Burke and Shaw, the two Fenians accused of treason-felony for
their share in the attack upon Chester, were found guilty on Thursday, and sentenced to penal servitude for fifteen and ten ,years. The trial was marked by an innovation. Baron Bram- well refused to allow the prisoners to make the usual speech as to their motives, compelling them to confine themselves strictly to observations in bar or mitigation of sentence. It was, he observed with some heat, a mischievous thing to allow a condemned man to .carry off the apparent honour of the contest between him and the law. That is true, and too much licence has been allowed ; but the learned Baron should not forget that a good motive is a fair plea in mitigation of sentence, and a man cannot explain his political motives without some licence for his tongue.
Previous page
