King, defender of the faith, and soforth, with force and arms, at Dublin, aforesaid, to wit, in the parish and ward of St. Michael the Archangel, and in the county of the said city, wickedly, maliciously, and seditiously, did publish, and cause and procure to be published, a certain false, wicked, malicious, scandalous, and seditious libel, of and concerning the government, state, and constitution of this kingdom, according to the tenor and effect following, that is to say, “The Society of United Irishmen at Dublin, to the Volunteers of Ireland. William Drennan, chairman, Archibald Hamilton Rowan, secretary. Citizen soldiers, you first took up arms to protect your country from foreign enemies and from domestic disturbance; for the same purposes it now becomes necessary that you should resume them; and a proclamation has been issued in England for embodying the militia, and a proclamation has been issued by the Lord Lieutenant and Council in Ireland, [meaning a proclamation which issued under the great seal of the kingdom of Ireland, the eighth day of December, one thousand seven hundred and ninety-two,] for repressing all seditious associations; in consequence of both these proclamations it is reasonable to apprehend danger from abroad and danger at home, for whence but from apprehended danger are these menacing preparations for war drawn through the streets of this capital [meaning the city of Dublin] or whence if not to create that internal commotion which was not found, to shake that credit which was not affected, to blast that Volunteer honour which was hitherto inviolate, are those terrible suggestions and rumours and whispers that meet us at every corner, and agitate at least our old men, our women, and children; whatever be the motive, or from whatever quarter it arises, alarm has arisen; and you Volunteers of Ireland are therefore summoned to arms at the instance of government, as well as by the responsibility attached to your character, and the permanent obligations of your institution. We will not at this day condescend to quote authorities for the right of having and of using arms, but we will cry aloud, even amidst the storm raised by the witchcraft of a proclamation, that to your formation was owing the peace and protection of this island, to your relaxation has been owing its relapse into impotence and insignificance, to your renovation must be owing its future freedom and its present tranquillity; you are therefore summoned to arms, in order to preserve your country in that guarded quiet which may secure it from external hostility, and to maintain that internal regimen throughout the land, which, superseding a notorious police or a suspected militia, may preserve the blessings of peace by a vigilant preparation for war. Citizen soldiers, to arms, take up the shield of freedom and the pledges of peace-peace, the motive and end of your virtuous institution-war, an occasional duty, ought never to be made an occupation; every man should become a soldier in the defence of his rights; no man ought to continue a soldier for offending the rights of others; the sacrifice of life in the service of our country is a duty much too honourable to be intrusted to mercenaries, and at this time, when your country has, by public authority, been declared in danger, we conjure you by your interest, your duty, and your glory, to stand to your arms, and in spite of a police, in spite of a fencible militia, in virtue of two proclamations, to maintain good order in your vicinage, and tranquillity in Ireland. It is only by the military array of men in whom they confide, whom they have been accustomed to revere as the guardians of domestic peace, the protectors of their liberties and their lives, that the present agitation of the people can be stilled, that tumult and licentiousness can be repressed, obedience secured to existing law, and a calm confidence diffused through the public mind in the speedy resurrection of a free constitution, [meaning that the people of Ireland had not at the time of the publishing aforesaid a free constitution] of liberty and of equality, words which we use for an opportunity of repelling calumny, and of saying, that by liberty we never understood unlimited freedom, nor by equality the levelling of property, or the destruction of subordination; this is a calumny invented by that faction, or that gang, which misrepresents the King to the people, and the people to the King, traduces one half of the nation to cajole the other, and by keeping up distrust and division, wishes to continue the proud arbitrators of the fortune and fate of Ireland; liberty is the exercise of all our rights, natural and political, secured to us and our posterity by a real representation of the people; and equality is the extension of the constituent to the fullest dimensions of the constitution, of the elective franchise to the whole body of the people, to the end that government, which is collective power, may be guided by collective will, and that legislation may originate from public reason, keep pace with public improvement, and terminate in public happiness. If our constitution be imperfect, nothing but a reform in representation will rectify its abuses; if it be perfect, nothing but the same reform will perpetuate its blessings. We now address you as citizens, for to be citizens you became soldiers, nor can we help wishing that all soldiers partaking the passions and interest of the people would remember, that they were once citizens, that seduction made them soldiers, but nature made them men. We address you without any authority save that of reason, and if we obtain the coincidence of public opinion, it is neither by force nor stratagem, for we have no power to terrify, no artifice to cajole, no fund to seduce; here we sit without mace or beadle, neither a mystery nor a craft, nor a corporation; in four words lies all our poweruniversal emancipation and representative legislature yet we are confident that on the pivot of this principle, a convention, still less a society, still less a single man, will be able first to move and then to raise the world; we therefore wish for Catholic emancipation without any modification, but still we consider this necessary enfranchisement as merely the portal to the temple of national freedom; wide as this entrance is, wide enough to admit three millions, it is narrow when compared to the capacity and comprehension of our beloved principle, which takes in every individual of the Irish nation, casts an equal eye over the whole island, embraces all that think, and feels for all that suffer; the Catholic cause is subordinate to our cause, and included in it; for, as United Irishmen, we adhere to no sect, but to society--to no cause, but Christianity-to no party, but the whole people. In the sincerity of our souls do we desire Catholic emancipation: but were it obtained to-morrow, to-morrow would we go on as we do to-day, in the pursuit of that reform, which would still be wanting to ratify their liberties as well as our own. For both these purposes it appears necessary that provincial conventions should assemble pre paratory to the convention of the Protestant people; the delegates of the Catholic body are not justified in communicating with individuals or even bodies of inferior authority, and therefore an assembly of a similar nature and organisation is necessary to establish an intercourse of sentiments, an uniformity of conduct, an united cause and an united nation; if a convention on the one part does not soon follow, and is not soon connected with that on the other, the common cause will split into the partial interest, the people will relapse into inattention and inertness, the union of affection and exertion will dissolve, and too probably some local insurrections, instigated by the malignity of our common enemy, may commit the character and risk the tranquillity of the island, which can be obviated only by the influence of an assembly arising from, assimilated with the people, and whose spirit may be, as it were, knit with the soul of the nation. Unless the sense of the Protestant people be on their part as fairly collected and as judiciously directed, unless individual exertion consolidates into collective strength, unless the parts unite into one mass; we may perhaps serve some person or some party for a little, but the public not at all; the nation is neither insolent, nor rebellious, nor seditious; while it knows its rights, it is unwilling to manifest its powers; it would rather supplicate administration to anticipate revolution by well-timed reform, and to save their country in mercy to themselves. The fifteenth of February approaches, a day ever memorable in the annals of this country as the birth-day of new Ireland; let parochial meetings be held as soon as possible, let each parish return delegates, let the sense of Ulster be again declared from Dungannon, on a day auspicious to union, peace and freedom, and the spirit of the North will again become the spirit of the nation. The civil assembly ought to claim the attendance of the military associations, and we have addressed you, citizen soldiers, on this subject from the belief, that your body uniting conviction with zeal, and zeal with activity, may have much influence over your countrymen, your relations, and friends. We offer only a general outline to the public, and meaning to address Ireland, presume not at present to fill up the plan, or pre-occupy the mode of its execution. We have thought it our duty to speak. Answer us by actions; you have taken time for consideration; fourteen long years are elapsed since the rise of your associations; and in 1782 did you imagine that in 1792 this nation would still remain unrepresented? How many nations, in this interval, have gotten the start of Ireland? How many of your countrymen have sunk into the grave?" In contempt of our said Lord the King, in open violation of the laws of this kingdom, to the evil and pernicious example of all others in the like case offending, and against the peace of our said Lord the King, his crown and dignity. WHEREUPON the said Attorney General of our said Lord the King, who for our said Lord the King in this behalf prosecutes, prays the consideration of the court here in the premises, and due process of law may be awarded against him the said Archibald Hamilton Rowan in this behalf, to make him answer to our said Lord the King touching and concerning the premises aforesaid. THOMAS KEMMIS, Attorney. Received the 8th of June 1793. ARTHUR WOLFE. To this information Mr. Rowan appeared, by Matthew Dowling, gent. his attorney, and pleaded the general issue-Not Guilty-and the court having appointed Wednesday the 29th day of January, 1794, for the trial of the said issue, the undernamed persons were sworn upon the jury: Sir F. HUTCHINSON, Bart. GEORGE PALMER, JOHN READ, ROBERT LEA, RICHARD Fox, CHRISTOPHER HARRISON, GEORGE PERRIN, THOMAS SHERRARD. Upon calling over the jury, John Read was objected to, as holding a place under the crown, but the Attorney General insisting upon the illegality of the objection, and observing that it went against all that was honourable and respectable in the land, it was overruled by the court. Richard Fox, when called to the book, was interrogated whether he had ever given an opinion upon the subject then to be tried, to which he answered, that he did not know what the subject of the trial was. The same question was put to Thomas Sherrard, who returned a similar answer. Joshua Dixon, who had been sworn upon the jury, without any objection, here stated, that he had given an opinion upon the subject, upon which Mr. Attorney General consented that he should be withdrawn, but protested against the right of the defendant's counsel to examine the jurors as they had done. If they had any objection, they ought to make their challenge, and support it by evidence. The counsel for the defendant answered, that they would not acquiesce in the consent of the Attorney General to withdraw the juror, if their examination was to be objected to, and intimated that the juror ought to be withdrawn upon the desire of the Attorney General, without any consent whatever being entered into. Hereupon the Attorney General desired that the juror might be withdrawn. Mr. ATTORNEY GENERAL-My Lord and Gentlemen of the Jury, In this case, between the KING and ARCHIBALD HAMILTON ROWAN, Esq., it is my duty to prosecute on behalf of the crown. The traverser in this case, gentlemen, stands accused upon an information filed ex officio, by the King's Attorney General, for publishing a seditious libel. It is my duty to lay the facts of this case before you-it will be the duty of another of his majesty's servants to observe upon the evidence. I shall state the nature of the charge and the questions ⚫ Co. Litt. 156 a; 2 Hale. His. Pl. c. 271; Hawkins Pleas of the Crown, ch. 43, sections 32, 33. you are to try; I will then state such circumstances as are necessary to be taken into your consideration, for the purpose of understanding and expounding that paper which the information charges to be a malicious, and seditious libel. The information charges, that Archibald Hamilton Rowan, maliciously designing and intending to excite and diffuse amongst the subjects of this realm, discontents, disaffection and disloyalty to the king and government, and to raise very dangerous seditions and tumults, and to draw the government into scandal, infamy and disgrace, and to incite the subjects to attempt, by force and with arms, to make alterations in the government, and to excite the subjects to anarchy, to overturn the constitution and overawe the legislature of the kingdom, did publish the libel set forth in the information. In this case, therefore, it will be for you, gentlemen, upon the evidence which shall be laid before you, to determine, whether the traverser has been the publisher of that paper or not. I shall, in the course of what I am to offer to the court and to you, read the very libel itself, and make such observations as occur to me to be proper in the present state of the business. Previous, however, to my doing so, I will take the liberty, gentlemen, of stating to you some facts and circumstances that appear to me deserving of attention in the investigation of the matter before you; and in doing so, I shall carefully avoid mentioning many facts and circumstances which those disgraceful times have furnished, that might lead your verdict one way or the other. I shall not attempt to excite your passions. I am happy at length that this case has come before an impartial jury. It has long been the desire of every good man that this matter should come to trial before that constitutional tribunal who stand arbiters in this case, to protect the accused against the power of the crown; not resembling any of those prosecutions which the turbulence of former times have excited, you are assembled with that coolness which the solemnity of the occasion requires, to determine whether Mr. Rowan be guilty, criminally, of the offence charged against him. Take the libel into your consideration, and determine, as the law now allows you to do, whether it be a libellous publication, tending to excite sedition, to overawe the government; or tending to produce any of the effects imputed to it. I shall now proceed to state a few facts which I said it was my duty to do. I shall call your attention to the history of the times about which this libel was published:-No man, let his situation be what it may, can be too cautious in uttering what ought not to be said, which might influence your judgment upon your oaths; and in that office which I hold, which is the office of the people, as well as of the crown, it is more than a common duty to take care, not to step beyond that line which leads to common justice. I am warranted by the authority of a court of justice, by the proceedings of the King's Bench in England; by the opinion of a Judge of as much spirit and independence as any man, I allude to the case of the printer of the Morning Chronicle, in which Lord Kenyon informs the jury, that it is necessary, in cases of this kind, to attend to the circumstances and history of the times in which the libel was published. They tend to explain the motives Howell. St. Trials, vol. 22, p. 1017. |