REPORT OF THE SPEECHES OF CHARLES KENDAL BUSHE, Esq. IN THE CASES OF EDWARD SHERIDAN, M. D. AND MR. THOMAS KIRWAN, MERCHANT, ALLEGED TO BE COMMITTED IN VIOLATION OF THE CONVENTION ACT. TO WHICH Are added, THE LATE CHARGE OF THE AND THE ACT OF PARLIAMENT. DUBLIN: PRINTED FOR M. N. MAHON, 116, GRAFTON STREET ; And to be had of all the Booksellers. 1812. SOLICITOR GENERAL'S SPEECH, ON DOCTOR SHERIDAN'S TRIAL GENTLEMEN OF THE JURY, I OFFER myself to your attention, with very little hopes of engaging it. You have witnessed such displays of a splendid eloquenceso many enthusiastic appeals have been made to your passions-you have been so dazzled by light, and so heated by fire, that I must, at least, wait until the temperature of your minds shall have cooled-I must allow you to recover from the intoxication of your feelings, or I must despair of making any impression by an address, in which, it is my determination, to confine myself exclusively to the only two topics, which seem to have been forgotten this day;-at least they seem to have been thought B of comparative insignificance the law and the facts of the case now before you. Gentlemen, it is not my inclination, or my duty, and I disclaim the right to address you upon any of those popular topics, which have been so laboriously and passionately urged by the Traverser's counsel.-I recollect the place in which I stand-I know, that I am in a court of justice, and not in a house of parliament. I shall not stop, to enquire how far those Gentlemen may have abused that latitude of discussion, which is permitted to those who defend an accused man. I wish not to abridge the fair exercise of such a privilege-although I may be allowed to observe, that it has been indulged in this day, without stint, and carried to its utmost limits. Be that as it may, a colder duty devolves upon me-I prosecute the man whom they defend, and God forbid, that in doing so, I should appeal to any thing but your understandings; or, if I had the talent of perverting your minds, through the medium of your prejudices-that I should avail myself of such a power, in the prosecution of the individual now upon trial, or any other man. You will give me credit, Gentlemen, for the wish to discharge my duty, and not to transgress it; and I am not willing to impute to you a different intention. I am sure, that it is unnecessary to remind you, that you are not impannelled to decide upon those great political and constitu you tional questions, which have been so much agitated this day-that you are not legislators— but jurors; and that your paths bind you to a fair verdict, between the Crown and the Traverser, But it has become very necessary to observe upon the confusion of jurisdiction, which has been contended for this day; and the very unfair attempts, which have been made, to induce to usurp the authority of the Court. Gentlemen, your exclusive province is to decide upon the facts, in controversy between the parties; instead of which, you have been clamorously called upon to interpret the laws of the land. The mummery of sending up into a jury, box, a dozen copies of an act of Parliament, has been resorted to, and you have been called upon to decide upon its policy, as if you were senators, and to construe its enactments, as if you were lawyers. You have been told, that its provisions are difficult of interpretation that learned counsel have differed upon them; and it has been objected to the Convention Law, that it requires professional astuteness to expound it :-and yet the same advocates call upon twelve respectable citizens, to resolve, upon their oaths, all those intricate and entangled questions, as if your habits, or your education, or your studies, enabled you to decide them. If this be fair, and justifiable in the Counsel for the Traverser, it would not, at least, be fair in me and I protest solemnly, that if |