court with that vigour and indignation, which he has since shown with respect to those abominable jurisdictions.

Hevey was now a man again; he shook the dust off his feet against his prison gate; his heart beat the response to the anticipated embraces of his family and his friends, and hẹ returned to Dublin.. On his arrival here, one of the first persons he met was his old friend, Major Sandys. In the eye of poor Hevey, justice and humanity had shorn the major of his beams; he no longer regarded him with respect or terror, He demanded his mare; observing, though he might have travelled to heaven on foot, he thought it more comfortable to perform his earthly journeys on horseback. "Ungrateful villain, (said the major,) is this the gratitude you show to me and to his majesty f our clemency to you? You shan't get possession of the beast, which you have forfeited by your treason, nor can 1 suppose that a noble animal that had been ho noured with conveying the weight of duty and allegiance, could condescend to load her loyal loins with the vile burden of a convicted traitor.” As to the major, (said Mr. Curran,) I am not surprised that he spoke and acted as he did. He was, no doubt, astonished at the impudence and novelty of calling the privileges of official plunder into question. Hardened by the numberless instances of unpunished acquisition, he had erected the frequency of impunity into a warrant of spoil and rapine. One of these instances, I feel, I am now bringing to the memory of your lordship.

A learned and respected brother barrister had a silver cup; the major heard, that for many years it had borne an inscription of "EKIN GO BRAGH," which means, "Ireland for ever." The major considered this perseverance in guilt for such a length of years as a forfeiture of the delinquent vessel. My poor friend was, therefore, robbed of his cup; but, upon writing to the then Attorney-General, that excellent officer felt the outrage, as it was his nature to feel every thing that was barbarous or base, and the major's loyal sideboard was coudemued to the grief of restitution. And here (said Mr.

Curran) let me say, in my own defence, that this is the only occasion upon which I have mentioned this circumstance with the least appearance of lightness. I have told the story in a way that it would not become me to tell it here. I have told it in the spirit of those feelings which were excited at seeing that one man could be sober and humane at a crisis when so

many thousands were drunk and barbarous. And probably my statement was not stinted by the recollection that I held that person in peculiar respect and regard. But little does it signify whether acts of moderation and humanity are blazoned by gratitude, by flattery, or by friendship; they are recorded in the heart from which they sprung; and in the hour of adverse vicissitude, if it should ever come, sweet is the odour of their memory, and precious is the balm of their consolation. But to return

Hevey brought an action for his mare. The major not choosing to come into court, and thereby suggest the probable success of a thousand actions, restored the property, and paid the costs of suit, to the attorney of Mr. Hevey. It may, perhaps, strike you, my lord, (said Mr. Curran,) as if I was stating what was irrelevant to the action. It is materially pertinent; I am stating a system of concerted vengeance and oppression. These two men acted in concert-they were Archer and Aimwell. You master at Litchfield, and I at Coventry. You plunderer in the gaol, and I tyrant in the street; and, in our respective stations, we will coöperate in the common cause of robbery and vengeance. And I state this, because I see Major Sandys in court-and because I feel I can prove the fact beyond the possibility of denial. If he does not dare to appear, so called upon as I have called upon him, I prove it by his not daring to appear. If he does venture to come forward, I will prove it by his own oath; or, if he ventures to deny a syllable that I have stated, I will prove it by irrefragable evidence of record, that his denial is false and perjured.

Thus far, gentlemen, we have traced the plaintiff through the strange vicissitudes of barbarous imprisonment, of atro

cious condemnation, and of accidental deliverance. Here Mr Curran described the feelings of Hevey and his family, upon his restoration-his difficulties on his return—his struggles against the aspersions on his character--his renewed industry--his gradual success--the implacable malice of Sirr and Sandys-and the immediate cause of the present action. Three years (says Mr. Curran) had elapsed since the deliverance of my client-the public atmosphere had cleared-the private destiny of Hevey seemed to have brightened-but the malice of his enemies had not been appeased. On the 8th of September last, Mr. Hevey was sitting in a public coffeehouse-Major Sirr was there. Mr. Hevey was informed that the major had, at that moment, said, that he (Hevey) ought to have been hanged. The plaintiff was fired at the charge-he fixed his eye on Sirr, and asked if he had dared to say so. Sirr declared that he had, and had said truly. Hevey answered, that he was a slanderous scoundrel. At the instant Sirr rushed upon him, and, assisted by three or four of his satellites, who had attended him in disguise, secured him, and sent him to the castle-guard, desiring that a receipt might be given for the villain. He was sent thither. The officer of the guard chanced to be an Englishman, but newly arrived in Ireland; he said to the bailiffs, "If this was in England, I should think this gentleman entitled to bail; but I don't know the laws of this country. However, I think you had better loosen those irons on his wrists, or I think they may kill him.”

Major Sirr, the defendant, soon arrived, went into his office, and returned with an order which he had written, and by virtue of which Mr. Hevey way conveyed to the custody of his old friend and gaoler, Major Sandys. Here he was flung into a room of about 14 by 12-it was called the hospital of the provost. It was occupied by six beds, in which were to lie 14 or 15 miserable wretches, some of them sinking under contagious diseases. On his first entrance, the light that was admitted by the opening of the door, disclosed

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to him a view of his sad fellow-sufferers, for whose loathsome society he was, once more, to exchange the cheerful haunts of men, the use of open air, and of his own limbs; and where he was condemned to expiate the disloyal hatred and contempt which he had dared to show to the overweening and felonious arrogance of slaves in office, and minions in authority. Here he passed the first night without bed or food. The next morning his humane keeper the major appeared. The plaintiff demanded "why he was imprisoned," complained of hunger, and asked for the gaol allowance. Major Sandys replied with a torrent of abuse, which he concluded by say ing-" Your crime is your insolence to Major Sirr; however, he disdains to trample upon you-you may appease him by proper and contrite submission; but, unless you do so, you shall rot where you are. I tell you this, that if government do not protect us, by God we will not protect them!You will, probably, (for I know your insolent and ungrateful har diness,) attempt to get out, by a habeas corpus; but in that you will find yourself mistaken, as such a rascal deserves." Hevey was insolent enough to issue a habeas corpus, and a return was made upon it, "that Hevey was in custody under a warrant from General Craig, on a charge of treason." That this return was a gross falsehood, fabricated by Sirr, I am instructed to assert. Let him prove the truth of it if he can. The judge before whom this return was brought, felt that he had no authority to liberate the unhappy prisoner; and thus, by a most inhuman and audacious lie, my client was again remanded to the horrid mansion of pestilence and famine!

Mr. Curran proceeded to describe the feelings of Mr. Hevey-the despair of his friends-the ruin of his affairs-the insolence of Sandys-his offer to set him at large, on condition of making an abject submission to Sirr-the indignant rejection of Hevey-the supplication of his father and sister, rather to submit to an enemy, however base and odious, than perish in such a situation-the repugnance of Hevey-the repetition of kind remonstrances, and the final submission to

their entreaties-his signing a submission, dictated by Sandys, and his enlargement from confinement. Thus (said Mr. Curran) was he kicked from his gaol into the common mass of his fellow slaves, by yielding to the tender entreaties of the kindred that loved him, to sign what was, in fact, a release of his claim to the common rights of a human creature, by humbling himself to the brutal arrogance of a pampered slaveBut he did suffer the dignity of his nature to be subdued by its kindness-he has been enlarged, and he has brought the present action.

As to the facts that had been stated, Mr. Curran said, he would make a few observations. It might be said for the defendant, that much of what was stated may not appear in proof. He would not have so stated the case, if he had not seen Major Sandys in court; he had, therefore, put the facts against him in a way which he thought the most likely to rouse him to a defence of his own character, if he dared to be examined as a witness. He had, he trusted, made him feel that he had no way of escaping universal detestation, but by denying those charges, if they were false; and if they were not denied, being thus publicly asserted, his entire case was admitted-his original oppression in the provost was admitted-his robbery of the cup was admitted-his robbery of the mare was admitted the lie he so audaciously forged on the habeas corpus was admitted the extortion of the infamous apology was admitted. Again, I challenge this worthy compeer of a worthy compeer, to make his election, between proving his guilt by his own corporal oath, or by the more credible modesty of his silence.

And now (said Mr. Curran) I have given you a sketch of this extraordinary history. No country, governed by any settled law, or treated with com:non humanity, could furnish any occurrences of such unparalleled atrocity; and if the author of Caleb Williams, or of the Simple Story, were to read the tale of this man's sufferings, it might humble the vanity of their talents (if they are not too proud to be vain) when they