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GAZETTE
J
U
NE/J
U
LY
1976
SOME SIDELIGHTS ON THE TALENTS OF
THE LATE J. A. COSTELLO, S.C.
By Frank Connolly, formerly Solicitor to the
Department of Posts & Telegraphs
Having regard to the number of tributes which have
been already published about the life of this distin-
guished lawyer, it is with some diffidence that the
present writer ventures to add to them. Some aspects
of Costello's career however, have not been dealt with
in detail; therefore, they might be of interest to Solici-
tors practising in the provinces, or young Solicitors who
did not see this brilliant advocate at work when he was
at the zenith of his profession.
When in private practice, I had the duty of briefing
him as a Senior Counsel, attending him at consulta-
tions; and on several occasions, I heard him address
juries, and public meetings. He told me that in 1922 he
was asked by the late Hugh Kennedy, K.C. to assist
him in his work, when the latter was appointed Law
Officer to the Irish Provisional Government. At first,
the Law Officer was given the rooms of the former
Lord Chancellor of Ireland in Dublin Castle for his
official work. Mr. Costello worked in these offices in
Dublin Castle, but found that the time of the Law
Officer was so taken up with conferences with the Pro-
visional Government and the drafting of the new Irish
Free State Constitution that it was only possible to get
his undivided attention for a few hours each week. As
opportunity offered, he discussed complicated legal
points in files submitted for advice by the Provisional
Government Departments with the Law Officer and
then returned the files with the opinion of the Law
Officer endorsed. After working as assistant to Hugh
Kennedy, K.C., and subsequently to John O'Byrne,
S.C., when the latter was appointed Attorney General
in succession to Hugh Kennedy, Mr. Costello was made
Attorney General on the promotion of John O'Byrne to
the judicial bench.
The highly flattering reputation that he made for
himself as Attorney General is borne out by the fact
that I first heard him discussed by Solicitors on holidays
at the back of the Twelve Pins in Connemara in the
year 1928. These Solicitors referred to him as Jack
Costello, and the warmth in their voices was noticeable
when they spoke about his splendid personal and pro-
fessional qualities and his immense success as Attorney
General.
What struck me most about him was that his intellect
was of the powerful capacious kind with great range
and depth coupled with all round abilities, the most
evident of them being : logical thought, lucid exposi-
tion of ideas, flair for politics and history, the power of
rapid assimilation of facts, and great oratorical gifts.
In addition, his mind worked quickly and accurately
like the snap of a well oiled breech of a gun. Since he
also had wide cultural interests, even though he could
spare little time for them from his professional respon-
sibilities, he was a whole man in the Renaissance
conception of the whole man.
John Costello's Oratory
Perhaps, his greatest endowment was his aptitude for
oratory. His oratorical powers were in the true tradition
of the famed orators of Grattan's Parliament, John
Philpot Curran, O'Connell, Meagher of the Sword, and
Isaac Butt. Although his style of oratory was much less
flamboyant than theirs in keeping with the fashion of
84
his times, a reading of their speeches shows that, there
is no doubt that he was their equal in oratorical
capacity and artistry. During his lifetime Ireland had
some very accomplished public speakers, but none had
brought the art to the height of perfection achieved by
him. Notwithstanding that in his day oratory was be-
coming suspect of fustian and claptrap, and that his
speeches to juries and public meetings were infused
with deep feeling and full blooded rhetoric, his skilful
use of eloquence based on carefully chosen arguments
couched in language of great distinction, all painting
a striking verbal picture, was most effective in persuad-
ing people to accept his thesis. With an unhesitating
delivery in address, he was able to clothe his thoughts
instantaneously in appropriate graceful words and tell-
ing phrases, so that his points were clearly illuminated
and could be easily understood. He was also most adroit
at emphasizing the weak and vulnerable parts of his
adversaries case, and pouring scorn on its flimsiness,
followed by putting the best complexion possible by
plausible arguments on his own case. Unlike some
would be orators, he never bored his hearers, thereby
failing to hold their attention. For he took care to
avoid repetition and to stimulate their imagination bv
the use of colourful figures of speech for the purpose of
illustrating the ingredients of his arguments and to vary
the pace and timbre of the passionate ring in his voice
by mixing appeals to their common sense with irony
and division, interspersed with sentiment and pathos.
Moreover he was the only orator in modern Ireland
who could use properly ample studied gestures of his
hands and arms to reinforce the effect of his arguments.
Undoubtedly, the vehement tone of his voice in
speeches at public meetings to juries, and in Dail
Eireann led some people to take objection to his
methods of advocacy on the grounds that it verged on
tub thumping or hectoring, but it was virtually un-
known for him to be rebuked for his mode of address
by any trial judge or by the Dail. Nor do his trenchant
speeches at public meetings appear to have led to his
being heckled to any extent, or to attempts to in-
terrupt the meetings—possibly his felicitous choice of
English took the sting out of his invective. Experienced
Solicitors agree that he dominated most court trials in
which he took part, and that his glittering rhetoric
appeared to have had a mesmeric effect in his favour
on juries who tended to think it one of the greatest
experiences in their lives to have been addressed by
him. In all tribunals, including enquiries, District
Courts, Appeal Courts, and the Supreme Court he was
a successful special pleader because while always in-
tensely forceful in the presentation of his submissions,
he adapted the sound of his voice to suit the nature of
his audience, and his perceptive mind enabled him to
bring out and stress points not readily apparent to
others.
If not too tired by his political and professional
duties, he was a particularly attractive after dinner
speaker, since he knew how to blend calls to loyalty to
the dinners social objects with personal reminiscences
spiced by jocosities, and opposite literary and idealistic
references.
John Costello's Cross-Examination
The newspaper accounts of his life have failed to do
justice to his powers of cross examination. In fact he
was one of the most deadly cross examiners that every
practised at the Irish Bar. His
modus operandi
was first
by reassuring questions to beguile a witness into agree-
ing witli his version of the facts; if he proved inimical,
he would proceed by searching questions to try to