William Orr (Éireannach Aontaithe)

William Orr

Beathaisnéis
Breith	1766
Bás	1797 30/31 bliana d'aois
Gníomhaíocht
Ball de	Cumann na nÉireannach Aontaithe
Gairm mhíleata
Géillsine	Cumann na nÉireannach Aontaithe

Réabhlóidí Éireannach ab ea William Orr (1766 – 14 Deireadh Fómhair 1797) a cuireadh chun báis i 1797 in eachtra a measadh go forleathan ag an am a bheith ina "judicial murder" agus arbh é eachtra seo ba chúis leis an gáir shlógaidh “Remember Orr” le linn Éirí Amach 1798 .

Cúlra

Is beag atá ar eolas againn faoina óige. Rugadh Orr do theaghlach feirmeoireachta Preispitéireach agus d'úinéir tuair, as Fearann Sheáin, lasmuigh de bhaile Aontroma. Bhí an teaghlach i gcúinsí compordacha, agus fuair William Orr oideachas maith dá bharr. Measadh go raibh cuma agus dóigh mhaith aige ag an am, sheas sé sé troithe agus dhá orlach ar airde, agus é i gcónaí cóirithe go cúramach agus go measúil, gné aithnidiúil ina chuid éadaigh arbh é an carbhat uaine, a chaith sé "even in his last confinement". Tugtar suntas freisin don tóir a bhí aige i measc a mhuintire, go háirithe i measc thírghráthóirí Preispitéireacha an Tuaiscirt. Bhí sé le bheith gníomhach in Óglaigh na hÉireann agus ansin chuaigh sé isteach sna hÉireannaigh Aontaithe.

Am éigin i lár na 1790idí, chuir sé roinnt alt chuig a nuachtán, an Northern Star.

Gabháil agus triail

Cúisíodh é i dTeach Cúirte Charraig Fhearghais as Tástáil na nÉireannach Aontaithe a riar ar shaighdiúir darbh ainm Hugh Wheatly, cion a measadh le déanaí ina phionós an bháis faoin tAcht um Éirí Amach 1796. Méadaíodh an cion (ó thaobh an dlí de) mar gheall ar an líomhain gur saighdiúir ar seirbhís é ar líomhnaítear gur thug Orr an mionn dó. Bhain an t-ionchúiseamh an leas is fearr as "an fhianaise” seo ar an aidhm “thréasach” atá ag na hÉireannaigh Aontaithe “seduce from their allegiance" the "men who are the Kingdom's only safeguard against the foreign foe"..

Bhí a fhios ag na hÉireannaigh Aontaithe ó fhianaise cuid dá líon féin nár thug Orr an mionn ar an ócáid a líomhnaítear. Bhí fianaise acu freisin ó fhinné súl eile, Jamie Hope . Bhí mionn éithigh tugtha ag an fhinne, an saighdiúir Wheatly é féin agus cruthaíodh go raibh droch-charachtar aige. Ba bhall clúiteach den Chumann, William McKeever, a d’éalaigh go Meiriceá ina dhiaidh sin an duine a thairg an mionn.

Creideadh go forleathan ag an am gur mhian leis na húdaráis sampla a dhéanamh d' Orr chun gníomhú mar chosc ar earcaigh fhéideartha Chumann na nÉireannach Aontaithe . Ní raibh an cás féin le feiceáil i gcúrsa na n-imeachtaí ach bhí gach duine, dar le T. A. Jackson, "in the know" agus go hiomlán ar an eolas go raibh mionnna nÉireannach Aontaithe tugtha do shaighdiúir; ""whether it was Orr or another who administered the oath was merely incidental".".

Cosaint

Ba é John Philpot Curran a rinne ionadaíocht ar William Orr, agus ba é an toradh a bhí ar an triail ná óráid, atá, de réir T. A. Jackson, "i measc na n-óráidí is suntasaí dá chuid."Ba é John Philpot Curran a rinne ionadaíocht ar William Orr, agus ba é an toradh a bhí ar an triail óráid a bhí, dar le TA Jackson, "is among the most remarkable of his many remarkable speeches."

Cúiseamh leabhail a bhí ann i gcoinne an nuachtáin an Press, an irisleabhar a bhunaigh Arthur O’Connor chun teacht in ionad an Northern Star . Bhí litir oscailte foilsithe ag an bPreas chuig an Leasrí, ag rá go tarcaisneach gur dhiúltaigh sé trócaire a thaispeáint d’Orr. Frithionsaí a bhí i gcosaint Curran — cáineadh trom ar an Rialtas, ó bhun go barr:  

“

You [jury] are called upon to say, on your oaths, that the Government is wise and merciful—the people prosperous and happy; that military law ought to be continued; that the constitution could not with safety be restored to Ireland; and that the statements of a contrary import by your advocates, in either country, are libellous and false. I tell you that these are the questions. And I ask you if you can have the front to give the expected answer in face of a community which knows the country as well as you do. Let me ask you how you could reconcile with such a verdict the gaols, the gibbets, the tenders, the conflagrations, the murders, the proclamations we hear of every day in the streets and see every day in the country? What are the prosecutions of the learned counsel himself [Attorney General] circuit after circuit? Merciful God! What is the state of Ireland, and where shall you find the wretched inhabitant of this land? You may find him perhaps in a gaol; the only place of security—I had almost said, of ordinary habitation! If you do not find him there you may find him flying with his family from the flames of his own dwelling—lighted to his dungeon by the conflagration of his own hovel! Or you may find his bones bleaching on the green fields of his country! Or you may find him tossing on the surface of the ocean, mingling his groans with the tempests, less savage than his persecutors, that drive him to a returnless distance from his family and his home—without charge, or trial, or sentence! Is this a foul misrepresentation? Or can you, with these facts ringing in your ears and staring in your faces, say upon your oaths they do not exist? You are called upon in defiance of shame, of honour, of truth, to deny the sufferings under which you groan, and to flatter the persecution which tramples you under foot.

”

Pianbhreith

Ba é an t-aon fhianaise a úsáideadh i gcoinne Orr ná fianaise gan tacaíocht an tsaighdiúra Wheatly agus tar éis dó an chosaint a bhí ag Curran ar an bpríosúnach a chloisteáil,, "there could be no possible doubt of his nonocence". Dúradh gur bhris na deora air Yelverton, an breitheamh ceannais, nuair a gearradh pianbhreith an bháis, cé gur léirigh cara Orr, an file agus an tÉireannach Aontaithe William Drennan a náire faoin léiriú seo leis na focail “I hate those Yelvertonian tears”.

Óráid os comhair na cúirte

 

“

My friends and fellow-countrymen, — In the thirty-first year of my life I have been sentenced to die upon the gallows, and this sentence has been in pursuance of a verdict by twelve men who should have been indifferently and impartially chosen. How far they have been so, I leave to that country from which they have been chosen to determine; and how far they have discharged their duty, I leave to their God and to themselves. They have, in pronouncing their verdict, thought proper to recommend me as an object of humane mercy. In return, I pray to God, if they have erred, to have mercy upon them. The judge who condemned me humanely shed tears in uttering my sentence. But whether he did wisely in so highly commending the wretched informer who swore away my life, I leave to his own cool reflection, solemnly assuring him and all the world, with my dying breath, that that informer was foresworn. The law under which I suffer is surely a severe one— may the makers and promoters of it be justified in the integrity of their motives, and the purity of their own lives! By that law I am stamped a felon, but my heart disdains the imputation. My comfortable lot, and industrious course of life, best refute the charge of being an adventurer for plunder; but if to have loved my country—to have known its wrongs —to have felt the injuries of the persecuted and to have united with them and all other religious persuasions in the most orderly and least sanguinary means of procuring redress – if those be felonies, I am a felon, but not otherwise. Had my counsel (for whose honourable exertions I am indebted) prevailed in their motions to have me tried for high treason, rather than under the Insurrection Law, I should have been entitled to a full defence, and my actions would have been better vindicated; but that was refused, and I must now submit to what has passed. To the generous protection of my country I leave a beloved wife, who has been constant and true to me, and whose grief for my fate has already nearly occasioned her death. I have five living children, who have been my delight. May they love their country as I have done, and die for it if needful. Lastly, a false and ungenerous publication having appeared in a newspaper, stating certain alleged confessions of guilt on my part, and thus striking at my reputation, which is dearer to me than life, I take this solemn method of contradicting the calumny. I was applied to by the High-Sheriff to make a confession of guilt, and by the Rev. William Bristow, sovereign of Belfast, who used entreaties to that effect: this I peremptorily refused. If I thought myself guilty, I would freely confess it; but, on the contrary, I glory in my innocence. I trust that all my virtuous countrymen will bear me in their kind remembrance, and continue true and faithful to each other, as I have been to all of them. With this last wish of my heart nothing doubting of the success of that cause for which I suffer, and hoping for God's merciful forgiveness of such offences as my frail nature may have at any time betrayed me into, I die in peace and charity with all mankind.

”

Oidhreacht

Is ar éigean a ritheadh an phianbhreith ar William Orr nuair a bhí aiféala orthu siúd a chabhraigh leis an bhreithiúnas sin a dhaingniú. An finné Wheatl, a chuaigh as a meabhair ina dhiaidh sin, creidtear go bhfuair sé bás ag a láimh féin, rinne sé mionnscríbhinn roimh giúistís ag admháil gur thug sé faoi mhionn mícheart i gcoinne Orr. Rinne beirt den ghiúiré teistíochtaí á rá go raibh siad "induced to join in the verdict of guilty while under the influence of drink"; agus mhionnaigh beirt eile go raibh "been terrified into the same course by threats of violence".

Cuireadh na sonraí seo faoi bhráid an Leasrí, ach bhí an Tiarna Camden, Ard-Leifteanant na hÉireann, "deaf to all appeals" (lena n-áirítear óna dheirfiúr, Lady Londonderry). “Well may Orr exclaim within his dungeon” a dúirt sé "that the Government had laid down a system having for its object murder and devastation".

Crochadh Orr, i mbaile Charraig Fhearghais cé gur cuireadh a bhású siar trí huaire ar 14 Deireadh Fómhair 1797, agus garda míleata láidir breise timpeall air. Deirtear gur éirigh lucht an bhaile, chun a gcomhbhrón a chur in iúl leis an "patriot" a bheith "murdered by law", agus chun ceiliúradh a ndéistin ar iompar an Rialtais ina leith.