My lords, I
speak calmly, and weigh well, and understand every word that
I say. If I speak wrong, time will bring the truth to the
surface, and I would sooner have fifteen years added to my
sentence than that any man might say I spoke from this dock,
which I regard as a holy place, where stood those whom I
revere as much as I do any of our saints--
The LORD CHIEF BARON--I cannot suffer you to proceed thus.
COSTELLO--I would not speak one word from this dock which I
knew to be other than truth. I admit there is a great deal of
suspicion, but beyond that there are no facts proved to bring
home the charge against me. What I have stated are facts,
every one of them. Now, my lords, is it any wonder that I
should speak at random and appear a little bit excited. I am
not excited in the least. I would be excited in a degree were
I expressing myself on any ordinary topic to any ordinary
audience. It is my manner, your lordships will admit, and
you have instructed the jury not to find me guilty, but to
discharge me from the dock, if they were not positive that
I was a Fenian on the 5th March. I believe these are the
instructions that his lordship, Justice Keogh, gave to the
jury--if I were not a Fenian on the 5th March, I was entitled
to an acquittal.
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