Sir, - Next year is the bicentenary of the 1798 Rebellion. In a spirit of national reconciliation, isn't it time that the Irish Bar righted a historical wrong by posthumously readmitting those lawyers whom the Benchers expelled on November 27th, 1798 for shaving been of a seditious and traitorous conspiracy of men styling themselves United Irishmen and having confessed themselves guilty of high treason"?
These brave men included Thomas Add is Emmet, later attorney general of New York State, Arthur O'Connor, Matthew Dowling and Edward Keane. Mention should also be made on barristers and United men such as Henry and John Sheares, who paid the ultimate price and were executed for their parts in the rebellion, and Wolfe Tone who died in prison just before his execution, as well as Wilcox Huband, student barrister, who was denied admission to the Bar in November 798 for his political activities.
I have searched in vain for the names of any solicitors who were expelled for being United Men. Alas, their patriotism seems to date only from 1922 - apart, or course, from John Mitchel. I call upon the Bar Council to right the historical wrong done to these brave men by readmitting them posthumously and by erecting a suitable memorial in their honour. There is a plaque in the Four Courts, next to the Law Library, honouring those barristers who fought for England in the first World War. Those barristers and attorneys who fought for Ireland in 1798 deserve no less. Yours, etc.,
Attorney and solicitor,
Charles Street West,
Dublin 7.