THOMAS FRANCIS MEAGHER

The dependence of one people upon another, even for the benefits of legislation, is the deepest source of national weakness.

They who have tried to serve their country, no matter how weak the efforts may have been, are sure to receive the thanks and blessings of its people.

The glory of the old Irish nation, which in our hour will grow young and strong again. Should we fail, the country will not be worth more than it is now. The sword of famine is less sparing than the bayonet of the soldier.

Be sensible, that is, cease to be honest.

England seizes our food whilst death seizes on our people.

A National Flag is the most sacred thing a nation can possess

I have done what I felt to be my duty.

The prosperity of a nation requires the protection of a senate. Hereafter a national senate may require the protection of a national army.

The treason of which I stand convicted loses all its guilt, has been sanctified as a duty, and will be ennobled as a sacrifice.

How fared the Irish artisan—how fared the Irish peasant? Where one pined, as he yet pines, in your beggared cities, the other starves, upon your fruitful soil.

I now bid farewell to the country of my birth - of my passions - of my death; a country whose misfortunes have invoked my sympathies - whose factions I sought to quell - whose intelligence I prompted to a lofty aim - whose freedom has been my fatal dream.

The dependence of one people upon another, even for the benefits of legislation, is the deepest source of national weakness.

Judged by the law of England, I know this crime entails upon me the penalty of death; but the history of Ireland explains that crime and justifies it.

It is not only our duty to America, but also to Ireland. We could not hope to succeed in our effort to make Ireland a Republic without the moral and material support of the liberty-loving citizens of these United States.

The treason of which I stand convicted loses all its guilt, has been sanctified as a duty, and will be ennobled as a sacrifice.

The prosperity of a nation requires the protection of a senate. Hereafter a national senate may require the protection of a national army.

But it so happens, and it will ever happen so, that they who have lived to serve their country - no matter how weak their efforts may have been - are sure to receive the thanks and blessings of its people.

I have done what I felt to be my duty.

A good government may, indeed, redress the grievances of an injured people; but a strong people can alone build up a great nation.

A jury of my countrymen, it is true, have found me guilty of the crime of which I stood indicted. For this I entertain not the slightest feeling of resentment towards them.

The glory of the old Irish nation, which in our hour will grow young and strong again. Should we fail, the country will not be worth more than it is now. The sword of famine is less sparing than the bayonet of the soldier.

Great interests demand great safeguards.

Be it for the defense, or be it for the assertion of a nation’s liberty, I look upon the sword as a sacred weapon …. Abhor and stigmatize the sword? No, no, my lord, for at its blow a giant nation sprang from the waters of the Atlantic and by its redeeming magic, and in the quivering of its crimson light, the fettered Colony became a daring free Republic—prosperous, limitless and invincible.

Be sensible, that is, cease to be honest.

England seizes our food whilst death seizes on our people.

How fared the Irish artisan—how fared the Irish peasant? Where one pined, as he yet pines, in your beggared cities, the other starves, upon your fruitful soil.

I am not ungrateful to the man who struck the fetters off my arms, whilst I was yet a child, and by whose influence, my father—the first Catholic to do so for two hundred years—sat in the civic chair of an ancient city. But my lord, the same God who gave to that great man the power to strike down an odious ascendancy in this country … gave me a mind that is my own.

I am here to regret nothing I have already done, to retract nothing I have already said …. The history of Ireland explains this crime, and justifies it ….

The struggle, begun this morning upon the hustings of your old town, is not a struggle between two men—it is a struggle between two countries. On the one side, the side of the Whig candidate, hangs the red banner beneath which your senate has been sacked, your commerce has been wrecked, your nobility has been dishonored, your peasants have been starved. On the other side … floats the green flag beneath which your senate sat, your commerce thrived, your nobility honored, your peasants prospered.

They who have tried to serve their country, no matter how weak the efforts may have been, are sure to receive the thanks and blessings of its people.

A National Flag is the most sacred thing a nation can possess