ceedings, and to report to them at my discretion. I told the American consul and his solicitor

The ATTORNEY GENERAL. I think this is a most unreasonable interruption.

The CHIEF BARON. We shall not inquire into the manner in which you obtained your authority.

Mr. Justice KEOGH. Are you engaged for the prisoner at the bar? If you are not, it is most irregular.

The ATTORNEY GENERAL. For whom do you appear?

Mr. ADAIR. I will answer every question put to me, but I am not to be spoken to in that way. I am instructed by the United States government consul to appear and watch the proceedings in the other cases. When counsel withdrew from this case, the consul thought it right for me to appear for him, and the United States government too, and to see this case, as far as I can, properly conducted. I want to know from your lordships how far it is my duty and privilege, as counsel, to attend and interfere, or not interfere. I don't want to volunteer. It is not my professional habit to act irregularly.

The CHIEF BARON. If you are not acting as counsel for the prisoner we cannot allow you to interfere; if you appear for the prisoner we shall not inquire further, but we cannot recognize the counsel employed by persons who are unconnected with the proceedings itself.

The ATTORNEY GENERAL. Gentlemen of the jury: I regret these two transactions [Page of report No. 22.]

I regret that any member of the bar should interrupt the progress of the case, knowing that no gentleman has a right to address the court or the jury except he is retained on the part of the Crown or the prisoner; and I also regret deeply that the prisoner should have deliberately rejected the assistance of his eminent counsel-experienced in the law, learned and eloquent, and possessing every qualification for his defense. I had hoped, when concluding my statement, to be able to express the gratification it afforded me that the prisoner was defended in such a manner as that, if convicted, it would be because he was wholly indefensible. This, gentlemen, is not the fault of the counsel for the Crown. They are no party to the withdrawal of the prisoner's counsel. It is his own act, and upon himself the consequences must fall. I wish even now that he would change his mind, and avail himself of that assistance which may be of importance for the protection of his liberty.

The CHIEF BARON. Perhaps it is my duty to state what the prisoner may be ignorant of, that so long as his plea of "not guilty" remains recorded, and so long as he does not plead guilty, the case must be proceeded with; the statement for the Crown must be heard, and the whole evidence for the Crown must be heard and submitted to the jury.

The PRISONER. I am prepared for all that, my lord.

The attorney general resumed: Gentlemen, without preface, I propose to make a statement to you, as brief as I can, as clear as I can, and, above all things, as fair towards the prisoner at the bar as I can, of the case which it is proposed on the part of the Crown to bring before you. I shall state very shortly the nature of the crime charged against him, the circumstances under which he is charged with that crime, and an outline of the evidence which we shall submit to your consideration, in order to show that the prisoner was involved in that crime, and was personally a guilty party in the transaction. Gentlemen, the crime alleged against the prisoner is called " treason-felony," and it consists in compassing or imagining the deposition of the Queen from her royal state, or compassing, imagining, or intending to levy war against the Queen, and manifesting such guilty intentions by open external acts, when such compassings or intentions are manifested by one who owes allegiance to the Queen of the United Kingdom. The intention and design of a man are within his own heart; it is only by his open and external acts-what are called in the law-books his "overt acts"-that his intention and design can be known. Accordingly, gentlemen, the evidence that will be produced as bearing on open external acts will show that the prisoner has done these overt acts alleged against him, and your concern will be simply with the evidence brought before you on these overt acts. If you shall arrive at the conclusion that any one or more of the overt acts alleged in this indictment is or are truly and justly laid to the charge of the prisoner, then it necessarily follows, from the proof of the overt acts to your satisfaction, that the prisoner is guilty of the crime of treason-felony.

Gentlemen, this indictment contains a great variety of overt acts. It will not be

[Page of report No. 23.]

necessary to call attention to all these overt acts, but I shall mention a few of thein. In the first and second counts he is charged with conspiring with notorious Fenian leaders for the purposes of the Fenian conspiracy. In the fifth count he is charged with attending Fenian meetings. The sixth count I shall allude to shortly, because it refers to transactions which will be related to you. It charges that the prisoner did embark on board a certain vessel in America, having on board guns and pistols, came to the

west of Ireland, and sailed and cruised along the coast with the intention of effecting a landing, and of landing arms for the purpose of fighting against the Queen, and raising an insurrection in Ireland. The seventh count alleges that he sailed into a certain bay called "Sligo bay," for the same purpose of levying war against the Queen. The eighth count alleges that he joined a treasonable conspiracy in America, called the "Fenian Brotherhood." The tenth count charges that he conspired to provide arms to make war against the Queen. The 15th, that he became a member of an association called the "Fenian Brotherhood," which had for its object the overthrow of the Queen's authority and the establishment of a republic, and made journeys and collected moneys, &c., for that purpose. The 16th count alleges a levying of war in the county of Dublin; and the 20th alleges that in Sligo bay he administered an unlawful oath to Michael Gallagher, to keep secret certain acts and deeds of the Fenian Brotherhood. There is first the charge of conspiracy. If you are satisfied upon the evidence that the prisoner was a Fenian conspirator, then that will be proof of an overt act sufficient to sustain the indictment, and to oblige you to find a verdict of guilty. The only overt act on which I shall now make an observation is that of making war in the county of Dublin, because there will be no evidence that the prisoner personally levied war in the county of Dublin; but that charge is introduced because evidence will be given that members of the same conspiracy did levy war in the county of Dublin; and then, according to a well-known principle of law, not confined to the United Kingdom, but recognized also in the United States, every man who joins in a criminal conspiracy is liable and responsible for and guilty of the acts of all his conspirators which are done in furtherance of the purposes of the conspiracy. And if it shall appear to you, gentlemen, that the prisoner was a member of a conspiracy having for its object the establishment of a republic in Ireland, and that other members of the same conspiracy levied war against the Queen in the county of Dublin, the prisoner himself is guilty of that levy of war. And the object of introducing it into the indictment is to give you, as jurors of the county of Dublin, jurisdiction to try the offense; because, by a principle of our law, a man can be tried only in the venue or place where he has, by himself or by the agency of his co-conspirators, done the acts which are charged against him. Gentlemen, I have spoken of this conspiracy as a Fenian conspiracy. Unfortunately, it is almost unnecessary to speak to you of the nature or the history of the Fenian movement; but it will be my duty to occupy some time upon that subject, because you

[Page of report No. 24.]

are not at liberty to act as jurors except upon the evidence which will be brought before you. You come into that box to try the prisoner as if you had never heard of that conspiracy, to try a man who at this moment must be presumed to be innocent of the crime charged. And, therefore, you must be satisfied upon the evidence of two things: you must be satisfied of the existence and nature of the Fenian confederacy, and that, beyond a reasonable or substantial doubt, the man who is now presumed to be innocent is, notwithstanding that presumption, guilty of the crime imputed to him in the indictment.

The Fenian conspiracy was organized in Ireland and America for the purpose of establishing a republic in this country-for the purpose of deposing the Queen from the crown of this country, and of subverting the government. It was established for the purpose of destroying the social system of the country, of confiscating property, and of plundering the present proprietors of their possessions. These objects were to be achieved by the conspirators by force of arms and insurrection; because such objects as these could not be accomplished by any moral persuation or influence. This conspiracy had leaders civil and military. It had men holding ranks known as " A's," "B's," and "C's," "centers," "head centers," "delegates," and "organizers." Amongst the men who held these offices were enrolled a great number of discontented and disaffected men-men without property or possession-men for the greater part without education. In my experience of the Fenian conspiracy I have not yet heard, as being connected with it, the name of one man of property or possessions, or who had one material thing to lose by rebellion. It comprised men of the lowest orders in this country, and men of a somewhat superior class who came from another place to take a leading part in the insurrection.

This Fenian conspiracy existed in America before the breaking out of the civil war between the northern and southern States. When that struggle closed, the immense armies on both sides were to a large extent disbanded; and the consequence was that great numbers of American soldiers and of officers in the American armies were thrown upon the world without employment or occupation, and the result was that these men, thus deprived of what had been their means of livelihood, became members of this conspiracy. They were men of courage from their antecedents and of ambition from their circumstances, and they threw themselves into the cause of the Fenian conspiracy with all their hearts, expecting, as a reward for their services, places in the new commonwealth, and a liberal share of the spoil which was to crown the efforts of the insurgents.

In the winter of 1866 and 1867 the plans of these conspirators were to a certain extent matured, and it was resolved to rise in open insurrection in this country. It was resolved first to rise in February last. That attempt proved abortive, and it was then resolved to rise again on the 5th of March last. And accordingly on that day the rising took place, and amongst other counties in the county of Dublin, as alleged in the indictment. That attempt at insurrection happily failed. The conspirators failed from their own infirmity, and because of the power and vigilance of the government, and in [Page of report No. 25.]

consequence of valuable information which was communicated to the government by one who had served in the American army, who had been an active Fenian, but who, at the time of giving this information, was in the employment of the government. The insurrection, fortunately for all parties, perhaps most so for the disloyal, had not even a momentary success. A few policemen and a few coast-guards were made prisoners of war, in the name of the Irish republic; a few houses were plundered and burned; there was a little bloodshed, but there was a great failure of this attempt at insurrection, which burst forth in so many parts of Ireland and was contemplated in others. Although that rebellion was most disastrous as regards the social and material prosperity of Ireland, it was in itself contemptible, almost as contemptible as another Irish rebellion, which the vanity of a foolish gentleman instituted in this country some years ago, and which he brought to an issue in a memorable battle amidst the derision of Europe! One would have thought, gentlemen, that the issue of the "rising" of the 5th of March would have been a lesson to the Fenians in this country and in America— that it would have taught them by experience the folly of these efforts. But, unfortunately, even the lessons of experience are sometimes thrown away on desperate men. Scarcely had the 5th of March passed by-scarcely had the unfortunate men who went out for the purpose of rebellion found shelter from the pelting of the pitiless stormsome in their cabins, some in ships to convey them to distant lands, some in miserable jails when a new expedition of desperate men was organized for the purpose of aiding the Fenian conspiracy; and it is with the details of that extraordinary expedition, which, as the lord chief baron said in charging the grand jury, shows that "truth is sometimes stranger than fiction," that you, gentlemen, will be chiefly occupied during the progress of this case. I shall proceed to state to you that transaction; but you must bear in mind that it is not the only charge against the prisoner. The charge against him is twofold. One is, that he is a conspirator, and a member of the Fenian conspiracy; and if, upon the evidence, you are satisfied of that, you are bound to find a verdict of guilty, irrespective of that extraordinary transaction which I am now about to disclose.

John Warren, the prisoner at the bar, was, as you have heard, born in the county of Cork. Some years ago, before 1866, he emigrated to America, and he there entered the military service of the United States. He rose to the rank of captain, and in 1862, for some cause or other, he was dismissed from the American service. About 1862 Captain Warren was a prominent member of the Fenian conspiracy in America, and he became the head center for Massachusetts. The 5th of March had passed, and I suppose the news of what happened here on that date must have reached America before 12th April; but on 12th April, 1867, a party of 40 or 50 men, almost all of them officers and privates, or who had been so in the service of the American government, dropped down in a steamer from New York to Sandy Hook, a distance of about 18 miles. At Sandy Hook

[From page of report No. 26.]

they found a vessel of 113 tons burden, which had been purchased for the purpose of the expedition, and in this brigantine they embarked and sailed for Ireland. The name of the ship was the Jackmel. She sailed without papers, and she had no colors when they started. Of course, gentlemen, the object was to avoid suspicion. Her object must have been some irregular project, or she never would have sailed without papers, because, as you know, the navigation of a ship is encountered with great difficulty if she is found sailing without papers, and papers, of course, could not be got from the American government. They sailed without colors.

The men got orders to embark without luggage-rather an extraordinary thing for a party of 40 or 50 men, most of them officers, to embark for a distant voyage without any luggage. I shall be able, gentlemen, before I close, to give you the names and military rank of almost every man who embarked on board that vessel; and, I think, their military rank is a circumstance impossible to be reconciled with a legitimate project; that 40 or 50 men, generals, officers, and privates, should embark on board that ship, and sail from New York to Ireland, without any luggage! Of the 40 or 50 no fewer than 31 were arrested in Ireland by the constabulary, as I shall by-and-by explain. Among the men who left New York on the 12th April, who embarked on board the Jackmel, and who were afterwards arrested, was a man named Buckley, who will be produced as a witness; a man named Nolan, who will be also produced; a man named Nagle, called "General Nagle," and Captain Warren, or, as I understand, he was called in the Fenian service, "Colonel" Warren. The captain of the vessel was named Kavanagh, and the name of the commander of the expedition was Kerrigan. Neither

of the two last mentioned is in custody; but I understand it will be proved that Kerrigan filled the office of brigadier general in the American army, and was at one time a member of the American Congress. These men did not sail on this expedition without some cargo, though they had no luggage. They had a very large quantity of fire-arms of various kinds. The arms were packed in piano cases, in cases for sewing machines, and in wine casks, so as to conceal them effectually, These arms, thus packed in these cases, were, for the purpose of concealment, consigned to some mercantile firm in the island of Cuba; and during the voyage some of the large cases were opened and the contents repacked in smaller cases, no doubt for the convenience of landing.

The Jackmel, as I have said, sailed without papers or colors. After one day's sailing towards the south, in the direction of the West Indies, her course was changed, and the ship was steered towards Ireland. When vessels occasionally came in sight English colors were hoisted, as a further means of deception, and so the party proceeded on their voyage. Nothing remarkable occurred until Easter Sunday, the 21st April, [Page of report No. 27.]

nine days after they sailed. They resolved to celebrate this day as a high festival; and accordingly they hoisted a green flag with the sun-burst to the mast-head; they fired a salute, and they changed the vessel's name to the "Erin's Hope." What a mockery to call that vessel "Erin's Hope!" as if any good could be hoped for from such an expedition, organized in such a way, led and conducted in such a way, and having such an object as kindling the flame of insurrection in Ireland, to the destruction of the peace and prosperity of the country. Erin's Hope! On the same day Kavanagh, who was in charge of the vessel, produced Fenian commssions, and distributed them among the officers on board, and informed the people in the vessel that his instructions were to sail to Sligo and land the men and arms there; and that if he failed from any cause to land the arms and men there, then he was to proceed to some other place where there were fewer difficulties to be encountered. This was on the 21st of April.

The ship proceeds on her voyage; she sailed northward towards Sligo, and arrived off Donegal; then she came back and arrived at Sligo bay on the 20th May, and here, according to the sealed orders of Captain Kavanagh, the arms and men were to be landed. Of course it would be a perilous thing to attempt to land them without some communication from the shore, and for several days the Jackmel continued coasting along the shore, sometimes coming into the Bay of Sligo. Whilst there, several transactions of a curious character, important and interesting, as affording a means of testing the credibility of the witnesses, occurred during the six or seven days. The first thing we know to have occurred, almost immediately after the vessel arrived off the coast of Sligo, was that the ship's boat was sent out, landing two men named Shea and Doherty, and of these men I know nothing further, for they have not been arrested. The next matter to which I call your attention was that the man named Buckley, who will be produced, accidentally, whilst the vessel was coasting up and down, discharged his revolver when in the act of cleaning it, wounding a man named Smith, who is still in hospital, and also a man named Nolan. In consequence of these wounds, it was considered desirable not to keep them on board, and accordingly the boat was sent out with the wounded men, accompanied among others by a man named Nugent, and these three were after a short time arrested and taken into custody.

The next incident is a very singular transaction. On the coast of Donegal bay, which is situated just to the north of Sligo bay, is a pilot station, and Michael Gallagher, a pilot, was looking out for some occupation in his profession when he saw this brigantine, the Jackmel. Accordingly, he put out from the station, and was hailed by those on board the ship. They called on him to come on board. He went on board and saw the man who had charge of the ship, and this man told him that the captain had gone ashore at Sligo, which was not the fact. They had some conversation, in the course of which the man in charge told him, "We are come from Spain; we have a cargo of fruit on board, and we are going to Glasgow." After a little conversation the man in charge directed Gallagher to go to the cabin. He did so, accompanied by the raan in charge, and in the cabin he found two officers. The two men in the cabin were [Page of report No. 28.] Nagle and the prisoner Warren. Nagle immediately, in the presence of Warren, proceeded to examine the pilot, and put a variety of questions to him. He asked him about the Fenians, and whether he was himself a Fenian. Gallagher said he was not. "Why don't you become one?" said Nagle. "O," said Gallagher, "I have a wife and children, and I don't want to have anything to say to such things;" as sensible an answer, gentlemen, as could be given to one who was attempting to draw him into a miserable conspiracy of the kind. After this conversation Nagle produced a book, and called upon Gallagher to swear that he would not give any description of the ship when he went on shore. Gallagher refused, and made a variety of excuses. He said he had never taken an oath before on board ship; but, at all events, he manifested the greatest reluctance and unwillingness to take the oath. Nagle asked him first, and Warren afterwards intervened, and ordered the pilot to take the book in his hand. He still refused, when the man in charge produced a pistol and threatened to shoot

him if he did not take the oath; and thereupon, Gallagher, naturally enough, with a pistol to his breast, took the required oath that he would not describe the vessel when he went on shore. He was then allowed to return on deck. He had sent his own boat away, and in a short time after a small hooker came alongside, and out of it came a man, apparently a gentleman, who immediately went into the cabin. In a short time he came up on to the deck, the hooker still lying alongside the vessel, and ultimately he got into the hooker and proceeded ashore. Gallagher attempted to follow him, but he was forcibly dragged back. However, when the wounded men were sent ashore Gallagher was sent with them, and when the party landed he ran as fast as he could until he met two coast guards, who took him under their protection.

The importance of this evidence, gentlemen, will be evident; and, indeed, the circumstance of administering the oath is one of the overt acts charged. Another transaction with reference to the gentleman who came alongside the brigantine in a hooker, who was well known by many of the officers, and whose name was Colonel Burke, is, that after he had been some time in the cabin, he, with one of the officers of the expedition named Prendergast, who is not arrested, landed with two or three other men on the shore. Up to this time the brigantine had been waiting for an opportunity to land the arms at Sligo. On the day after Burke was in the cabin, the inferior officers on board the ship were assembled and informed that they could not land the arms at Sligo, and that they were to put to sea. Manifestly Burke had told them that from the way matters stood on shore it would not be safe for their men to land or to put the arms ashore, and on the 26th May the ship left the coast of Sligo. I cannot say whether she sailed along the western coast of Ireland or by the north coast and by the Irish channel. My own impression is that they came down, passing Dublin by the Irish channel. But however that may be, gentlemen, on the 1st June the ship was off Dungarvan, on the Waterford coast. While she was there councils were held on board, at

[Page of report No. 29.]

which they discussed what was prudent to be done for the expedition under the circumstances. They had failed in Sligo, their provisions had become short, and they could not remain much longer at sea. These matters were the subjects of discussion among the American officers. They divided on the question-some were for landing, and some against it; but at last the conclusion was come to, overruling the opinion of some, that the majority of the officers and men should be landed, and that the remainder should either go to America, or some place called the Western islands.

That conclusion was arrived at on or before the 1st of June; and on that day a fishing-boat belonging to a man named Whelan came alongside. Whelan, who speaks Irish, saw only four or five men on board, and the spokesman said, "We want to put two men on shore, and we will give you £2 for taking them." Whelan came alongside, and went on deck, and whilst he was there 28 men rushed upon the deck of the brigantine and into the fishing-boat. Whelan had nothing for it but to take them ashore. Accordingly, he began to proceed towards shore, and he asked them where they wanted to be landed, desiring to know whether he should go to Helvic Point-the nearest point of land. They asked, "Is there a coast guard station there?" I suppose their attention was roused by the appearance of the detached white houses of the coast-guard station. He said there was, and they replied that would not do. "Will I Iand you at Dungarvan?" said he. "No," they said. "Where, then, will I land you?" said Whelan, or one of his men, and they pointed out a place on the shore where there was no regular landing place. Accordingly, Whelan ran his boat into the place indicated. The boat, heavily laden, grounded in three and a half feet water, and the men jumped out and ran on shore, without taking off their shoes or stockings, or their trowsers, which were wet and covered with sand and mud. Among the men who thus landed were Nagle and Warren, the prisoner, and Buckley, the witness, who will be produced to you, and who was the last man who came out of Whelan's boat on that occasion. A coast guard, vigilant in his duty, saw a boat coming ashore. He did not see the men as the boat was passing Helvic Point, but he saw them as they were jumping ashore. He gave information, and the constabulary were on the alert to arrest these men..

Gentlemen, we shall not follow the course of all of them. They broke into small parties; and we will confine our attention to two-the prisoners Warren and Nagle. There is a man named Andrew Roche, who lives in a farm-house a short distance from where the boat landed. Warren and Nagle, with their trowsers wet, went up to the house of this man Roche, about eleven o'clock on the 1st of June. He was at work in his garden, and they asked him how far it was from Youghal. He said about 12 miles. They asked for a conveyance, and he said he had a car and pony, and that he would take them if they paid him, and they agreed to pay him five shillings to take them to Youghal. These men were wet up to the middle. Warren and Nagle drove towards Youghal, and when they arrived at the bridge across the Blackwater they [Page of report No. 30.]

inet a constable named Norris, who had received information and was on the alert. He observed that they were strangers and that their trowsers were wet. He asked