During this period he acted as principal counsel for the Crown in numerous State trials, including those of John Mitchel, Thomas Francis Meagher, Charles Gavan Duffy, and William Smith O'Brien.
[1] He was generally agreed to have been one of the best Irish judges of his time: Elrington Ball states that during his long career he had the complete confidence of the Bar and the public,[2] and it is notable that the Fenian trials of 1865-6 did not damage his reputation as they did that of his colleague William Keogh.
In Ireland initially, he failed, as the lady's legal team convinced the jury that the marriage was valid (their verdict was reversed on appeal).
In his last years he, like most of his colleagues, was much troubled by the level of violent crime in Ireland, in particular, the number of unsolved murders, many of them apparently linked to agrarian feuds.
[1] The marriage was a happy one and Fanny's death was a great blow to her husband; during his last years, he visited her grave at Glasnevin Cemetery each week.