The Judicial History of Individual Liberty. ted of complicity with Jackson in an alleged conspiracy to give information to the enemy. The trials arising out of the uprising of 1798 began with the case of the brothers Henry and John Sheares, and was continued in the cases of M'Cann, Byrne, and Bond, in all of which Curran participated. The most conspicuous of these trials was that of the Sheares, in which the united efforts of Curran, Plunkett, and M'Nally were powerless to prevent a conviction. Throughout these cases Curran bitterly inveighed against the rule according to which one witness suf ficed to convict of treason in Ireland; and emptied all the vials of invective upon spies and informers—"the forsaken prostitute of every vice who calls upon you with one breath to blast the memory of the dead and to blight the character of the living." "He measures his value by the coffins of his victims; and, in the field of evidence, appre ciates his fame as the Indian warrior does in fight—by the number of scalps with which he can swell his triumphs. He calls upon you, by the solemn league of eternal justice, to accredit the purity of a conscience washed in its own atrocities. He has promised and betraved—he has sworn and foresworn; and
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whether his soul shall go to heaven or hell he seems altogether indifferent, for he tells you that he has established an interest in both." It was at the trial of Bond that Curran, surrounded by the soldiery and in terrupted by the clash of arms, declared, "You may assassinate but you shall not in timidate me." Robert Emmet's mad attempt in 1803 arose out of the same conditions as the re bellion of 1798. The secret armament and sudden uprising planned by this youthful enthusiast never had the slightest chance of success; and how little influence Emmet had over the passions of his followers was plainly shown by the foul murder of Chief Justice Kihvarden. Within two months Emmet and his followers were tried and executed. They had been taken red-handed and there was no question of their guilt. The prisoners were prosecuted by Attorneys General O'Grady and Plunkett, and defended by Curran, Ponsby and M'Nally. The government sought to implicate Curran, but unsuccess fully. Emmet was attached to Curran's daughter, and had sacrificed his last oppor tunity to escape in his efforts to see her and bid her farewell.
