Evidence to character, being a portrait of a traitor by his friends & by himself [graphic]

"A burlesque of the trial of O'Connor at Maidstone (22 May), parts of the court being hidden by the large labels which issue from the mouths of prisoner and witnesses. The presiding judge (Buller) looks down with horror at the witnesses, the other judges are hidden. O'Connor (not caricatured), wearing leg-irons, stands at the bar; his hands are clasped, and he bends forward in profile to the left, making a confession which, though condensed, does not differ substantially from that made by him, McNevin, and Emmet, and published in the Report of the Secret Committee made to the Irish House of Commons on 21 Aug. ('Lond. Chron.', 27 Aug.), see BMSat 9244, &c. ... From O'Connor's pocket hangs a paper: 'The Press by O'Connor' [inflammatory organ of the United Irishmen, see BMSat 9186]. Round his neck is a noose of rope held by the hand emerging from clouds of the (invisible) Justice; in her right hand are equally balanced scales. The witnesses to O'Connor's character are speaking simultaneously. Four stand in the foreground in profile to the right, behind a barrier, looking towards the judge across a table. Fox (right), nearest O'Connor and the spectator, holds the book to his lips, his raised left arm thrust forward in a rhetorical gesture. ... From his pocket projects a book: 'Letters to Lord Ed F. M O'Connor &c &c.' (cf. BMSat 9244). Next stands Sheridan, with a sly expression, holding the book, 'Four Evangelists', his hat in his left hand; he testifies ... Next is Erskine, kissing the book, with left arm raised oratorically ... Next (left) is the Duke of Norfolk, kissing the book, his expression and attitude suggesting embarrassment. ... On the extreme left and behind Norfolk is Grattan. ... Among a crowd of other heads, chiefly hidden by labels, is one resembling Tierney. Above this phalanx of Opposition witnesses is a crowded gallery. Three counsel (the Attorney-General (Scott), Solicitor-General (Mitford), and (?) Garrow), who sit beneath the judges, are divided from the witnesses by a table covered with papers, &c, one being conspicuous: 'Charges of High Treason against Arthur O'Connor, Oliver Bond Dr McNevin.'"--British Museum online catalogue