that
of the emancipation of my country from the superinhuman oppression under
which she has so long, and too patiently, travailed; and that I
confidently and assuredly hope (wild and chimerical as it may appear) that
there are still union and strength in Ireland to accomplish this noble
enterprise.

Let no man dare, when I am dead, to charge me with dishonor; let no man
attaint my memory by believing that I could have engaged in any cause but
that of my country's liberty and independence; or that I could have become
the pliant minion of power, in the oppression or the miseries of my
countrymen. I would not have submitted to a foreign oppressor, for the
same reason that I would resist the domestic tyrant; in the dignity of
freedom, I would have fought upon the threshold of my country, and her
enemies should enter only by passing over my lifeless corpse. Am I, who
lived but for my country, and who have subjected myself to the vengeance
of the jealous and wrathful oppressor, and to the bondage of the grave,
only to give my countrymen their rights--am I to be loaded with calumny,
and not to be suffered to resent or repel it? No!--God forbid!

If the spirits of the illustrious dead participate in the concerns and
cares of those who are dear to them in this transitory life--O ever dear
and venerated shade of my departed father, look down with scrutiny on the
conduct of your suffering son; and see if I have even for a moment
deviated from those principles of morality and patriotism which it was
your care to instil into my youthful mind, and for an adherence to which I
am now to offer up my life!

My lords, you are all impatient for the sacrifice. The blood which you
seek is not congealed by the artificial terrors which surround your
victim; it circulates warmly and unruffled through the channels which God
created for noble purposes, but which you are bent to destroy for purposes
so grievous that they cry to heaven! Be yet patient! I have but a few
words more to say. I am going to my silent grave; my lamp of life is
nearly extinguished; my race is run; the grave opens to receive me, and I
sink into its bosom. I have but one request to ask at my departure from
this world--it is the charity of its silence. Let no man write my epitaph;
for, as no one who knows my motives dare now vindicate them, let not
prejudice or ignorance asperse them. Let them and me repose in obscurity
and peace, and my tomb remain uninscribed, until othe