a back roem, where there were a number of men, one of whom was sitting at a table with pen, ink, and paper before him; that all the papers to be found in the room were seized, some of which were returns of the numbers of United Irishmen, &c. that all the men in the room were arrested, and the prisoner at the bar amongst the rest. Christ. S. Williams proved the prisoner's hand writing on one or two of the above-mentioned papers. Arthur Guinness proved the hand writing of M'Cann (who was one of the persons at Bond's) on several of the papers before-mentioned. Thomas Reynolds being sworn, deposed, That he had been a United Irishman, was once a delegate from the county of Kildare, and was acquainted with the nature of the associationthat the kingdom was divided into provincial, county, and ba ronial meetings, which last, if too large, were again divided into districts, that the baronial and district meetings sent delegates to the county meetings, and they sent delegates to the provincial assemblies-that the design and object of the association thus organized,was to overturn the existing Constitution, and establish in its stead a Republican form of government, and to favor any men from the French who would forward their views-that the business of the baronial meetings was to introduce new members, to collect money, to settle accounts of money paid on ad mission, collect men and arms, and give arms and ammunition to the people-This deponent having been informed of the meeting at Bond's, he communicated it to Mr. Cope, and also told him the pass-word necessary to gain admittance to ask for Mr. M'Can, or for Mr. Ivers of Carlow, or both"-The reason of this deponent being intrusted with the pass-word was, his having the returns from the County of Kildare of which he re pre Thefe papers do not appear in the Report, therefore we cannot fay pofitively what are their true import. presented-This deponent having dined with Mr. Cope and many others, one day, after dinner, when the cloth was removed, the conversation turned upon United Irishmen, and this de-ponent said, that they were resolved, that unless Government granted a Reform, there would be a rebellion, which would lead to the destruction of the kingdom.-A great deal of conversation took place, the result of which was, that next day, in coming to town, Mr. Cope begged of this deponent for the sake of God and man, to give up the United Irishmen to atone for the many crimes they had committed, and to save this country, for they would ruin every man of property in it-This de ponent was struck with what was said, and seriously meditated on the business, the result was, that he told Mr. Cope, that he believed he was acquainted with a person who was a United Irishman, and in consequence of the conversation he had with Mr. Cope, he had no doubt of being able to prevail on his friend to come forward, and that he would call on Mr. Cope in a few days-Mr. Cope then said, if such a man would come forward, he would be the salvation of Ireland-This deponent replied, that his friend was satised in his own mind, that if he would come upon terms, he would furnish to Government proofs of the conspirators, and disclose the whole of their transactions-Mr. Cope said, this d ́ponent's friend should be gratified to his wish, if 1000l. a year and a seat in Parliament would content him―This deponent said, his friend's name must be kept a profound secret, at least as much as possible, and must never be prosecuted for his past misconduct, and afterwards to bring his family out of Ireland; for some time, for a year at least he should have liberty to draw on him for any sum not exceeding 500 gui neas-Mr. Cope said it was no matter what sum he demanded -As soon as this was adjusted, this deponent gave Mr.Cope all the information he could, not from himself, but as from another person-This deponent has lost 630%. and has received 500 guineas he told Mr. Cope of the baronial meeting at Bond's, in consequence of which the members of it have been arrestedAt a meeting at Naas, this deponent on being questioned, gave Mr. Flood every assurance," that he had not given any infor mation of United Irishmen," and also gave the like assurances at Bond's, and would have made oath of it, if he had been required, for he was afraid of being murdered if he had not done so-This deponent, when 16 years of age, stole a piece of lutestring from his mother to give to some girl-he gave a dose of Tartar Emetic to his wife's mother when she was very ill-she died some days after, and he had heard that Mr. Withrington had accused him of poisoning her. Thomas Miller swore, That he was a labourer, a United Irishman, and had attended their meetings. Byrne, the prisone er, once sent for him to go to the county of Wicklow, and told him he was appointed captain of the 112 men of the half ba rony of Rathdowny, and told him how to make out his returns -Witness knows James Ryan, who attended a meeting of United Irishmen, at which Byrne was present; the question among them was, whether to have a rising among themselves, or to wait for the French coming?-witness was with Byrne at a meeting of United Irishmen in Francis-street, Dublin-Byrne paid witness money for pikes, and he got 84 or 85 made by a smith-The money paid this deponent for the pikes belonging to his division, he paid to Byrne-This deponent said, he went to the Earl of Powerscourt and Lord Monck, to give information against United Irishmen, because he knew himself to be in danger-he was taken up, but gave information voluntarily -that a man taken as a rebel, was shot in fifteen minuts after -This deponent confessed, that he had stolen holly timber, but not for pike handles. James Ryan deposed, that he was a United Irishman, had attended at their meetings, at some of which he saw Byrne the prisoner this deponent was afraid to fight, and went voluntarily to give information. William Cope swore to the conversation that had passed between him and Reynolds, as stated before in his testimony. Here the case closed on the part of the prosecution. Mr. CURRAN.My Lords, and gentlemen of the jury, in this case I am Counsel for the unfortunate prisoner at the bar. It is now my duty to argue upon some points, that appear to me to be material for the jury to consider previous to their finding their verdict. Gentlemen of the jury, it is scarcely possible for an advocate to discharge his duty, without offering something like observations. I do not say this, to entitle myself to your excuse, if I should lead you to some observations on the evidences. I am Counsel for this unfortunate prisoner at the bar -unfortunate in being brought here, to answer before the Court and jury, for these charges laid against him, which he is now called upon to answer-I know, gentlemen, what he can expect from you, if he should by your verdict be declared innocent; but even if innocent, the prisoner is unfortunate in being brought to answer a charge of high treason. He stands charged with this crime on the statute of 25th Edw. III. It was such an act of Parliament made, that it has been called a BlessedAct, and well it deserves to be so called. Our forefathers made that law, and they have long since become dust and ashes; there is no man in the profession, and there is no man not in the profession, who has a strong understanding heart, and considers that statute, who will not feel some of heir emancipation. Gen * Gentlemen, that statute was made from the wisest motives, it was made by the wisdom of an intelligent Legislature. The law of high treason in England, had been before that time exceedingly wide and tyranical; perhaps partly from want of much information, or from some prejudices, or perhaps from the art of printing not having extended so widely as it has since done; or from the defect of written books, and a great restriction to the reading of those books, or from the doctrine of high treason being written on by lawyers of base principles; if there was any principle at all, it was choked by pride and ignorance. The doctrine of high treason was left to float over their consciences; they had no concern for moral obligations, or affection for virtue, had no kind of regard for the interest of the people; the royal power of the state was degraded by the laws, as they stood respecting high treason before the reign of Edward 3. their wisdom was lost in idle declamation. In order to remove all doubts respecting the crime of high treason, our forefathers, in the reign of Edward 3. passed the statute which ascertains and defines what the crime of high treason is. You must see that unless you protect the power of the Constitution, nothing can be protected.-Therefore, gentlemen of the jury, that statute of high treason, was made in the reign of Edward 3. to guard the State and the Constitution from abuses. The State must be supported, whether it was merely Monarchical, Aristocratical, or Democratical; the supreme power, whatever it may be, must be protected; therefore gentlemen of the jury, it was the highest wisdom to guard and shield the department of the supreme power, and the first object of that protection was to throw a rampart about the sacred person of the King of these kingdoms. It is necessary for you to consider the provision made in the statute for the preservation, not only of the King, but of the Queen, and heir apparent. To compass or imagine the death of either of these illustrious personages is high treason. You see, gentlemen, that the statute is made to guard the person of the King; it specially provides for his personal safety; it enacts, that any person who shall levy war against the King, or shall compass or imagine the death of the King, is guilty of high treason; if any man levy war to overturn the Constitution, he shall suffer as a high traitor. It is necessary to show that by the words of this statute, that levying war within the realm, or without the realm, is high treason against the King, and the party shall suffer as a high traitor. The prisoner at the bar, in this case, is indicted upon the first and third clauses of this act-"if any man shall compass "or imagine the death of the King, or attack the King by, open |