jury, that if you agree with his prosecutors, in thinking that there ought to be a sacrifice of such a man, on such an occasion, and upon the credit of such evidence, you are to convict him-never did you, never can you give a sentence, consigning any man to public punishment with less danger to his person or to his fame: for where could the hireling be found to fling contumely or ingratitude at his head, whose private distresses he had not laboured to alleviate, or whose public condition he had not laboured to improve.

I cannot, however, avoid adverting to a circumstance that distinguishes the case of Mr. Rowan, from that of a late sacrifice in a neighbouring kingdom.

The severer law of that country, it seems, and happy for them that it should, enables them to remove from their sight the victim of their infatuation;-the more merciful spirit of our law deprives you of that consolation; his sufferings must remain for ever before your eyes, a continual call upon your shame and your remorse. But those sufferings will do more; they will not rest satisfied with your unavailing contrition, they will challenge the great and paramount inquest of society, the man will be weighed against the charge, the witness and the sentence; and impartial justice will demand, why has an Irish jury done this deed? The moment he ceases to be regarded as a criminal, he becomes of necessity an accuser; and let me ask you, what can your most zealous defenders be prepared to answer to such a charge? When your sentence shall have sent him forth to that stage, which guilt alone can render infamous; let me tell you, he will not be like a little statue upon a mighty pedestal, diminishing by elevation; but he will stand a striking and imposing object upon a monument, which, if it does not, and it cannot, record the atrocity of his crime, must record the atrocity of his conviction. And upon this subject, credit me when I say, that I am still more anxious for you, than I can possibly be for him. I cannot but feel the peculiarity of your situation. Not the jury of his own choice-which the law of England allows, but which ours refuses-collected in that box by a person, certainly no friend to Mr. Rowan, certainly not very deeply interested in giving him a very impartial jury-feeling this, as I am persuaded you do, you cannot be surprised, however you may be distressed at the mournful presage, with which an anxious public is led to fear the worst from your possible determination. But I will not, for the justice and honour of our common country, suffer my mind to be borne away by such melancholy anticipation, I will not relinquish the confidence that this day will be the period of his sufferings; and, however mercilessly he has been hitherto pursued, that your verdict will send him home to the arms of his family, and the wishes of his country. But if, which heaven forbid, it hath still been unfortunately determined, that because he has not bent to power and authority, because he would not bow down before the golden calf and worship it, he is to be bound and cast into the furnace; I do trust in God, that there is a redeeming spirit in the constitution, which will be seen to walk with the sufferer through the flames, and to preserve him unhurt by the conflagration.

[After Mr. Curran had concluded, there was another universal burst of applause through the court and hall, for some minutes, which was again silenced by the interference of Lord Clonmel.]

Mr. ATTORNEY-GENERAL-My Lords, It is Mr. Prime Serjeant's duty to speak to the evidence, but as Mr. Curran has let fall some things to make an impression not merely upon those who surround us, I must be excused in stating some facts known to no human being but myself. It has been stated that this was an oppressive prosecution, and that oppression has been intended by the delay. Now, I do aver that the instructions he has received are false; that I received no instructions of the kind from government, and no government could think of prevailing with me in such a measure. I feel within myself, that no man could ask me such a thing twice in the office I hold. Let the jury consider the fact as it is, let them consider the evidence, and God forbid! they should be influenced by anything but the evidence. Mr. Curran states that oppression is practised-I am responsible to the court for my conduct here, and if I have carried on this prosecution with oppression, I am responsible to the country. Let this gentleman, if he thinks he has been oppressed, call me to punishment let me be a disgrace in the eye of the country, and let me be driven from that profession, in which I have so long been honoured. The facts are these:-the accusation against Mr. Rowan was made in the month of December, 1792, he was arrested in January following, and brought before Mr. Justice Downes and discharged upon bail. The information was filed in Hilary Term; as soon as it was possible by the rules of the court, Mr. Rowan pleaded, and the venire issued, I do protest with a bona fide intention to try Mr. Rowan. After that, an error was found in the record, though it had been compared before; the error was this; in the record the words were would do" so and so; in the publication it was "would we do" so and As soon as that was discovered, notice was given that the trial could not come forward, and the witnesses were dismissed. In Trinity Term, application was made to issue the venire, and it appeared from the Recorder, that he was aware of the defects; I am above concealing anything, I admit he did offer to waive any objection to the error and go to trial directly. I asked Mr. Kemmis, "are the witnesses gone out of town"-"They are gone to Galway." I was therefore obliged to refuse the offer, but entered a Noli prosequi and filed a new information. Mr. Rowan put his plea upon the file, and in Michaelmas Term I applied for a trial. There were several trials at bar appointed, and the court refused, in consequence of the business before them, to try it in that term; and appointed it for this term. These are the facts I think it my duty to mention, and have no more to say upon the subject, but will leave the case entirely to the jury, whose verdict will not be influenced by such topics as have been thrown out.

So.

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Mr. CURRAN.-Mr. Attorney, I could not know the circumstance you mention, of your witnesses being gone out of town.

Mr. ATTORNEY-GENERAL.-It was impossible you should.*

In the latter end of December, 1792, Mr. Rowan was arrested by virtue of Mr. Justice Downes's warrant, on a charge of distributing a seditious paper.Mr. Justice Downes having assured Mr. Rowan, that the examinations, upon which the warrant was grounded, would be returned to the Clerk of the Crown, and that they would, he supposed, be in course by him laid before the next term grand jury, Mr. Rowan, instead of going to jail, in pursuance of his own opinion, followed the advice of his law friends, and gave bail for his appearance in the

Mr. PRIME SERGEANT.-Wearied and exhausted as you, my lords, and gentlemen of the jury, must be at this late hour, I yet feel it my duty to trespass a short time upon you, in a prosecution which the Attorney-General has been obliged to institute: Gentlemen, I say obliged, because prosecution is painful to him, as well as to those who act with him. The infliction of punishment is disagreeable to the court, but in our public duty these weaknesses must give way. There is justice due to the public; my learned friend is the advocate of justice to the public, not of persecution against the defendant. There is no man, who recollects the period at which this publication came out, too notorious and shameful to be forgotten, who must not have thought it highly proper to bring the publisher to a legal trial.

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King's Bench, to answer such charges as should be there made against him. During the succeeding Hilary Term, Mr. Rowan daily attended in the King's Bench, and on the last day of that term, finding that no examinations had been laid before the grand jury against him, he applied, by counsel, to the court, that the examinations should be forthwith returned, particularly as Mr. Attorney-General had, in the course of the term, filed two informations ex-officio against him, the one for the same alledged offence of distributing a seditious paper, and the other for a seditious conspiracy; whereupon, Mr. Justice Downes, who was on the bench, having asserted that he had on the first day of the term, returned the examinations to the Clerk of the Crown, and the Clerk of the Crown having said that from the multiplicity of examinations returned to him on the first day of the term, in the course of the term, and even on that day, he had not had time to look them over, the court refused to make any order. Mr. Rowan daily attended the King's Bench in the following Easter Term, until the same was nearly spent, and finding that no bills were sent up to the Grand Jury against him, he moved the court, by counsel, that the recognizance entered into by him and his bail, should be vacated, and publicly declared that if this motion was not granted, he would surrender himself in discharge of his bail. The Attorney-General consenting, the motion was granted, and the recognizance was vacated.

[It may not be improper here to state, that the above examinations having charged Mr. James Napper Tandy, with having distributed a seditious paper equally with Mr. Rowan, he likewise gave bail; but not having appeared in court pursuant to his recognizance, it was estreated, green-wax process issued against the bail, and the amount of the recognizance levied from them, though no bill of indictment, grounded on these examinations, was ever preferred against him, and though his absence was notoriously on another account.]

In the above mentioned Easter Term, a motion was made, on behalf of Mr. Rowan, to fix certain days for trial of the informations filed ex-officio against him, and the Attorney-General having agreed to the appointment of two days in the ensuing Trinity Term, viz. the 3d and 7th days of May, those days were accordingly appointed for the purpose. However, in the Easter vacation, the AttorneyGeneral served a notice on Mr. Rowan, that he would not proceed to trial on those days, and would apply to the court to appoint other days, grounded on an affidavit to be filed, of which notice would be given: nothing was done upon this notice, and no affidavit was filed, or motion made thereon, and the venire, the process necessary for impannelling juries on the days appointed, having been, after being issued, kept by Mr. Kemmis, the crown solicitor, instead of being delivered to the sheriff, a motion was made, on behalf of Mr. Rowan, in the last Trinity Term, that the venire should be delivered to the proper officer, in order, that the trials might be had on the days appointed, in case the court should not grant any motion the Attorney-General might make for postponing the trials. This motion was opposed by the Attorney-General-he declared, that there was error in the information for distributing a seditious paper. Mr. Rowan offered to agree to an immediate amendment of the information, or that a fresh one should be filed and pleaded to instanter, or that he would release all errors ;-all these offers were severally refused. The object of the Attorney-General appeared to be to postpone the trials, and though only one of the informations was stated to be informa!, yet the day appointed for the trial of the other, which was supposed to be formal,

the exertions of government, at that time, it is to be attributed that the trial by jury still subsists among us, and that he has not been before now tried at another court; that the King's Bench has not been superseded by a Revolutionary Tribunal; and that my learned friend has not, ere now, made room for the Public Accuser. The defendant must think it fortunate that he is tried according to established law, and defended by counsel of his own election, and before a jury, bound by a solemn appeal to God, to find according to the evidence given to them, notwithstanding that disgraceful situation in which it has been stated they will be held, if they presume to find a verdict of conviction. I feel no danger that this jury can be intimidated by apprehensions, or influenced by prejudice. My learned friend and I have been represented as instruments of oppression against the gentleman at the bar. I consider it as the talk of the moment, because his learned counsel little knows us, if he thinks us capable of acting so abominable a part; he could not mean it in the extent to which it reaches the common ear. I can consider it only as the splendid effusion of his talents; he was anxious to lead you, gentlemen, from that which was the true object of consideration. You have been told, the defendant was prosecuted because he published an invitation to the Volunteers, entered into the discussion of a reform and Catholic Emancipation, and endeavoured to have a national convention assembled. I will tell the jury it is not a prosecution upon any one of these grounds; but a prosecution, because these subjects were thrown before the public in a paper crammed with libellous and seditious matter, calculated to inflame. These measures, which were sought after, should be procured by the power of reason and not by an intimidation of the legislature. Little does the

defendant's counsel know me, if he thinks I could prosecute a man for calling upon the Volunteers to suppress domestic tumult or resist a foreign foe; these are the subjects to which he calls your attention, totally evading the offensive matter in the publication. Gentlemen, the questions which you are to try are these: Was this matter published? Is it a libel? And was the intention criminal? Can he desire more? If it was not published, if it be not libellous and the intention was not criminal, I agree that the defendant ought to be

passed away without trial, equally with the day appointed for the trial of the one which was stated to be informal. The Attorney-General afterwards withdrew the information stated to have been informal, and filed another in the stead thereof. Many of Mr. Rowan's friends suspected, that the motive for postponing the trials was the expectation of having, under the shrievalty of Mr. Giffard, juries more favourable to government prosecutions, than they could entertain any hopes of having during the shrievalty of Mr. Hutton. In Michaelmas Term last, the Attorney-General applied to the court, that a day should be appointed for the trial of the information for distributing a seditious paper; the court would not appoint a day in that term, but appointed a day for the trial of that information in Hilary Term following, viz. the 29th January last. After Mr. Rowan had received his sentence, being desirous of having the information for a seditious conspiracy also tried and disposed of, he instructed his counsel to move for the appointment of a day for the purpose; and the counsel having mentioned to the Attorney-General such his instruction, the Attorney-General said that it was not his intention to proceed upon that information, and that he had been prevented only by a press of business from withdrawing it, but would without further delay, and accordingly the Attorney-General has since entered a noli prosequi as to that information.

acquitted; and if the jury acquit him after a fair and candid discussion of the case, no man will be more satisfied than I shall. But if, without such a consideration, a jury, in times of distraction and disorder should, acquit the factious, I agree with the gentleman, that the world would bear hard upon a jury, who from fear or favour betrayed that situation in which the law and the constitution placed them.

Let me now, gentlemen, take that place which it is my duty to take, and which the gentleman on the other side, I suppose from address, so lightly touched upon. I shall reverse the order he adopted. The first question then is, “Whether the publication of this libel was by the defendant ?" If there be a man, entertaining a doubt after the evidence stated, it is in vain for me to address him. In support of the fact of publication Mr. Lyster has been examined; he states that, upon the day of the publication of the paper, he was passing through Cope-street, in this city, and seeing a great crowd at the house of Mr. Pardon, he went there to know what the object of the meeting was; he says, that on going to the door he saw Mr. Rowan, who prevented him from going to that part where the assembly was, saying he could not be let in with coloured clothes: afterwards he went up to the gallery: a bundle of papers was brought, some were thrown upon the table, and some handed up to the gallery, and this particular paper which he produced was thrown from a parcel which Mr. Hamilton Rowan had in his hand. The witness got this paper, which was thus for the first time put into circulation: he gave an account of the manner in which this matter was communicated to the Crown Solicitor. The witness was questioned much as to family matters, with a view to impeach his character, but it has had a contrary effect, for the matter was submitted to reference, and the authenticity of the instrument under which his brother claimed, has been established, and some hundreds awarded, one shilling of which would not have been given if they believed the instrument to be forged. When he was interrogated as to these matters, he said he heard, this day, that Mr. Blake was to be examined to impeach his character, "If I knew it before, said he, I could have had witnesses from the country to support me." But when Mr. Blake was called, did he in any respect whatever impeach the character of Mr. Lyster? he would not say that Mr. Lyster was not to be believed. What then must you think, when resort has been had to distant counties to find witnesses to impeach the character of Mr. Lyster, and out of the 150 men assembled in Cope-street, no one has been brought forward to deny the fact which has been sworn to? Will the jury believe that if the fact could be controverted, men would not come forward with emulation to acquit Mr. Rowan? I there join with his counsel: he is far above bringing any man forward to swear that which is not the fact; he would not purchase an acquittal by such means, and therefore it is, gentlemen, that you have not witnesses to prove he was not there, or to prove he was inactive upon the occasion.

The next witness, gentlemen, was Mr. Morton: he goes in direct confirmation of every thing sworn to by Lyster, though he does not prove the same individual paper; but he remembered hearing the words of such another paper read, it began with the words, " Citizen