In Behalf of Rowan and Free Speech

John Philpot Curran (1750-1817) was an Irish orator, politician, wit, and lawyer renowned for employing his skills in defence of civil and political liberty. He first won popular acclaim in 1780, as the only lawyer in his circuit willing to represent a Catholic priest horsewhipped by an Anglo-Irish lord. In the 1790s he was celebrated as a champion of Catholic emancipation and reform in the Irish Parliament and as defence counsel in court for United Irishmen facing charges of sedition and treason. He was vocal in his opposition to Britain’s incorporation of Ireland in a United Kingdom.

Admitted to the Irish Bar in 1775, Curran entered the Irish Parliament in 1783, and defended prisoners arrested during the Irish Insurrection of 1798.

Curran’s speeches before the judicial bench were widely admired. Lord Byron said, after the death of Curran, «I have heard that man speak more poetry than I have seen written», and, in a letter to Thomas Moore, 1 October 1821, «I feel, as your poor Curran said, before his death, 'a mountain of lead upon my heart, which I believe to be constitutional, and that nothing will remove it but the same remedy'». Karl Marx, recommending to Friedrich Engels the speeches of Curran, described him as the greatest "people's advocate" of the eighteenth century.

The Curran’s oration In Behalf of Rowan and Free Speech, which we propose to our readers today, dates from 1794. Archibald Hamilton Rowan was secretary of the Dublin Society of United Irishmen. In August, 1792, in reply to a proclamation against "the Volunteers of Ireland", Rowan had published an address inviting them to resume their arms. The government having decided to prosecute him, Curran in 1794 was engaged to defend him.